Gingerbread Cottage in Historic Mount Tabor

Gingerbread Cottage in Historic Mount Tabor

This one-bedroom gingerbread cottage is so colorful and quirky that it made me smile. You don’t see houses like this very often!

It was built in 1871 and is on the market in the Historic Mount Tabor neighborhood of New Jerse.

Decorative ironwork, ornate woodwork and whimsical details throughout. Double door entry to LR w/amazing plaster ornaments, stained glass in baywindow nook and beamed ceiling w/antique pendant lights.

Wood brng stove. HW flrs throughout FF. Gingerbread arch into DR & Kit. Updated Kitchen w/Corian ctrs, cherry cabs, door to yard, Powder Room. DR slate fireplace backing, picture window.

Oak stairs w/antique carved oak niche for display. Wide plank heart pine flrs on 2nd level. MBR w/Sitting Area/poss 2nd BR. Ornate gingerbread arch w/glass details btwn. rooms. MBR features loads of light from cupola skylight and double doors to the beautiful balcony.

Remod. Bath w/antique ovrszd ped. sink & claw foot tub. Serene Yard w/iron gazebo, perennial plantings.

Photos of Gingerbread Cottage in Historic Mount Tabor:

Gingerbread Cottage in Historic Mount Tabor

Gingerbread Cottage

Interior of Gingerbread Cottage

Castle Victorian, New Old house

Castle Victorian, New-Old house

Castle Victorian is a "New-Old house" constructed from architectural plans first drafted in 1885.   This tribute to Victorian architecture was started in 1999 and completed in 2002.  This website is dedicated to the process of building a "New-Old House", not a "Fake-New Victorian", but a home worthy of the title, Victorian.

The 1885 version was built in Kansas City, MO and was documented in a book of old house plans.  The illustration in the lower right corner is from that book.   The original house, pictured to the right, still stands in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood of Kansas City, MO.

In 1999, my wife and I accepted the challenge to reconstruct this house in a manner that embraced the intricate details of this grand, High-Victorian home.

Building an authentic "New-Old house" that embraces the character and quality of a historic home is possible, but it takes a lot of dedication, effort, time and financial investment.  We hope you find inspiration here as you consider your personal Dream House project.  Just select a tab, above, (start with "The Dream" and work your way across).


Website: http://www.castlevictorian.com/

How do I Decorate a House in a Victorian Style?

Victorian Style Interior Decor

Victorian decor reflects the tastes and styles of this era. According to Creative Home Decorating Room by Room, the Victorian period "was an era of ornate and excessive decoration in all things," which was preceded and followed by simpler times.

In addition to the ornate, lighter Victorian decor often favored by bed and breakfasts, the Victorian era also had a more masculine side, and often used dark furniture and animal trophy accessories throughout the home.

If you own a Victorian home and are selling your property, adding a bit of Victorian flair may enhance and accentuate the historic value of your home. San Francisco in particular is home to several thriving Victorian home districts, such as Pacific Heights and the Western Addition.

1

Purchase antiques from the Victorian era. Search local antique shops, particularly any stores that may specialize in Victorian antiques. Antique shops can be pricey, so also look at thrift stores, which may offer additional antiques for lower prices.

2

Replace plain light fixtures with ornate Victorian pieces. Look for chandeliers, beaded lampshades, and cast iron lanterns. For a truly authentic feel, use Victorian candle holders and candleabras to provide dim lighting in your formal dining or living room.

3

Replace drapes and blinds with Victorian window treatments. The Victorian era tended to use lush, ornate fabrics such as velvet and silk, with rich color tones. As noted at From Times Past, one telltale sign of a Victorian era home is stained glass windows, which can be purchased at home improvement stores or found in antique shops. (See Reference 4)

4

Accessorize with decorative vases and bold floral arrangements, animal trophies, needlepoint pillowcases, Grecian busts and vases, and a wide variety of knick-knacks and miniatures. As noted at The New Homemaker, you may also want to invest in display cases and box-style frames to prevent breaking and minimize dusting.

5

Hang Victorian wall art, such as antique mirrors, needlework, portraits and nature pieces. Use ornate frames to accentuate artwork and portraits.

