Victorian architecture

During the early 19th century, the romantic medieval Gothic Revival style was developed as a reaction to the symmetry of Palladianism, and such buildings as Fonthill Abbey were built.

In Scotland, the architect Alexander Thomson who practised in Glasgow was a pioneer of the use of cast iron and steel for commercial buildings, blending neo-classical conventionality with Egyptian and Oriental themes to produce many truly original structures.

Other notable Scottish architects of this period are Archibald Simpson and Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, whose stylistically varied work can be seen in the architecture of Aberdeen.

By the latter half of the century, however, improving transport and communications meant that even remote parts of the Empire had access to publications such as the magazine The Builder, which helped colonial architects keep informed about current fashion.

The Victorian period flourished in Australia and is generally recognised as being from 1840 to 1890, which saw a gold rush and population boom during the 1880s in the states of New South Wales and Victoria.

Stick-Eastlake, a manner of geometric, machine-cut decorating derived from Stick and Queen Anne, is sometimes considered a distinct style.

Notable Victorian-inspired cities during this era include, Astoria in Oregon; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Boston in Massachusetts; Alameda, Eureka, San Francisco, and Midtown Sacramento in California; The Brooklyn Heights and Victorian Flatbush sections of New York City, Garden City on Long Island, and Albany, Troy, Buffalo, and Rochester in Upstate New York; Asbury Park / Ocean Grove, Cape May, Deal, Flemington, Freehold, Hackettstown, Jersey City / Hoboken, Metuchen, Montclair, Ridgewood, Plainfield, Summit, and Westfield in New Jersey; Chicago, Galena, and Winnetka in Illinois; Detroit and Grand Rapids in Michigan; Cincinnati and Columbus in Ohio; Galveston in Texas; Baltimore in Maryland; Louisville in Kentucky; Atlanta in Georgia; Milwaukee in Wisconsin; New Orleans in Louisiana; Richmond in Virginia; St. Louis in Missouri; and Saint Paul in Minnesota.

Los Angeles grew from a Pueblo (village) into a Victorian Downtown – now almost entirely demolished but with residential remnants in its Angelino Heights and Westlake neighborhoods.

San Francisco is particularly well known for its extensive Victorian architecture, especially in the Haight-Ashbury, Lower Haight, Alamo Square, Western Addition, Mission, Duboce Triangle, Noe Valley, Castro, Nob Hill, and Pacific Heights neighborhoods.

In the US, the South End of Boston is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest and largest Victorian neighborhood in the country.

[9] The Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio is recognized as the largest collection of late Victorian and Edwardian homes in the United States, east of the Mississippi.

Over-The-Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio, has the largest collection of early Victorian Italianate architecture in the United States,[11][12][13] and is an example of an intact 19th-century urban neighborhood.

[15] The photo album L'Architecture Americaine by Albert Levy published in 1886 is perhaps the first recognition in Europe of the new forces emerging in North American architecture.

A recent campaign the group has taken on is the preservation of Victorian gasometers after utility companies announced plans to demolish nearly 200 of the now-outdated structures.

St. Pancras railway station and Midland Hotel in London , opened in 1868
Selwyn College, Cambridge
Central Hall of the Natural History Museum , London
The China Merchants Bank Building is an example of Victorian architecture found in Shanghai, China.
Modern skyscrapers on Collins Street, Melbourne , have been deliberately set back from the street in order to retain Victorian-era buildings.
Most terraces in Australia have been preserved. Pictured are Victorian style terraces in Sydney
Victorian Queenstown ( Cobh )
The Painted Ladies are an example of Victorian architecture found in San Francisco, California.
Victorian facades on 16th Street, San Francisco
An example of residential architecture in the Old West End District (Toledo, Ohio) , a well preserved historic district full of Victorian architecture
Brick Victorian styled homes were built throughout Cabbagetown, Toronto in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Stone Distillery , an example of Victorian industrial architecture
One of four grotesques at the corners of the Peace Tower