Victorian & Georgian architecture appreciation thread

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Post your photos, thoughts, and comments here on the subject of Victorian, Georgian, and generally nice architecture. 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Here some nice shots of a fountain and window at my grandparents place. 

[Bernard Lamb]

I will kick of with a former railway station. one of several in Bow.

Bernard

[Florence Locomotive Works]

42 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I will kick of with a former railway station. one of several in Bow.

Bernard

Is it a bank now?

[Steamport Southport]

William Hill is a bit like a bank but once you put your money in there the chance of you seeing it again is pretty slim. 

 

 

It's a bookies.

 

 

 

Jason

[Tim Dubya]

er....

 

[brianusa]

Don't know if Northfield Meadows qualifies as 'generally nice architecture' but no doubt like many others these days.  They are over here too, all close together in 'love thy neighbour' lots but it does get you into a house at a modest price if indeed 279,950 Pounds is modest these days!  

      Brian

[Florence Locomotive Works]

25 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

er....

 

I think if Diogenes wished to live in a suburban British home, that is what he would choose, though it’s similarities with a barrel are few.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Currently I’m heavily considering buying this very nice architectural model of a house from Newton Terrace, in Edinburgh. It’s made by Timothy Richards, here’s a link to his website where he sells these and other fine Things. 

[Steamport Southport]

12 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Currently I’m heavily considering buying this very nice architectural model of a house from Newton Terrace, in Edinburgh. It’s made by Timothy Richards, here’s a link to his website where he sells these and other fine Things. 

 

I used to live in one like that.  Can't remember the number, it was a flat and something like 46B Catharine Street, Liverpool. Most of them are now student flats. But some have professionals living in them and are turning them back into family homes.

 

 

 

Jason

Edited July 21, 2020 by Steamport Southport

[Florence Locomotive Works]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I used to live in one like that.  Can't remember the number, it was a flat and something like 46B Catharine Street, Liverpool. Most of them are now student flats. But some have professionals living in them and are turning them back into family homes.

 

 

 

Jason

One thing i particularly dislike about living in America is the lack of consistency in the style of buildings along the roads. In my city, its all completely different in style and the length that its set back from the street, making it look very unorganized and to my eye, very ugly. I find even the smallest village in Western Europe does a far better job with such things.

[Bernard Lamb]

Tredegar Square. Also in Bow.

In the late 1970s these houses had been abandoned and were occupied by squatters.

Bernard 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

16 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

One thing i particularly dislike about living in America is the lack of consistency in the style of buildings along the roads. In my city, its all completely different in style and the length that its set back from the street, making it look very unorganized and to my eye, very ugly. I find even the smallest village in Western Europe does a far better job with such things.

That's because no one with architectural qualifications or pretences, or any local authority with power to dictate 'how it should be done' was involved.  Furthermore all 'design' and construction was by people from the locality making it up as they went along, based on what they knew, which wasn't an awful lot. Limited knowledge, and less organisation, that's the ticket.

[rovex]

19 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Currently I’m heavily considering buying this very nice architectural model of a house from Newton Terrace, in Edinburgh. It’s made by Timothy Richards, here’s a link to his website where he sells these and other fine Things. 

 

 

These are great models but not cheap otherwise I'd have them on the layout

[brianusa]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<That's because no one with architectural qualifications or pretences, or any local authority with power to dictate 'how it should be done' was involved.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Many new developments, hideous though they may be, have to jump through several hoops before building commences.  The property has to conform to local and federal  regulations from site approval, to check on Indian remains, etc, to the colour of the house or houses including the roof.  Windows must be multi paned and insulation to current values.  In spite of all this, the houses , ours is about 2200 sq.ft, are jammed into minuscule lots while our thirty year old house sits on nearly an acre.  Times sure change!

      Brian

[Florence Locomotive Works]

3 hours ago, brianusa said:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<That's because no one with architectural qualifications or pretences, or any local authority with power to dictate 'how it should be done' was involved.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Many new developments, hideous though they may be, have to jump through several hoops before building commences.  The property has to conform to local and federal  regulations from site approval, to check on Indian remains, etc, to the colour of the house or houses including the roof.  Windows must be multi paned and insulation to current values.  In spite of all this, the houses , ours is about 2200 sq.ft, are jammed into minuscule lots while our thirty year old house sits on nearly an acre.  Times sure change!

