{{Short description|Mid-20th-century American architectural style}} '''Minimal Traditional''' is a style of architecture that emerged in mid 20th century America as a vernacular form that incorporates influences from earlier styles such as American Colonial, Colonial Revival, Spanish Revival, Tudor Revival, and American Craftsman while adhering to modern architecture's avoidance of ornament.<ref name=ah/><ref name=baker/>
The Minimal Traditional style evolved during the 1930s and was a dominant style in domestic architecture until the Ranch-style house emerged in the early 1950s.<ref name=ah/><ref name=baker/> Descending in part from the bungalows, cottages, and foursquare houses of the early 20th century, Minimal Traditional houses represent a "stripped-down version of the historic-eclectic styles popular in the 1920s".<ref name=gibbs/> They are usually detached single-family houses that are on the smaller side and retain simplified versions of the built-in cabinets that were popular features of the Craftsman era.<ref name=ah/><ref name=smallhouse/> Typical features include hipped or gabled roofs without much in the way of eaves; cladding in locally popular materials such as wood, brick or stone; small porches; and an asymmetrical design with the front door set off center.<ref name=ah/>
The Minimal Traditional house "fulfilled aesthetic and social needs for affordable single-family housing" and was used by the Federal Housing Administration as a prototype for a "minimum house that the majority of American wage earners could afford".<ref name=gibbs/>
Minimal Traditional houses have been tagged with some other names: FHA house, Depression-era cottage, Victory cottage, and American small house.<ref name=smallhouse/>
<gallery class="center" widths="160px" heights="145px"> File:Dodds Street West 708, McDoel Gardens.jpg|Bloomington, Indiana, house built in 1931 in the Minimal Traditional style. File:1722-n-hills-knoxville-tn1.jpg|Knoxville, Tennessee, house built in 1932 in the Minimal Traditional style. File:1629-n-hills-knoxville-tn1.jpg|Knoxville, Tennessee, house built in 1939 in the Minimal Traditional style. File:Fourth Street, 701, Steele Dunning.jpg|Bloomington, Indiana, house built in 1940 in the Minimal Traditional style. File:Indiana, June 2014 (14660974313).jpg|Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson Childhood House built in 1949 in the Minimal Traditional style. File:4230 Shamley Green Drive, exterior views, 2020 - DPLA - be49456d8e39adba3866eace24b33d29 (page 2).jpg|Toledo, Ohio, house built in 1961 in the Minimal Traditional style. </gallery>
==See also== *Traditionalist School (architecture)
==References== {{Reflist | refs=
<ref name=smallhouse>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20140810131740/http://georgiashpo.org/sites/uploads/hpd/pdf/American_Small_House.pdf "American Small House"]}}. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division. (Slideshow/PDF.)</ref>
<ref name=gibbs>Gibbs, Jocelyn, et al., eds. ''Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams''. p. 174.</ref>
<ref name=baker>Baker, John Milnes. ''American House Styles: A Concise Guide''.</ref>
<ref name=ah>[http://www.antiquehome.org/Architectural-Style/minimal-traditional.htm "Minimal Traditional Architecture"]. Antique Home website.</ref>
}}
Category:American architectural styles Category:House styles