To understand your home and the way in which it should be correctly restored you must first recognise its historical architectural style. As is the case today, the way a building looked throughout the nineteenth century was largley a result of the evloution of fashion and taste. Changing building technology, availability of materials and attitudes to the climate also played a part in it's appearance.
Some twenty different domestic building styles can easily be identified in the period 1900 - 1950. Each of these styles has distinguishing features. Not all styles are represented in each State in equal numbers or in equivalent scales of construction. There are also often regional variations in emphasis which resulted from the availability of materials or the nationality of the builders or owners. An individual house has often been built in a number of stages, at different times, and hence in more than one style.
Below we have listed the more common periods and a brief desciption of each.
Colonial 1820 – 1840 Lath & plaster, rendered walls with cow hair. Usually no cornice or roses. No throat just lines & round steps.
Early Vic 1840 – 1860 Small throat, very flat lines. Roses just lines of rings eg; SCR60.
Mid Vic 1860 – 1880 Larger throats & more detailed lines. Roses with leaves such as the Acanthus leaf. Eg; SCR6 & SCR5.
Late Vic 1880 – 1900 Large cornices & very elaborate roses. Roses vented for gaslight fittings eg; SCR007.
Edwardian 1900 – 1915 Large throat, small sweeping curves. Roses less ornate again.
Californian Bungalow 1918 – 1930 Introduction of ceiling panels. Faint patterns. No roses used. Panels SC166, Cornice SC35.
Federation 1920’s & 1930’s More detailed designs & Australian themes such as the Waratah Flower. Panels SC160, Cornice SC54.
Art Deco 1920’s – 1930’s Geometric designs. Derived from French European influences. Roses AD1 Cornice SC70.
Reference;The old Aussie house by Ian Stapleton
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