User:Finereach/Victorian house



In the United Kingdom, and former British colonies, Victorian house generally refers to any house built during the reign of Queen Victoria. During the Industrial Revolution successive housing booms resulted in the building of many millions of Victorian houses which are now a defining feature of most British towns and cities.

In the UK, Victorian houses follow a wide range of architectural styles. Starting from the early classicism inherited from regency architecture, the Italianate style gained influence in the 1840's and 1850's, and the Gothic style became prevalent by the 1880's. Later in Victorian era, the Queen Anne style and the Arts and Crafts movement increased in influence, resulting in the transition to styles typically seen in Edwardian houses. Victorian houses are also found in many former British colonies where the style might be adapted to local building materials or customs, for example in Sydney, Australia and Melaka, Malaysia.

In the United States, Victorian house styles include Second Empire, Queen Anne, Stick (and Eastlake Stick), Shingle-style, Richardsonian Romanesque, and others. .

Victorian houses in Great Britain
Early in the Victorian era, until the 1840's houses were still influenced by the classicism of regency styles. However the simplicity of regency classicism fell out of favour as affluence increased and by the 1850's the Italianate style influenced domestic architecture which now incorporated varying quantities of stucco. From the 1850's domestic buildings also became increasingly influenced by the gothic revival, incorporating features such as pointed, projecting porches, bay windows, and grey slate.

In addition to general architectural influences, this progressive change in style resulted from several other factors. In the 1850's, the abolition of tax on glass and bricks made these items cheaper and the coming of the railway allowed bricks and glass to be manufactured elsewhere, at low cost and to standard sizes and methods, and brought to site. There was also progresive introduction from the 1850's of various building regulations.

In Victorian times, growth in population, and the Industrial Revolution which saw a migration of workers from the countryside to the cities, resulted in successive housing booms in the 1850's and 1870's that saw the creation of millions of houses. These catered not only for the rich and the new "middling-classes" but also for the poor. There are a number of common themes in Victorian housing :

And in common with earlier houses:
 * Sanitation : regulations were introduced progressively from the 1850's to raise the importance of sanitation features, including correct drainage, waste facilities (the "ash pit" or "dust bin"), and toilet facilities either in the form of an outside privy or inside water closet.
 * Hot and cold water At the start of the Victorian era, some houses had running tap water and a boiler for hot water. By the turn of the century, hot and cold running water were a common feature
 * Lighting was provided, in many towns from the start of the Victorian era. By the end of the Victorian era, may houses had either gas or electric lighting.
 * A basement with a cellar for the storage of coal required to heat space and water.
 * Victorian houses were generally built in terraces or as detached houses.
 * Sash windows but with larger panes of glass, from the 1850's, than the characteristic 6 + 6 smaller panes seen in Georgian and Regency architecture.

Victorian houses were generally built of brick or local stone, rooved with slate or clay tiles. In contrast to the first half of the 19th century, bricks were now manfuactured in factories some distance away, to standard sizes, rather than being manufactured in kilns from clay dug close to or on the building site.

In deprived areas, Victorian houses were often very small, for example, Back-to-back houses built in extremely cramped conditions. Some of these areas became slums or 'rookeries', and were later cleared. Some smaller, Two-up Two-down houses still survive, for example in Salford, Lancashire.

Victorian houses for the middle classes and upward tended to have accomodation for servants, often employed to carry out the considerable labour required to keep the fireplaces clean and well stocked. .

Larger Victorian houses aspired to adhere to the fasions contemporary architectures including the Gothic and Queen Anne styles.

Great houses
The Victorian era, together with the Edwardian era was the last sustained period in which great houses were built in large numbers. Many of these harked back to earlier periods of english architecture, for example:


 * Highclere Castle in Tudorbethan style
 * Harlaxton Manor in Jacobethan style
 * Canford manor following the medieval style and incorporating a great hall
 * Penrhyn Castle in Norman style
 * Tyntesfield in Gothic revival style

Victorian houses in the United States


Victorian-era homes can be one, two, or three stories high, with the homes in Eastern US cities tending to be three stories and homes in Western US cities more typically two-story homes or one-story cottages. In some regions of the country, but is not representative of a typical Victorian era-home in all regions.

Although the general public often incorrectly refers to a Victorian era house as a Victorian "style" house, Victorian era refers to a time period and not to a style. Although architectural historians generally agree that there are about eight primary architectural styles prominent in the United States and Canada during the Victorian era, Victorian-era residential architecture in the United States and Canada was a procession of styles borrowed from every country and every era in history.

Examples
Multi-colored Victorian era houses in San Francisco are known as Painted Ladies.