Victorian House Styles and Examples (2024)

FAQs

What are the different styles of Victorian houses? ›

The most common Victorian style is Folk Victorian. The classic Victorian styles (Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Stick Style, Romanesque Revival, and Shingle Style) were created by professional architects, and were built mostly by the well-to-do.

“Recognizable characteristics are steep, tiled roofs, painted brick, bay windows, and asymmetrical design,” Dadswell says. “Wooden floorboards, plaster cornicing, sweeping staircases, wooden sash windows, and tiled entrance hallways would have been incorporated into most Victorian homes.”

Typical Victorian layouts feature a living room, dining room and hallway on the ground floor. The kitchen is often located at the back of the house, with a small bathroom and utility room.

Interior design in the Victorian period was layered, cluttered, ornate, and eccentric. Interiors of Victorian-era houses often included: Grand staircases. Complicated layouts with multiple rooms including formal dining rooms, libraries, and parlors.

While you'll often get large Victorian manor homes, the era also introduced the modern terrace, with a kitchen to the rear and living spaces at the front. Space and light are key aspects of a Victorian property, but it's often the details that help define them.

Wood, clay and the beginning of the Victorian era

When the architectural design choices that have grown to be known as the Victorian style emerged, wood and clay tiles were the roofing materials of choice. For higher end buildings, clay was typically used, whereas wood was sought as a less expensive alternative.

Victorian style is recognizable by its rich color palette, bold patterns, ornate furnishings, layered textiles and intricate accents. Used correctly, Victorian-style decor can create a cozy and sophisticated atmosphere, but it's easy to go wrong.

What colour paint did the Victorians use? The traditional Victorian colour palette was dark and consisted of dark, rich and deep shades of maroon, red, burgundy, chestnut, dark green, brown and blues.

Little has changed. Timid traditionalists will always choose safe, bland white, of course, but many homes built in the latter half of the 19th Century were multicolored marvels, with different body colors for each floor and details daubed in bright contrast.

“Large staircases, big mantles, big fireplaces, and closed-off rooms mark a historic Victorian home,” says Small. In addition to these features, they usually have: High ceilings with crown molding or ornate trim. Dark wood trim.

What is Victorian interior style? ›

Furniture of the Victorian age was heavily ornamented and generally large with vibrant colors and curved shapes. Popular pieces included ottomans, buttoned and draped pieces, and intricate wood-carved works. Floors were most commonly wood with various elaborately decorated patterned rugs.

Victorian bedrooms often had very rich, stately colors such as royal purple or deep green. Don't be afraid to play with color in your Victorian bedroom. We love the rich green walls that pair beautifully with the baroque floral pillows in this space.

Solid brick walls: Many Victorian houses have walls made of solid brick, which provides good insulation and durability. Cavity walls: Some Victorian houses have cavity walls, which are constructed with two layers of brick with a gap in between.

Among these are the Second Empire style, the Stick style, Shingle style, Romanesque, Gingerbread folk style, Egyptian Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Renaissance Revival, Queen Anne and Beaux-Arts Classicism – and those are, by no means, all the Victorian house styles.

So, unlike the smaller, darker Victorian homes, Edwardian houses were more squat, wider and roomy, with bigger hallways and more windows. It's common for an Edwardian property to have a front garden and be set back from the pavement, as there was an ever-increasing desire for privacy at that time.

While Victorian fashions had been dominated by the tightly corseted hourglass figure, the new Edwardian silhouette was that of the S curve – a shape that pushed the hips back and the bust forward, exaggerated by floppy blouses that hung over the waist at the front.

From about 1875, with the economic boom of the gold rush, Late Victorian Architecture became more embellished and overburdened with excess columns, balustrades, exaggerated entrances, other lavish decorations and highly detailed ornamentation to the external facade.