A variety of residential architectural styles is one of the key elements necessary for a diverse community. Such variety is commonly achieved through the use of historic and regional styles that are recognizable to the average homebuyer. However, due to environmental factors, not every historic or regional American house style will necessarily be suitable to a desert community.

Formerly, architectural styles built within a region were influenced by numerous factors that included climate, building materials and technology, skills of available craftsmen, and pattern books. With respect to limitations of technology, homes were typically built in ways that mitigated the harsher elements of the regional climate. Homes in New England were built to provide warmer shelter from the cold, snowy winters while homes along the Gulf Coast homes in the hot, still, and sultry summers were built to stimulate cooling breezes within. The thermal mass of adobe or stone homes in extremely hot climates kept interiors cool in summer.

With the development of engineered materials and better technologies, particularly climate controls and insulation systems, the need to build regionally responsive architecture has diminished considerably. Thus, it is now possible to build a Cape Cod or English Tudor style home in just about any climate in the United States, regardless of how out-of-place or incongruous it may seem. While more temperate climates can accommodate a breadth of styles, extremely harsh desert climates where temperatures can range from periods in excess of 100° F in the summer to below freezing in the winter still present an environmental challenge to some less “indigenous” architectural styles when they are rendered in their most traditional exterior building materials.

Though aesthetic appropriateness of a particular style to the desert setting is a valid consideration, the primary limiter of what can be reasonably built is the suitability of the exterior materials, which in the Mojave Desert is commonly stucco and adobe brick. Due to the severe heat, exposed wood, even when painted, does not fare well, as it is prone to splitting and checking. As a result, acceptable architectural styles must be those that can make little or no use of exterior wood or make use of wood siding substitutes. However, some styles that might typically be associated with a predominant material, such as with wood shingles on a bungalow style house, also have precedent of being built with a stucco finish. Therefore, not every imported style need necessarily be excluded from consideration. Additionally, styles that make use of large eaves but that are not typically associated with the desert setting – e.g. bungalow and prairie – may provide welcome shade.

Homes in more recent developments throughout the greater Las Vegas metro area have made extensive use of stucco or stucco-like materials, but they have typically been stripped of stylistic elements or composed of a pastiche of elements that suggest no distinguishable style. The result in both cases is a bland homogeneity where neither house nor Village Parcel has much if any discernable differentiation from the next. With a limited palette of styles and materials, the threat of conformity continues, which is all the more reason why it is crucial to execute carefully, faithfully, and accurately the few styles that are compatible.

Authenticity of representation, therefore, is crucial, but it entails more than the use of characteristic details on a box that result in mere “stage set” architecture. Rather, authenticity must be reflected in the massing of the building, in proper roof forms and materials, as well as in the characteristic details.

Furthermore, floor plan designs should be complementary and integrated with the massing and style of the home. Conversely, homes that rely on superficial style applications and cliché detailing will not satisfy design review.

The following architectural styles that are encouraged in Henderson include:

1. Pueblo Revival 2. Mission Revival 3. Spanish Colonial Revival 4. Monterey 5. Tuscan 6. Andalusian 7. Prairie 8. Art Moderne 9. Craftsman 10. Bungalo w

11. Brownstone 12. Desert Contemporary/Modern 13. American Traditional 14. Traditional Ranch 15. Southern Italian 16. Mediterranean 17. Contemporary 18. Mid Century 19. Modern Rambler 20. Modern Farmhouse

The above list is not, however, meant to be exhaustive. Other architectural styles are subject to review and approval by the City. Also, the following descriptions are meant to be prescriptive and should be used as a starting point. They aim to provide information that is specific enough to guide development toward producing a high-quality community yet flexible enough to allow for creative design solutions.

These styles have a rich history, and the brief descriptions included below cannot possibly include the many nuances and breadth of details to be found within authentic examples of a given style. Designers and architects should, therefore, complement this section with additional research and draw inspiration from historical examples. They are also encouraged to include their examples in architectural design presentation materials to demonstrate the authenticity of their designs.

Effective on: 1/1/1901

Pueblo revival derives its cues from Native American and Spanish Mission architectural traditions. Beginning in the late 1890s, the Pueblo Revival movement sought to develop a distinctive architecture for the developing southwestern United States and was based on traditional, rural, and rustic forms of the historic Southwest. Chunky looking Pueblos emerged around 1900 in California, though the style is most widely associated with New Mexico and Arizona. In fact, it is an officially required building style in some southwestern communities such as historic parts of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Original pueblos were effective shelter against the desert climate. The thermal mass of their thick adobe walls absorbed solar heat during the day and released it at night, and the small, deeply set windows, which were shaded by an extended porch roof, kept out direct sunlight and searing breezes. Contemporary construction employs either real or “substitute” adobe and is rendered with soft, slightly rounded wall edges and a smooth stucco finish that emulates the original mud finish. Substitute adobe construction could include concrete block or wood-framed structures covered with smooth, tinted stucco. Other notable features of these homes include flat or shallow sloped roofs hidden behind parapets and real or false heavy wood “vigas,” roof beams that project through to the exterior surface.

