Architecture Vs Victorian Architecture

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Generally, it’s thought that all architecture represents the culture and value of its place and time. Victorian architecture represented a value system that things should be beautiful, not practical. It represents wealth and affluence. For instance, wealthy Victorian women wore lots of corsets, hoop skirts, and dresses that used yards of fabric. It just made sense for trendy home designs to reflect that excess as well. Victorian Architecture is named after Queen Victoria because she reigned during the time period. Queen Victoria assumed the thrown at a very young age of 18, she took charge over Britain on the verge of sweeping change. Before her rule, few questioned the supremacy of institutions such as church, god, state, and monarchy. It was a very rough era to rule and her time quickly became known as the Great Age of Doubt. It was the time of Marx, Darwin, and Freud, science and such inventions like electricity and engines promised to create solutions that nature could never provide. It was an era of rapid social upheaval with a new lower class of industrial workers that poured into cities. The resulting family upheaval and poverty led to modern ideas such as unionization, feminism, and communism. It was a period of literary and artistic innovation. In contrast, the architecture at the time represented wealth and stability, traditional enduring values. During this time, there was a lot of social change that came from science and philosophy. The kick from the Industrial Revolution accelerated the trend, even though ideas from the Gothic Style started it. Steam-powered sawmills could now create elaborate materials, cheaper and faster. As a result, houses became increasingly ornate. Lower income families could finally afford tr... ... middle of paper ... ...nacks. The front parlor, always located just off the foyer, was used as the showcase of the family’s possessions. It was a prime indicator of the family’s social class and taste. During the Victorian Era, clutter meant class, and the woman of the house was always responsible for outfitting the parlor with as many expensive, exotic, and novelty items as she could find, such as lamps, vases, teapots, statuettes, and dried flowers. The parlor was used as the primary gathering place for the family, where they played games, conversed in conversation, and other diversions from life. I hope you can see now that Victorian architecture had a very wide range of styles and historical references, from Greek, to roman, and so on. But what united all those cultures was a perception that they represented traditional values and stability, because stability was equal to being safe

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