Folk Victorian is an

architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

employed for some homes in the United States and Europe between 1870 and 1910, though isolated examples continued to be built well into the 1930s. Folk Victorian homes are relatively plain in their construction but embellished with decorative trim. Folk Victorian is a subset of

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...

. It differentiates itself from other subsets of Victorian architecture (such as Queen Anne) by being less elaborate and having more regular floor plans. Examples include the

Bacon Hotel The Bacon Hotel, also known as the Sunrise Hotel, is a historic hotel building at the southeast corner of Railroad and Homestead Roads in Whitehall, Arkansas. It is a two-story wood-frame structure, with a cross-gable roof and a two-story porch ...

, Albert Spencer Wilcox Beach House, Lost Creek Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot (1892), James B. Carden House (1885), Ephriam M. Baynard House, and Sibley's General Store (1899) in the Sibley's and James Store Historic District.

Background

Some of the main features of the Folk Victorian style include porches with spindlework detailing, an l-shape or a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

front plan, and details or inspiration from the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

or Queen Anne style. It is often identified by basic or simpler details with asymmetrical floor plans. The typical home is two-stories with a single story porch. Many of these homes were put up during this time period due to the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. People moving to the West needed simple and quick methods for building a house, and easy access to lightweight lumber helped to create a pre-cut and inexpensive way to get an iteration of the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

home.

Gallery

File:Orin Jordan House, Whittier.JPG, The Orin Jordan House in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

is an example of a Folk Victorian File:Folk Victorian Home.jpg, Early Folk Victorian home in Elgin, TX (Side Gable, Hall & Parlor design)

References

{{Architecture in the United States * . House styles Victorian architectural styles American architectural styles Stick-Eastlake architecture in the United States Vernacular architecture in the United States . 19th-century architecture in the United States

Background

Gallery

See also

References