Mission Revival, also known as Spanish Mission Revival, originated in California in the late 19th century and is based on 17th and 18th century Spanish colonial architecture, particularly churches (missions) and “haciendas” of the American southwest. Considered by some to be the appropriate style for the southwest, entire California towns were constructed in the Mission Revival Style. Largely due to builder’s guides and pattern books, it eventually spread to just about every part of the United States by the early 20th century.

Like the Pueblo Revival Style, Mission Revival makes use of smooth stucco as a primary exterior material. However, brick, stone and even exposed (or painted) adobe brick are also found as primary or secondary materials. Also like Pueblos, Mission Revival makes use of some flat roofs and parapets, though it is at roughly this point that the two styles diverge, and the mission influences enter in the form of subtle yet overtly more decorative features such as red tile roofs, sculptural and rounded arches, curvilinear Dutch-like gables with copings, mock bell towers, and decorative tiles.

Spanish Colonial Revival evolved from the Mission Revival style, but its Hispanic California mission references are replaced with other, primarily Mediterranean, influences: late Moorish architecture, medieval Spanish and Italian ecclesiastic architecture, baroque design of colonial Spain and Portugal, rural Spanish forms, and Italian Romanesque and Renaissance revival elements.

As such an eclectic catalog of Mediterranean features, this style is much more open to interpretation. Spanish Colonial Revival homes can range from an informal, rural austerity to a very formal, ornate composition. Individual items – e.g. ultra-baroque entry decoration – can be displayed in pure form or an entire house can portray faithful rendering of a single style source. However, the success and popularity of this style is its ability to draw from a broad source base and combine the eclectic elements with convincing harmony. Despite this eclecticism, Spanish Colonial Revival does have some fairly common attributes.

This style is a relative of the Mission and Spanish Colonial styles. Its emergence is generally attributed to a Boston merchant who relocated in the mid-19th century to California and combined the boxy New England Colonial architecture prevalent in the 1800s with the one-story Mission period adobe brick houses found in Monterey at the time. Later versions of the style more or less evolved into a merger of Spanish Colonial Revival and Colonial Revival styles.

This marriage of styles and forms established a defining feature of the new style: a second floor with a large cantilevered covered balcony. In the contemporary version of the Monterey, balcony railings are generally rendered in wood or iron and the balcony rests on large protruding “floor” timbers or corbels. The roofs are low pitched, gabled and covered with shingles, though plenty of examples display red barrel tiles, and exterior walls of stucco, brick, or lap siding. Many examples use a single exterior material, but others may use a second material in gables or on second story walls.

The Tuscan Style is a more recent development intended to introduce a distinctive style that lends greater variety to home construction by making use of specific historical antecedents that by virtue of their geography, climate and materials, respond well to southwestern climates. In this case the precedent is the rural farmhouse of Tuscany.

With its rustic roots, the Tuscan style is typically an informal arrangement of relatively boxy forms whose key visual interest derives from its use of course natural materials juxtaposed against the smooth ochre colored stucco that ranges from yellows to reds. They typically have hip roofs with deep overhangs and shaped rafter tails (or soffits with scrolled wood brackets). Roof material is red barrel tile, often with color variations that give it a mottled effect. The can also have expressed separately hip-roofed vertical elements that may even have a decorative finial in the center. Generally, this style is devoid of ornament, and when decoration is used, it is typically very understated.

Andalusian Style homes share much in common with the Tuscan Style described above in that it, too, is a fairly recent “invention” aimed at applying distinctive elements of historical and regional architecture to create a style that will add diversity to the southwestern residential streetscape. The style sources in this case are the Hispanic, Moorish, classical, and even baroque architectures of southern Spain.

This style makes use of boxy, asymmetrical massing in a combination of one and two- story elements. Appearance can range from simple and rustic to formal and ornamental. While sharing many details with other Mediterranean influenced styles (shallow pitched tile roofs, ornamental wrought iron, stucco walls), what differentiates Andalusian is the application of slurried brick and a unique ornamental flair provided by the use of decorative tiles, brick surface detailing, and a variety of arch styles.

