5. Identifying Styles

IDENTIFYING HOUSE STYLES

Winston Churchill once described the U.S.S.R. as follows, "Russia is a riddle in a mystery inside an enigma". That would pretty much sum up the situation regarding the identification of housing styles as well.

Let me give you some examples:

0a. Second Empire (Annapolis Royal, N.S.)

Annapolis Royal has a number of spectacular buildings. The story goes that the owner of this house had a sister who possessed a large Second Empire that was just across the street. When the owner of this house went to build she had only one instruction for the builder,"MAKE IT LARGER THAN MY SISTER'S HOUSE."

1) A surprising number of people, who should know otherwise, use generic terms to apply to homes that actually have much more specific names. Examples of this vagueness might be; Victorian, Gothic Revival, Tudor, Neoclassical, Italian, English, etc.

0b. Federal House Style, (Woodstock, Ontario)

2) There appears to be much disagreement among architectural writers about the proper names for various styles. I know about a house in Guelph that has been identified as: Queen Anne, Richardson Romanesque and Baronial Queen Anne by 3 different esteemed authors.

3) I was recently bedevilled by a new publication by a very respected writer who identified some houses with style names that are at odds with other publications over the last few years. In one particular case, a house in Guelph which had been touted as a fine example for the Regency style was named as bring from an entirely different style.

0c. Tudor House Style, (Kitchener)

4) And, sometimes, to add further to the confusion, smaller houses of some styles have been enlarged into a totally different style.

The identification of building styles is very contentious and despite all of my research I know that sometimes I am going to make mistakes. When I learn that a structure has been called by two different names I will happily include both names.

I will also attempt to refine some of the more generic terms, like Tudor, into identifiable groups (e.g. Medieval English Cottage, Jacobethan, Edwardian,

Queen Anne, etc.)

0d. Art Moderne Style (Quebec City)