How to Build a Folk Victorian House
Wealthy homeowners during the Victorian Era spared no expense in constructing their lavish residences. The elaborate facades of these homes, with their regal towers, ornamented wrap-around front porches and gingerbread-like trim, were a testament to the homeowners growing wealth and importance. However, with the expansion of the railroads and new automated wood-cutting machinery, many of these decorative elements became available to homeowners of lesser means. The Folk Victorian style evolved as simple cottages and farm houses were embellished in a style similar to the homes of the upper class. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Simple farm house floor plan
- Home building materials
- Pre-made Victorian ornamental woodwork
Instructions
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Choose a floor plan. Unlike the Queen Anne style, the layout of a traditional Folk Victorian home was simple and symmetric. Towers, bay windows and a steep roof are typically absent. One or two story, square or "L" shaped farm houses and cottages were common throughout much the country . Also, the "shotgun" layout, a long, rectangular box-like plan, is a Folk Victorian floor plan common in New Orleans. The "shotgun" is named for the fact that you can fire a shotgun through the front and back door without hitting a single wall.
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Add a front porch. The front porch displays much of the ornamentation displayed on a Folk Victorian. The porch supports can be turned spindles similar to those on a Queen Anne, or square posts with beveled corners, which are typical of the Italianate Victorian style.
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Add brackets under the cornice and jig-saw trim. A line of brackets under the cornice is a common way to ornament a Folk Victorian as is adding flat jigsaw or gingerbread-like trim, a characteristic inherited from the earlier Gothic Revival style of the mid 1800's.
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Choose a paint color. Unlike the Queen Anne "painted lady", the color palette for Folk Victorian homes was quite basic, consisting of one color for the body and one for the trim. Lighter colors were generally preferred because they were more readily available than darker ones and they required less maintenance.
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