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Victorian architecture (United States)

For Victorian architecture in Great Britain and Australia, see Victorian architecture.

Charles Copeland Morse House (1892), a Queen Anne house in Santa Clara, California.

In the United States, Victorian architecture is a collection of architectural styles which were most popular between 1860 and 1900 in the later half of the Victorian Era. The architectural movement is named after Queen Victoria of Great Britain from which the styles originated.

Two developments in particular influenced the design of Victorian buildings. First, the invention of the balloon frame, which replaced the earlier timber frame mode of construction, lightened walls and simplified the assembly of corners and cantilevers. Thus, architects were able to incorporate much more ellaborate forms into their designs. Around the same time, industrial and mechanized processes were becoming a standard in manufacturing building components. Mass-produced parts in large factories were shipped by rail, allowing doors, windows, siding, and all manner of complex decorative detailing to be more quickly and less expensively created.

Prominent Victorian architects

• Richard Morris Hunt (b.1827, d.1895); designed several works in the Second Empire and High Victorian Gothic styles, but more commonly known for his later Châteauesque and Beaux-Arts works.
• Henry Hobson Richardson (b.1838, d.1886); influential to the Queen Anne, Richardson Romanesque, and Shingle styles.
• Frank Furness (b.1839, d.1912); designed mostly in the High Victorian Gothic Style.
• Joseph Lyman Silsbee (b.1848, d.1913)

Early Victorian Era architecture

Although Queen Victoria's reign began in 1837, it is usually the styles founded during or after the 1850s which are considered "Victorian" in the United States. These early styles include Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate.

Styles by order of development

Most Victorian styles borrow freely from Medieval architecture with occasional references to classical motifs; unlike most revivalist styles, architects of the period held little interest in depicting historically accurate detailing. As a result of this loose nature and constant design experimentation, the Victorian styles often overlap and various works are considered to be transitional or of more than one style.

Second Empire (1855–85)

Narrow house (1873) in Washington, D.C. Note the convex mansard roof and intact cresting of the tower, simple brick window hoods, and broken pediments atop the dormers.

Main article: Second Empire (architecture)

The most distinguishable element of the Second Empire style — sometimes referred to as French Second Empire — is the dual-pitched mansard roof, named for the 17th century French architect who first popularized it, François Mansart. A resurgence of mansards during the reign of Napoleon III (1852–70), known as the Second French Empire, initiated a popular style of the same name. Second Empire fashion spread to England after two international exhibitions in Paris, known as Eposition Universelle 1855 and 1867, which featured multiple buildings in the style. The trend was subsequently adapted by American architects from English prototypes.

The lower slope of Second Empire mansards are steep and generally have one of five silhouettes: the common straight, flared, and concave, and less frequent convex and S-curve. Houses with towers may mix two contrasting roof profiles (see example at right). Molded cornices of wood or tin frame the roof at the eaves and between the upright lower and shallow upper slopes; the cornice at the eaves is often paired beneath with a band of decorative brackets, and the upper cornice is sometimes topped by elaborate wrought iron cresting (since removed from many buildings due to deterioration). Multiple dormers transmit light into the finished attic stories which are housed within mansard roofs. Second Empire dormers come in a variety of styles, and may include pediments, arched roofs (segmented or semicircular), or other complex shapes.

Below the cornice line, Second Empire houses in the United States more closely resemble the Italianate style than the French buildings from which they are derived. In particular, details of porches, windows, and doors are very similar in the two styles. The Second Empire style differs slightly in that eaves are usually shallower, and window hoods are allowed to be less elaborate or even nonexistent. As with the Italianate style, houses may be constructed of either masonry or wood.

Second Empire was most popular in the Midwest and Northeastern United States. It was far less prevalent along the Pacific coast and rare in the southern states. While the style continued to be used into the 1880s, it largely fell from fashion during the preceeding decade due to the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, which ended the Second Empire in France, in addition to the Panic of 1873 and following six year economic depression in the United States. By the time of the recovery, Queen Anne was the new developing trend in Victorian architecture. The mansard roof outlived Second Empire to appear on scattered examples of later Victorian styles, on Beaux-Arts buildings, and neo-eclectic houses of the 1960s and 1970s.