The Prairie Style is most closely associated with Frank Lloyd Wright, as he and others developed it to create a unique American style of architecture, particularly for the Midwest. Because Wright disapproved of revival styles, his Prairie homes were devoid of familiar decorative stylistic elements, and where ornamentation occurred, it was usually very geometric and abstract. Like many styles, use of it and its variants have migrated to other parts of the country.

Houses in the Prairie Style are characterized by an overall horizontal emphasis that is reinforced by long, low proportions, shallow-pitched (typically hip) or flat roofs with wide overhangs, banded (ribbon) casement windows, and low, wide chimneys. Floor plans generally take a variety of arrangements: square, L-shaped, T-shaped, Y-shaped and pinwheel. The spaces and structures are generally organized around a central chimney. Though horizontal, many Prairie homes have two-stories, often in a centrally located position with one-story wings or porches. However, one regional variation developed into a box-like, two-story house with the same low-pitched hip roofs and wide overhangs but only emphasized the square plan.

Another style whose aim was to break with the tradition of reviving historical styles was Art Moderne, which is also referred to as Streamline Moderne. Some debate exists regarding how closely it is related to the showy Art Deco style, but what is certain, however, is that it gained popularity in the early days of the depression just as Art Deco’s was fading. Henderson’s downtown is one place where this style took root.

The style reflected the spirit of the early 20th century and was inspired by technology and the emerging love affair America had with machines. Being based on many of the principles of the Bauhaus movement such as open floor plans, pure forms and utility without ornamentation, the Art Moderne is simple and functional.

In particular, this style displayed an intense fascination with speed. Its curves and horizontality was derived chiefly from high-speed modern transportation machines: the airplane, the automobile and even the mighty ocean liner. The sense of movement was achieved by narrow and horizontal bands of windows that frequently wrapped corners, horizontal layering on the façades, asymmetry, and the distinctly absent pitched roof and eaves.

Craftsman style homes originated in America in the early 1900s, with influences from the Arts and Craft movement England in the late 1800s, English bungalows from India, alpine chalets, and even some oriental construction details. It was partly a response to the “machine-made” aesthetic of the industrial revolution, which was at its peak. The Craftsman style is attributed to designers such as Gustav Stickley, Charles and Henry Greene, and Bernard Maybeck.

The Craftsman style also developed as a contradiction to the Victorian era that preceded it. It was the first style that emphasized simple, natural materials and functionality. Details were simple, in contrast to the “gingerbread” ornamentation of Victorian style homes. The wood was originally stained instead of painted, and the interiors featured built-in cabinets, buffets and benches. The moldings and other trim work were simple shapes, which collectively could create visually complex designs.

Bungalows as we know them first appeared in California around the end of the 19th century, having evolved as a subset of the California Craftsman movement, which sought to preserve simplicity and craftsmanship in architecture. In its many variants, the Bungalow became one of this country’s most common and versatile styles.

Though one of the Bungalow’s most prominent features is its shallow pitched, sweeping gabled roof with wide gable and eave overhangs, its signature feature its long porch/veranda across the front of the house, whose roof is a broad extension of the main roof. A prominent shed or gable dormer is also a common feature. Though there are excellent examples of two story bungalows, they are typically one-and-a-half stories.

Due to the Craftsman influence, building materials are typically of a "natural" type including fieldstone, flagstone, brick, tile, stucco and wood trim painted in earth tones. Other styles such as Shingle, Colonial Revival, Victorian, and even Spanish Colonial Revival influenced variations over time, hence the variety of exterior materials. The deep eaves often have exposed rafters and feature prominent carpenter-made brackets called "knee braces."

Originally 4 to 6 story buildings constructed in the 1800s and early 1900s in cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago, a "brownstone" is generally understood to be a subset of the rowhouse typology but specifically clad in brownstone, a red-brown sandstone. These homes typically had staircases from the sidewalk to a second-floor entrance, which was necessary to avoid bringing in the mud and horse droppings commonly found at street level in their early days.

Brownstone as a material, however, lost popularity around 1900 in part due to rapid deterioration of carved surface details as a result of weathering. Nevertheless, the term “brownstone” still survives and is generally defined as an urban, fairly narrow, vertical house of at least two stories that is one in a row of identical or very similar houses situated side-by-side and sharing common walls – i.e. zero lot line – and clad with stone or masonry materials instead of sandstone.

Massing is generally simple, and the roofline of a row of brownstones usually forms a consistent parapet or eave height (or stepped if grade requires). Since brownstones were more characterized by their material (and the stone mason’s skill) than stylistic elements, their contemporary successors can take on a variety of appearances and incorporate any of a number of stylistic trimmings, from the spare to the ornate. However, regardless of the style, it is applied consistently or compatibly from house to house such that all contribute to a cohesive street composition.

