I came across this book from the 30's on house designs. Thought you might find it inspirational: http://archive.org/details/distributionPlanBookstyleA

Haven't downloaded it yet, but I would guess that pretty much every house built between 1920 and 1939 is represented. Cape Cods, Craftsman houses, colonials, etc. Wannabe home-owners could buy books like this, choose a floorplan they liked, and order the blueprints to send to the zoning folks and give to the builders. Builders would often buy a few sets of blueprints, then do a whole housing development on the same 2 or 3 floorplans, changing things like the shape of the porch roof or whatever to make it look like they had more variety. There are about ten blocks of houses in Oakwood, Ohio (a suburb of Dayton) built in the 1920s, that all use the same 2-story Colonial plan with the porch on the side. My house, built in 1932 uses the same plan, so I'm intimately familiar with it. There were 2 or three variations on the roofline to keep it from looking too "cookie-cutter." Full gable, semi-hip, fake Dutch Colonial, etc. My guess is all the options are shown in this book. More than you wanted to know, I bet, but if you've ever shopped for an older home and wondered why several basic types appear over and over again all over the country, now you know.

- Paul

And here are some incredible antique plates from the 1860's--extraordinary house designs http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/20 ... 1860s.html

Some Sears houses 1921, 1922 and 1938 for inspiration perhaps. http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/20 ... house.html