VICTORIAN HOUSES AND STREETS

VICTORIAN HOUSES

The Victorian era generally corresponds to the time when Queen Victoria ruled Britain (1837 to 1901). During this
time, industrialization brought many innovations in architecture. There is a wide variety of Victorian styles, each with
its own distinctive features, such as Second Empire, Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle, and Richardsonian Romanesque.

Queen Anne Victorian Style Stick Victorian Style

Queen Anne Victorian Style Second Empire Victorian Style

For almost two hundred years before the beginning of the Victorian era, English architecture reflected the classical Greek
and Roman styles and by Regency Style. The Gothic style of the medieval period was abandoned since it was considered
“barbaric”. Over time, architectural guidelines became so rigid as to dictate decorative details.

However, Victorian architecture can be divided into three periods.

a) Early 19th century Homes

At the beginning of the Victorian era, architects were tired of classical style and wanted to add their signature to design.
This period of architecture is referred to as the Gothic Revival. Artisans were once again free to create unique stone and
glassworks. The thick stoned walls and pitched roofs were more practical choice for the colder climate and contributed
to the success of the movement.
 b) Mid 19th century Homes

Mid-century saw the beginning of the first industrial revolution creating a new class of richness. Mechanization improved
the quality of materials, making them also less expensive.

The simpler lines of the early century gothic style remained popular. But, a free or eclectic school of thought asserted
that architectural styles should not be so strictly dictated. One should be “free” to choose and combine classical
architectural elements. This led to exaggerated representations of past architectural styles. Therefore, cheap imitations
of decorative elements made design appear too fussy, elaborate, and cluttered.

c) Later 19th century Homes

Toward the end of the century, a movement began in opposition to the over industrialization of Britain. The contention
was that the explosion of cheap imitations was destroying the design and quality produced by skilled artisans. There
was a shift to classic materials that were not as easily adapted to mechanization. The skilled craftsmen experienced
resurgence. The entire movement is better known as the Arts and Crafts design period. It signaled an end to the Victorian
excess and a new era of architectural design.

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 1840s
and 1850s, and the Gothic Revival style became prevalent by the 1880s. Later in the 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, for example in Sydney,Australia and Melaka, Malaysia.

Early in the Victorian era, up to the 1840s 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 1850s the Italianate style influenced domestic architecture thanks to stucco. From the 1850s
domestic buildings also became influenced by the Gothic Revival, incorporating features such as
pointed, projecting porches, bay windows, and grey slate.
Other factors

In 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 yet a suitable material 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. There are a number of

common themes in Victorian housing:

 Sanitation: regulations were introduced progressively from the 1850s to raise the importance of sanitation
features, including correct drainage, waste facilities 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.

 Lighting powered by gas was present in many towns from the start of the Victorian era. By the end of the Victorian
era, many houses had gas.

 Sash windows but with larger panes of glass, from the 1850s, than the smaller ones

 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 in standard sizes.

 The majority of houses were roofed with slate from Wales.

Houses for all classes

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

In deprived areas, Victorian houses were often very small built in extremely poor conditions. Some of these areas became
slums or 'rookeries'.

Victorian houses for the middle classes and upwards tended to have accommodation for servants, often employed to
carry out the considerable labour required to keep the house, including its fireplaces clean and well stocked.

VICTORIAN LONDON

A contrast of affluent buildings and areas combined with slums, which were overcrowded and home to some of the
poorest people in Britain. Victorian London was really starting to gather economic pace but there were still residents
living in some of the worst conditions imaginable. The population of London started to rise rapidly in the Victorian era
from around 1 million at the turn of the 19th century to well over 6,000,000 people a century later. Many people from
all over the UK had moved into the bigger cities from the country and London was one of the main areas. Although
London was being developed at a rapid pace, the city was unable to look after the basic needs of a great deal of the
people living there.

Sewage and Stench

There were massive amounts of raw sewage being dumped into the River Thames, which combined with the general
poor sanitation of the people and the coal fires that they were using, led to a stench, which engulfed the streets of
London. Queen Victoria’s apartments in Buckingham palace were even ventilated using the standard sewer system of
London, which meant that even she was well aware of the sanitation and smells of the city.

Over 2000 km of pipes and tunnels were then added over time by an engineer called Joseph Bazalgette. This would be
a battle to try and calm the outbreaks of disease resulting in many deaths from cholera and other similar diseases. He
went on to help and design many other useful structures around the city including many of the bridges.
Architecture and Grand Design

Many other design masterpieces were happening alongside and before this which includes many of the affluent avenues

and areas of London which still stand proud today including Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and regent street to name a

few. Tourists flock to areas such as these from all round the world, a testament to the architects that designed and built

them including John Nash, who is also famed for the transformation of Buckingham House into a palace.

HISTORY AND STYLE OF VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE AND HARDWARE

Gothic Revival Early Victorian houses drew inspiration mostly from Western Europe, usually reinterpreting medieval
forms. Multi-colored and textured walls, steeply pitched roofs and asymmetrical facades are traditional features. Gothic
Revival homes are most easily identified by the elaborate vergeboard (also called gingerbread) below the gables, and
the strong vertical emphasis of the windows and rooflines.

