Not Quite Queen Anne
I was walking around the North University Park Historic District and found these beautiful Victorian-style houses that I wanted to talk about a little. This particular style in Question is the Queen Anne Style. To be fair, the walk started as a reason to see Annalise Keating’s House (from How to get away with Murder).
Annalise Keating’s House
This style was at its peak in the US between 1880 – 1910. When we talk about styles of architectural construction like Victorian or Edwardian etc. generally, we refer to the style that was common during the reign of Queen Victoria or King Edward. The same applies to the Queen Anne style in Britain (i.e., it is the style that was prevalent during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714)). But when the style crossed over the Atlantic, it is referred to a particular style of pattern book-mass produced construction that bears no resemblance to the style of that period. It is distinguished by its ornate fairytale-like appearance and eclectic details and is sometimes synonymous with extravagance. But it is an elegant style, to say the least.
Another House on Hoover Street
Around the time, the Picturesque movement had gained traction. Pattern books with renderings of beautiful country homes amidst lush landscaping coupled with drawings for the same were influential, to say the least, in spreading the style. Queen Anne itself started (revived) as an offset of the Picturesque style by Richard Norman Shaw in Britain. Shaw turned to historic styles for his building designs, marrying vernacular building traditions with rational and picturesque structures. His designs didn’t strictly follow the style associated with Queen Anne (the name is certainly a misnomer). It is rather related to the style under Queen Elizabeth. His ideas were introduced in the United States by the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Here, the style fused with local revival styles and was popularized by the distribution of pattern books and architectural magazines. The then-established railroads helped spread the style by allowing the distribution of pre-constructed details that could be selected and purchased from a catalog.
A Queen Anne Style House near North University Park Historic District
This one has significantly altered the roof but the features and details clearly show this is a Queen Anne House
It is interesting to note that despite the common trend that professional architects used historic styles to design homes for the rich and the aristocrats, Queen Anne was favored by both the rich and the common people alike by virtue of mass production. Although it started as high style, its components, materials, and forms could be replicated, and mass-produced due to the industrial revolution. Resultant cheaper costs made them affordable to all. Another secret to its popularity was that the houses could be permuted into any size and form with modules (like turrets or bay windows) that could be added. Having said that many builders used extravagant and flamboyant details as an expression of prosperity. It could be said that no wall of a Queen Anne house is predictable.
Some recognizing features of this style would be its asymmetric and irregular shape with multi-gabled and multi-height roofs and an ornamented porch warped around another side. Another distinctive feature is its windows. Queen Anne houses have multiple windows (generally taller than longer) of different sizes and types. The surfaces are usually clad in wooden shingles or clapboards (a difference from its British counterpart, which had brick or stone exteriors). Many Queen Anne houses have a corner turret or a tower. Playful colors and elaborately decorated details like brackets, posts, balustrades, etc. were common.
Miller and Herriott House (This home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument). This house notably features both Queen Anne and Eastlake style features (Eastlake is a sister style to Queen Anne)
(All images by author)
Bibliography
Massey , C James, and Shirley Maxwell. 2012. The Charm of Queen Anne Houses. August 8. Accessed June 29, 2020. https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/the-charm-of-queen-anne-houses.
SurveyLA. 2019. Los Angles City Planning. July. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/1481fba6-c496-495c-804e-c56fd98b7f48/Late19thandEarly20thCenturyResidentialArchitecture_1885-1910.pdf.
Taylor, Glenda. n.d. All You Need to Know About the Queen Anne House. Accessed June 29, 2020. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/queen-anne-house/.
Valenzuela Preservation Studio. 2012. “Chapter 4 – Historical Background and Context.””In Historic Context for Queen Anne Architectural style in Louisinana, by Valenzuela Preservation Studio, 84. Louisiana.
Whiteson, Leon. 1989. Queen Anne: Eclectic, Ornate. June 4. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-06-04-re-2423-story.html.
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