Eclectic Style

The Eclectic Style appears in houses built from the 1860s onwards and was at its peak from 1860 until about 1890.

You can describe a house as 'eclectic' if it appears to be a mish-mash of various styles. Typically, it mixes Gothic, Italianate and Aesthetic influences, and later Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts.

This applies to many of the terraced houses of the city. The jobbing builder tended to use a combination of stylistic details from any of the currently fashionable styles.

Houses in the Eclectic style did not have their own unique palette. Earlier houses used Gothic colours and later ones Arts and Crafts.

The Edwardian era saw a later version of this eclectic style which we refer to as the 'Edwardian style' although houses in other styles were built in the same era.