Notable Victorian era cities include London, Toronto, Boston, Richmond, Saint Paul, St. Louis, Louisville, Galena, IL, Galveston, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Glasgow, Nelson, Sydney, Melbourne, Manchester, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pittsburgh, Philidelphia, Grand Rapids, and New Orleans.

Varieties of Victorian architecture

• British Arts and Crafts movement
• Gothic Revival
• Italianate
• Jacobethan (the precursor to the Queen Anne style)
• Neoclassicism
• Neo-Grec
• Painted ladies
• Queen Anne
  Renaissance Revival
• Romanesque Revival (includes Richardsonian Romanesque)
• Second Empire
• Stick-Eastlake
• Industrial architecture

Links

• Victorian architecture – Wikipedia

Incoming search terms:

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• викторианская архитектура

In the United States, the Second Empire style usually combined a rectangular tower, or similar element, with a steep, but short, mansard roof; the roof being the most noteworthy link to the style’s French roots. This tower element could be of equal height as the highest floor, or could exceed the height of the rest of the structure by a storey or two. The mansard roof crest was often topped with an iron trim, sometimes referred to as “cresting”.

In some cases, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting design, making the feature useful beyond its decorative features. The exterior style could be expressed in either wood, brick or stone. More elaborate examples frequently featured paired columns as well as sculpted details around the doors, windows and dormers. The purpose of the ornamentation was to make the structure appear imposing, grand and expensive.

Floor plans for Second Empire residences could either be symmetrical, with the tower (or tower-like element) in the center, or asymmetrical, with the tower or tower-like element to one side. In Australia, especially Melbourne this style became popular during the boom years of the 1880′s. Many grand buildings exist today, particularly many of Melbourne’s fine town halls.

The style also found its way into commercial structures, and was often used when designing state institutions. Several psychiatric hospitals proved the style’s adaptability to their size and functions. Prior to the construction of The Pentagon in the 1940s, the Second Empire–style Ohio State Asylum for the Insane in Columbus, Ohio was reported to be the largest building under one roof in the U.S., though the title may actually belong to Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, another Kirkbride Second Empire asylum.

Second Empire was succeeded by the Queen Anne Style era, and its sub-styles, which enjoyed great popularity until the rise of the “Revival Era” in American architecture just before the end of the 19th century.

Links

• Second Empire – Wikipedia

Incoming search terms:

• second empire floor plans

Its main characteristics are flattened, cusped "Tudor" arches, lighter stone trims around windows and doors, carved brick detailing, steep roof gables, often terra-cotta brickwork, balustrades and parapets, pillars supporting porches and high chimneys as in the Elizabethan style. Examples of this style are Mentmore in Buckinghamshire and Sandringham House in Norfolk, England.

In June 1835, when the competition was announced for designs for new Houses of Parliament, the terms asked for designs either in the Gothic or the Elizabethan style. The seal was set on the Gothic Revival as a national style, even for the grandest projects on the largest scale; at the same time, the competition introduced the possibility of an Elizabethan revival. Of the ninety-seven designs submitted, six were in the Elizabethan style (Pevsner 477).

Two young architects already providing Jacobethan buildings were (later Sirs) James Pennethorne and Anthony Salvin. Salvin’s Jacobethan Harlaxton Manor, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, its first sections completed in 1837, is the great example that defines the style.

The Jacobethan Revival survived the late 19th century and became a part of the commercial builder’s repertory through the first 20 years of the 20th century. Apart from its origins in the UK, the style became popular both in Canada and throughout the United States during those periods, for sturdy "baronial" dwellings in a free Renaissance style. A key exponent of the style was T.G. Jackson. Some examples can also be found in government buildings in Australia.

Links

• Jacobethan – Wikipedia