What Is Considered An Antique House?

Just because a house or item is old does not mean you could call it an antique. There need to be other qualifiers that factor in as well.

Maybe your house is old but not old enough, making it just another house on the block. Perhaps it is a newer house that was built with an antique style.

What Is an Antique?

Let us start by first understanding the dictionary definition of an antique.

According to Merriam-Webster, an antique is an item that is representative of the fashion and style of an earlier period. It was also created in that same era and is considered to be at least one century old.

Something is usually considered an antique not only because of its age but also because of its beauty, condition, rarity, personal emotional connection, and historical significance.

That definition seems pretty straightforward. So straightforward that the United States Customs Service also shares this view, stating that an antique is something that is at least 100 years old.

So, by these standards, an antique home should at the very least be a century old.

While houses that old, rare, and beautiful, defining your house as an antique is a little more complicated. Other factors are involved, and we'll delve into some additional factors further along.  

Before getting into specifics about what makes an old home an antique one, let us discuss some common terminology.

There are often items that are confused or conflated as antique when according to the standards set forth by the dictionary and the government, they would be qualified as something else entirely.

The term “vintage” gets thrown around a lot as an acceptable substitute for describing something that is actually an antique.

So, what does it take for something to be considered vintage, and how is it different from an antique?

What Is Vintage?

The term “vintage” was initially used about bottles of wine and was later co-opted and used as a more general term to describe anything less than a quarter century old or has come back into fashion.

It generally describes items or clothing styles from the 1950s to the 1970s, but not always.

For example, bell bottoms would be considered vintage but not antique.

What Is Retro?

The prefix is from the word “retrograde” or “retroactive” and means “backward” in Latin.

“Retro” is sometimes used interchangeably with “vintage” and is sometimes confused with an antique. Retro describes something that is fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned.

So, the key difference here is that vintage items were produced in the era they represent. Something is retro if it was made to replicate an item from a different era for nostalgic purposes.

For example, if a bed frame is brand new but resembles a style from the 1930s, it would be considered retro because it only represents that period instead of being built in it.

Installing a shag carpet in any home nowadays would be considered a retro move. Wearing bell bottoms from the 1970s in a room with a new shag carpet means that you are wearing vintage pants while standing in a retro room, even if the house is considered an antique.

Is Your House an Antique?

If you have determined that your house is more than a century old, you still need to check off a few more boxes before proclaiming that it is an antique and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

Countless houses and buildings are over a century old, but most have been extensively remodeled.

Some have been converted into businesses that would often require internal remodeling and structure reinforcements, bringing into question the original structure's integrity as an antique house.