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In our last post, we discussed condominiums, as a form of ownership, not a building style, which left unanswered the question of what are the common forms of residences and what do they look like. Chesapeake Bay homes come in several distinct types that are categorized as follows:

Let’s start with the most popular, the single family home, a detached dwelling on any size lot or acreage. 

The second category is multiple or connected dwellings, generally connected on one or both sides resulting in a duplex, triplex or quadruplex building.

Villa – A one-story unit, it may have a partial story or loft up.
Townhouse – Two to three full stories, the ground level usually contains a garage with an additional room.
Patio Home – A hybrid combination of connected villa style houses, with a deeded obligation to pay for outside maintenance, that is provided by the developer or a community organization.

The remaining category covers buildings containing “apartment”* style living units on one or more levels.

Garden Style –  A two or three story rectangular building with individual living spaces on one level.  Garden style units generally include a substantial amount of open landscaped ground.
Mid Rise** – A four to eight story building with individual dwelling units on one level. New midrise buildings often   reserve the top stories for multi level penthouses.

High Rise** – Any building between 8 and 40 stories is considered a high rise.  Buildings taller than 40 levels are classified as Skyscrapers. 

*The word apartment is another confusing name like condominium. The original apartments, dating back to the 16th century were called flats, a separate unit of a suite of rooms in a communal residential building. Later on in the middle 1800’s, this living style became popular in high-density areas of Europe and Great Britain. From the very beginning, the flat was owned along with shared rights of the common areas. Later on, renting and leasing became popular and nowadays, we associate apartments with rental use, rather than ownership.  In summary, the word apartment relates to common or shared living in a singular building.

**These are generally accepted definitions used to describe Chesapeake Bay properties; however, architects, urban planners and city building authorities all have their own formulas or guidelines to categorize the structures. For instance, mid rise building sizes may be subject to ratios of the street width to the building height. The difference between a high rise and a skyscraper is determined by the influence of winds and evacuation time during a fire.