When Queen Anne was ‘King’
Online Walking Tour
Queen Anne style architecture was one of a number of popular Victorian architectural styles that emerged in the United States during the late 19th century.
Launched in the 1870s by British architects such as Richard Norman Shaw—who designed the NT’s Craigside—the Queen Anne style quickly crossed the pond to New York and Brooklyn. The style left an indelible mark on various public buildings, row houses in Brooklyn, and early apartment houses.
The American version covers a wide range of picturesque buildings with “free Renaissance” (non-Gothic Revival) details, rather than being a specific formulaic style in its own right. Features include half timbering, gables, bands of leaded windows, monumental chimneys, and a mish-mash of Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Gothic architectural details.
In this illustrated online talk, Matt Postal will explore the distinctive decorative features that makes it genuinely unique and appealing, highlighting such distinguished NYC landmarks as the new housing for the New York House and School of Industry, Century Building (1880-81), Chelsea Hotel (1883-85), Windermere Apartments (1880-81), and several structures associated with the Children’s Aid Society.