Architectural Styles in Los Angeles

Look out for examples of the following architectural styles in Los Angeles:

Programmatic Architecture (1925-1935) – roadside structures shaped like a product they sold (ice-cream cones, donuts, hotdogs, chili bowls, coffee pots, milk cans, oranges, tamales, shoes, igloos, wigwams, windmills, owls, pigs, toads, dogs) = “California Crazy”

  • Spanish Colonial
  • Monterey
  • Georgian
  • Greek Revival
  • Italianate
  • Gothic Revival
  • Stick Style
  • Second Empire
  • Eastlake
  • Queen Anne
  • Chateauesque
  • Egyptian Revival
  • Mission Revival
  • Shingle
  • Colonial Revival
  • Tudor Revival
  • Spanish Colonial Revival (1915-1940)
  • Beaux-Arts (1890-1920s)
  • Bungalow (1890-1930)
  • Craftsman (1890-1920)
  • Prairie
  • Art Deco
  • Moderne
  • International Style (1920-1950)
  • Case Study Houses

Googie Architecture (1950s)
– named after an establishment in West Hollywood called Googie’s, designed by architect John Lautner in 1949, that epitomized mid-century coffee-shop style

Armet & Davis was the architectural firm known for working in the Googie architecture style that marks many distinctive coffee shops and eateries in Southern California. The firm designed the first Norm’s Restaurant, the Holiday Bowl and many other iconic locations.