Victorian architecture

Victorian architecture

A term that encompasses a number of ornate and highly decorative architectural styles, such as High Victorian Italianate, Shingle, Victorian Romanesque, Gingerbread, Queen Anne, and Gothic Revival.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Victorian architecture

1. The Revival and Eclectic architecture in 19th century Great Britain, named after the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901); also its American counterpart. Many architectural historians avoid the term Victorian architecture, considering the adjective “Victorian” merely as descriptive of an age that encompassed a number of specific exuberant, ornate, and highly decorative architectural styles.

2. A loose term that sometimes covers three picturesque phases of architecture in America: Early Victorian (1840–1860), High Victorian (1860–1880), and Late Victorian (1880– 1890) and beyond; the adjective “Victorian” is descriptive of an age that encompassed a number of specific exuberant, ornate, and highly decorative architectural styles, such as High Victorian Italianate (1860–1885), High Victorian Gothic (1860–1890), Second Empire style (1855– 1890), Stick style (1860–1885), Shingle style (1880–1890), Victorian Romanesque (1870– 1900), Gingerbread Folk architecture (1870– 1910), and Queen Anne style (1870–1910). The adjectives Victorian or High Victorian are sometimes applied to Gothic Revival and Italianate style to indicate their later, more detailed, and more elaborate phases.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.