Image of Victorian House

Image of Victorian House. Victorian Style: Beautiful Home Design. If I could have this style home with all the things I've ever dreamed of in a house, I'd be set.

Victorian House - Image by Pinterest

Modern Victorian Interiors

I am currently restoring an 1850's Victorian End-Terrace house and take inspiration from both modern and traditional photo's like the ones pinned on this board.

Look the photos of the Modern Victorian Interiors.

Modern Victorian Interiors

Queen Anne style architecture

The Queen Anne Style Architecture

The peak period of the Queen Anne style was 1880–1900, although the style persisted for another decade. The style was named and popularized in England by the architect Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) and his followers. The term inaccurately implies aesthetic ideas from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). However, its language was actually based on much earlier English buildings, mainly those constructed during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras (Elizabeth I reigned 1558–1603; James I, 1603–1625). In 1874–75, the first important expression of the style by an American architect rose in Newport, Rhode Island, when H.H. Richardson designed the Watts-Sherman house. But many Americans first saw the Queen Anne style at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1875, where the British government built several houses in that style.

As with other ornate Victorian-era architecture, Queen Anne found its most complete expression in detached homes that showcased its sculptural shapes and ornamented skin. These houses were typically built of wood, allowing the designer unfettered artistic expression in the patterns and details that define the style. Bold and unconventional color schemes were also a Queen Anne trait, of which San Francisco's famous Painted Ladies are an example. The decorative details on most Queen Annes in Washington and other large eastern cities tended to be more subdued because of the urban preference for patterned brick and carved stone. Thanks to a building boom during the later nineteenth century, many Queen Anne town houses were built in Washington, and fortunately, many of those buildings survive today. Round towers and broad decorative gables, as well as elaborate Queen Anne chimneys, dormers , and windows are showcased on homes in Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and elsewhere. There is a wonderful detached Queen Anne home at 36th Street NW on Macomb Street, N.W., and another at 3035 Newark Street, N.W., in the Cleveland Park area.
The historic district around West Montgomery Avenue in Rockville, Maryland, boasts excellent examples of detached Queen Anne homes sited on generous lots.

Characteristics

Eclecticism, asymmetry, contrast, and even excess, were the hallmarks of the Queen Anne style. Every building sported a variety of surface textures. Elaborate motifs decorated gables, spandrel panels and, indeed, almost any flat surface. Newark Street NW in Cleveland Park features many highly decorative examples.

Materials

The Queen Anne look was achieved in a variety of ways with an array of materials that included patterned brick or stone, wood shingles and clapboard, slate, occasionally stucco, and sometimes, terracotta panels. Decorative stone panels were frequently set into the wall, as were custom-molded and colored bricks, allowing some variation and detailing. Wood buildings could assume the full range of color and design with paint.

Roof

Steeply pitched and complex, Queen Anne roofs provided visual interest and variety with gables, dormers, and turrets or towers, often all in one roof.

Towers

Queen Anne towers—square, round, or polygonal—were a favorite feature among architects designing Queen Anne homes. Sometimes instead of a tower, a turret, supported by a corbel, projected from the second floor. The towers and turrets were capped with a conical, tent, domed, or other artfully shaped roof and finished off with slate shingles and a copper finial ornament.

Windows

Typically, Queen Anne homes were embellished with bay windows and oriels; sometimes the latter was part of a turret. Window surrounds were, as a rule, simple. Lower window sashes usually had only a single pane of glass. The upper sash may have followed suit, although it was frequently multi-paned or framed by small square panes. More elaborate window sashes featured stained glass in the upper portion of a double-hung window or in a transom.
Curved glass is a unique Queen Anne detail, occasionally found in round bays and towers.

Entrance

Single-story, wrap-around porches were essential to detached Queen Anne style homes. Frequently, the porch was framed by decorative columns, brackets, or applied ornament. In urban areas, town houses often featured a second-story porch, sometimes recessed into gables or towers. Several good examples of upper-level porches can be found on town houses along the 600 block of East Capitol Street N.E. on Capitol Hill.
Doors may have delicately carved decorations surrounding a single large pane set into the upper portion of the door.

