Here's a name for an otherwise hard-to-classify architectural style:
Madeiterranean. I call it that because there was an enclave full of these houses, where most of the homeowners were
alleged "made men", just across the city line from my childhood neighborhood
The Madeiterranean style seemed to emerge in the 1960s. It was most popular at the fringes of New York City's outer boroughs, but it was also a staple in some move-up northern suburbs of
Buffalo. Early examples have a simple rectangular form, facades of pink or yellow brick, low pitched hip roofs with large eaves, palladian windows or trim on the front facade, and "fancy" two-story entry foyers that often have circular staircases. Here's a few examples from suburban Buffalo.
Madeiterranean dupleses.
The trademark foyer 𝓭'𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮.
It's easy to find Made-iterranean time capsules on real estate Web sites.
Outside of the NYC area, the Madeiterranean style seemed to peak between 1965 and 1985, but it didn't completely die off in the following decades. The style became even more popular in NYC's outer boroughs, though, especially on Staten Island. Today's Made-iterranean houses are far more in-your-face, but they still have many traits of the originals.
An example of low-rent Madeiterranean houses, in Queens (
Rafael Herrin-Ferri)
The Madeiterranean style is an example of
ethnotecture, another term I just made up, to describe out-of-character vernacular architectural styles that are popular among specific immigrant or ethnic groups in a region or country. Other American ethnotectural styles include the
Bukharan houses of Queens, a close cousin of the Madeiterranean style; and the
Persian Palaces of Beverly Hills, California.