Contemporary Home Plans

The Contemporary style appeared in architect-designed homes of the fifties, sixties, and early seventies. Examples of Contemporary style homes from popular culture range from the "Monsanto House of the Future" at Disneyland of 1956 to the sitcom home of "The Brady Bunch," which ran on television from 1969 to 1973. Common characteristics include simple, clean lines with large windows devoid of decorative trim, flat or gabled roofs, asymmetrical shapes, and open floor plans. Contemporary exteriors are usually stucco, stone, brick or wood. The flat-roofed variations resemble International Style homes but lack the latter's stark white surfaces.

Some Contemporary style home designs showcase natural materials and emphasize easy indoor-outdoor connections. In its broadest definition, contemporary simply means "of today." The Contemporary house style overlaps with the Modern home style but is less strictly tied to roots in the Bauhaus and the International Style.