While driving through neighborhoods you easily can see that every home has a style. In many cases a home may have more than one style. Sometimes it very difficult to categorize a home. Due to updates, past owners taste differences, needed upgrades, and necessary remodels, a cookie cutter home can develop its own unique style and may not fit into a particular style.
I am for certain not an expert on architecture, and I have several personal favorite styles I prefer just due to the unique lines, but it sometimes does hurt a little when I see a true Colonial Home being classified as a Contemporary Home, or a true Shotgun Home being categorized as a Bungalow.
A Colonial Home is a more symmetrical and rectangular Home where most of the features are balanced from one end to the other. An example would be having the door in the middle with an equal amount of windows on each side. The main living quarters are on the lower level and bedrooms are on the upper level.
On the other hand, a Contemporary Home many times will not have a true balanced look. Windows may have different sizes but the same general style. Sometimes it features bold geometric shapes, asymmetrical facades, and floor plans with the emphasis and direct connection between indoors and outdoor living space.
Certain styles of architecture are more known in some areas than others. When you hear people speaking about the art deco style, many think immediately of Southbeach, Florida. This style of building was very popular more with commercial builders rather than with residential builders.
Some areas have certain styles that are more prevalent in certain areas than others. You can find the Pueblo Style Home more in the Southwest like Arizona and New Mexico and a Cape Cod Style home along some of the costal line like Florida.
It does not mean that some of those style homes are not found in other areas. A portion of these building styles may have been incorporated into another building style.
Can you see how identifying which style a home is could be a bit tricky? I personally also need cut a little slack and overlook how they categorize some homes.