Photo © 2005 Jupiterimages CorporationThe house shown above is an early and especially fine example of Victorian Stick architecture. The exterior walls are ornamented with "stickwork," or decorative half-timbering. The house also has brackets, rafters, and braces. These details are not necessary structurally. They are decorations that imitated architecture from the medieval past.
On first glance, you might confuse Stick houses with the later Tudor Revival Style. However, most Tudor Revival houses are sided with stucco, stone, or brick. Stick Style houses are almost always made with wood.
Victorian Stick Style homes have these features:
- Rectangular shape
- Wood siding
- Steep, gabled roof
- Overhanging eaves
- Ornamental trusses (gable braces)
- Decorative braces and brackets
- Decorative half-timbering
The most important features of Stick Style houses are on the exterior wall surfaces. Instead of three-dimensional ornamentation, the emphasis is on patterns and lines. Because the decorative details are flat, they are often lost when homeowners remodel. If the decorative stickwork is covered up with vinyl siding or painted a single solid color, a Stick Style Victorian may appear plain and rather ordinary.
The Palliser Company, which published many plan books during the Victorian era, called stick architecture plain yet neat, modern, and comfortable. However, Stick was a short-lived fashion. The angular and austere style couldn't compete with the fancy Queen Annes that took America by storm. Some Stick architecture did dress up in fancy Eastlake spindles and Queen Anne flourishes. But very few authentic Stick Style homes remain intact.
Learn More About Victorian Stick Architecture:
- Victorian House Plan Books.
Many of the early house plan catalogs featured Stick Style houses.
- Eastlake
- Folk Victorian
- Gothic Revival
- Tudor Revival
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