The name doesn't refer to a second version of the architectural style. It refers to France's Second Empire, the period from 1852 to 1870 when Napoleon III ruled as emperor.

Paris was being dramatically transformed during these years. Under Napoleon III and Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, broad boulevards cut through the medieval city, parks and public spaces were created, and enormous new blocks of buildings helped establish much of the Paris we recognize today.

Mansard roofs became a conspicuous part of that architectural landscape. Americans noticed.

By the 1860s and 1870s, French-inspired architecture had become fashionable in the United States. Second Empire appeared in houses, hotels, government buildings and other prominent structures.

If Greek Revival had looked toward the ancient world, Second Empire looked toward contemporary Paris.

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If you asked someone to picture a "traditional American house," there's a pretty good chance they're picturing some version of Colonial Revival.

And Rome is full of them.

Unlike Tudor Revival—with its steep roofs, arches and storybook details—Colonial Revival is usually about order, symmetry and proportion. The style looks backward to America's Georgian, Federal and other colonial-era architecture, but it isn't actually Colonial. Most of the houses we call Colonial were built generations—or even centuries—later.

Once you know what to look for, they're surprisingly easy to spot.

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Tudor Revival arrived in America during the 1920s and 1930s, inspired by medieval English cottages and manor houses. Architects borrowed steeply pitched roofs, prominent chimneys, arched doorways, decorative half-timbering, leaded glass windows, and richly textured brick and stone to create homes that felt established from the day they were built.

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