Victorian House Floor Plans (with Drawings)

What Is a Victorian House?

Victorian houses are the product of the period in which people built them. This house style was named after Queen Victoria during 1830 to 1910 and was inspired by the Industrial Revolution.

During this time, there was an advance in manufacturing and transportation. Because of this, it allowed builders to have access to better quality materials. This led to more complex and decorative designs as well as applying colored paint to buildings for the first time.

Victorian House Styles

Over the century, Victorian houses continued to be popular and spread across the colonies. The architecture evolved, creating three different distinct Victorian styles. These Victorian styles are Gothic Revival, Folk Victorian, and Queen Anne.

Gothic Revival Style Home

Medieval architecture and the Romantic art movement influenced the Victorian home. . You’ll find this style in cathedrals, castles, and university buildings. People refer to a sub-type of this style in rural areas as Carpenter Gothic.

Gothic Revival Victorian homes are characterized by their pointed arches and windows. Windows often include diamond-shaped panes. This style is also known for steep, front-facing gable roofs and decorative eaves with wooden siding.

Queen Anne Style Home

Folk Victorian Style Home

Rooms Inside of a Victorian Style House

Front Parlor

A front parlor is common in Victorian houses. It is the largest room in the house and serves as a reception hall to showcase the home. People displayed vases, statues, and other decorative items to symbolize the status of the family.

Back Parlor

In Victorian homes, the back parlor, or game room, served as a place for recreation and as the dining room. In this room, the entire family came together for games, conversation, music, and meals.

Kitchen

Like most homes, the kitchen is the center of many Victorian houses. People prepared food in the kitchen, of course, but they also conducted household business in this room. The kitchen housed a coal-burning range which was the central heat source for the entire home.

The kitchen in Victorian homes is typically as large as the parlor.

Scullery

The scullery is a small room next to the kitchen in Victorian homes. It held the cleaning supplies for boiling clothes. It’s basically the equivalent of a modern laundry room.

Bedrooms

Bedrooms in the Victorian era were small, dimly lit, and could not fit a modern queen-sized bed. Children often shared rooms and single beds.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms were a status symbol in Victorian times. Only wealthy families were able to have tubs, and you rarely found toilets inside the house during the era. The bathroom was typically a small, second-floor room, while the toilet was a closet-sized shed behind the scullery.

Outdoor Features of a Victorian Style House

Depending on the specific style of a Victorian house, features can vary. Architecture and the construction period determine the style.

These features can typically identify Victorian houses.

Colorful Facades

Victorian houses are typically recognizable due to their painted facades. The exteriors of Victorian homes usually feature paint in bright pastel colors. Sometimes they are painted in a muted tone with decorative features painted in a different, bright color.

Multiple Stories

Because Victorian homes were built on narrow pieces of land in a row, they are usually two or three stories high.

Embellished Millwork

Other typical traits of Victorian houses are intricately carved woodwork around windows, doorways, and eaves. The ornate trimming gives Victorian homes the gingerbread house look.

Glazed Brick

On rare occasions when a Victorian house featured a brick exterior, the architect would glaze the brick in different colors. The different colors would add an elaborate aspect to the house.

Decorative and Bay Windows

Decorative windows add to the charm of Victorian houses. One Victorian home could have several different styles, shapes, and sizes of windows. Some windows even included stained glass, portholes, arches, or multiple panes. Victorian homes often had bay windows that would protrude out of the home’s facade.

Asymmetrical Towers

Builders and architects began experimenting with asymmetrical designs during the Victorian era. Because of this, round and octagonal towers and turrets became a feature of Victorian homes. Dormer windows also became a typical feature that would extend out of the sloped roof of the house.

Porches

Many Victorian homes include front porches or wrap-around porches. The porches have decorations that enhance the visual appeal of the house.

Steep and Gabled Roofs

Victorian houses have steep and gabled roofs with a triangular shape that faces the front of the house.

Indoor Features of a Victorian Style House

Wallpaper and Paint

Mass production of wallpaper in the 1840s led to a surge in partially wallpapered walls in Victorian-style houses. Wallpaper would run from the baseboard to the dado rail, or from the dado rail to the ceiling. Large prints on wallpaper were common during this time.

Alternatively, more modern Victorian houses would have plain, flat-painted walls.

Victorian Style Flooring

Mid-toned polished floorboards were common in Victorian interiors. You would often find large, interesting rugs and patterned carpets in the middle of the floor. This feature added an extra touch to modern furniture.

Colors Used in Victorian Homes

Victorians favored subdued tones obsessed over all things exotic. These paint colors were heavily influenced by fabrics imported from other countries and recent trade activity with Imperial Japan. Rose pink, shades of gray, lavender, and sage, and mustard yellow, burgundy, and teal, are typical colors of Victorian-style decor.

Fabrics and Patterns

There were two styles of fabric used in Victorian homes, velvet or toile. Velvet was used for curtains, while people used floral patterned toile for cushions and seat covers.

Patterns were used throughout the house for curtains, cushions, rugs, and wallpaper. Many people used multiple patterns throughout the same room featuring stripes, animal prints, and florals.

Lighting

Decorative lamps provided soft, ambient lighting to Victorian living rooms. These lamps also added a touch of color to the room. Ornate, large chandeliers were also common in Victorian homes in the parlors.

Victorian Marble

Marble was popular during the Victorian era. Extravagant marble fireplaces or marble-topped tables were common to show off their wealth.

Mantels and Fireplaces

Victorian houses aren’t complete without a fireplace. Typically found in the sitting room, a wood-burning fireplace would be the centerpiece of conversations. The mantelpiece gave people a place to display their most precious items.

Victorian Style Furnishing