At the beginning of the period, most of the land west of Grand Avenue was still unsubdivided. By 1900, however, only the most western and southwestern portions of the city had yet to be platted. The expansion of the built environment in St. Louis during this period was phenomenal. St. Louis' population rose from 160,773 to 575,238. The growth of the built environment was commensurate with the rise in population. The current city limits were set in 1875, and were assumed to be all the space it would ever need; but twenty-five years later, its population had expanded to such an extent that there were no longer any rural areas within the boundaries of St. Louis.
During the Victorian period the well-to-do moved farther and farther away from the city center. This was made possible by developments in transportation: the horse drawn omnibus was first eclipsed by the cable car, and soon after by the electric street car. Because of industrial expansion, land in the core became less desirable for residential living, and large segments of the population began to move west of Grand Avenue.
Second Empire Style
The Second Empire style arrived in St. Louis in the 1870's, and quickly overwhelmed previous architectural styles. The defining element of the style is the mansard roof: a double-pitched hipped roof whose upper slope is very flat, while the lower slants sharply down to a decorative cornice. Dormers are often present on the steep roof, which is covered with slate shingles, sometimes in an ornamental pattern. Many Second Empire houses had stone veneered front facades; less elaborate buildings imitated the look with cement stucco. Second Empire houses can be found in numerous neighborhoods east of Grand Avenue, and most prominently, in Lafayette Square.
The house at 2115 Park Avenue, in Lafayette Square, exemplifies the Second Empire style. The three-story brick house has a limestone front, with a string course separating the first and second stories. Tall dormers mark the slate mansard roof. The entry has a small porch with granite columns supporting a classically inspired cornice.
Romanesque Revival Style
The Romanesque Revival style, which had previously appeared in church design, began to be used in large detached houses during the Victorian period. The Romanesque Revival house presents a variety of arches at windows, doors and cornice, and is usually constructed of red brick.
The house at the corner of 2317 S. 13th, in the Soulard neighborhood, is a typical Romanesque Revival design. The two and a half story, red brick building is asymmetrical in massing, with high hipped roof and projecting circular bay. The entry is recessed beneath a one-story porch with round arched openings and brick balustrade. The large windows of the front facade are set beneath transoms and have rough-faced sandstone surrounds.
Queen Anne Style
The Queen Anne style began to appear in St. Louis in the 1880's. The style is named for Britain's Queen Anne, during whose reign the style became popular in England. In many parts of the United States, the Queen Anne style is used with frame construction; however, because of the City's fire ordinance, the availability of brick and the skill of local masons, most houses of this style in St. Louis are brick. The most obvious features of Queen Anne houses are asymmetrical facades, projecting bays and turrets, and extensive use of decorative brick. Queen Anne houses are found in the Central West End, east of Kingshighway, in Compton Hill, and in Carondelet.
3522 Hawthorne is built in the Queen Anne style. The three-story brick house has a variety of roof forms, with several gables on front and side elevations. Sited on a corner, the house has a projecting bay which thrusts forward at an unusual oblique angle from the front facade, and a two-story tower capped by a high conical roof. An exuberant variety of decorative brick appears around windows, dormer and at the roof line.
Richardsonian Romanesque Style
The Richardsonian Romanesque style was popular nationally and in St. Louis from the 1880's to the 1890's. It is named for influential Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson, who developed the vocabulary of the style in his own work. Richardson designed three houses in St. Louis; unfortunately two have been demolished, and the third altered and enlarged. Richardsonian houses are defined by the use of rough-cut stone, deep window openings and large, dominant arches. Typically Richardsonian buildings are asymmetrical, but unified by the use of wide expanses of wall and roof planes, and by large scale ornament. There are many examples of Richardsonian buildings in both Compton Heights, and the private streets of the Central West End.
The house at 3120 Hawthorne is in the Richardsonian style. The three-story limestone house has large areas of rough-cut stone that alternate in wide and narrow courses. The entry is deeply recessed beneath a large round arch, and at the corner, a circular tower is capped by a conical roof. Large, hipped dormers project from the high pitched gable roof.
