The term
Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of
architectural styleArchitectural styles classify architecture in terms of form, techniques, materials, time period, region, etc. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture. In architectural history, the study of Gothic architecture, for instance, would include all...
s predominantly employed during the
Victorian eraThe Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements...
. As with the latter, the period of building that it covers may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria after whom it is named.
Styles conceived in the Victorian era
- British Arts and Crafts movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, Australian, and American aesthetic movement occurring in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century...
- Industrial architecture
- Painted Ladies
Painted Ladies is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted...
- Queen Anne (Stick-Eastlake)
The Queen Anne Style is a furniture and decoration style that reached its greatest popularity in the last quarter of the 19th century, manifesting itself in a number of different ways in different countries...
- Second Empire
In the United States, the Second Empire style usually combined a rectangular tower, or similar element, with a steep, but short, mansard roof; the roof being the most noteworthy link to the style’s French roots. This tower element could be of equal height as the highest floor, or could exceed the...
- Jacobethan
Jacobethan is the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the English Revival style made popular from the 1830s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance , with elements of Elizabethan and Jacobean.-As architectural term:Its main...
(the precursor to the Queen AnneThe Queen Anne Style is a furniture and decoration style that reached its greatest popularity in the last quarter of the 19th century, manifesting itself in a number of different ways in different countries...
style)
- Neo-Grec
Neo-Grec is a term referring to late manifestations of Neoclassicism, early Neo-Renaissance now called the Greek Revival style, which was popularized in architecture, the decorative arts, and in painting during France's Second Empire, or the reign of Napoleon III, a period that lasted...
- Renaissance Revival
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing style designation that covers many aspects of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
- Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed in the late 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque style of architecture. Popular features of these revival buildings are round arches, semi-circular arches on windows, and belt courses...
(includes Richardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston...
)
Other movements popularized in the period
While not uniquely Victorian, and part of revivals that began before the era, these styles are strongly associated with the Victorian era due to the large number of examples that were erected in that period
- Gothic Revival
- Italianate
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct nineteenth-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of sixteenth-century Italian architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
- Neoclassicism
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque...
Examples of Victorian architecture
There are also Folk and Shingle Style Victorian houses. The names of architectural styles (as well as their adaptations) varied between countries. Many homes combined the elements of several different styles and are not easily distinguishable as one particular style or another. In the USA, highly decorated houses are sometimes called
gingerbreadGingerbread is a sweet that can take the form of a cake or a cookie in which the predominant flavors are ginger and raw sugar.-History:Gingerbread was brought to Europe by the Crusaders....
houses.
Notable Victorian era cities include
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
(USA), Chicago (USA),
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
(USA),
Galena, IllinoisGalena is the largest city in, and county seat of, Jo Daviess County, Illinois in the United States with an estimated population of 3,396 in 2006. The city is a popular tourist destination known for its history, historical architecture, as well as its ski and golf resorts. Galena was the home to...
(USA),
Galveston, TexasGalveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a total population of 57,466 within an area of...
(USA),
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(UK),
Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River and is approximately 30 miles from Lake Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800, making it the 114th largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Kent County,...
(USA), Kulkata (India), London (UK),
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
(USA),
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
(UK),
MelbourneMelbourne is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne city centre is the anchor of the larger geographical area and statistical division known as the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area – of which Melbourne is...
(Australia),
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
(India),
NelsonThe city of Nelson is close to the centre of New Zealand. It lies at the shore of Tasman Bay, at the northern end of the South Island, and is the administrative centre of the Nelson region....
, New Orleans (USA), Philadelphia (USA), Pittsburgh (USA),
RichmondRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
(USA),
Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the north bank of the Mississippi River, downstream of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
(USA), San Francisco (USA),
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
(USA), Sydney (Australia), Toronto (Canada).
In the USA, the
South EndThe South End is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts.-Geography:The South End lies south of the Back Bay, northwest of South Boston, northeast of Roxbury, north of Dorchester, and southwest of Bay Village...
of
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
is recognized by the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the oldest and largest Victorian neighborhood in the country.
