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A split-level home (sometimes called a tri-level home) is a style of house in which the floor levels are staggered. There are typically two short sets of stairs, one running upward to a bedroom level, and one going downward toward a basement area.
The style gained popularity in North America during the mid-20th century, as the suburbs expanded, beginning in the years after World War II, and has remained a popular housing style from the 1950s onward. [1]
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| Sidesplit | A sidesplit is a split-level home configuration where the multiple levels are visible from the front elevation. Typically, the garage is on one side of the house and there is a floor above the garage housing the bedrooms. The other half of the house is the main living area, part of a story above the garage level and part of a story below the bedroom level. Grading or steps connect the exterior street to the front door on the main level. The advantage of sidesplits (and its closely related backsplit) is that it separates bedrooms from living space without the need for a full flight of stairs. It is less land-efficient than a two-story house but more efficient than a bungalow. Most sidesplits have a crawl space that is half the size of the house such that the foundation is the same for both halves of the "split" house. Some others may have a split foundation with a full basement below even the lower main living area. |  |
| Backsplit | A backsplit is where the split level is only visible from the side elevation. The front elevation shows only a single story and the two stories are in the back. |  |
| Bi-level | A bi-level includes two short sets of stairs and two levels. [2] The entry is between floors. The front door opens to a landing. One short flight of stairs leads up to the top floor; another short flight of stairs leads down. The top floor tends to be full height ceilings with the living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms. The lower floor often has lower ceilings and is partially below ground. However, in many modern split-foyer homes, the lower level is at grade, which necessitates an outdoor staircase to reach the front door. These homes often have very high ceilings on the lower level to accommodate the home's HVAC ducting. A modified bilevel home has a garage attached at the front of the bilevel, not under it. The front entry is larger with room for groups of people to enter and a closet. (This change addresses the major complaint about the cramped front entry space.) The garage entry also opens into the front entry. The modification is the addition of another level above the garage using a third short flight of steps going up from the great room area to additional bedrooms or a master bedroom with en suite. |  |
| Stacked split level | The stacked split level has four or five short sets of stairs, and five or six levels. The entry is on a middle floor between two levels. The front door opens into a foyer, and two short sets of stairs typically lead down to a basement and up to a living area (often the kitchen or the living room). Another short set of stairs typically leads to at least one bedroom, located on top of the first living area. Often additional bedrooms are "stacked" on top of the second living area, hence the name "stacked split level". This type of construction is typically used for townhouses. | |
| Split entry | The split entry has two short sets of stairs (usually five or six steps per stairway) and is a one level improvement with a basement. The entry is "between" the floors. Per FNMA/FHLMC regulations the lower level is defined as a basement even if finished. Usually the basement level is "walk out". A split entry has a different look than a raised ranch from the outside as the front entry door lines up to the front windows differently. A variation of the split entry is called the "front to back split" in which there are two upper levels.[ citation needed ] | |
| Raised ranch | The raised ranch includes a basement on the bottom and a "full set of stairs" (a full flight of stairs, usually 12 or 13) which leads to the first level. A raised ranch has a different look on the front than a split-entry as the front door lines up to the front windows differently. The front door entry is predominately at the lower floor. The top floor per FNMA/FHLMC is the living area and the lower floor is the basement, even if finished. |  |
The split level has two or three short sets of stairs, and three (tri-level) or four (quad) levels. The entry is on a middle floor between two floors. The front door opens directly into what is usually the formal living area, which is typically partially above ground level. Below that may be a small crawl space. The lower level is a finished area partially underground (approximately three feet below grade) and must have an outside entry door. Above the lower level are bedrooms. Sometimes a short flight above the bedroom floor is another single bedroom. Above that is typically an attic accessed by either another flight of stairs or an opening placed high in a closet. A typical tri-level appears to be a lowered colonial on one side of the house and a ranch on the other side with a crawl space below the ranch. A typical quad-level appears to be a lowered colonial on one side of the house and a ranch on the other side with a basement below the ranch.
In some regions, such as the Northeastern United States, the term "split level" can be used to refer to a bi-level house with a split entry. This style of house is also known as a "split foyer". This is a two-story house that has a small entrance foyer with stairs that "split"—part of a flight of stairs go up (usually to the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms) and part of a flight of stairs go down (usually to a family room and garage/storage area). [3]
Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles.