      Brian

It would be nice if they implemented that rule from Germany where everybody has to have the same roofing tile type. 

[monkeysarefun]

Non -indigenous settlement  began in Australia during the Georgian period so thats as old as it gets here!

 

Elizabeth Farm in Parramatta is believed to be the oldest building still standing (1793), and even that early into the settlement its clear that builders had already adapted to local conditions - broad verandahs etc, rather than clinging strictly  to UK designs, at least for domestic architecture.

 

I really love the ostentatiousness of the local  gold rush era buildings when sudden insane  wealth and population flooded in.

 

Victorian towns like  Ballarat and Bendigo have many outlandishly large civic and commercial buildings, many in Queen Anne or high victorian style but with Australian add ons such as shady wrought iron balconies to cope with the high heat:

 

 

I've always hankered to model these ornate buildings but the chief difficulty has been getting   the repetitive details -  cornices, columns, brackets etc uniform and correctly detailed.  Not to mention the add-ons such as finials, urns and statuary. I'm not aware of any commercial offerings that accurately replicate them, at least down here and in 00 scale or 0.

 

Therefore I have been fiddling around with photogreammetry over the last year or so and found that I can now get pretty good copies using this method. That along with a resin printer has enabled me to reproduce these details to a level and uniformity  that I am pretty happy with. I'm gradually adding to my portfolio with items that don't seem that easy to come by - columns, church and cathedral windows, gargoyles,  ornate gateposts etc.

 

Printed in resin they are highly detailed but very cheap compared to cast metal or etched and I was wondering if there was much of a market for these kind of things - I know I'd buy them if there was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[J. S. Bach]

30 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

It would be nice if they implemented that rule from Germany where everybody has to have the same roofing tile type. 

Isn't there enough government meddling control now???? And you want more?????

[Florence Locomotive Works]

21 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Isn't there enough government meddling control now???? And you want more?????

No comment 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Non -indigenous settlement  began in Australia during the Georgian period so thats as old as it gets here!

 

Elizabeth Farm in Parramatta is believed to be the oldest building still standing (1793), and even that early into the settlement its clear that builders had already adapted to local conditions - broad verandahs etc, rather than clinging strictly  to UK designs, at least for domestic architecture.

 

I really love the ostentatiousness of the local  gold rush era buildings when sudden insane  wealth and population flooded in.

 

Victorian towns like  Ballarat and Bendigo have many outlandishly large civic and commercial buildings, many in Queen Anne or high victorian style but with Australian add ons such as shady wrought iron balconies to cope with the high heat:

 

 

I've always hankered to model these ornate buildings but the chief difficulty has been getting   the repetitive details -  cornices, columns, brackets etc uniform and correctly detailed.  Not to mention the add-ons such as finials, urns and statuary. I'm not aware of any commercial offerings that accurately replicate them, at least down here and in 00 scale or 0.

 

Therefore I have been fiddling around with photogreammetry over the last year or so and found that I can now get pretty good copies using this method. That along with a resin printer has enabled me to reproduce these details to a level and uniformity  that I am pretty happy with. I'm gradually adding to my portfolio with items that don't seem that easy to come by - columns, church and cathedral windows, gargoyles,  ornate gateposts etc.

 

Printed in resin they are highly detailed but very cheap compared to cast metal or etched and I was wondering if there was much of a market for these kind of things - I know I'd buy them if there was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If i remember correctly there's a company who makes that sort if thing in HO, Scale Structures Ltd. They do lack images of most of there products, so its a, err, touch and go so to speak. Also, Australia has some really nice urns, far better then anything I've seen here in Oklahoma, a place with a similar climate to Aus. I've seen the same type of veranda thing on my many travels to New Zealand, where there's one standard design of colonial bungalow, with a large veranda. Most old houses are in this style, with various additions and often added bay windows.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

If i remember correctly there's a company who makes that sort if thing in HO, Scale Structures Ltd. They do lack images of most of there products, so its a, err, touch and go so to speak. Also, Australia has some really nice urns, far better then anything I've seen here in Oklahoma, a place with a similar climate to Aus. I've seen the same type of veranda thing on my many travels to New Zealand, where there's one standard design of colonial bungalow, with a large veranda. Most old houses are in this style, with various additions and often added bay windows.

