What Style is Your House: Stick Style Houses

Courtesy of Worcester Heritage Preservation Society

The Stick style flourished in the years between 1850 and 1876.  Its earliest forms were inspired by the Elizabethan half-timbered house but it became an almost purely an American style.

Stick style architects wanted to express “truthfulness” in the structures by revealing the supporting posts and beams.  Of course, most houses were built with balloon frames and so did not have large timbers to reveal.   Hence, Stick style houses had wide, flat boards called “sticks” nailed onto conventional wooden clapboard walls in horizontal, vertical and diagonal patterns.   These boards symbolized the hidden structural frame.  Additional “sticks” were nailed across the gable peak and along the porch.

The vertical stickwork, combined with steep roofs emphasized the tall proportions.  Extensive porches with diagonal bracing, give a Victorian feeling of character.  In Worcester, you will find that decoration is concentrated in gable peaks and on struts of porches and door hoods.  Stick style houses usually have high steep roofs and complex, irregular plans.