Images of Victorian Cottages

Amazing images of Victoria Cottages:

Tiny Victorian Cottage

Victorian Cottage

Early Victorian Cottage

Gothic Revival Style 1830 - 1860

Gothic Revival Style

The Gothic Revival style is part of the mid-19th century picturesque and romantic movement in architecture, reflecting the public’s taste for buildings inspired by medieval design. This was a real departure from the previously popular styles that drew inspiration from the classical forms of ancient Greece and Rome. While distinctly different, both the Gothic Revival style and the Greek Revival style looked to the past, and both remained popular throughout the mid 19th century. The Gothic Revival style in America was advanced by architects Alexander Jackson Davis and especially Andrew Jackson Downing, authors of influential house plan books, Rural Residences (1837), Cottage Residences (1842), and The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). This style was promoted as an appropriate design for rural settings, with its complex and irregular shapes and forms fitting well into the natural landscape. Thus, the Gothic Revival style was often chosen for country homes and houses in rural or small town settings.

The Gothic Revival style was also popular for churches, where high style elements such as castle-like towers, parapets, and tracery windows were common, as well as the pointed Gothic arched windows and entries. The Carpenter Gothic style is a distinctive variation of the Gothic Revival style featuring vertical board and batten wooden siding, pointed arches and incised wooden trim. The name comes from the extensive use of decorative wood elements on the exterior. While some examples remain, the pure Carpenter Gothic style is not well represented in Pennsylvania. 

The most commonly identifiable feature of the Gothic Revival style is the pointed arch, used for windows, doors, and decorative elements like porches, dormers, or roof gables. Other characteristic details include steeply pitched roofs and front facing gables with delicate wooden trim called vergeboards or bargeboards. This distinctive incised wooden trim is often referred to as “gingerbread” and is the feature most associated with this style. Gothic Revival style buildings often have porches with decorative turned posts or slender columns, with flattened arches or side brackets connecting the posts. Gothic Revival style churches may have not just pointed arch windows and porticos, but often feature a Norman castle-like tower with a crenellated parapet or a high spire.

Many examples of Gothic Revival buildings of both high style and more vernacular character can be found across the state. The high style buildings, mansions, churches, prisons and schools sometimes offer ornate architectural details. The more common vernacular buildings may have only a few Gothic details, usually pointed arch windows and a front facing gable with wooden trim. Gothic Revival details may also be found in urban settings on rowhouses or duplexes. Later in the 19th century, Gothic Revival details were mixed with elements of other Victorian era styles to become a style known as the Victorian Gothic. In the early 20th century, a distinct variation of the Gothic Revival style, known as the Collegiate Gothic style, developed primarily for educational buildings. These derivative forms of the Gothic Revival style are more fully discussed elsewhere in this field guide.

Victorian Architectural Styles

Victorian Architectural Styles

Among other artistic achievements, the Victorians produced wonderful works of architecture. We will look into some of the styles that architects developed from the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign in 1839 to her death in 1901. 

From the early Victorian period until about the time of Civil War in America, the Western World saw relatively simple styles of architecture that reflected styles of the past. There was an abundant revival of styles: Greek Revival (1825 - 1850), Gothic Revival (1840 and 1880) and a return to Renaissance forms. 

After the Civil War and as a result of a growing trend towards industrialism, Victorian architecture tended toward more complicated and elaborate designs. Prominent styles during this later period included Italianate (1840 - 1890), Second Empire (1855 - 1885), Stick-Eastlake (1860 - 1890), and Queen Anne (1880 - 1910). 

Victorians also began to paint their homes in unique colors. Cheerful pastels in pink, blue and lavender hues began showing up on the exterior of homes beginning from around the 1870s. 

The "Painted Ladies" in San Francisco, California and "Rainbow Row" in Charleston, South Carolina are all wonderful examples of this movement. The following are some popular Victorian styles of architecture.

What is Victorian Style?

What is Victorian Style?

Victorian style is a broad term that generally is used to refer to characteristics of design (architectural, fashion, home decor, etc.) from the latter period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 1837 until her death in 1901.

