“TURN OF THE CENTURY” QUEEN ANNE HOUSES
The popular circa 1890 through 1910 house style, Queen Anne, had numerous identifying features. A steeply pitched roof of irregular shape often had a dominant front facing gable. Patterned shingles, cutaway bay windows and various other elements were used to avoid a smooth-walled appearance. The facade was asymmetrical, and often it had a partial or full width porch along a side wall as well as on the front.
Queen Anne dwellings were also noted for their decorative detailing. Delicately turned porch columns and decorative spandrels with knob-like beads were common. Spindle work was used on railings, at porch ceilings, and under the roof overhangs at cutaway bays.
The house in [figure 41] was constructed with forward gables, a partial porch on the front and a cutaway bay. Decorative elements include the ornamented gables and a spindlework frieze between the porch posts at the ceiling.
Fig. 41. Queen Anne detailing on a circa 1890 house. (Bldg. 145).
Miss Julia Wossman’s house, [figure 42], was moved from downtown to St. John Drive in the 1950’s. Note the forward gables, turned porch columns, the wrap-around porch, and spindlework at the cutaway front and side bay windows. The porch also has spindlework, brackets and knob-like beads in the frieze. Gables contain fish scale patterned shingles.
Fig. 42. Miss Julia Wossman’s house, circa 1890 (Bldg. 146).
The houses described represent only a sampling of the full range of extant Queen Anne houses in the urban area of the Twin Cities.