Victorian Furniture

INTRODUCTION
The Victorian period of architecture began in 1840.
Victorian design is widely viewed as having indulged in a grand excess of ornament.
The Arts and Crafts movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese style, and Art Nouveau
style have their beginnings in the late Victorian era and gothic period.
Victorian styles have continued to come in and out of fashion throughout the years.
 V
Dormer window Turret Gable
bay window

Dentil moulding Transom

Finial Shingle

Clapboard wood siding

Cupola Newel Post column post
 Key elements of Victorian
Period
 A bay window , Dormer window
 Newel post—the tall and sometimes fancy carved post at the top or bottom of a stair, holding up the
handrail.
 Finial—the decorative part which ends the point of a spire or other items those projects upward.
 Dentil moulding going around a house with rectangle holes in it.
 Round or square shaped column post usually holding up the roof, with a cylindrical shaft, a base,
and a top, which is called a capital.
 Clapboard wood siding used on a house.
 Shingle—a thin unit of wood, slate, tile, concrete or other material used in a series of overlapping
rows to cover the roof or side of a house.
 Cupola—a small domed structure crowning a roof or tower.
 Turret-small, skinny tower usually at the corner of a building.
 Transom-window or panel, usually operable, above a window or door.
 Gable-The triangular part at the end of a building formed by the two sides of a sloping roof.
COLOUR AND STUCTURE
 Most Victorian houses had distinctive color schemes and exterior features, including
mansard roofs, curves, arches, fancy brackets, columns, and unique and large windows.
 The Governor‘s Mansion was first painted mustard yellow with sage-green trim.
 The interiors of Victorian houses were elaborately decorated and filled to the brim with
fancy furniture.
 Carved and painted moldings and plaster wall decorations caught the light from gas and
kerosene lamps.
 It was typical to see floral carpets, large patterned and multi-colored wallpaper, velvet
and lace curtains, overstuffed chairs, tufted ottomans, marble-topped tables,
candelabras, chandeliers, and carved sideboards. One might also see many potted plants,
bronze statues, marble figures, and works of art.
  Arch
 Upper panels
/fanlight

 Glazed
pannel  Door
Knockers

 Door
handle  Latter/mail
box

 Pannel door
  Door Knockers & Knobs  convention to hang curtain in
order to retain heat

 Victorian felt it more important to  Classical doors with fielded

insulate their houses against the panels and mouldings
cold’
 shelves and alcoves were very popular in the late
Victorian period for the display of china ornaments

 Glazed upper panels or

fanlights above allow extra
light to enter the hallway

 overhead designs were supplied in pine

ready for painting or, more expensively, in
a polished hardwood such as oak or
mahogany
 An escutcheon, handle and
knocker make up the brass
entrance door set

 Decorative wrought iron

exterior hinges with
elaborate leafwork  Door chains: has an electro
bronze finish, and can be cast in
iron

 Poarch : Convey social status of

occupants
 Windows
 Victorian sash windows
become plainer, so their
openings make increasing use
of decorative brickwork,
stucco and prefabricated
terracotta.

 elaborate Italianate window with a wide

centre window and narrow side lights.
The balustered balcony is supported by
brackets.
  Iron-framed fixed
windows with a top
―swing‖ casement,
sometimes found in
service area.

 A typical mid-Victorian sliding sash

window showing a section.

 set of shallow headed sash

windows in the debased
Gothic style with stone
dressing.
 In grander houses, the decorative tracery at the
tops of the arched windows reduced amount of
sunlight, thus protecting interiors and
furnishings from fading, on sashes, exterior
blinds served the same purpose.

 The dirt and grime of city life made

window cleaning a continual task. So the
windows are pivot in such a way that the
glass could be cleaned a both sides from
inside the house.

