Queen Anne (1880s – 1910s)
America’s fanciful Queen Anne architecture takes on many shapes.
History:
The romantic style known as Queen Anne became an architectural fashion in the USA during the 1880s and 1890s, when the industrial revolution brought new technologies. Builders began to use mass-produced pre-cut architectural trim to create fanciful and sometimes flamboyant houses.
Not all Queen Anne houses are lavishly decorated, however. Some builders showed restraint in their use of embellishments. Still, the flashy “painted ladies” of San Francisco and the refined brownstones of Brooklyn share many of the same features.
Queen Anne architecture in the USA is very different from the slightly earlier English versions of the style. Moreover, in both the USA and England, Victorian Queen Anne architecture has little do with the British queen who ruled during the 1700s.
Features:
Steep roof
Complicated, asymmetrical shape
Front-facing gable
One-story porch that extends across one or two sides of the house
Round or square towers
Wall surfaces textured with decorative shingles, patterned masonry, or half-timbering
Ornamental spindles and brackets
Bay windows
Next: Eastlake Victorian