Prominent houses in the style include Chateau-sur-Mer (1872 remodel) in Newport, Rhode Island by architect Richard Morris Hunt and Terrace Hill (1869) in Des Moines, Iowa by William W. Boyington. Major public buildings include the Renwick Gallery (1859–74) in Washington, D.C. by James Renwick, Jr. and the Philadelphia City Hall (1871–1901) by John McArthur, Jr. and Thomas U. Walter.

Stick (1860–c. 1890)

Emlen Physick Estate (1879), in Cape May, New Jersey.

Saint Peter's-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church (1876) in Cape May Point, New Jersey. The elaborate wood frieze is borrowed from Gothic Revival style.

Main article: Stick-Eastlake

Contrary to the Italianate and Second Empire styles, which drew inspiration from Italian and French Rennaissance architecture, the Stick style was the first of five consecutive Victorian movements to be rooted in Medieval architecture. In particular, Stick style mixed the Picturesque Gothic style popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing and Alexander Jackson Davis with the half-timbered tradition of English Tudor architecture. The style was not entirely defined by architects and historians until professor and author Vincent Scully coined the term "Stick" in 1949.

As with most Victorian styles, decorative detailing is a major identifier of Stick structures. A patterning of horizontal, vertical, and occationally diagonal boards known as "stickwork" is the defining feature for which the style is named. Stickwork is applied around and between windows and doors in the manner of Medieval half-timbering in order to emphasize the geometry of the wall surface. Despite its nonstructural nature, Scully speculated that stickwork was used as a form of truthful detailing, in that it references the typical balloon framed structure behind the ornamental surface. Stickwork also commonly appears as decorative trusses at the apex of roof gables, as brackets below roof or wall projects, and as diagonal or curved porch braces (see the curved braces on the Physick House at right). Between stickwork, walls are generally clad in horizontal wood siding and may also include bands or sections of Wood shingles and verticle boards. While stickwork is occational applied over masonry walls, such cases are rare.

The Stick style is considered a transitional shift between the Gothic Revival and Queen Anne styles. Whereas Gothic Revival buildings primarily use ornamentation to emphasize windows, doors, and rooflines, Stick style details accentuate the wall surface itself, leaveing windows unadorned or topped by simple braketed hoods. Queen Anne architecture further developed this trend. Similarly, the massing and plan of Stick structures is midway between the straightforward, rectangular plans of the early Gothic Revival mode and the complex, irregular forms of the Queen Anne style.

In residential buildings, the style was far less popular than the simultaneous Italianate and Second Empire styles, and was rarely used for commercial buildings or in urban areas where masonry buildings were prefered. Peak construction of Stick houses occured in the 1860s and 70s in the Northeastern United States. As with Second Empire designs, the Stick style was largely supplanted by the Queen Anne style in 1880, but remained fashionable along the Pacific coast for another decade. In the San Francisco Bay Area in particular, the style developed into its own vernacular of wooden rowhouses which combined Stick geometry with elaborate Eastlake features.

Landmark Stick houses include the John N. A. Griswold House (1862–64) in Newport Rhode Island by Richard Morris Hunt, Villa Vista (1878) in Branford, Connecticut by architect Henry Austin, and the Emlen Physick Estate (1879) by Frank Furness (pictured right).

High Victorian Gothic (1865–80)

Late Gothic Revival architecture built of polychromed, patterened masonry is sometimes refered to as High Victorian Gothic. Whereas early Gothic Revival drew from English Gothic architecture of the 12th through 16th centuries, High Victorian Gothic was based on Medieval Venetian Gothic. Since John Ruskin is credited with introducing the Italian influence into the style in his 1851 book The Stones of Venice, it is also occationally called Ruskinian Gothic.

Eastlake (1875–1910)

Main article: Stick-Eastlake

In 1872, English designer Charles Locke Eastlake (1833–1906) published his 1869 book Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details for the first time in the United States. As the title suggests, Eastlake's book focused on the design of furniture and home interiors, but his style of integral ornamentation was soon translated and applied to American building exteriors. While some architectural historians, such as Charles Nelson of Minnesota, classify Eastlake as a unique Victorian style, others like Virginia and Lee McAlester consider Eastlake to be merely a decorative variation of the Stick and Queen Anne styles.

