Easy ways to spot a Prairie style home:
- Prairie style homes are very long and short. They are made to mimic the landscape of the Prairie.
- Everything on a Prairie style home is expressed horizontally. Often bands of windows, masonry or stucco create the horizontal lines of Prairie style homes.
- Prairie style homes have low-pitched roofs with large overhangs.
- Prairie style homes revolve around a center hearth.
- Numerous geometric, abstract forms are used to decorate and create the shape of Prairie style homes.
- Pay close attention to the materials used on Prairie style homes. Each material had a specific purpose. To switch one material for another would ruin the design.
- Roman bricks were a common material used on Prairie homes.
- The colors used on the exterior and interior of Prairie style homes were typically earth colors, such as green, brown and ocher.
- Prairie style homes had low ceilings, open floor plans and many windows. The combination of those three things helped to make the rooms feel spacious and intimate at the same time.
- Large spaces were often juxtaposed next to small spaces to make the large spaces appear even bigger.
- The front door of Prairie style homes is sometimes hidden from the street to keep the home private.
- Art glass was used in almost all Prairie style homes.