README.md

---
license:
  - cc0-1.0
  - cc-by-4.0
  - cc-by-sa-4.0
task_categories:
  - image-classification
tags:
  - architecture
  - buildings
  - art-history
  - clip-embeddings
  - brutalism
size_categories:
  - 1K<n<10K
pretty_name: Architectural Styles Dataset (Curated and Extended)
---

# Architectural Styles Dataset (Curated and Extended)

## Dataset Summary

A curated and extended version of [dumitrux's Architectural Styles Dataset](https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/dumitrux/architectural-styles-dataset). The original dataset covered 25 architectural styles; 630 images were removed by automated filters (duplicates, low-resolution), leaving 9,483 images. A 26th class, Brutalism, was added from 284 manually curated Wikimedia Commons photographs, bringing the total to **9,767 images across 26 classes**.

Intended use: training and evaluating image classifiers that predict the architectural style of buildings from exterior photographs.

## Supported Tasks

- **Image Classification** (`multi-class-image-classification`): predict one of 26 architectural style labels from a building photograph.

## Dataset Structure

### Data Instances

Each instance is a JPEG or PNG photograph of a building, assigned a single architectural style label. Images vary in resolution (minimum 224 px on the short side) and aspect ratio.

### Data Fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `image` | Image | Building photograph |
| `label` | string | Architectural style class name (one of 26) |
| `split` | string | `train`, `val`, or `test` |

### Classes

26 architectural styles:

| Class | Approx. images |
|---|---|
| Achaemenid architecture | 362 |
| American craftsman style | 337 |
| American Foursquare architecture | 348 |
| Ancient Egyptian architecture | 349 |
| Art Deco architecture | 548 |
| Art Nouveau architecture | 595 |
| Baroque architecture | 431 |
| Bauhaus architecture | 294 |
| Beaux-Arts architecture | 401 |
| Brutalism architecture | 284 |
| Byzantine architecture | 295 |
| Chicago school architecture | 260 |
| Colonial architecture | 446 |
| Deconstructivism | 290 |
| Edwardian architecture | 268 |
| Georgian architecture | 348 |
| Gothic architecture | 307 |
| Greek Revival architecture | 503 |
| International style | 387 |
| Novelty architecture | 350 |
| Palladian architecture | 318 |
| Postmodern architecture | 308 |
| Queen Anne architecture | 708 |
| Romanesque architecture | 285 |
| Russian Revival architecture | 318 |
| Tudor Revival architecture | 427 |

### Data Splits

Stratified 70/15/15 train/val/test split, fixed seed 42, applied jointly across all 26 classes.

| Split | Images |
|---|---|
| train | 6,822 |
| val | 1,456 |
| test | 1,489 |
| **total** | **9,767** |

## Dataset Creation

### Curation Rationale

The original Kaggle dataset contained duplicates and low-resolution images unsuitable for training CLIP-based classifiers (minimum input size 224 px). Brutalism was added because it is a visually distinctive style absent from the original 25 classes, and high-quality labelled images were available from Wikimedia Commons.

### Source Data

**Original 25 classes:**
- Danci, Marian Dumitru/dumitrux. (n.d.). *Architectural Styles Dataset* [Data set]. Kaggle. https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/dumitrux/architectural-styles-dataset
- Downloaded: 2026-05-05 · Curated: 2026-05-07

**Brutalism class:**
- Source: Wikimedia Commons, MediaWiki API
- Scraped across 40 country-level categories (e.g. "Brutalist architecture in the United Kingdom") with subcategory recursion up to depth 2
- Scraped & downloaded: 2026-05-08 · Curated: 2026-05-09

### Curation Process — Original 25 Classes

- **Automated filters:** corrupt files; minimum dimension < 224 px; perceptual-hash duplicates (Hamming distance < 5)
- **Manual review:** stratified random sample of 10 images per class; no further images removed
- **Result:** 630 images removed from the original 10,113, leaving 9,483 images

### Curation Process — Brutalism Class

All 950 downloaded images were reviewed individually. An image was kept only if it showed the exterior of a Brutalist building as the primary subject, was a real photograph (not a render or drawing), had no severe obstructions, and had sufficient resolution and framing for style classification.

| Decision | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| Kept | 284 | 29.9 % |
| Rejected | 666 | 70.1 % |

**Rejection breakdown:**

| Reason | Count | % of rejected |
|---|---|---|
| other | 223 | 33.5 % |
| partial\_or\_detail | 157 | 23.6 % |
| obstructed | 151 | 22.7 % |
| low\_quality | 67 | 10.1 % |
| duplicate\_building | 31 | 4.7 % |
| interior\_uninformative | 22 | 3.3 % |
| not\_brutalism | 13 | 2.0 % |
| not\_a\_photograph | 2 | 0.3 % |

"other" covers heavily post-processed images, composites, and signage-dominated shots.

### Leakage Remediation

Nearest-neighbour analysis on CLIP ViT-B/32 embeddings identified building-level duplicates split across train and test in the Ancient Egyptian and Novelty classes. Splits were regenerated after remediation; reported F1 for these classes may still be slightly optimistic.

## Considerations for Using the Data

### Geographic and Temporal Bias

- The original 25 classes are heavily Western and European; the Brutalism extension spans 40 countries but remains biased toward countries with strong Wikimedia Commons representation.
- The dataset is predominantly pre-1980. Parametricism and Metabolism are absent.

### Known Limitations

- Manual review of the original 25 classes was sample-based (10 images per class), not exhaustive.
- The Brutalism class (284 images) is smaller than most original classes; performance on this class may be sensitive to distribution shift.
- The model is trained on exterior photographs; performance on interiors, renders, and architectural drawings is undefined.

### Sensitive Content

No personally identifiable information. Images are of buildings, not people.

## Additional Information

### Licensing

- **Original 25 classes:** CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
- **Brutalism class:** mixed free licences (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA) inherited from Wikimedia Commons contributors. Per-image licence information is recorded in the accompanying [`brutalism_downloaded.jsonl`](brutalism_downloaded.jsonl) manifest. Downstream use must comply with the applicable per-image licence.

### Citation

If you use the original Kaggle dataset, please cite:

```
Danci, Marian Dumitru/dumitrux. (n.d.). Architectural Styles Dataset [Data set]. Kaggle.
https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/dumitrux/architectural-styles-dataset
```