Old LouisvilleOld Louisville is a historic district and neighborhood in central Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It is the third largest such district in the United States, and the largest preservation district featuring almost entirely Victorian architecture...
in
Louisville, KentuckyLouisville is Kentucky's largest city and county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 713,877 , with a population of 1,244,696 in the Louisville...
also claims to be the nation's largest Victorian neighborhood.
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
is home to several large Victorian neighborhoods, the most prominent being
The FanThe Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard. The Fan is one of the easterly points to the city's West End section, and is bordered to...
and Church Hill. Church Hill has the distinction of being the place where
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779. A prominent figure in the American Revolution, Henry is known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech, and as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
gave his famous Give me liberty or give me death speech at historic Saint John's church.
The FanThe Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard. The Fan is one of the easterly points to the city's West End section, and is bordered to...
is best known locally as Richmond's largest and most 'European' of Richmond's neighborhoods and nationally as the largest
contiguous Victorian neighborhood in the United States.
The
Distillery DistrictThe Distillery District is an historic and entertainment precinct located east of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It contains numerous cafes, restaurants and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. The 13-acre The Distillery District is an historic...
in Toronto contains the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America. Cabbagetown is the largest and most continuous Victorian residential area in North America. Other Toronto Victorian neighbourhoods include
The AnnexThe Annex is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 'traditional' boundaries of the neighbourhood are north from Bloor to Dupont, west to Bathurst, and east to Avenue Road...
,
CorktownCorktown is an historic Old Town neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is just south of Regent Park and north of the Gardiner Expressway, between Berkeley Street to the west and the Don River to the east...
,
ParkdaleParkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. It is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Fermanagh Avenue from Roncesvalles on the west to the rail lines leading south-east to Dufferin Street, where it meets the railway at Queen...
, and
RosedaleRosedale is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located north of Downtown Toronto and is one of its oldest suburbs. It is also one of the wealthiest and highly priced neighbourhoods in Canada...
.
The photo album
L'Architecture Americaine by
Albert LevyAlbert Levy is a French photographer active in the 1870s-1890's. He is a pioneer on architectural photography that focused his work in Europe and the United States....
published in 1886 is perphaps the first recognition in Europe of the new forces emerging in American architecture.
The
Old West EndThe Old West End is a historic neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio and is considered to be "the largest neighborhood of late Victorian, Edwardian , and Arts & Crafts homes east of the Mississippi."...
neighborhood of
Toledo, OhioToledo is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio within the Great Lakes Region and the county seat of Lucas County. Named after Toledo, Spain, it is located on the western end of Lake Erie, on the Michigan border. It is the principal city in the Toledo Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the 2000 census,...
is recognized as having the largest collection of late Victorian and
EdwardianEdwardian architecture is the style popular when King Edward VII of the United Kingdom was in power; he reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the architecture style is generally considered to be indicative of the years 1901 to 1914....
homes in the United States, east of the
MississippiMississippi is a state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi . The state is heavily forested outside of the...
.
Carroll AvenueCarroll Avenue is a street situated in Los Angeles, near Echo Park. It is in Angelino Heights, one of the older neighborhoods of Los Angeles. It consists of Victorian-era houses, some of which are used for popular movies and television shows, as they have a quality that brings uniqueness to the...
in Los Angeles contains that city's highest concentration of Victorian homes.
See also
- Victorian decorative arts
Victorian decorative arts refers to the style of decorative arts during the Victorian era. The Victorian era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historic styles and the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the middle east and Asia in furniture, fittings, and Interior...
- Victorian house
Victorian house styles include Second Empire, Queen Anne, Stick , Shingle-style, Richardsonian Romanesque, and others.-Background:...
- Albert Levy (photographer)
Albert Levy is a French photographer active in the 1870s-1890's. He is a pioneer on architectural photography that focused his work in Europe and the United States....
- Coffin corner (architecture)
External links