4447 Westminster Place is another example of the Richardsonian style. The house is built of rough cut stone, the openings deeply recessed, creating a massive appearance that is typical of the style. The entry is set under a corner porch, its heavy stone lintel supported by a large column with pillow capital. Windows are multi-light and articulated with stone mullions.
Shingle Style
Shingle style houses came to prominence in the last decades of the 19th century. The style first appeared in wealthy resort communities on the east coast. These houses are primarily characterized by the extensive use of wood shingles on exterior facades; they also display asymmetrical facades and steeply pitched roofs, generally with a front gable. Shingle style houses are found in few places in St. Louis owing to restrictions on frame construction. The only examples are in the Academy neighborhood, the Central West End, and in Clifton Park.
The house at 6015 Cabanne Place was designed by Charles K. Ramsey in 1889. It is sheathed in dark brown shingles. A large projecting gable at the front facade, a two-story rounded projecting bay and a recessed entry porch are the defining features of the style.
Renaissance Revival Style
Towards the end of the 19th century, house designs inspired by Renaissance buildings began to come into fashion throughout the United States. The primary reason for its re-emergence was the growing influence of French architectural designs exhibited at the World's Fair, held in Chicago in 1893. Renaissance Revival houses can be found in the Central West End.
The three-story house at No. 17 Westmoreland Place was designed by the Boston firm of Peabody, Stearns and Furber, in 1892. The symmetrical pink granite building has lateral projecting wings connected by a small center loggia. Windows have classical cornices and surrounds, and the low hipped roof is sheathed with tile. It is interesting to compare this house and with the Shaw City House of 1851. Although they are similar in stylistic treatment, the scale of the Westmoreland house is far greater than its mid-century counterpart.
Eclectic Style
With the wide variety of Revival architectural styles of the Victorian period, it is not surprising that many houses exhibited a mixture of several styles. Since Victorian styles were less formal and rigid in their requirements than the earlier Federal or Greek Revival designs, many turn-of-the-century architects felt free to borrow individual elements from different styles to create their own particular designs.
4382 Westminster Place is a mixture of Richardsonian and Shingle style elements. Designed in 1892 by W. Albert Swasey, the lower portion is built of Roman brick, a long narrow brick with fine mortar joints. The recessed entry, arched with rough cut stone, is typically Richardsonian; however, the shingled second story, dormers and stair tower are taken directly from Shingle style models.
The house at 2031 Park Avenue also features a mixture of architectural styles-in this case, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne. The massing of the two and a half story limestone house is certainly Queen Anne, as are the projecting semi-circular bays at either end. But the first story sheathed with rough-faced ashlar limestone and a prominent arch is placed above the entry, a Richardsonian characteristic.
While Second Empire, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque design gained their fullest expression in large houses, they also appeared in the town house. Of course, the degree of ornament the town house displayed varied according to the particular means of the owner or occupant.
Second Empire Town Houses
Second Empire elements were common in town houses during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. A benefit of the high mansard rood was the additional size of the third floor, an important consideration given urban space limitations. Unlike the detached house, the town house usually had a true mansard only at the front facade; parapet walls continued up a full story on each side elevation. Second Empire town houses are found in Soulard, Hyde Park, Old North St. Louis, Benton Park and Carondelet.
The three-story brick house at 1310 Hebert Street, in Old North St. Louis, is a good example of the Second Empire town house. The house is three bays wide, with recessed entry at the right of the front facade. Windows are segmentally arched, with limestone keystones. The slate mansard roof has two pedimented dormers and the cornice displays large, paired brackets.
Queen Anne Town Houses
Queen Anne town houses are rarer in St. Louis than Second Empire townhouses. Generally, the Queen Anne design lent itself to larger, more elaborate houses, in which the full expression of decorative treatments and roof configurations could be used.
The two and a half story town house at 1419 Hebert is built in the Queen Anne style. The house has an entry under a decorative porch at the far left of the front facade, balanced by a large stylized Palladian window under a basket arch. A recessed porch at the second story has a railing of honeycomb brick work. The house has an asymmetrical roof configuration, with shingled front gable.