Desert contemporary (or modern) is reminiscent of early to mid 20th century modern architecture, which was “contemporary” in its sharp, generally unadorned exterior corners, stucco masonry, flat roofs and large overhangs, pop-outs, recesses, and large areas of glass. Another of its defining characteristics was its mantra of “form follows function.”

Because many of these characteristics such as stucco, which weathers well, large overhangs, which provide shade from the midday sun, and the unadorned planar forms, which are enhanced by the intense sun, as well as its adaptability, this loosely defined style is particularly well suited to the desert climate.

However, because it is more of an aesthetic than a formal style, and because by its very nature, it has great flexibility (remember, form follows function) and free-form “rules,” it can take on many shapes and appearances (refer to examples on the following page). For each example that is rendered in monochrome white, there is another that is multi-colored in a composition of varying earth tones, pastels, or bold hues. For each that looks like a modern machine, there is another that appears to be a contemporary variant of the ancient pueblo. For each whose exterior is smooth plaster with strictly rectangular elements, there exists another that incorporates native stone veneers with metal canopies and curved roof forms.

Because this “style” is so variable and may mean widely different things to different people, it is difficult to provide standards that would not limit design in some way. Therefore, in the interest of promoting the best desert contemporary designs, no table of style elements is included here. Rather, it shall be up to the individual architect to provide a high quality design that complements the Cadence environment. Such designs shall be fully described and presented to the CDRC and the City for review and approval.

Asymmetrical massing with wood porches and classical square railings. Simplified cornice trim at gable ends and louvered shutters. Wall are siding and stucco.

Sprawling single story, wide façade, front-facing garage, low-pitched roof, asymmetrical façade.

Loosely based on Spanish colonial houses in the Southwest, the Ranch house is a creation of car culture: When homeowners began using their cars for transportation, they could put their houses farther apart on larger plots of land. Along with the split-level of the 1950s and 60s and the builder's shed of 1970s and 1980s, the Ranch was one of the dominant house forms of the second half of the 20th century.

Building materials include brick, stone, siding, shake or slate roofs, dormer windows, shutters, wide eaves, and porches. This style incorporates deeply recessed openings, pot shelves, and architectural pop-outs.

This style begins with formal box-like massing topped with low-pitched hip roof with barrel shaped or flat roof tiles. This roof line spills over the wide overhanging eaves supported by decorative brackets. Façade treatment is generally symmetrical with arched windows and doors common on the first floor. The entry is often accentuated with classical columns.

Influenced by the area from which it is named, this style became extremely popular in the U.S. from 1918 to 1940. The homes were modeled after the hacienda style, with red tile roofs, arches and plaster surfaces. This style is very popular again and features a lot of the original design elements, including porticos, balconies, and ornamental details such as heavy wooden doors and multicolored tiles.

Asymmetrical combination of 1 and 2 story masses articulated with tower elements or arcades. Low pitched gable roof forms are predominant with occasional hips done in red tile. Use of arch elements at doors or featured windows and abundant use of decorative elements such as patterned tiles, grille work and shutters.

Some folks consider contemporary and modern architecture to be essentially the same. However, contemporary refers to today's building styles, which can vary in design and appearance. Both styles are similar in that they look to connect indoors and outdoors, but contemporary homes tend to emphasize energy efficiency, sustainable materials, lots of natural light and the use of recycled non-toxic materials.

A contemporary adaptation of traditional venaculars, executed with a fresh, contemporary approach. Contemporary architecture is an exploration of modern architectural vocabulary the best embodies a unique urban character.

Mid-Century Modern denotes a style of design that was popularized from the 1930s through the 1960s. Characterized by a contemporary, seemingly futuristic aesthetic and an emphasis on function, the Mid-Century Modern movement influenced many types of design. These include interior, product, industrial, and graphic design, as well as urban planning and architecture, which remains the most well-known Mid-Century Modern example.

Characterized by flat planes, large glass windows and open space, the style focused on simplistic design and seamless integration of nature. World War II brought new materials, such as steel and plywood, to the forefront of architecture and design, and helped to enlighten new ways of thinking about residential living.

A rambler, also known as a ranch-style house, is a domestic architectural style that originated in the U.S. in the 1920s but was made most popular between the 1940s and 1970s. Ramblers are known for their long, low profile and minimal exterior and interior decoration. As a housing style, ramblers fuse modernist ideas with American West-period working ranches, resulting in an informal and casual living style.

The key to Modern Farmhouse decor is a clean and simple approach. There's no fuss or embellishment, just straight lines and modest ornamentation. It is a form of minimalism, although much warmer than most. Bottom line: Modern Farmhouse interior design focuses on practicality and comfort.