Queen Victoria’s reign was – until recently – the longest in British history, spanning 64 years, from 1837 to 1901. Over this period, huge social and economic change occurred. Within the world of architecture, the shifts were equally seismic.
The austere beauty of late Georgian Neoclassical architecture was replaced in the 1840s and 50s by a freer Italianate style. The prime example was Victoria’s own Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, built 1846-51. Classical architecture still had its champions in the mid-19th century, but a new driving force has arrived – in the form of Gothicism. Georgian ‘Gothick’ had been whimsical, but the Victorian approach was far more serious. Through architects such as AWN Pugin and William Burges, Victorian Gothic took its cue from the Medieval religious past, but the style was soon widely adopted for domestic architecture. The pointed Gothic arched was the defining architectural motif of the second half of the 19th century – and a staple of leading architects such as George Gilbert Scott and GE Street.
