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- Jackie Craven
- Victorian Homes in the Second Empire Style. With tall mansard roofs and wrought iron cresting, Victorian Second Empire homes create a sense of height. But, despite its regal name, a Second Empire isn't always elaborate or lofty.
- Second Empire and the Italianate Style. At first glance, you might mistake a Second Empire home for a Victorian Italianate. Both styles tend to be square in shape, and both can have U-shaped window crowns, decorative brackets, and single story porches.
- History of the Second Empire Style. The term Second Empire refers to the empire that Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) established in France during the mid-1800s.
- Second Empire in the USA. Because it was based on a contemporary movement in Paris, Americans considered the Second Empire style more progressive than Greek Revival or Gothic Revival architecture.
The mansard roof was not designed during the Second Empire, but it became emblematic of the period. You can easily recognize a mansard roof by its steep and double slope (it is very tall but not domed). Homes also adopted the mansard roof because it allowed for maximum habitable space. Second Empire is part of the Victorian family of styles.
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- Examples of The Second Empire Style
- Characteristics
- Second Empire Home Remodeling in VA, MD & DC
- Frequently Asked Questions
Two fine examples of Second Empire buildings are located directly across from each other, not far from the White House in Washington, DC. The Renwick Gallery, designed by architect James Renwick in 1859, resides at the northeast corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. It was the first significant U.S. building in the Second Empire style. ...
As with other Victorian trends, Second Empire ornamentation is inspired and unstinting. Decorative details include iron cresting on the roof, heavily bracketed cornices, quoins, and balustrades. The general effect is monumental and ornate, appropriate to the style’s Napoleonic roots. Second Empire residences often have a simple box form and are hig...
Are you the proud owner of a Second Empire home? If the property has fallen into disrepair over the years, restore its original luster with help from Wentworth. We have years of experience remodeling period homes in the DC metro area, and we would be pleased to handle your project with the utmost care. Here are the Second Empire home remodeling ser...
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The Second Empire style frequently includes a rectangular (sometimes octagonal) tower as well. This tower element may be of equal height to the highest floor, or may exceed the height of the rest of the structure by a story or two. A third feature is massing. Second Empire buildings, because of their height, tend to convey a sense of largeness.
Feb 26, 2024 · Second Empire is another late 1800s type of Victorian house. The style was developed in Paris during Napoleon III’s Second Empire of France, then brought to the United States.
- Morgan Goldberg
In Second Empire buildings, the mansard roof must be the dominant feature, not a subsidiary one. You might, for example, have a Queen Anne house with a gabled main roof and a mansard-roofed tower. Such a house is still a Queen Anne, not a Second Empire. In the same way, many Stick- Style houses have mansard roofs—but they are not Second ...
The houses in Figs. 5, 6 & 7 are located in Connecticut communities that were prosperous factory towns in the late nineteenth century and have many surviving Victorian homes. By 1880, the Second Empire style had been replaced in popularity by the Queen Anne style.