Italianate This new style incorporated arches and pediments of Roman architecture. Italianate homes featured
elaborate porch decoration, decorative eaves, symmetrical facades with cornerquoins, and arched windows. Some
Italianate homes featured a central square tower or cupola, and most had flat or low-pitched roofs.

Second Empire As the newly prospering cities of America blossomed, the impulse for a new and equally vigorous urban
architecture also grew. Inspired by the ornate cityscapes of Paris, Second Empire architecture incorporates rectangular
or square floor plans, tall flat facades capped by Mansard roofs with dormer windows, and double entry doors. Roofs are
frequently patterned and bay windows are also common.

Stick / Eastlake Increasingly affordable building materials and woodworking allowed for creative new uses of wood
cladding and framing beyond the basic box structure. Stick / Eastlake style homes feature decorative trusswork, exposed
half-timber framing, and an intermingling of vertical and horizontal planes. Roofs are typically steeply pitched with simple
gables. Stick style houses are particularly common in California and other areas where no previous architectural style
had predominated.

Shingle Similar to Stick style architecture, Shingle style buildings are notable for their extensive and unusual use of
newly affordable wood products. Manufacturing techniques made it possible to produce wood shingles in such abundance
that architects incorporated them not only as roofing, but also as siding. In Shingle style houses, the entire exterior
sometimes consists of shingles.

Folk Victorian Given the affordable and widespread construction techniques of the era, working class families could,
for the first time, build homes of their own. The tradition of the English cottage and American homestead merged with
the romanticism of the era, giving rise to the style known as Folk Victorian. Often found in rural or country settings, Folk
Victorian homes are usually constructed from local materials and blend functionality with newer stylistic ornamentation
that includes colorful and fluid vergeboard (also called gingerbread) around wide wrap-around porches. Though often
less elaborate than their urban counterparts, Folk Victorian homes feature a similar attention to texture variations and
creative decoration.

Queen Anne Perhaps the most recognizable of Victorian styles, Queen Anne houses quickly gained popularity
throughout the entire country from the late 1870's to the beginning of the 1900's. The Queen Anne style shows the
influence of English architect Richard Norman Shaw, whose designs melded the ideals of the old-English cottage with
the rampant decorative impulse of the Victorian Era. Queen Anne homes frequently feature irregular floor plans, multiple
steep roofs and porches with decorative gables. Dominant octagonal or circular towers, corbelled chimneys, and highly
decorative windows and entry doors with glass panels add to the curb appeal of these beautiful homes. Common
elaborations include vergeboard and exterior framing, bay windows, and a wide variety of colors and textures throughout
the entire structure.

Gilded Age / Beaux Arts Infrequently used in home-building except in the most expansive of mansions, Beaux Arts
designs are nevertheless important in the influence they exerted on the period. Also called "The American Renaissance",
Beaux Arts architecture features massive stone bearing walls, large arched windows, porches, and entries, paired
columns, extensive use of sculpture and bas-relief stonework, and grandly scaled interiors reminiscent of the great
palaces of Europe.

Victorian Hardware America's Industrial Revolution led to an explosion of new hardware styles and techniques. Brass
and bronze were used extensively. Common hardware included the mortise lock, cabinet knobs and bin pulls, entry
doorsets and offset hinges. Innovations include push-button electrical switches, brass floor registers, thumb-
turn and electrical doorbells, and decorative doorknobs.

The Development of Roads

Roads in Britain had existed since Roman times. However, since the end of the Roman period all roads were in very bad
conditions. From the 1730's onwards old roads became better maintained and new roads were constructed. This was in
parallel with the development of canals and resulted from an increasing need to transport goods produced during the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

The new roads made stage coach travel much faster, more comfortable and easier than before. From around 1840,
stage coach travel began to decline as it entered into competition with a new and much faster form of transport, the
railways.

THE STREET

Victorian streets, which were mostly cobbled, were filthy and strewn with dung from horses and the rotting produce that
had fallen off the countless delivery carts.

In fact, people were officially encouraged to collect the dung to manure their gardens, and street urchins would often
do so, selling it on for a small fee.

There were also plenty of unofficial street cleaners and if a lady passed by, gangs of children would offer to sweep a
clean path across a road for a halfpenny.

Leather tanneries, breweries and factories all contributed to the vile smell.

In 1858, London suffered the Great Stink, when the smell became overwhelming.

Four years earlier, in 1854, a cholera epidemic in Soho killed 616 people within a few days.

Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer to London’s Board of Works, built a network of sewers under the capital. This network
of sewers is still operating today.

GAS LAMPS

When Victoria became Queen in 1837, street lighting was very scarce and only middle-class urban areas had methane
gas lamps, lit every day at dusk by a lamplighter using a long pole with a wick at the end.
Lighting spread only slowly, however, and by 1888 when Jack the Ripper committed his serial sex murders in the streets
of Whitechapel, his crimes were conveniently cloaked in the gloom that still covered working-class slums.

After the murders, Victoria herself suggested lighting up the East End, but by the end of her reign in 1901, street lighting
was still patchy and even Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes said he always carried a revolver
when east of London’s Aldgate after dark.