Romanesque Revival Town Houses
The Romanesque Revival was perhaps the leading architectural style for town house design at the end of the nineteenth century. Unlike Richardsonian Romanesque designs, the main feature of a Romanesque Revival town house is the use of arched motifs around doors and windows, without the deep recesses and rough-cut stone of the Richardsonian version. The style was particularly popular in St. Louis: a cadre of talented masons vied with each other to produce unusual and inventive designs, using a profusion of masonry patterns.
Romanesque Revival town houses of the Victorian Period were characteristically detailed with an ornate brick cornice, and windows with decorative brick arches. Often, the openings featured paired windows with elaborate wood mullions.
The row of town houses at 904-08 Lami Street is an excellent representation of St. Louis Romanesque Revival. The row consists of two single-family buildings and a multi-family flat. Arches of the recessed entries and first story windows have brick archivolt molding; the second story windows are interspersed with slender engaged columns leading to a heavy brick cornice and frieze, created with a variety of molded brick patterns.
During the Victorian period, several new types of vernacular town house styles developed. The earliest were similar in appearance to Federal vernacular town houses. As the period continued, the size of the building began to increase, with more and larger units in each building than was common in the Federal period.
Queen Anne Cottages
The Queen Anne cottage is a one-story house that has restrained Queen Anne massing and details. A relatively rare house type in St. Louis, Queen Anne cottages can be found in The Ville and Carondelet neighborhoods.
The red brick house at 4050 Garfield, in The Ville, is an unusual design. The house has a side gable roof with flared eaves and features a prominent projecting bay on the front facade, with three one-over-one, segmentally arched windows. The bay is capped with an overscaled helm roof, and the cornice articulated by courses of bullnosed brick and molded brick insets. This house is evidence that even modest 19th century houses were designed with care, and that ornamental brick fronts were not reserved for high style buildings.
The house at 7212 Virginia is another Queen Anne cottage with elegant detail. The house has a tower with pyramidal roof to the left of its front gabled facade. The recessed entry is located in the tower, and has a round arch with decorative archivolt molding. The front gable features three windows separated by brick mullions with terra cotta capitals, and molded brick labels. The original recessed entry has been enclosed.
Victorian Shotgun Houses
Shotgun houses remained popular during the Victorian period. Many borrowed elements from current high style buildings for exterior decoration. In the Victorian shotgun, the roof is higher, allowing greater use of the second floor. The defining feature of the shotgun, its floor plan, remained unchanged. Shotgun houses from this period are found in The Ville, Baden, and Carondelet.
The house at 8305 Church Street, in Baden, has very modest Queen Anne detailing, primarily in its decorative porch, which has a low pediment over the entry, and turned posts. The variety of decorative ornament normally present on Queen Anne buildings is reduced in this frame example to fish scale shingles on the front gable; clapboards elsewhere, and a boxed cornice.
The shotgun house at 4452 St. Louis Avenue in The Ville owes its exterior decoration to the Shingle style. This tall narrow example also has a decorative porch, with scrollwork brackets and frieze. The original wood shingles have been replaced by asbestos shakes, an attempt to replicate the house's original appearance.
Two-story Victorian Houses With Side Entry
Another vernacular house type that appeared in the Victorian period is the two-story house with side entry. These houses can be found both north and south in the City, east of Grand Avenue. They use a variety of Victorian treatments on the narrow, front facades which face the street.
The house at 4160 Grove Street makes a slight reference to the Second Empire style with its steeply pitched mansard roof. Narrow one-over-one windows are set on first and second stories; those of the upper stories have pedimented heads. The house originally was only two rooms deep; the entry opens into the front room. The original slate shingles have been removed from the mansard, and a small addition is attached to the rear.
A more typical building of this type is 4710 Compton. This example has two one-over-one windows on the first story; bullnose brick forms both string course and archivolt trim above their segmental arches. The second story presents a shallow projecting center bay with over-scaled modified Venetian window of paired double hung sash and shaped wooden transom. Its sill is supported with a row of corbelled brick; a pronounced cornice has additional corbelling and pinnacles.