Architecture

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Further reading

Victorian style

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

Victorian style in British and American architecture, an eclectic mode based on the revival of older styles, often in new combinations. Although the style is named after the reign (1837–1901) of Queen Victoria, it was her husband Prince Albert who was the actual promoter of taste. Because of its nationalist associations, the Gothic revival style (see Gothic revival ) was favored for churches, universities, and public buildings in England, exemplified by Charles Barry and A. W. N. Pugin's Houses of Parliament (1837–67). The writings of John Ruskin influenced a shift in taste from the Perpendicular English Gothic to the polychromy of Italian Gothic. Classicism in its numerous historical forms remained a viable alternative, and other styles that were revived included the Byzantine and the Romanesque. New materials, such as iron and glass, were often incorporated into the design of buildings during the Victorian period, but they were often hidden. In domestic architecture, the Arts and Crafts revival, based on the writings and decorative designs of William Morris, synthesized aspects of Queen Anne, Tudor, and English vernacular design. The Victorian style is used to describe any of a number of analogous historical revivals in the United States in the second half of the 19th cent.

Bibliography: See H. R. Hitchcock, Early Victorian Architecture in Britain (1954, repr. 1972); J. Gloag, Victorian Comfort (1961); R. Dutton, The Victorian Home (1964); R. Dixon and S. Muthesius, Victorian Architecture (1978).

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Victorian style." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Victorian style." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Victorian.html

"Victorian style." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Victorian.html

Learn more about citation styles

High Victorian

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | 2000 | | Copyright

High Victorian. Style of the somewhat harsh polychrome structures of the Gothic Revival in the 1850s and 1860s when Ruskin held sway as the arbiter of taste. Like High Gothic it is an unsatisfactory term, as it poses the question as to what is ‘Low Victorian’. ‘Mid-Victorian’ would, perhaps, be more useful, but precise dates and description of styles would be more so.

Bibliography

Blau (1982);
J. Curl (2002b);
Hersey (1972);
Jervis (1983)

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "High Victorian." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "High Victorian." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-HighVictorian.html

JAMES STEVENS CURL. "High Victorian." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-HighVictorian.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Victorians go radical; One in five Londoners would prefer to live in a... Newspaper article from: The Evening Standard (London, England); 7/9/2003
	Christmas 1888 in 1988. (holidays in Victorian style) Magazine article from: Sunset; 12/1/1988
	Victorian style unites with modern space.(F)(Friday Home Guide)(House Hunting) Newspaper article from: The Washington Times (Washington, DC); 2/1/2002