The Slanted-bay Italianate
The Bay-Windowed Italianate was much fancier than the flat-fronted, and more common in the cities, especially San Francisco. Its distinguishing feature was the stacked 3-windowed slanted bays. Windows like these came about in order to create more room inside the structure without taking up anymore ground area. The houses were often built without much embellishment, and then the homeowner could later choose from catalogs which decorations he wanted to put on it. Popular were columns, balustrades, and elaborate window hoods.
It is a rectangular, two or three story building with wide eaves supported by large brackets.The roof is low-pitched, almost flat. It is often accentuated by pronounced moldings and details such as quoins, conrnices, and window hoods.
The time period in which these were built was roughly from the 1860s through the 1880s.
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Port
Townsend, Washington
The many styles of Victorians
in this small, scenic town is impressive. The two stacked bays are
a really nice feature. It's called the Captain Thomas Grant house,
from 1887. Grant was born in Nova Scotia in 1851 and moved to the
Puget Sound in 1874, but spent most of his time out at sea. Updated
photo can be found here. |
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Very San Francisco-y!
I wonder what the age of this one is? |
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Astoria,
Oregon
There's not a great many examples of slanted-bays in Astoria, but there are a few. Here are a couple in which the bays are not stacked. Update: I recently got to tour the second house! A couple purchased it not too long ago and are restoring the interior. The upstairs is gorgeously decorated, but they did not try to bring it back to the original floor plan. They are keeping a kitchen up there and I guess that is their main living area. Downstairs, however, it looks like they are going to make authentically Victorian - they tore out dropped ceilings, fake walls and all the plaster down to the studs. Lot of work! |
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This is one of my favorite
houses in town. I hear the owners are meticulously restoring it.
They're currently in the middle of giving it a beautiful exterior
paint job. It was built in 1883, by the Fisher Brothers, who established
a chandlery, hardware and grocery store. |
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This is one of the most San Francisco-y looking houses in Astoria! Isn't it lovely, especially accented with all those colorful flowers growing out front? Built in 1879, for Judge Page and his wife as a wedding present. Page was also mayor of Astoria from 1888-1890.
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Another one of my absolute favorites in town. And...we even had the chance to buy it, since it was for sale at the same time we were house-hunting. We just didn't think we were able to put the extensive work into it that it needed. It was vacant about two years after that, and many times we'd drive by, hoping someone would come along to give it some love. Happily, some people did buy it and are full of ideas about what they're going to do. So far, they have started an exterior paint job, and lots of inside work. It was built in 1885. |
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This house just had a write-up in the Daily Astorian newspaper (7/25/03)! Well, actually the article was about the man who used to live here, Thomas Linville, a colorful character who came to Astoria in the 1880s and joined the police force. | |
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Warrenton, Oregon We came across this one, looking sad and abandoned, amidst a neighborhood of more modern housing. It still retains its original charm, and I bet could be saved. |
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Jacksonville, Oregon I spied this double-stacked bay windowed Italianate on the way out of Jacksonville (see more of Jacksonville on the previous page). I just love the way it is surrounded by a large yard full of tall trees and a cute little fence. |
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Eureka, California Finally, now in 2007, I get to stop in Eureka during daylight hours to take photos! And wow, there are just tons of them here! It's a bigger town than I thought! Look at this spectacular double-bay one! I also thought the town was going to be very upscale and trendy and expensive, but somehow it still retains a down-to-earth, almost gritty feel that makes it real. Although the Victorians do seem to cost a lot, and there are a lot of boutique shops in its historic downtown district too. I would like to explore it more some day. |
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This cute little one reminds me of those "shotgun" Victorians they have in the southern states! |
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Red Bluff, California Needs a paint job, but look at the detail and ornamentation on this one! Love the red white and blue color scheme and the ornate brackets near the roof! |
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Sacramento, California I know I have a ton of Italianates already on this website, but every time I see one I can't resist capturing it. I was glad Sacramento had some unique ones like this! On a side note, someone had posted on my messageboard about a large Italianate mansion somewhere in this city, but we couldn't find it. Now that I read his message again, I see it was on T street, where we didn't even explore. Humphs! |
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Could be your average one straight from San Francisco. I just had to get it because it's pink, of course. | |
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Daytime was fading fast by the time I got to this one. I like how it's wider than the average Italianate, with a neat side porch. | |
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I guess this is sorta Italianate looking. It has kind of unusual features. I like the front stairway. | |
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San
Francisco, California
This town must have the largest collection of this style of house in the country! And all of them - even though they have a similar style, each have unique features that make them one of a kind. Look at these two - both from the wealthy Pacific Heights area. Almost exactly alike at first glance. But then you notice the subtle differences. I like the way, on the left-hand one, the steps climb up from the side. |
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Another two from Pacific Heights that are similar. The one on the left is way more "frilly" than the right one, so it could have been built a little later than the 1882 house on the right. |
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This Pacific
Heights home might just be one of my dreamhouses - if only I could
afford it! Must be worth at least a couple of million, in the expensive
San Francisco market. I wonder what its history is? One rare feature
is its yard - very difficult to get any kind of a yard in this city.
If it were my house, I'd definitely paint it, though. Maybe pink,
with white trim!
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Also in Pacific Heights. The left-hand one I saw in a book once, so I know that it was built in 1874. These never had a garage dug into their basements, as so many San Francisco houses of this style now do. |
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A large Pacific Heights one dating from 1876. Originally designed for merchant Isaac Wormser, then bought by gold miner John Coleman in 1895, who added the tower. | |
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A cute litte one from just north of the Haight. | |
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The one on the left is on Pierce Street in Laurel Heights, and according to a book that it was listed in, built in the late 1870s. It's sort of your average San Francisco house that you see tons of. The one on the right is in the lower Haight, and has more ornamentation. | |
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Another two that are quite similar. The one on the left is very plain, and is in the lower Haight. The one on the right, just north of the Haight. |
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This one in Pacific Heights has a bunch of bay windows! And a cute little turret on top. You don't normally see that on these kind of houses. |
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These last two have sort of a different appearance to them compared to the others, but I'm not sure how to explain it. Maybe it's just that the windows were all redone or something. They're in the lower Haight. | |
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The second house is the Rosemont Inn at 1423 Genesee Street. I'm going to stay there if I ever make it to Utica!! It was constructed during 1866-1870 by the Charles and Jane Quait Millar family. Mr. Millar owned many of the downtown businesses and was very wealthy. The house was renovated into an Inn in 1998. Take the shortcut to the next Utica homes HERE |
