Name That Victorian Style Home!

Many people think they know what they're looking for when they want a "Victorian style" home. However, "Victorian" is a misnomer. It refers to a period of time, rather than a type of housing. The homes you think of as Victorian actually have their own names and origins. When you're looking for a specific type of home, it may help to know the exact home style you are looking for.

Most Victorians share a number of features, including bay windows, ornate detailing of eaves, dormers and columns, and wraparound porches.

The style most popularly known as "Victorian" is actually the Queen Anne style. This home type was named, not so much for architecture during the reign of Queen Anne (from 1702 to 1714), but for the misattribution of the term from descriptions in William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne".

You will know a Queen Anne by its asymmetrical design: windows, turrets, porches on multiple stories and the exquisite detailing on nearly every part of the home, including "gingerbread" trim, decorative moldings and sculptured columns. The bay windows that afford residents a "window-seat" are also a defining feature. The Queen Anne is unique for its enduring presence in popular culture as "Victorian", but it is not the first, nor the last Victorian era home style, being in vogue from the 1880s to around 1910.

The first style known as "Victorian" is generally agreed to be Gothic Revival, which emerged in the early-mid 1800s, around 1840. These homes were patterned after medieval churches, with the steeply sloping roof and pointed-arch windows that were characteristic of those buildings.

Since middle-class Victorians could not afford the detailing that went into a classic Gothic Revival home, they went with a squarer, less ornamented style that came to be known as Folk Victorian.

The Italianate, reminiscent of the great manses of northern Italy, albeit in a smaller form, came into vogue in the 1860s. The segments of the house were often built asymmetrically, to evoke a feeling of the rambling Italian villas it was trying to emulate.

Second Empire homes were in vogue at the same time as the Italianate, but features a "mansard roof"- a roof that is as flat as possible to make the most of the attic area. Dormer windows are usually installed in the attic in this type of home.

The Stick style, emerging in the 1880s, is known for the contrasting planks on the exterior of the home and sometimes for the big overhanging porch on the second story.

The Romanesque Revival and Shingle styles are unique among Victorian era homes, as they have little or no ornamentation. However, their construction makes up for that. Due to their construction materials and design, homes of this design were the domain of the super-wealthy or for public buildings.

The Romanesque Revival is an all-stone building, with plain detailing for windows, doors and eaves. The Shingle style is just as it is named - shingles cover everything on the exterior. The Shingle eventually evolved into a more economical form that the middle class could afford and it is this kind of home that has survived into modern times.

It is a good idea to get a good idea of what kind of Victorian home you are looking for. It is quite possible that some of the lesser known Victorians are hiding in your local MLS without proper identification.