"Oak-Hickory Historic District" Top 5 Page for this destination Denton Favorite Tip by grandmaR

Favorite thing: My daughter drove me down West Oak so I could take pictures of this collection of historic homes. Victorian architectural themes prevail, but the neighborhood presents a fairly eclectic mix of architectural styles. Established in 1986, the district has the largest concentration of Historic Landmark Designations in the City. I have picked one photo illustrating each of the styles and copied the description of each style from the Historic District website.

Photo 1 - Classic Revival is like the government buildings - Symmetrical with simple geometric forms. They often have colossal pedimented porticos flanked by a series of pilasters

Photo 2: Queen Anne is a style of Victorian. First floors of Queen Annes are often brick or stone, upper stories are of stucco, clapboard or decorative shingles and huge chimneys are common. Roofs are hipped or gabled, often with second story projections and corner turrets. Gable ends are ornamented with half-timbering or stylized relief decoration. Molded or specially shaped bricks are used as decorative accents. Banks of casement windows are common and upper panes are often outlined with stained-glass squares. Veranda and balconies open to the outdoors. Wooden “gingerbread” trim in scrolled and rounded “fish-scale” patterns frequently graces gables and porches. Massive cut stone foundations are typical

Photo 3 is Prairie style. Frank Lloyd Wright is the most famous architect of the Prairie style. Prairie style has a predominantly horizontal appearance with a broad hipped or gabled roof and widely overhanging eaves. Houses usually have two stories with light colored brick or stucco and wood. Dark wooden strips against the light stucco background reveal the influence of Japanese architecture. Windows are arranged in horizontal ribbons and often feature stained glass in floral or geometrical patterns

Photo 4 is of a Bungalow/Craftsman house. The British colonists in India adopted the one story thatched roofed huts from the Indian province of Bengal which were called bangla or bangala. Craftsman style bungalows usually have: a low-pitched roof, wide eaves with exposed roof rafters, decorative braces, a porch with square columns, and are one, or one and a half, stories. Many Craftsman bungalows also have: stone chimneys, gabled dormers and a sloping foundation

Photo 5 is another type of Bungalow - the variation called the "Airplane" bungalow has a much smaller area on its second floor, centered on the structure, and is thought to look like the cockpit of an early plane