BUILDING BRIEFING:                              

Victorian Houses

Style and structure

 

 

 

 

 

In a four-part series for Letting Update, established author Trevor Yorke explores some of the different architectural styles of houses throughout the last century.  We start our series in the Victorian period and examine typical features and maintenance issues associated with property from this era.

The Victorian period is inexorably linked to the Industrial Revolution and the housing erected to accommodate the millions moving to the expanding towns and cities to service it. Straight rows of red brick terraces personalised by colourful detailing and stone mouldings are characteristic of this social change but perhaps blind us to the great variety of buildings which were constructed during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Towering, classically-styled terraces could stand round the corner from an asymmetrical Gothic pile and dark blocks of mansion flats from cheerful white- trimmed villas. Just as the factory changed the face of the town so the final wave of enclosure acts did so to the village, with new farmhouses out in the fields and rusticated workers cottages and grand vicarages lining the approach to huge country house complexes.  

The Victorian legacy

What survives today is but a fraction of that which Victorian builders erected. In the 20th Century as many wealthy families went bankrupt and the poor were liberated from the slums, the mansions and back-to-backs they left behind were swept aside under a wave of suburban estates and concrete high-rise flats. The houses which remain were generally those built for the middle classes, detached and terraced homes tenanted by professionals from doctors and lawyers down to shopkeepers and factory supervisors, a social group which even by the end of the 19th Century only represented around one fifth of the population.

Although long rows of Victorian terraces appear as a mass of housing their construction was usually fragmentary, with small-scale speculative builders erecting just a few at a time usually for rent, before the next batch was started at a later date or by someone else. Small gaps, staggered brickwork or slight changes to the style of fittings between houses can show where this happened. Few would have the funds to take risks so most played safe and built terraces to standardised plans and then just added a few fashionable details for a personal touch. While the Battle of the Styles occupied the minds of intellectuals the speculative builder simply ordered the latest brick, terracotta and stone fittings whether they be Classical, Gothic or later Queen Anne. They applied these to a structure which, although it changed in part to complement the latest fashion, was principally shaped by the expected demands of clients rather than correct architectural theory. A facade with a fine display of brick or stone was crucial to impress potential tenants. However if you have a glance down a gap or at the rear of a Victorian terrace you will see cheaper common bricks were used, even when the front was in masonry which itself was often just a skin tied to the load-bearing brick wall.

Typical features

Today you can date and better appreciate Victorian terraces by looking at the structure as much as the fashionable details and at the same time see the problems which have emerged through either limitations of the original design and materials or later inappropriate alterations. The overall height of ordinary terraced houses grew progressively through the century, early examples tend to be squat with low pitched roofs and upper windows tight under the eaves, later ones are taller with high ceilings and steep pitched roofs.

Basements and extensions

Basements and cellars were still common when Queen Victoria came to the throne, providing space for a kitchen and scullery or storage of coal. Some may have had a cavity to help drain off water percolating through the walls but most probably had an outer coat of bitumen and damp is inevitable as this barrier breaks down over time. Problems in retaining servants helped improve their conditions and basements fell from favour, replaced by rear extensions above ground housing the service rooms and storage. By the end of the century these extensions were usually two storeys high as bathrooms became the latest must-have feature for the middle classes, positioned here so it could easily share the drains running along the back with the scullery below (there may not originally have been running water upstairs as local pressure varied). These additional buildings were often built with a thin brick wall and where they have later been knocked through to create larger kitchens or downstairs bathrooms, problems with damp and insulation will occur and devalue a property if the walls and roof have not been brought up to modern standards.

Walls

The walls of most two-storey Victorian houses were one brick length thick (around 9 inches) and were arranged in Flemish bond (alternate header and stretchers along the same course) until the last few decades of the century when English bond (a complete course of headers followed by one of stretchers) became popular. The lack of cavity within means the house will not retain heat as well as modern types and they can be more vulnerable to rain penetrating. Lime mortar was used between the bricks, a more flexible and permeable material than 20th Century cements, but more readily worn away. One of the most common faults to find on houses of this date is when this necessary re-pointing has been carried out with modern cement. Being waterproof, it retains any moisture in the brick above causing flaking off of the front during periods of frost.

Taller terraces often had thicker walls on the lower floors, stepping back internally as they rose. The upper storeys may therefore only be the thickness of a brick deep and problems with penetrating damp can occur. The ledges created on the inner face of these walls provided a convenient support for the floor joists, but in most they were set into the wall making the wooden beams vulnerable to damp until later in the period when they began to be supported in other ways which avoided direct contact with the brickwork. Chimneys built into party walls had flues shaped like a huge tuning fork, their often complicated route up to the pitch of the roof providing fireplaces and ventilation (most bedrooms only had their fire lit when the elderly or infirm were using it). It is characteristic of houses built in the 1890s to have the chimney set directly above the fireplaces, one stack at the front and one at the rear, so they emerge through the roof halfway down the slope. The main central dividing wall in a Victorian terrace was usually load bearing, its brickwork holding up part of the roof supports, and later openings made in this should have had suitable lintels inserted above. Other walls were usually timber studs or frames covered in lath and plaster, thin strips of wood nailed horizontally across the supports with the outer surface plastered in two or three layers with sufficient force for the first to get a good key between the laths (ceilings were formed in a similar way).

Windows

Sash windows, with their boxes recessed behind the outer skin of the wall to meet fire regulations, were universal for most of the period. They only began to be replaced by casement types, flush or projecting from the wall, in the 1890s as the rules were relaxed. Early Victorian windows, like their predecessors, were divided up by glazing bars but by the 1850s larger panes of glass were more widely available and a single bar down the middle of each sash was common. This brought with it the problem that the frame now had little internal support so the sides of the upper sash were extended down a few inches to make a stronger joint and create short horns either side, which are characteristic of the second half of the century. A completely clear view was still desirable and soon windows with no glazing bars were being fitted.

Roofs

Roof timbers were cut to size on site, in many of the earliest types forming a pitch running front to back with a parapet across the front. This creates the dreaded valley down the centre of the house which, unless the gulley is cleaned and repaired, is always prone to water leaks. Most terraces were built with a conventional pitched roof running the length of the row, usually with a large horizontal purling supporting the rafters. These rested upon party walls and in larger houses had additional struts running down onto the central load bearing wall. As with any old house the removal or alteration of any of these parts at a later date to improve loft space can weaken the roof if not done correctly. It is also important to check the roof covering itself. Loose or missing tiles are an obvious cause of concern and slate only has a life of around 100 years and may need recovering. Be wary if modern concrete tiles have been used to replace these; the additional weight can cause problems with the roof structure and water may not flow off textured tiles as easily and can encourage rain to penetrate below.

The Victorian houses which remain today have a style and solidity which attracts tenants and buyers when they are correctly maintained. The problems with earlier types began to be rectified towards the end of the period, however the finest quality of house will usually be found dating from the decade after Queen Victoria's death in 1901, the Edwardian period.

The next article covers styles of houses from the Edwardian period.