Queen Anne (1880–1910)

National Saving And Trust Company in Washington, D.C.

Main article: Queen Anne (United States)

The Queen Anne style, was developed by Richard Norman Shaw and other 19th-century English architects. These originators named the style after Queen Anne of Great Britain, yet it bore little resemblance to the English Baroque mode that prevailed during her reign (1702–14). Queen Anne style buildings in England derived principly from the architecture of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Early half-timbered and patterend masonry subtypes of the style in the United States followed the pattern set by Shaw and his followers, but the later, dominant spindlework and free classic variants were American inventions.

Commercial buildings in the Queen Anne style are usually constructed of brick, but wood examples can be found in San Fransisco and in small towns throughout the country. While urban buildings are very similar to Richardson Romanesque style, distinguishing features of Queen Anne buildings include segmented or eliptical arches, highly textured wall surfaces, and canteleivered bay windows or corner turrets with typical Queen Anne ornamentation.

From 1880 to 1900, Queen Anne was by far the prefered mode for domestic construction. The style originated in the Northeast and spread south and west. Restrained brick examples are most common in urban areas along the northern Atlantic coast, while the most flamboyant wood designs can be found in California. Queen Anne was the last holdout in Victorian architecture in the United States, but it too fell from fashion by 1910 as trends turned toward the more historically accurate Colonial Revival style.

The William Watts Sherman House (1875–76) in Newport, Rhode Island by architect H.H. Richardson is generally considered the first American example of Queen Anne domestic architecture — and is often regarded as the origin of the Shingle style as well. Other noteworthy residences include the Hackley and Hume Houses (1887–89) in Muskegon, Michigan by David S. Hopkins. The Carson Mansion (1884–86) in Eureka, California by Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom, Villa Montezuma (1887) in San Diego, California by the firm of Comstock & Trotsche, the Morey Mansion (1890) in Redlands, California by Jerome Seymour are all examples of the exuberant Queen Anne style on the West Coast.

Richardsonian Romanesque (1880–1900)

Jeffrey & Mary Keating House (1891), in Denver, Colorado.

Main article: Richardsonian Romanesque

Richardsononian Romanesque is a style named for Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–86) which evolved from the European style known as Romanesque Revival. In his buildings, Richardson combined the defining features of Romanesque architecture with characteristics of Gothic Revival and Syrian architecture. However Richardsonian buildings by other architects are not as distinguishable from those of the Romanesque Revival style.

Shingle (1880–1900)

The Isaac Bell House (1883) in Newport, Rhode Island.

Main article: Shingle Style architecture

Shingle style houses adapted features from other American architectural styles which were also developing in the last two decades of the 20th century, particularly the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Richardsonian Romanesque styles. It is one of the few Victorian styles not based directly upon European precedents.

Folk Victorian (1870–1910)

The law office of A. H. Roberts (gov. 1919-1921) in Livingston, Tennessee. A small Folk Victorian with Eastlake porch.

The popularity of Folk Victorian houses was spread by the development of the transcontinental railroad system. With these railways, it was possible to transport the heavy woodworking machinery needed to make delicate Victorian details throughout the country. Not only were the means for making detailing from scratch more economical and widely available, but a variety of inexpensive, pre-cut scrollwork was also sold by local lumber yards.

Diminished popularity and succeeding styles

By 1910, Victorian architecture had been mostly superceeded by two architectural movements: the Eclectic movement, which stressed the return of historical accuracy, and the Modern movements, which advocated a new American style.

Neo-Victorian (1975–present)

Beginning in the late 1960s, the formerly popular modern styles gave way to more historically inspired designs known as Neo-eclectic, or Neo-traditional. Neo-Victorian was one of the later variants of the movement to develop, and never became as popular as other Neo-eclectic styles based on Colonial, Tudor, and French traditions. Unlike previous architectural trends, Neo-eclecticism was initiated by real estate developers and residential builders who were looking to add variety to their developments, rather than professional architects.