 Extensive ranges of window

fittings became available.
 Features of Victorian Period
Doors
 The porch of Victorian houses was designed not only to protect visitors from the weather but
also to convey the social status of the occupants.
 Front doors are panelled and sometimes arched in the Gothic style.
 Internal doors are constructed in the traditional frame and panel manner .
 Classical doors with fielded panels and mouldings. They were available in polished hardwood or
in pine with carton-Pierre embellishment ready for painting.
 Large panels filled with tongue and groove boarding: a form of joinery usually associated with
doors to utility rooms.
 Pointed crenellations decorate the gothic doorways. The door has raised panelling and elaborate
pierced fittings.
 A shelf for the display of china is included above some of the ―Aesthetic‖ door head.
 The panels of the door are decorative enriched, either with carton-pierre mouldings pr trompe
l oeil paintwork.
 The overhead designs were supplied in pine ready for painting or, more expensively, in a
polished hardwood such as oak or mahogany. It shows varying forms of debased classical
styles.
 There is a French influence in design of a overhead shown centre right: this incorporates
an oil-painted panel with a Rococo frame.
 Some designs include shelves and alcoves. These were very popular in the late Victorian
period for the display of china ornaments.
 A four panelled door with a mousemoulded‖ panel bead.
 Borrowed light is provided by a glazed panel which often has a stained-glass border.
 Typical six-panel door with square top panels.
 Decorative wrought iron exterior hinges with elaborate leafwork.
 Ornate gothic style polished brass interior rimlock
 Door chains: has an electro bronze finish, and can be cast in iron
 WINDOW
 As Victorian sash windows become plainer Sash windows have two small brackets or horns‘
at each end of the bottom rail of the top sash. These are to help strengthen the frame and
support the heavier panes of glass.
 Casement, often using leaded lights, return during this period,
especially with gothic style window, or Tudor in modest houses.
 sash or casement windows into rectangular openings, with an
arch fashioned out of multi coloured brick work.
 Shallow headed Sash Windows in the debased gothic style.
Sliding Sash , Iron Framed windows are famous at that time.
 Elaborated Italianate window with a wide centre window
and narrow side lights. The Blustered Balcony is supported by brackets.
 WALL & CELLING
 In Victorian era halls and studies room are often panelled.
 The dining rooms of grand houses are painted with oil paint.
 The drawing rooms and ladies room would have lighter walls.
 Wallpapers being to produced in a rolls.
 Marbling and stencilling were popular wall
treatment.(patterned-china , Greek)
 In calling More modest houses have a plain moulded cornice and simple central rose/medallion.
 The elaborated features include walnut panels set
in squares with carved bosses.
 Plastered and fibrous plastered ceilings were in fashion.
 Tudor inspired ceiling paper produced for the architect.
 FLOOR
 The modest Victorian house usually has plain pine floorboards . It is customary to cover
them with rugs
 Parquetry, where small pieces of different coloured hardwoods are laid in geometric
patterns.
 Linoleum, introduced with much success in the latter half of the century, was a more
durable alternative to floor cloth.
 FIRE PLACE
 The fireplace is an essential feature of the Victorian houses and appears in virtually
every room.
 It consist of two main parts: the manufactured cast iron grate and the chimneypiece or
surround, generally made from marble, slate or wood.
 Large open fireplace have dog grates, but registered grates, which are cast as one
piece to combine the grate, which are cast as one piece to combine the grate, fire back
and inner frame, are a feature of the main rooms in most town houses.
Kitchen Stoves
 The built in range was the most commonly used cooker in
the Victorian kitchen, it was fuelled by coal and made from
cast-iron.
 The range was the heart of the Victorian kitchen. It had two
ovens, a semi-enclosed grate with projecting fire cover and
two double cone ventilators for extracting cooking odors
above the plate rack.
 It has grills and ample cooking space. The oven has an
additional copper boiler for heating water.
 Staircase
 Victorian terraced houses usually have dog leg staircase because
they were inexpensive to construct and economical in space. They
are generally made of softwood, such as pine.
 As the period progresses, increasingly elaborate turned
balusters and newel posts appear
 The edges of stairs treads and risers were often painted,
stained, or grained and varnished to resemble oak
 A strip of carpet was used as a runner up the middle of the stairs.
Built-in furniture
 A charming specialty was the cozy corner, an intimate
arrangement of built-in seats, often situated next to a
fireplace or in the corner of a room.
 The kitchen dresser is a standard built-in Victorian fixture.
 A built-in washstand, dressing table and overhead cupboard
 Food lifts or dump waiters were useful in urban houses with
basement kitchens.
 The oak bookcases fill the dado: they are elaborately
moulded and have glazed doors.
Services
 With the arrival of piped water public supply, portable hip baths were replaced
by fixed vitreous enameled baths
 Washstands, formerly filled by hand, were now plumbed in with brass taps,
 The ceramic pedestal basin, often decorated with a transfer-printed pattern,
eventually overlook the wooden washstand.
 Methods of heating water went through several stages of development until the
invention of the gas geysers in 1868.
 Showers also became popular.
 A cast-iron roman bath with enamel marbling and stencilled rim
 Rolled perforated toilet paper, it is a typical brass holder.
Lighting
 An adjustable brass pendant gas light
 with a telescope stem, operated by weighted pulleys.
 A ceiling pendant gas light with etched glass shades.
 The tube-shaped candle bulb, cut glass ornamental bulb and
spiral candle flame are early electric light bulbs.
 A brass or copper electric tulip light fixture.
 A fluted brass electric socket and wall plug.
 A porcelain ceiling pendant fixture.
 A cast iron external lamp standard, for use with gas and
electricity.