What is a Territorial Style Home?
A Territorial style home is a type of adobe house that is classic to the American Southwest. Territorial style homes are especially associated with New Mexico. The Territorial style is considered to be a blend of Pueblo and Victorian styles. European settlers in the 1800s combined traditional Pueblo architectural elements with their familiar Victorian design styles to form the Territorial style. Territorial style homes have traditional Pueblo features such as the use of adobe. Adobe is a natural building material made of sun-dried clay and straw bricks. Territorial adobe homes also have the Pueblo style flat roof and vigas, which are wooden beams. Viga ends are usually exposed on the exterior of a Territorial style home. Pueblo style adobe homes generally don’t have as much wood showing on the exterior. Wooden posts, or portales, add support to Territorial porches. Many of these portales are also decorative and feature wood turning techniques. Unlike the characteristically unadorned, s