This style draws inspiration from nature, geometry, theory, and many other resources.

It also encompasses a wide range of sub-styles including Eastlake, Aesthetic or Anglo-Japanese, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Greek Revival (Neo-classical), Egyptian Revival and "exotica" like Turkish and Persian design.

Victorian Architecture, house styles

Wedding Cake House Maine

Victorian architecture refers to several styles developed during the reign of Queen Victoria

A common mental image of a "Victorian" home looks much like a dollhouse with elaborate trim and bright colors. But the term "Victorian architecture" actually refers to styles that emerged in the period between 1830 and 1910, during the reign of Queen Victoria. The Victorian era spawned several well-known styles, including Gothic revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, stick style, Romanesque style and shingle style.

The Victorian styles evolved largely from the imposing, elaborate Gothic style, which appealed to the romantic Victorian idea that fashion, architecture and furnishings should be beautiful rather than practical. A wealthy Victorian woman's clothing, for example, involved corsets, hoop skirts and dresses that used yards of fabric. It made sense for the trendy home designs to reflect that excess as well.
Architects took the ideas of Gothic architecture and added French, Italian, Tudor and even Egyptian details. Designers were free to combine the styles to create several different well-known styles -- and combine the styles as they saw fit. As a result, there are few Victorian homes that look the same.
Ideas from the Gothic style may have started the Victorian styles, but a kick from the Industrial Revolution nationalized the trend. Steam-powered sawmills could create elaborate materials cheaper and faster. As a result, late Victorian homes became increasingly ornate. Even lower-income families could afford trim and patterns to turn their existing homes into "folk Victorians."
The Queen Anne style came into fashion in the 1880s, at the height of the mass-production of architectural trim. These elaborate, brightly colored homes are the image most people think of when they picture a Victorian home.
As the Arts and Crafts Movement began to hit America, critics accused the Victorians of needless complexity and clutter, advocating a more streamlined, handcrafted home. The style fell out of fashion, but is still very prevalent in historic communities around the country.
Key Elements

• Two to three stories. Victorian homes are usually large and imposing.
• Wood or stone exterior. The majority of Victorian styles use wood siding, but the Second Empire and Romanesque styles almost always have outer walls made of stone.
• Complicated, asymmetrical shape. Unlike the boxy Greek revival style, Victorian homes have wings and bays in many directions.
• Decorative trim. Commonly called "gingerbread," Victorian homes are usually decorated with elaborate wood or metal trim.
• Textured wall surfaces. Scalloped shingles, patterned masonry or half-timbering are commonly used to dress up Victorian siding.
• Steep, multi-faceted roof or Mansard roof. Victorian homes often have steep, imposing rooflines with many gables facing in different directions. The Second Empire Victorian style has a flat-topped Mansard roof with windows in the side to allow for maximum space inside the house.
• One-story porch. A large, wraparound porch with ornamental spindles and brackets is common, especially in the Queen Anne style.
• Towers. Some high-end Victorian homes are embellished with a round or octagonal tower with a steep, pointed roof.
• Vibrant colors. Before the Victorian era, most houses were painted all one color, usually white or beige. By 1887, bright earth tones like burnt sienna and mustard yellow were in vogue.

Famous Examples

• Gingerbread House. This Savannah, Ga., landmark was built by Cord Asendorf in 1889. It's considered one of the best examples of Steamboat Gothic architecture.
• Wedding Cake House. This square brick home in Kennebuck, Maine, was originally built in 1826. Like many homes in the Victorian era, it was covered in wooden Gothic decoration in 1850 to keep up with architecture trends.
• "Painted Ladies" in San Francisco. The term "painted ladies" refers to Victorian houses painted in three or more colors to embellish their architectural detail. It was first used to describe the colorful homes in San Francisco in the 1978 book Painted Ladies: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.
• Rosson House. Built in 1895, this Phoenix home is a great example of the Queen Anne style and is now a museum. Its detailed trim is often referred to as Eastlake detailing, after furniture designer Charles Eastlake's elaborate creations.