Introduction to the History of Design

The 1800s saw a series of revolutions in architecture and interior design. The High Victorian style of the mid-19th century was superseded by the decorative ideas of the Aesthetic Movement by 1880. The craft element then evolved into the Arts and Crafts approach, with its sparse, rather bleak style. And then the pendulum swung back, with style and decoration permeating furniture and décor around 1900. Art Nouveau influences showed in much of the design detail, though in continental Europe the swirling shapes appeared more forcefully.

So the houses of 1830-1914 showed many and varied decorative styles - medieval, Jacobean, Stuart, Adam, and Louis XVI revivals were mixed with Morris, Arts and Crafts, and Art Nouveau fashions. And Japanese, Moorish and Indian styles also played their part.

The names given to the different periods and the dates they cover differ between the UK and the USA.

In the UK these are:

1558-1603	Elizabeth I	Elizabethan
1603-1625	James I	Jacobean
1625-1649	Charles I	Carolean
1649-1660	Commonwealth	Cromwellian
1660-1685	Charles II	Restoration
1685-1689	James II	Restoration
1689-1694	William & Mary	William & Mary
1694-1702	William III	William III
1702-1714	Anne	Queen Anne
1714-1727	George I	Early Georgian
1727-1760	George II	Georgian
1760-1812	George III	Late Georgian
1812-1820	George III	Regency
1820-1830	George IV	Late Regency
1830-1837	William IV	William IV
1837-1860	Victoria	Early Victorian
1860-1901	Victoria	Late Victorian
1901-1910	Edwardian VII	Edwardian
1910-1936	George V
1936-1936	Edward VIII
1936-1952	George VI
1952-	Elizabeth II

The Edwardian era loosely covers 1900-1918.

Other periods are:

Gothic Revival	c1750	1900s
Neoclassical	1750s	1830s
Greek Revival	c1819	1840s
Arts and Crafts	1880s	1914
Art Nouveau	1890s	1920s

In the USA the main styles are:

	From	To
Post Colonial/Federal	c1790	1815
Romanesque Revival	1870s	1880s
Gothic Revival	c1825	c1870
Chicago School	c1884	1909
Greek Revival	1798	c1860
Art Nouveau	1880s	1917

Just as today, few builders will have built houses in a pure style, and few people who lived in them will have decorated and furnished them with a clear vision; instead builders created houses of an eclectic style embodying old and fashionable elements, and they will have been decorated similarly. Bought-in components like doors, stained glass, fireplaces and plaster mouldings will have tended to be in the newest styles, while the general brickwork remained little changed from 1850 to 1950.

Homes in this period were:

detached houses, with no other connected houses
semi-attached houses, today called 'semi-detached', with one other connected house
terraced houses, with two other connected houses, one on each side
mansion flats (apartments)

It was not until late in the century that mansion flats became fashionable, and the more modest versions common. In the 1840s, Henry Roberts had designed blocks of 'model' flats (apartments) for labourers in London.

In viewing these houses today, we must remember that although some 25% of today's London houses are Victorian, those that have survived are the better ones; the poor quality buildings have been demolished.