List of building types

Last updated December 30, 2025

This is a list of building types. It is sorted by broad category: residential buildings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and infrastructural buildings.

Residential

Single-family detached

Examples of single-family detached house types include:

Bungalow
Central-passage house (North America)
Chattel house (Caribbean)
Château (France)
Cottage (various)
Courtyard house (various)
Konak (Asia)
Log house (various)
Mansion (various)
Housebarn (various)
Split level home (various)
Upper Lusatian house (Europe)

Single-family attached (small multi-family)

Duplex, semi-detached, double-decker, or two-family
Triplex, triple-decker or three-family
Quadplex, quadruple, or four-family
Townhouse or terraced house

Large multi-family (apartments/flats/condos)

Garden or walk-up apartments: 1–5 stories, 50–400 units, no elevators^[1]
Mid-rise apartments/condos: 5–9 stories, 30–110 units, with elevators^[1]
High-rise apartments/condos: 9+ stories, 100+ units, professionally managed^[1]
Special-purpose group housing^[1]

Public

Commercial

Commercial buildings, generally, are buildings used by businesses to sell their products to consumers.^[1]

Office

Office buildings are generally categorized by size and by quality (e.g., "a low-rise Class A building")^[2]

Office buildings by size
- Low-rise (less than 7 stories)
- Mid-rise (7–25 stories)
- High-rise (more than 25 stories), including skyscrapers (over 40 stories)
Office buildings by quality^[3]^[4]
- Trophy or 5-star building: A landmark property designed by a recognized architect
- Class A or 4-star building: Rents in the top 30-40% of the local market; well-located; above-average upkeep and management; usually older than a trophy/5-star building
- Class B or 3-star building: Rents between Class A and Class C; fair-to-good locations; average upkeep and management
- Class C or 2-star building: Rents in the bottom 10-20% of the local market; less-desirable locations; below-average upkeep and management
- 1-star building: Does not meet the needs of typical tenants; may be obsolete and/or in need of significant renovation^[3]

Retail

Retail buildings are categorized by their configuration and size^[5]

Non-freestanding (also known as shopping centers or shopping malls)
- Super-regional shopping center: enclosed space; 800,000+ sqft; 5+ anchor stores with other tenants that sell a very large variety of goods
- Regional shopping center: enclosed space; 400,000–800,000 sqft; 1–5 anchor stores with other tenants that sell a large variety of goods
- Community shopping center: open space; 125,000–400,000 sqft; provides general merchandise and commodities (e.g., supermarket, discount department store)
- Neighborhood shopping center: open space; 3,000–125,000 sqft; provides commodities to nearby neighborhoods (e.g. drug store)
- Strip or convenience shopping center: open space; less than 30,000 sqft; located along suburban transportation arteries on shallow land parcels; a strip may be configured in a straight line, or have an "L" or "U" shape
- Lifestyle center: "Main Street" concept with pedestrian circulation in core and vehicular circulation along perimeter; upscale national chain specialty stores, dining or entertainment (e.g. The Grove, Los Angeles, CA; Americana at Brand, Glendale, CA)
Freestanding: any stand-alone retail structure that is not part of a complex
- Big box: freestanding category-dominant retailer; 50,000+ sqft (e.g. The Home Depot, Target, Walmart)
- Power center: among the largest types of retail properties; 3+ big box anchor stores; multiple large buildings with parking lot in front and loading in back; smaller retailers usually clustered in a community shopping center configuration
- Retail outlet: manufacturers' outlet stores; 50,000–400,000 sqft
- Pop-up retail: a retail location designed to only be in a location temporarily (e.g., a retail store that only opens during a holiday season)

Hotels

Special-purpose

Industrial

Industrial buildings are primarily used for the production and storage/distribution of goods, among other uses.^[6]

Manufacturing

Warehouse/distribution

Flex space

Tension fabric buildings

Infrastructure

Infrastructure buildings house equipment and facilities related to public infrastructure.

Composting
Desalination plant
Waste transfer
Power generation
Electric power distribution
Transmitter building
Dams
Pump house
Fake building

Institutional

Medical
Educational
- Academy
- Archive
- College
- Elementary schools
- Middle school
- Orphanage
- Secondary School
- School
- University
- Nursery school
  
  A mudhif near Lagash, Iraq
Civic
- Arena (or stadium)
- Library
- Mudhif: a traditional reed house made by the Madan people of Iraq
- Museum
- Observatory
- Community hall
  
  A monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
- Research institute
  - Think tank
Religious Facilities (Place of worship)
- Church
- Imambargah
- Monastery
- Mithraeum
- Shrine
- Synagogue
- Temple
- Pagoda
- Gurdwara
- Hindu temple
- Mosque
  
  Town hall of Aosta, Italy
Government
Military
- Arsenal
- Barracks
- Bunker
- Blockhouse
- Citadel
- Missile launch facility
  
  A spacepad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Transport
- Airport
- Bus station
- Metro (subway, underground) station
- Taxi station
- Railway station (or, primarily in US, Railroad station)
  - Signal box
- Lighthouse
- Shipyard
- Spaceport
- Hovercraft
- Passenger terminal
- Boathouse
- Parking garage
- Hangar
  
  A gym in Tatsuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Historical
- Communal oven
Other

Other

References

1 2 3 4 5 Schmidt, Robert (2018-11-25). "Types of Commercial Real Estate". PropertyMetrics. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
↑ Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Office Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 27–31.
1 2 "CoStar Building Rating System" (PDF). CoStar.
↑ Kugler, Thomas. "Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International". Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
↑ Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Retail Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 32–36.
↑ Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Industrial Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 21–26.

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[:3-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Schmidt, Robert (2018-11-25). "Types of Commercial Real Estate". PropertyMetrics. Retrieved 2018-11-25.

[:1-2] Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Office Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 27–31.

[:4-3] 1 2 "CoStar Building Rating System" (PDF). CoStar.

[4] Kugler, Thomas. "Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International". Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International. Retrieved 2018-11-25.

[:2-5] Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Retail Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 32–36.

[:0-6] Sicola, Maria (March 2017). "Industrial Terminology". Commercial Real Estate Terms and Definitions (PDF). The NAIOP Research Foundation. pp. 21–26.

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