Victorian architecture

Manchester Town Hall is an example of Victorian Gothic Revival found in Manchester, UK.

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, in keeping with a British and French custom by which architectural styles were named after the reigning monarch.

Victorian architecture in the United Kingdom

In the early 19th century the romantic medieval gothic style appeared as a backlash to the symmetry of Palladianism, and such buildings as Fonthill Abbey were built. By the middle of the 19th century, as a result of new technology, construction was able to develop incorporating steel as a building component; one of the greatest exponents of this was Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace. Paxton also continued to build such houses as Mentmore Towers, in the still popular retrospective Renaissance styles. In this era of prosperity and development English architecture embraced many new methods of construction, but ironically in style, such architects as Augustus Pugin ensured it remained firmly in the past.

In Scotland, Alexander Thomson who practiced in Glasgow was a pioneer in the use of cast iron and steel for commercial buildings, blending neo-classical conventionality with Egyptian and oriental themes to produce many truly original structures. Other notable Scottish architects of this period are Archibald Simpson and Alexander Marshall Mackenzie whose stylistically varied work can be seen in the architecture of Aberdeen.

North of Scotland Bank in Aberdeen by Archibald Simpson.

Styles conceived in the Victorian era

• Jacobethan (1830–70 the precursor to the Queen Anne style)
• Renaissance Revival (1840–90)
• Neo-Grec (1845–65)
• Romanesque Revival
• Second Empire (1855–80; originated in France)
• Queen Anne (1870–1910)
• British Arts and Crafts movement (1880–1910)

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
• Neoclassicism

Palace of Westminster, Victorian Gothic completed in 1870. Designed by Sir Charles Barry and August Pugin	The Victorian Pavilion at The Oval cricket ground in London.	Victorian School of Art and Science at Stroud, Gloucestershire	House on the Hardwick House estate near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Victorian slums in Wetherby, West Yorkshire	The Aston Webb building at the University of Birmingham, UK.	The Gilbert Scott Building of University of Glasgow, as viewed from Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow. An example of the Gothic Revival style.	The front elevation of the Glasgow City Chambers, as seen from George Square, Glasgow.

International spread of Victorian styles

In the 18th century a few English architects had emigrated to the colonies, but as the British Empire became firmly established in the 19th century many architects at the start of their careers made the decision to emigrate. Several chose the United States, and others went to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Normally the style of architecture they adopted was those which were fashionable when they left England, though by the latter half of the century improving transport and communications meant that even quite remote parts of the Empire had access to the many publications such as The Builder magazine that enabled colonial architects to stay abreast of current fashion. Thus the influence of English architecture spread across the world. Several prominent architects produced English-derived designs around the world, including William Butterfield (St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide) and Jacob Wrey Mould (Chief Architect of Public Works in New York City).

North America

Manchester (UK), Glasgow (UK), London (UK), Nelson,

In the United States, Victorian architecture is generally used to describe styles which were most popular between 1860 and 1900. A list of these styles most commonly includes: Second Empire (1855–85), Stick (1860–ca. 1890), Queen Anne (1880–1910), Richardsonian Romanesque (1880–1900), and Shingle (1880–1900). As in the United Kingdom, examples of Gothic Revival and Italianate continued to be constructed during this period, and are therefore sometimes called Victorian. Some historians classify the later years of Gothic Revival as a destinctive Victorian style named High Victorian Gothic. Eastlake, a manner of geometric, machine cut decorating derived from Stick and Queen Anne, is also sometimes considered a distinct style. On the other hand, terms such as "Painted Ladies" or "gingerbread" may be used to describe certain Victorian buildings, but do not constitute a specific style.

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 Astoria, Oregon (USA), Albany, New York (USA), Boston (USA), Brooklyn (USA), Buffalo (USA), Chicago (USA), Columbus, OH (USA), Detroit (USA), Galena, Illinois (USA), Galveston, Texas (USA), Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA), Jersey City/Hoboken (USA), Louisville, Kentucky (USA), New Orleans (USA), Philadelphia (USA), Pittsburgh (USA), Richmond (USA), Saint Paul, Minnesota (USA), San Francisco (USA), St. Louis, Missouri (USA), Toronto (Canada). 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.^[1][2] Old Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky also claims to be the nation's largest Victorian neighborhood.^[3][4] San Francisco is well known for its extensive Victorian architecture, particularly in the Haight-Ashbury, Lower Haight, Alamo Square, Noe Valley, Castro, Nob Hill, and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. Richmond, Virginia is home to several large Victorian neighborhoods, the most prominent being The Fan and Church Hill. The Fan district 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.^[5] The Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio is recognized as the largest collection of late Victorian and Edwardian homes in the United States, east of the Mississippi.^[6] The Distillery District in Toronto, Ontario 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 Annex, Parkdale, and Rosedale.

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.^[7]

Example of an early Victorian "Gingerbread House" in the USA, built in 1855	The California Southern Railroad's San Diego, California passenger terminal, built in 1887.	An example of the American Queen Anne style in Lebanon, Illinois.	A Victorian house in Alameda, California
Banff Springs Hotel, built in 1888	Michelsen Farmstead built in 1899, is a Victorian style farmstead that is a Provincial Historic Site of Alberta located in the National Historic Site, Stirling, Alberta, Canada.	The C. A. Belden House, a Queen Anne Victorian in the Pacific Heights section on Gough Street Between Clay and Washington Streets. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco.	The Saitta House, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, New York built in 1899 is designed in the Queen Anne Style.[8]

Australia

In Australia, the Victorian period is generally recognised as going from 1840 to 1890. There were fifteen styles that predominated:^[9]

The Arts and Crafts style and Queen Anne style are placed in the Federation Period, from 1890 to 1915.^[10]

Melbourne's world heritage Royal Exhibition Building, built in 1880 (Free Classical)	Rialto Building, Melbourne, built during the land boom of 1888 (Free Gothic)	Winahra, Mayfield, New South Wales (Filigree/Italianate)	Glentworth House, Ashfield, New South Wales (Italianate)
Roslyndale, Woollahra, New South Wales (Rustic Gothic)	The Abbey, Annandale, New South Wales (Free Gothic)	Town Hall, Sydney from The Powerhouse Museum Collection (Second Empire)	Former General Post Office, Martin Place, Sydney (Free Classical)

See also

• Victorian decorative arts
• Victorian house
• Albert Levy (photographer)
• Coffin corner (architecture)
• Georgian architecture

References

External links

• History and Style of Victorian Architecture and Hardware
• Manchester, a Victorian City
• Photographs of Victorian Homes in Hamilton, Ontario Canada
• Victorian era architecture in San Francisco, California
• Victorian era architecture and history in Buffalo, New York
• Architectural influences on Victorian style