Victorian Style Houses

Victorian Houses• A Victorian house generally means any house

built during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837—1901).

Victorian style houses can be recognized by their many complex shapes, multicolored walls, lots of textures, and really steep roofs. Also, the architects liked to add lots of doodads and decorations to make the outside look cool.Some other characteristics of Victorian houses are bay windows, stairs to the front door, and cone shaped towers. If you have ever been to San Francisco, you know that many of these houses were built side to side on steep streets. They can do this because most Victorian houses are very narrow and tall, usually two or three stories.

Victorian style houses were often built narrow and tall. That way, they could easily be lined up side to side.

One of the best places in the United States to find examples of Victorian architecture is San Francisco. The houses seem to fit well into the landscape of steep hills with houses crammed up against each other.

Victorian houses have many steps up to the front door

They are designed with many shapes put together

They have steep roofs

Victorian Houses can be very colorful

They have many decorations on the outside

Victorian Houses have many windows

Typical featuresIn addition to general architectural influences, this progressive change in style resulted from several other factors. In the 1850s, the abolition of tax on glass and bricks made these items cheaper and the coming of the railway allowed them to be manufactured elsewhere, at low cost and to standard sizes and methods, and brought to site. There was also progressive introduction from the 1850s of various building regulations.[1] There are a number of common themes in Victorian housing:[1]

Sanitation: regulations were introduced progressively from the 1850s 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 powered by gas was available in many towns from the start of the Victorian era. By the end of the Victorian era, many houses had gas.A basement with a cellar for the storage of coal, required for open fires and to heat water.Sash windows but with larger panes of glass, from the 1850s, than the characteristic 6 plus 6 smaller panes seen in Georgian and Regency architecture.Victorian houses were generally built in terraces or as detached houses.Building materials were brick or local stone. Bricks were made in factories some distance away, to standard sizes, rather than the earlier practice of digging clay locally and making bricks on site.[1]