Top 10 American home styles

There may be no place like home, but most of the places Americans choose to live have a certain style in common.


Whether it's art deco, Cape Cod or Spanish Eclectic, an architectural style defines where we live.


"Architecture is public art," says Clark Manus, president of the American Institute of Architects and CEO of San Francisco's Heller Manus, one of the nation's most respected architectural partnerships. It's about more than detail: "It's the quality of the thought process behind it that makes a house good or bad," he says.


To give you an idea of the range and diversity of houses, we asked Manus to describe 10 styles that are most representative of homes in the U.S. See if your own home's style is among them.


NOTE: Homes were on the market and available at the time of publication, unless noted otherwise.