Italianate is a style of Victorian architecture dating from the mid to late 1800's. This style is heavily influenced by Italian country villa design motifs from the 1830's as adopted by English in the 1840's and eventually by the likes of Andrew Jackson Downing in the United States soon thereafter. This style includes (among many elements) exterior ornamentation involving roof brackets with extended exterior cornice moldings, quoins, portico and floral designs. Examples of this design can be seen all across the United States, most notably in the San Francisco area.
This architectural style was soon overcome in the late 1870's by the Queen Anne style and Colonial Revival styles.
Key visual components of this style include:
- low-pitched or flat roof
- large eave brackets under the roof
- dramatic cornice structures
- windows with one or two panes and heavy surrounds
- tall, arched windows with hoods or "eyebrows"
- paired windows, arched and curved windows
- tall first floor windows
- angled bay windows
- attics with a row of awning windows between the eave brackets
- large panes of glass in doors
- square or rectangular towers
- cupolas
- quoins
- long porches or arcades
- balustrade balconies
- cast-iron railings and facades
- two or three stories (rarely one story)
- rectangular plan, sometimes square
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