 

7 bucks (US) for an HO  wall clock with stick-on paper face, thats 10 bucks plus shipping down to here - 

 

 

That wooden bungalow is typical of the cooler climate areas  here where white ants won't get them - Victoria and Tasmania.

 

Actually Tasmania with its cooler climate and lower population has managed to retain many more of its early buildings, which really do reflect regional differences.

 

For instance in the rolling gentle hills of the top right bit you could be in Emily Bronte World:

 

 

While if you went down to the bottom left wild and rugged bit, you could be in the Yukon( except you'd be driving on the wrong side of the road..)

 

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[iL Dottore]

I’ve always enjoyed “classic” architecture, especially Georgian. In fact two of my modelling endeavours that I have been very satisfied with have been a Victorian pub and a row of Georgian terraced houses (both of which have been reported on, here on RMweb). monkeysarefun referred to the difficulty of making  consistently good repetitions of those architectural details which are a hallmark of these buildings. My solution was to use resin casting and then - thanks to a very kind offer from a fellow RM web poster – laser cut detailings.

 

One of the problems, as I see it, of modelling either Georgian or Victorian buildings for a layout, is that there are so few suitable models available on the market. So, to have anything decent for one’s own layout, one has to scratch build. For me, it’s not too much of a problem, but it is time-consuming. Actually, whilst I think of it, I have to remark that very few of the commercially available building kits really do convince. Either they are so “generic“ that they are really not any help in establishing a period or location on a layout and/or the dimensions and proportions are really not right. For example some of the model buildings from the Airfix range (remember them?) are so sized and proportioned that you would be forgiven in imagining that they could only be inhabited by 4 foot high humans who have to go outside to change their mind! Like with modelling trees, I think many modellers underestimate the actual size, in 4 mm, of a tree or a building that is accurately modelled. The other problem with most of the model building kits commonly available, is the lack of those tiny little details that make a building come alive. This would include various “water goods“ (outside pipes for bathroom water waste, stench pipes, et cetera) and - for modern buildings - all those little bits and bobs that are stuck on to the outside by the various power companies and so on.

 

Returning to the original topic (sorry for digressing a bit) and to be a tiny bit cynical, has anyone noticed that the architects and builders, promoting some of the ghastly monstrosities or tiny tacky little boxes that are fostered upon us, have a tendency to live either in exquisite Grade II properties or in the sort of very high end modern architectural property that only the very well off can afford?

 

One final point, again returning to the original topic, when I was researching for my “Georgian Terrace House” I discovered many fascinating things, some of which are useful for making the model others just interesting to know. What really struck me was learning that many of the very desirable (and now hideously expensive) Georgian properties put up in London were originally thrown up very quickly to make a fast buck for the builder and were - at the time - dismissed as “speculators rubbish“. Such was the quality of the workmanship and even the materials (although high-quality material was only used in the visible part of the buildings, with a poorer grade of material being  used in the hidden parts of the building) that these buildings have lasted. I wonder how many of the Modern buildings,of the type illustrated earlier in this thread, will last as long?

[Bernard Lamb]

Probably my favourite street in London. Cyprus Street, Bethnal Green. I do like vernacular architecture.

This end is run by a housing association hence the common colour scheme and preservation of original details.

Demolition of the other end started in the 1960s but fortunately was stopped before too much had been lost.

Bernard

[Ohmisterporter]

One of my favourites is the Elephant tea rooms in Sunderland. No pictures of my own but here is the Wiki link.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Tea_Rooms#/media/File:Elephant_Tea_Rooms.jpg

[Phil Traxson]

18 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

That's because no one with architectural qualifications or pretences, or any local authority with power to dictate 'how it should be done' was involved.  Furthermore all 'design' and construction was by people from the locality making it up as they went along, based on what they knew, which wasn't an awful lot. Limited knowledge, and less organisation, that's the ticket.

Sounds like most council planning departments!!