2 Point Perspective | Floor Plan | Google Sketch-Up

This is a two point perspective sketch of the third floor guest bedroom. It features a bed and two bookcases. During the Victorian Age, without electronics, evening entertainment came from reading books: hence, the large bookshelves.

This is a floor plan of the third floor guest bedroom. Sleeping quarters in Victorian homes were often small. For this reason, there is a limited amount of furniture.

 The four images to the left and below are made in Google Sketch-Up. The design is a Victorian Second Empire mansion, featuring a mansard roof, dormer windows, patterned slate, and a wrap-around porch. The structure's rectangular shape, tallness and slenderness, and dominant center tower are also Second Empire features. The Google Sketch-Up model, based upon Disneyland Paris' Phantom Manor, is lacking in considerable detail. The curvilinear shapes and patterned details are difficult to create in Sketch-Up. French architects used the term "horror vacui" (fear of unadorned surfaces) to describe the Second Empire style. This does not lend itself well to a novice Sketch-Up user.

The Phantom Manor | Disneyland Paris

The Phantom Manor, Disneyland Paris

This is a classic example of a Second Empire Victorian mansion, based on the roof details and the shapes.

Roof Details
Mansard style
Wrought iron cresting
Dormer windows
Patterned slate

Shapes
Rectangular
Tall and slender
Center tower dominant feature
Balanced facade
Tall rounded windows





Why are haunted houses based on Second Empire architecture?
Second Empire houses were the most stately of the Victorians. They were built in town centers where everyone could see them.

During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a move to the suburbs. Many of the large Second Empire mansions fell into disrepair.

Second Empire mansions were popularized as haunted mansions by Charles Addams, the creator of The Addams Family, and by Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho.

Phantom Manor Model
Template downloaded from:
 http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index412.html
Scale:  1 inch = 5.5 feet

Second Empire Mansion | East Town Street | Columbus OH

Napoleon III wasn't an empire builder like his famous uncle, but he did oversee a major renovation of Paris that had lasting significance. He ruled France from 1852 to 1871, during which time Paris became a city of grand boulevards and monumental buildings. Although Napoleon III failed to revive the empire of his uncle, he left a tremendous architectural legacy. Second Empire architecture spread to England during the Paris Exhibitions of 1852 and 1867. Before long, French fever spread to the USA.

Second Empire structures are known for their high mansard roofs. Other distinctive features include cupolas, patterned roof slate, tall first story windows, paired columns, classical pediments, and wrought iron. French architects used the term horror vacui (the fear of unadorned surfaces) to describe the highly ornamental Second Empire style.The first important Second Empire building in America is the Cocoran Gallery (later renamed the Renwick Gallery) in Washington, DC, by James Renwick. The tallest Second Empire building in the USA is Philadelphia City Hall, designed by John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Walter. After it was completed in 1901, the soaring tower made it the world's tallest building, holding this distinction for several years.

An Age of Creativity

The creativity of Victorian architecture can be attributed to the time period from which it sprang. According to John Maass, a leading expert on Victorian architecture, "This was no mean age - in every field of human endeavor, the mid-nineteenth century was a time of frenetic activity and massive achievement." The technological advances of the era included the telegraph, ocean steamer, modern machine tools, farm machinery, petroleum, photography, the sewing machine, the rotary printing press, gaslight, the electric motor, the telephone, and electric lighting. Born during the Industrial Revolution, Victorian builders used these new technologies. Mass-production and mass-transmit made ornamental parts affordable, and Victorian architects and builders applied these liberally, combining features borrowed from many different eras with their own imaginations. In addition, this was a period of great wealth. "The new generation of self-made industrialists were boastful of their success, who in the architecture of their houses advertised their achievements in tangible form," said Stephen Calloway in The Elements of Style.The canals and railways enabled materials to be widely and economically distributed, such as cast iron from Scotland, terracotta from the English Midlands, and slates from Wales. No longer were houses only built from local materials as had been usual in the past.

Summary of Style

The term "Victorian Architecture" refers to numerous architectural styles used from the middle to the end of the nineteenth century, coinciding with Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901. There are at least eight distinct styles, along with numerous secondary styles, all of which are now incorporated under the category of Victorian. To add further complication, many structures are built in a combination of these styles. Although Victorian architecture can be considered an "anything goes" movement drawing inspiration from early centuries, nearly all of the structures are "topped off with a flourish." Broadly speaking, Victorian buildings have several distinctive features, including gables, steeply pitched roofs, dormers, turrets, wide columned porches, mixed sidings, elaborate trims, fanciful colors, and geometric adornments. Victorian homes are sometimes called "gingerbread houses" because of the elaborate trim or "painted ladies" due to the vibrant exterior and interior color.