Folksy Victoriana
Not every style of architecture during the Victorian era was over-the-top. Folk Victorian
grew out of the desire to add Victoriana detailing to the simplest of houses. It was helped immensely by the railroad and the industrialization and standardization of lumber manufacturing.
Gallery, nypl.org /Artwork: designslinger]
The railroads changed the housing market in this country as much as rail lines altered the
landscape. Rail cars specifically designed to transport milled lumber to all parts of the continent, allowed people to take the most ordinary house from the big city to the small town, and dress up a facade with pre-made, decorative architectural components.
double shotgun, boxchain via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
Whether your house was a small shotgun, or a two story with a couple of dormers in the
roof, all you had to do was get your hands on a catalogue, pick out the design you liked, send in your order, and all the pieces would be shipped to you by train. You now had the ability to add an elaborate porch to an otherwise utilitarian looking house, or transform your old, run-down front facade, brought to your doorstep because of the latest technological advances in transportation and manufacturing. It made the wide variety of Victorian era detailing more accessible to a larger population; you didn't have to be rich to be a little fancy with your house.
patwalsh 2000 via flickr; Folk Victorian retail establishment, TW Collins via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
The folk part came from an architectural style which describes a type of housing found
across America. The National Folk house is as simple as you can get in house design. With a basic rectangle for a plan, gable ends on opposite sides of the rectangle, a door, a few windows, some kind of exterior cladding, you have a folk house. If you wanted to get a little more elaborate you could add another rectangle and give yourself an L-shaped floor plan, or even add a second story. The Folk transformed itself into a Victorian when you added a few bells and whistles like spindlework on the porch, or ornate bargeboards hanging from your eaves. Don't be surprised to find Folk Victorian sometimes referred to as Gingerbread Victorian, or the other way around. It was at its height in popularity from about 1880 to 1900, though some historians extend the date as far as 1910.
If you feel your house is too plain-jane and want to dress it up a bit, you can still order your
wood, Victorian, bric-a-brac from a catalogue; now you just do it online.
Posted by designslinger at 4/20/2009 4:33 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Dictionary, History
Tags: Gingerbread Victorian Folk Victorian Folk house Victorian styles National Folk house
Categories: Architecture, Dictionary, History
Tags: Gingerbread Victorian Folk Victorian Folk house Victorian styles National Folk house
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