According to Chinese American scholar Him Mark Lai, overseas Chinese, being influenced by American architecture, came back to build a series of structures that combined Western and Chinese influences. Typically, the front half was a blue-gray brick western style building with a flat roof one or two storeys high, while the back half retained the traditional design of an "A" shaped roof composed of fir wood and bricks.
根據美籍華裔學者麥禮謙描寫，華僑受美式建築影響，回鄉後蓋起一棟棟華洋結合式的洋樓：前半是一層至二層高度的平頂青磚洋樓，後半卻保存中國「金」字形杉瓦結構的屋頂。