Edwardian, Federation and/or Queen Anne instead of Art Deco

Image via Wikipedia

As I explained in my last blog I am working on an Edwardian restoration. On my first visit on site I realised my creative buzzing about Art Deco may need to be revised. Although built in the 1920s the house was Edwardian with features from other eras. On my second visit I noted numerous variations. 

The house above is Caerleon found in Belleve Hill Sydney. Many consider it one of the best examples of  the Queen Anne style built in Australia.  

The Edwardian style a term used by some really denotes a time in history in the early 1900s. The style was influenced by the Queen Anne style popular in England from about 1700 to 1720. It was an unpretentious era with warm colours, restrained ornament and a sense of spaciousness. Furniture was designed in simple curving shapes with little carving. The cabriole leg is a feature of the era. Indian prints and crewel prints were popular and the scallop shell was one of the main motifs.

A style of architecture popular in Australia during the early 1900s was the Federation Style. Last year I did a blog on the Australian Federation Style. So if you are interested please refer back to that blog for more information.

Some Edwardian Exterior Features

• Walls are usually of red faced brick

• Slate with terracotta edging or marselles terracotta tiles was used on the roof

• In country areas corrugated iron roofing was used and painted Tile Red

• The broken roofline has many gables

• Faced red brick chimney stacks with brick corbels and motifs and terracotta chimney pot with hat

• Shades of green or cream to buff were the most popular outdoor colour schemes

• Mid buff and beige was also a common colour combination during this era

• Deep Indian Red was used on window sills

• The front door often had many panels painted in red oxide or forrest green with asymmetrical sidelights

• Double Hung leadlight windows have colourful stained glass in Art Nouveau patterns

• The window sashes were often painted cream

• Gutters and down pipes were painted in darker colours

• Veranda floors were either cement render or encaustic tiles

• Veranda brackets were usually painted off white
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The examples of colours shown are from British Standards (BS) 2660 and BS318. Australian colours are taken from these standards when working on heritage or traditional buildings. This is a small sample only. Other colours used (besides those listed above) include Red Oxide BS318 446, Pale Cream BS4052, Opaline Green BS318 275 and Terracotta BS318 444.