News and Views on Real Estate

In Eureka, California sits one of the most beautiful examples of Victorian Architecture. The Carson Mansion, with its 18 rooms and excess of 16,200 square feet was constructed between 1884 and 1886. The cost of this structure was an incredible $80,000.

It is a mix of every major style of Victorian Architecture and is the most written about, most photographed house in California, possibly the U.S.

Victorian Architecture is known by many other names and can be of various styles. The building period of Victorian Architecture overlaps the reign of Queen Victoria, for whom it was named.

(more…)

If you are looking for an interesting, and beautiful style of architecture for a house or smaller sized commercial building, then you may want to look towards the prairie style architecture.

The prairie style architecture was drafted originally in the loft room of the Steinway Piano Company building in Chicago, Illinois in the 1890’s. The Prairie Style was popular from the 1900’s through about 1912.

Probably the most famous follower of the Louis Sullivan teachings on Prairie Style architecture was Frank Lloyd Wright.

Also termed Prairie School Architecture, the Prairie style was and is most commonly found in the Midwestern United States.

(more…)

Ancient Greece may have spawned the beginning of sculpture and architecture, not only in ancient times, but also until present day.

Until the 7th century, Greece was without architecture. Since the pre 7th century Greek buildings were made mostly of wood or mud-brick, there is nothing remaining of them and there was little in written record about them.

But in a more modern Greece, buildings such as the Parthenon and the Coliseum, still partially remain, giving us beautiful architecture in which to study.

(more…)

Visiting most European cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches that were built between the 12th century and the 16th century, you will notice the intricate, almost gaudy structure with its peaks and spires and flying buttresses.

These architectural feats are commonplace for Gothic architecture. Used also in castles and palaces as well as government buildings and universities, but lesser found in private dwellings, as its construction was extremely costly.

Named not from the historical Goths, but from Giorgio Vasari to describe the culture that was considered rude and barbaric. At that time, Italy was building classical structures and looked to the European buildings as garish and showy.

(more…)

From 1919 to 1933, Germany gave to the world the Bauhaus school of architecture. Founded by Walter Gropius, the name Bauhaus comes from the German words for -to build- and -house-.

Very basic in its meaning, the Bauhaus architecture is just that. Basic shapes, geometric designs and little frill and fancy. Though its founder was an architect, for the first several years, the Staatliches Bauhaus School in Germany refined the crafts and fine arts but did not actually include an architecture department.

The Bauhaus architectural style became the basis for current Modernist architecture. These structures are primarily simple in form and without ornamentation.

(more…)

A very early style of architecture, but a very beautiful style is Baroque architecture, which began in the early 17th century in Italy.

Taking the renaissance architecture and modifying it to a new theatrical, sculptural fashion, Baroque architecture became a very fanciful, extravagant style of structural design.

While the Renaissance style was designed for the well to do of society, the Baroque architecture initially played into the wealth and power of the Roman Catholic Church.

The concerns were for light, shade and color intensity and Baroque found its secular expression in grand palaces first in France, then throughout Europe.

(more…)

Between 1920 and 1939, Art Deco Architecture was all the rage. Not only did the Art Deco movement affect Architecture, but also interior design, industrial design and visual arts like fashion, painting, graphic arts and film.

The movement was a mixture of many different styles, incorporating cubism, modernism, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Futurism, and its popularity peaked in the roaring twenties.

While many earlier architectural styles had political or philosophical roots, Art Deco Architecture was simply decorative.

(more…)

Architecture is the science and art of designing buildings and other structures. It can also be expanded to the designing of surrounding environments, towns and landscapes.

Someone who specializes in architecture is called an architect. Architecture has played a key part of our entire worlds history. For wherever there have been buildings or structures that were safe for inhabiting, there has been some sort of architecture.

Architecture combines functionality with aesthetics to create the buildings we live in, work in and play in. From the smallest 1 bedroom home to the grandest palace or biggest cathedral, every structure is based on some form of architecture.

(more…)

A trip through the U.S. will grant you sights of beautiful architecture, from coast to coast. During the 1780’s though the most popular style of architecture was the American Colonial.

Built mostly by wealthy Anglo Americans, the houses afforded several distinct styles depending on local. Also known as Colonial Georgian, these homes were the earliest style to grace the U.S. colonies.

A prime example of early American Colonial architecture is called a Saltbox. What the Saltbox basically is is a wooden frame house with a high-pitched roof that slopes down to the back.

(more…)

Some of the earliest structures were Adobe architecture. Adobe is a material made from sand, clay and straw, dung or other fibrous materials.

The adobe is then formed into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. Similar to cob or mud bricks, the structures become extremely durable. They are used mainly in hot, arid climates because they remain cool in the summer and release heat very slowly in the winter.

The same mixture, without the straw is used for mortar in placing the dried adobe bricks together to form a structure. Some cultures even figured out they could utilize lime-based cement for plaster to protect against the wet months.

(more…)