When we found our house, one of our first troubles was trying to pinpoint what style it was. I kept calling it “a square Victorian”, which was a good enough explanation for most people. But we wanted to be more precise in our descriptions, so I went googling for sites that could help us.

Most helpful were:
Old House Web – Architectural Housing Styles
and
Architectural House Styles on About.com

Here are some good descriptions of the Italianate style:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/10271.shtml

http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-italianate.htm

http://www.kitchens.com/Remodeling-And-Design/design/home-kitchen-styles12.htm

Some Italianate features found in our house include:

• The bay window on the right-front side
• Wide cornice with decorative brackets
• Two-stories
• Flat-roofed with a square cupola
• The windows are tall with slightly curved top moldings