It's relative to the rest of the housing. In some towns, your 1860s house would be middle-aged because there are houses built in the 1600s and 1700s.

For me a house has to be at least 100 years old to be considered "old". (this coming from a homeowner of a 100+ year old home) Crown moldings, beautiful wood trim and floors. Built ins, etc. The workmanship that went into an old house. It all adds up to the warmth and history of a house makes me love them all the more. I just don't get that from "newer" houses. NancyLouise

I would pose the question to a historical society, who could then access the relevance to the existing areas architecture, because, after all, there are new or modern
homes which are required to maintain architectural compliance.
Also, historical, will usually contain an additional defining adjective.
From a real-estate perspective, 50yrs. is the life expectancy for the purposes of market appraisal.

I think with this forum (and others I've been on) the idea was to have a place for anyone who wants to remain true to the era of their house - whether ancient or on up into Midcentury Modern, which would put the dividing line at around 50 years. Even though those houses use more modern building methods they still have "old" esthetics and quality of workmanship that some people appreciate (not all - there's a discussion in the house buying forum about whether to save or remove brown bathroom fixtures in excellent condition from the 70s.... um, that's 1970s, not 1870s!)

I suppose in 20-30 years people will be nostalgic for 1990s style and quality - although that's really hard to imagine that right now - are we going to be discussing how to preserve and restore white laminate kitchens with oak edging .

This post was edited by kashka_kat on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 11:43

People I see on some of those hgtv house shopping shows think 10 years is old!I
I agree with kaska kat.
My house was built in the 1920s and is rather plain and not yet 100 years old. But it has plaster walls and 4 (count 'em) porches. Show me a new house with that! And it was built with passive solar in mind - larger windows and living spaces face south, (original) bedrooms on the north. Porches on the east and west. The more recent built homes often are not built for where they are situated.
We believe this is worth preserving! That is why I come to this forum.
Kathy

"how old does a house have to be to be considered an "old house?"

Sheesh... kind of like asking, "How old does a person need to be to be considered "old?"

"Sheesh... kind of like asking, "How old does a person need to be to be considered "old?""

That's easy-- older than me! (AKA older than dirt)

I'd put the "old house" dividing line at 1941 for the US--which means realistically 1931, because not much was built in that decade. Earlier than that most houses were build by skilled craftspeople with the intention that they would last a long time, after WWII, not so much.

I'm with rwirgand...anything older than about 1945 for us/canada. I feel it was in the 50's when houses started to be built with speed in mind, building massive and cheap subdivisions featuring cheap mouldings etc.

I'm with rwirgand...anything older than about 1945 for us/canada. I feel it was in the 50's when houses started to be built with speed in mind, building massive and cheap subdivisions featuring cheap mouldings etc.

My house was built in 1880 on a working farm. It doesn't have " Crown moldings, beautiful wood trim and floors. Built ins, etc. The workmanship that went into an old house." It's a plain farm house that's sheltered a few families through thick and thin. I suspect a LOT of thin. It's still standing. It hasn't been remuddled even though there isn't much here to remuddle. I don't have any fancy wood in the whole place. I have electricity and indoor plumbing. What more do I need?

" I have electricity and indoor plumbing. What more do I need?"

256 Cable Channels? lol

256 Cable Channels?

Not in a million years!!

1945 may be a good definition of old, but I still think that we should welcome anyone who is trying to preserve a nice house that is 50 yr old, like the mid century homes.
Kathy

For the purposes of nominating to the NRHP, 50 years of age is the minimum. If listed on the national register, certain tax benefits can incur.
Casey

Call me obsessive but I'd ask if the walls are sheet rock/dry wall/wall board or not. If not, the house could be old.

Then - is it overbuilt? Then it's old.

I had a vintage 1980 house that used all the modern methods, minimizing materials, etc. It was decently built but we sold it in '86. Then I moved to a 1972 house that was built to self destruct in 20 years and OMG it was trying so hard! By now even the supposedly permanently finished aluminum siding has been painted (so says google earth.)

I still wonder if the 1980 one is holding up better than the '72 one - did it need as much work to keep it alive? (The vinyl siding hasn't been painted.) That would probably have to make a change to my "overbuilt" criterion. So now it's all back down to the plaster.

The '72 is 42 years old now. In 8 years, by what people say here, it can be called "old." It still won't have any of the attributes for which we value old houses. As I work to restore my present 100 year old windows I can confidently say I wouldn't hesitate to replace the 42 year old ones. This all brings it back to the overbuilding, no matter how many crazy hipster kids are fascinated by the '70's. (Shiver.)

I say it's the attributes, not the numbers.

I was going to write the same thing as rwiegand! I consider an "old house" or "vintage house" anything prior to 1940! As a lover of old homes, I only have considered homes from the 1800s-1930s. After WWII, there was a huge demand in low cost housing and houses were 'thrown up' very quickly and cheaply. Houses from the pre-1800's to 1930's were built with quality and craftsmanship. Also at this time was the baby boom and families moved to the suburbs. Many single floor, ranch home neighborhoods became desired and were considered affluent.

A house built in 1972 IS OLD....but to me, their is a distinction between OLD and Vintage. :-)

Our house was built in 1940 (and remodeled and expanded in 2000). It always had Sheetrock walls.

My parents' house was built in 1962. It had lath and plaster walls.

There was a period at least a generation when these two techniques overlapped.

Folly

The historical buildings society in our state requires a building to be 50 years old to be considered.

Was a funny quote from a representative of that organization when the city was demolishing a BUTT UGLY stadium from 1970's... that because the building wasn't at least 50 years old it didn't qualify -- and she was so relieved she didn't have to try to defend preserving it!

On the other hand, same organization is doing a Mid Century house tour now.

Hey RWiegand: that last name isn't too common... perhaps we have some common ancestors.

I think you can PM me from my profile page if you want to try to find out.

IMHO...50 years is older, 100 years is old...and 150 years is really old! Of course, in Washington state, we don't have a lot of really old houses :)

Hmm, I consider my 1942 farmhouse to be old! It has plaster walls, original windows that don't even open, and a coal chute!