The American Foursquare

The American Foursquare house, as featured on Marquette's Champion Street.

This housing style was popular from the mid-1890s on until around 1940. It is typified by a boxy design, a front-facing dormer window, and a hipped roof (in the Upper Peninsula, the roof is pitched much more steeply due to the snowy climate). The square design maximizes the use of a small city lot.

Many of these houses could be ordered by mail from catalogues such as Sears and Roebucks. They were delivered by train and came ready to build, for a cheap price.