Victorian-style homes became popular during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and are characterized by Gothic influences and intricately designed woodwork. These homes often have pitched roofs, wraparound front porches, cylindrical turrets, and roof towers.
How can you tell if a house is Victorian?
Some distinctive characteristics of a Victorian property are:
- High pitched roofs.
- Ornate gable trim.
- Bay windows.
- Two over two panel sash windows (supported with a single astragal bar on each sash)
- Sash window horns.
- Decorative brickwork (often in red)
- Stained glass windows.
What are 3 characteristics of Victorian design?
Characteristics of Victorian Architecture
- Steeply pitched roofs.
- Plain or colorfully painted brick.
- Ornate gables.
- Painted iron railings.
- Churchlike rooftop finials.
- Sliding sash and canted bay windows.
- Octagonal or round towers and turrets to draw the eye upward.
- Two to three stories.
What years are considered Victorian houses?
Seemingly obviously, Victorian houses were built between 1837 and 1901, when Queen Victoria was on the throne. However some people, including the Victorian Society itself, take ‘Victorian Architecture’ to encompass Edwardian as well, which takes this time period up to 1910.
What is the difference between Victorian houses and modern houses?
Victorian houses have chimneys because they often had a fireplace in most rooms. The fire was the only way to keep warm. Today, houses are built without chimneys because houses are kept warm via central heating. Most modern houses have radiators in each room instead of a fireplace.
Is my home Victorian or Edwardian?
Edwardian properties
So, unlike the smaller, darker Victorian homes, Edwardian houses were more squat, wider and roomy, with bigger hallways and more windows. It’s common for an Edwardian property to have a front garden and be set back from the pavement, as there was an ever-increasing desire for privacy at that time.
How do you tell if a house is Georgian or Victorian?
The Victorians had their own distinctive decorative elements which can distinguish a Victorian house from a Georgian one. These include stained glass panes in the windows, ornamented ridge tiles on the roof, shapely wooden barge boards beside the roof and the odd finial.
What were key features of a Victorian home?
Common features of Victorian homes included towers, turrets, dormers, and wide wrap-around porches. Decorative railings and turned posts were typical of these Victorian porches that usually wrapped around at least two sides of the house. Ornate trim work around the porches included gingerbread cutouts and spindle work.
What does a typical Victorian house look like?
The main structures were fairly simple, rectangular-shaped houses with low sloping or sometimes flat roofs that protrude quite far out from the exterior walls. The windows are tall and skinny, often rounded at the top, and there is trim, trim, and more trim.
What are 2 significant features or ideas of the Victorian age?
The Victorian Era was a time of vast political reform and social change, the Industrial Revolution, authors Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, a railway and shipping boom, profound scientific discovery and the first telephone and telegraph.
How do I know what era my house is?
How to find out how old your house is
- Check the 1862 Act register, which contains 2,000 historic properties (the document on the right is an example of a record in the 1862 Act Register).
- Search records in your local library.
- Search local archives including county and parish records.
What is the difference between a colonial and Victorian home?
While colonial-style residences appear simpler and sharper in tone, Victorian-style homes are painted from vibrant hues to dark shades, reflecting the height of the 1800s fashion.
What is the difference between Victorian and Edwardian?
What is the difference between Edwardian and Victorian Eras? Victorian era is said to have continued from 1837 to 1901 and lasted the reign of Queen Victoria whereas Edwardian era started in 1901 with his ascension to the throne and lasted till 1910 till his death.
Are Victorian houses worth more?
Victorian houses often have bigger room sizes and gardens than new builds, which partly explains the higher prices.
Why do Victorian houses have two front doors?
One Door Was Formal, the Other Was Not
While one door may have led to a formal area, the other could have been used for day-to-day business. This thinking applied to other visitors as well—homeowners likely wanted to greet guests at a formal entrance.
Why do Victorian houses have two living rooms?
Children and servants were relegated to separate spaces in the house than the adults, but there was a segregation of space even among the adults in the home by gender. Rooms were designed and understood to limit contact between men and women and to preserve power relations between them.
Do Victorian houses have cavity walls?
Builders and architects started to experiment with cavity or ‘hollow walls’ from early in the Victorian period. By the first decade of the 20th century, most pattern books for houses included examples of outer walls with two separate leaves of brickwork.
Is 1920 Victorian or Edwardian?
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victorian era.
What era is 1920s house?
Although known as ‘the Roaring Twenties’, the period mixed post-First World War optimism with years of economic depression. Many of the 1920s houses were in suburban developments in the countryside around existing towns and cities.
What are 3 distinct features of the Georgian style?
Georgian houses are characterized by their: Rigid symmetry in building mass as well as window and door placement. Brick, stone, or stucco (brick is most predominantly used) Hip roofs, sometimes with dormers.
Is shingles a Victorian style?
A rarefied style in the 19th century, the Victorian-era Shingle Style is one beloved today. Architects cherish its grand informality, Colonial Revivalists appreciate its simple forms and classical allusions, and neo-Victorians exult in its embrace of Islamic and Japanese forms alongside Georgian.