Basically Italianate style/forms with Mansard roof!! Dormer windows, sometimes a square (not round) tower, decorative brackets, molded cornice, similar to Italianate detail on windows, doors; Floor plan often includes pavilions: outward projection of a building's center or side.
The first true style of the Victorian era in the U.S. (roughly 1860-1900). Style was most popular in the Northeast, Midwest; rare in the South. Also known as the "General Grant style": used during the Grant administration for public buildings. Historical context: Style named for the reign of Napoleon III (1852-1870), who undertook a major building campaign to transform Paris into a city of grand boulevards and monumental buildings - copied throughout Europe and North America. Napoleon's famous project: enlargement of the Louvre (1852-1857), reintroduced the Mansard roof, developed in 1600s Renaissance by Francois Mansart. Style diffused from France to England to U.S.
Romanesque Revival (1870-1900)
Round arches over windows and/or entryways; thick, cavernous entryways and window openings; thick masonry walls, rounded towers with conical roof; facades are asymmetrical; variable stone and brick façade. On elaborate examples, polychromatic facades with contrasting building materials.
Two phases of this style:
(1) Americans experimented with early versions: 1840s-1850s. Early Romanesque structures resembled Gothic predecessors with Roman forms. Mainly for public buildings. Best example: Smithsonian Institution building (1847-1855). Most accurate interpretation of Roman.
(2) Style of Henry Hobson Richardson: attended Harvard, then to France to study architecture.
Experimented with variety of sources for his own unique style: polychromed walls, Syrian arches, sculpted shapes, Romanesque forms. Became a truly American style. Still, mostly used for grand, public buildings. Not practical for houses.
Inspirations (all by Henry Hobson Richardson): Trinity Church, Boston, 1877, Allegheny County courthouse and jail, Pittsburgh, 1888, Marshall Field Wholesale store, Chicago (1887). Became an almost universal style for public buildings: churches, libraries, train stations, courthouses, schools. Rare for houses due to massive construction requirements, mainly for society's elite class.
Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle (1880s-1905)
Steeply pitched, irregular roof shapes; dominant, front-facing gable; patterned shingles, bay windows, picturesque massing (see Gothic Revival), polychromatic and decorative ornamentation; partial or full-width porches of one story; multiple gables and dormers; occasional towers and turrets, rounded or square. Differing wall textures are their "hallmark". This is the most eclectic style of the Victorian era.
Name of style: suggested eclecticism (variety) to its originators. Coined in England to describe buildings supposedly inspired by pre-Georgian, late Medieval styles with half-timbered and/or masonry. Richard Norman Shaw: most prominent architect in England to promote Queen Anne. Represented culmination of picturesque, romantic styles of 19th century. Anything goes: style itself is based on "decorative excess" and variety. No focus on specific historical detailing; rather, a combination of various forms/styles. Most common for houses, least common for commercial structures. Most dominant residential style in the U.S. 1880-1900. The style may include design elements of Charles Eastlake, who influenced interior and exterior styling with his 1871 American version of Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details (1868). The extent to which home builders applied his wood-crafted designs, however, appalled him during the late Victorian period, as he had not intended his designs to be used to such excess. According to McAlester & McAlester (1984), the Stick Style represented a transition from the Gothic Revival to the later Queen Anne style. On stick-style buildings, the wall surface itself is emphasized with ornament, identified most prominently with the diagonal or straight stickwork applied to the facade.
Folk Victorian (1880-1910)
The spread of Folk Victorian (and other late 19th century styles) was made possible by railroads expanding into smaller towns and cities. Mass-produced wood features could be transported quickly and cheaply almost anywhere. Home builders often simply added trim and ornament to traditional folk houses. Older folk homes were often updated with new ornamentation, now available everywhere due to pattern books and mass production and sale of wood features. A very common style found in turn-of-the-century western towns settled during that time.
Porches with spindlework detailing, L-shaped or gable-front plan, cornice brackets, details often with Italianate and/or Queen Anne inspiration, sometimes Gothic. Basically, working-class or middle-class versions of Queen Anne. Simpler details and basic, asymmetrical floor plans.
