Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture can refer to one of a number of architectural styles predominantly employed during the Victorian era. 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.

Varieties of Victorian architecture

*British Arts and Crafts movement
*Gothic Revival
*Italianate
*Jacobethan (the precursor to the Queen Anne style)
*Neoclassicism
*Neo-Grec
*Painted ladies
*Queen Anne
*Renaissance Revival
*Romanesque Revival (includes Richardsonian Romanesque)
*Second Empire
*Stick-Eastlake
*Industrial architecture

There are also Folk and Shingle Style Victorian Houses. Please note that 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 gingerbread houses.

Notable Victorian era cities include London, Boston, Richmond, Saint Paul, St. Louis, Louisville, Galveston, San Francisco, Glasgow, Sydney, Melbourne, Manchester, Mumbai, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.

In the USA, the South End of Boston is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest and largest Victorian neighborhood in the country. [ [http://www.southendrealty.com/Community/Community.aspx South End Realty Group ] ] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_End] [ [http://www.southendhistoricalsociety.org/ South End Historical Society ] ] Old Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky also claims to be the nation's largest Victorian neighborhood.

Richmond, Virginia is home to several large Victorian neighborhoods, the most prominent being The Fan and Church Hill. Church Hill has the distinction of being the place where Patrick Henry gave his famous Give me liberty or give me death speech at historic Saint John's church. The Fan 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. [ [http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=785&type_id=14 The Fan District - Great Public Spaces | Project for Public Spaces (PPS) ] ]

The Distillery District in Toronto contains the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America.

The photo album "L'Architecture Americaine" by Albert Levy published in 1886 is perphaps the first recognition in Europe of the new forces emerging in American architecture ["American Victorian Architecture", by Arnold Lewis and Keith Morgan. 120 photos. Dover publications, 1975] .

The Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio is recognized as having the largest collection of late Victorian and Edwardian homes in the United States , East of the Mississippi.Stine, L. (2005) Historic Old West End Toledo, Ohio. Bookmasters.]

Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles contains that city's highest concentration of Victorian homes.

:"See also": Georgian architecture.

References

#

Dixon, Roger and Muthesius, Stephan. "Victorian architecture". Thames & Hudson: 1978. ISBN 0-500-18163-2
#Prentice, Helaine Kaplan, "Rehab Right", Ten-Speed Press. ISBN 0-89815-172-4, includes descriptions of different Victorian and early 20th Century architectural styles common in the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly Oakland, and detailed instructions for repair and restoration of details common to older house styles.

ee also

* Victorian decorative arts
* Victorian house
* Albert Levy, 1870's-80's American architecture photographer.
* Coffin Corners http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_corner_(architecture)

External links

* [http://houseofantiquehardware.com/site/timeline/tl_victorian.html History and Style of Victorian Architecture and Hardware]
* [http://www.achome.co.uk/architecture/manchester/manchester.htm Manchester, a Victorian City]
* [http://historicalhamilton.com Photographs of Victorian Homes in Hamilton, Ontario Canada]
* [http://victoriansanfrancisco.com/ Victorian era architecture in San Francisco, California]
* [http://www.buffaloah.com/ Victorian era architecture and history in Buffalo, New York]