Country Life - Victorian Houses (2024)

FAQs

What is it like living in a Victorian house? ›

Victorian homes are often known for the two-roomed 'back to backs' where poorly paid industrial workers would live in cramped conditions. It wasn't unheard of to see 250 houses per hectare at a time when families typically had six children.

“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.”

Old Louisville in Kentucky has the highest concentration of restored Victorian homes in the US. Originally called the Southern Extension, Old Louisville was built in the 1870s as a suburb, which was 48 city blocks long and filled with Victorian mansions.

Generally very cold unless you were wealthy, and even then probably very cold. There was no such thing as central heat and while the wealthy might have a fireplace in each room, they were stoked at night, if even lit.

Most rich people had servants and they would live in the same house, frequently sleeping on the top floor or the attic. The rich had water pumps in their kitchens or sculleries and their waste was taken away down into underground sewers. Gradually, improvements for the poor were made.

Everybody loves a Victorian-era house. It's hard not to be charmed by such a big and boisterous creation, and to be sure, Victorians had many good qualities. Spaciousness was certainly one. Another was the almost incredible amount of effort lavished on their famously ornate detailing.

Some of the main features of the Folk Victorian style include: porches with spindlework detailing, an l-shape or a gable front plan, details or inspiration from the Italianate or Queen Anne style. It is often identified by basic or simpler details with asymmetrical floor plans.

“Old Louisville has the most extensive collection of restored Victorian homes in the country and is the third-largest Historic Preservation District in the U.S.” Kentucky.

In the fashionable new developments in Belgravia, in Knightsbridge and in Mayfair. Generally the nearer to Buckingham Palace the better. The really wealthy had their townhouses which they kept in addition to their country estates.

What country has the most Victorian homes? ›

Victorian housing is one of the most common – and most popular – period home styles in the UK. But why are they so popular? During the Victorian period – roughly 1837 to 1900 – the UK was undergoing massive change.

Yes, Victorian houses can be expensive. Their price varies but is often more expensive due to their age, historical value, and architectural intricacy.

Internally Victorian homes have high ceilings and large windows and layout within a long and thin footprint much smaller than Georgian homes. Victorian homes are typically one room wide, with a narrow hallway leading off into the different rooms, two up, two down with just two rooms on each floor.

Darker & highly saturated colors are some of the most popular and most traditional with Victorian-style homes. Traditionally quite dark, olives, browns, greens, dark reds and maroon were all quite common.

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.

But it is probably the ornate details, such as decorative mouldings, intricate tile work, and stained-glass windows, which Victorian properties are most loved and appreciated for.

Pros are the very high ceilings ,large rooms ,thick walls , real fires. Cons are the high cost of heating the rooms in winter ,hard to reach places when decorating.

Inside, it's common to see high ceilings and walls with irregular shapes (sorry for those applying wallpaper), with closed-off rooms and added nooks. Intricate trim work was the hallmark of these homes, from decorative wooden staircases to ornate fireplace mantels to gilded wainscoting.

Victorian homes are everything opposite of what modern-day homeowners are looking for: small odd-shaped rooms, closed floor plans, historic architecture, and traditional design.