Defining Characteristics of Architectural Designs by Ralph Raver AIA

• Typical low pitched roofline is 1:12
• Maximum eave height of 11 or 12 feet in most single-story homes
• Homes may be split-level but not typically "two storied"
• Red brick construction and plaster walls in early work
• Superlite concrete masonry unit construction (aka CMU or cinderblock) from mid-1950s onward
• Slump block construction in later works
• Hearths without mantles, opening flush to wall
• Red brick patio laid in herringbone or basketweave pattern (more common in custom homes)
• Clinker-brick wainscoting
• Superlite Shado-Wal brand wainscoting
• Board and batten treatment above brick wainscoting
• Slot windows
• Main gable beam juts out beyond eave, angled somewhat Polynesian style
• Massive rectangular chimney volume, sometimes surrounded by glass on one or both sides
• Floor-to-ceiling windows
• Narrow bands of windows between eaves immediately beneath the roofline
• Windows that meet at key corners of the home to keep views uninterrupted
• Clerestory windows of trapezoidal shape
• Corner-to-corner windows
• Round steel posts support window-walls
• Block walls that divide space inside the home, but do not reach to full ceiling height
• Pigment-impregnated concrete floor surface of yellow ochre or burgundy
• Casement (crank) windows in early work
• Load-bearing walls that extend three or four feet beyond an exterior wall, typically placed for privacy or shade
• Circle-in-square Superlite masonry for brise-soleils or interior dividing walls (aka "Haver Block")
• Wooden patio-port structure with trademark offset grid trellis-like pattern
• Tapered carport posts, porch posts or entryway posts
• Redwood posts and beams in custom homes
• Fenestrated block walls with planned voids of block missing to create simple and effective decoration
• Light Mediterranean design influence in apartment and condominium design from 1960 onward

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