An apartment, flat, or unit is a self-contained housing unit that occupies part of a building, generally on a single storey. There are many names for these overall buildings. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium, to tenants renting from a private landlord.
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is single-storey, sometimes with a smaller upper storey set in the roof and windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system are located; so also are amenities such as the electrical system and cable television distribution point. In cities with high property prices, such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard and used as living space.
Ranch is a domestic architectural style that originated in the United States. The ranch-style house is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile, and wide open layout. The style fused modernist ideas and styles with notions of the American Western period of wide open spaces to create a very informal and casual living style. While the original ranch style was informal and basic in design, ranch-style houses built in the United States from around the early 1960s increasingly had more dramatic features such as varying roof lines, cathedral ceilings, sunken living rooms, and extensive landscaping and grounds.
The American Foursquare is an American house vernacular under the Arts and Crafts style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was plain, often incorporating handcrafted "honest" woodwork. This architectural vernacular incorporates elements of the Prairie School and the Craftsman styles. It is also sometimes called Transitional Period.
Multifamily residential, also known as multidwelling unit (MDU)) is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can be next to each other (side-by-side units), or stacked on top of each other (top and bottom units). Common forms include apartment building and condominium, where typically the units are owned individually rather than leased from a single building owner. Many intentional communities incorporate multifamily residences, such as in cohousing projects.
Regent Theatre was a heritage-listed cinema at 167 Queen Street, Brisbane, Australia. It was designed by Richard Gailey, Charles N Hollinshed and Aaron Bolot and built from 1928 to 1929 by J & E L Rees and A J Dickenson. It was one of the original Hoyts' Picture Palaces from the 1920s. It is also known as Regent Building. The auditorium interior was largely lost when it was converted into a 4 screen complex in 1979–1980, but the building, including the surviving entrance and main foyer, was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill or bank, the upper and the lower floors could be accessed from ground level, one area at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. The second level of a bank barn could also be accessed from a ramp if a hill was unavailable.
A splanch is a type of single-family home that was popular in the New York metropolitan area from the 1950s through the 1970s. The name is a fusion of split level home and ranch, two architectural styles that influenced the design.
The Nathan B. Devereaux Octagon House is an historic octagonal house located at 66425 Eight Mile Road in Northfield Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan. The house is one of only three extant octagonal houses in Washtenaw County, and remains in excellent and near original condition. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
A storey or story, is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people. Plurals for the word are storeys (UK) and stories (US).
The Nifty Theatre in Waterville, Washington is a small movie theater. The 1919 frame building features Mission Style detailing, and seats just under 300. The theater ceased operations in 1959 and had been used as a storage building until 1997, when new owners restored the theater for community use.
The Suntop Homes, also known under the early name of The Ardmore Experiment, were quadruple residences located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and based largely upon the 1935 conceptual Broadacre City model of the minimum houses. The design was commissioned by Otto Tod Mallery of the Tod Company in 1938 in an attempt to set a new standard for the entry-level housing market in the United States and to increase single-family dwelling density in the suburbs. In cooperation with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Tod Company secured a patent for the unique design, intending to sell development rights for Suntops across the country.
The Gregor S. and Elizabeth B. Affleck House, also known as the Affleck House, is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in Metro Detroit. It is one of only about 25 pre-World War II Usonians to be built. It is owned by Lawrence Technological University. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 3, 1985.
The Wyandotte Odd Fellows Temple is a community building located at 81 Chestnut Street in Wyandotte, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. As of 2010, the building serves as the Wyandotte Arts Center.
The Rensselaer Carnegie Library in Rensselaer, Indiana is a building from 1905. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The building no longer functions as a library; since 1992 it houses the Prairie Arts Council, a local performing arts organization.
M10 is a type of a residential panel building in East Germany. The M stands for Magdeburg where they have been built since the early 1970s.
Pyrmont Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office and now bank branch office located at 148 Harris Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by the Government Architect’s Office under Walter Liberty Vernon. The property is owned by Australia Post, an agency of the Commonwealth Government of Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004 and to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 December 2000.
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