Although American Colonial architecture encompasses a variety of styles, ranging from French Colonial to Georgian , it always involves sophisticated exteriors. Typically built from wood, stone, and brick, they often boast features like prominent chimneys, wraparound porches , and plenty of windows to let in light. It’s hard to take your eyes off these examples of traditional American homes that seem to capture the beauty of simpler times. This type of structure can be found across the United States, but it is particularly popular on the East Coast , where it originated. We leafed through the AD archives to find our favorite Colonial-style exteriors to provide you with some inspiration. From a sun-soaked Nantucket retreat to a magnificent Hamptons mansion, these 7 homes have a classic all-American look.

The rear façade of a sprawling Colonial Revival house in Greenwich, Connecticut.

This Long Island, New York, neo-Colonial mansion was designed by Thorndike Williams and Andrew Giambertone of Kean Williams Giambertone for a couple who wanted to create a stylish but welcoming home just outside the village of Oyster Bay Cove.

Architect Rebecca Rasmussen was commissioned to build this 30-room, 13-bath Colonial-style home at Stonewall Farm, a 750-acre working horse farm in New York’s Westchester County.

A couple commissioned Botticelli Pohl Architects to create their seaside retreat in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The exterior’s Colonial simplicity reflects the island’s sense of place.

Built as a stagecoach inn, this 1833 clapboard Colonial in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was later used as a retreat for underprivileged children. Textile designer and weaver Sam Kasten now lives there with his wife, Jane, and their family.

This Colonial Revival house in Southampton, New York, was built in the early 1900s.

Cove End was Brooke Astor's Colonial Revival residence on Mount Desert Island in Maine.