Castle Victorian

[shazapple]

http://www.castlevictorian.com/

I thought our house plans were crazy!

[SouthernLady]

Wow... I am going to use some of these ideas. Thanks for sharing!

[Vintrest (WavyGlass)]

We've come a long ways from the 1980's when building a replica Victorian would be deemed not feasible because "they don't make things like that anymore". The KC Victorian inspiring this replica was part of a regular feature of house plans (most often from Munn & Co. the magazine's New York publisher) featured in Scientific American-Architects and Builders edition. Dover publications reprinted the collection of houses from this magazine in original colors spanning the years from the mid-1880's to the mid-1890's.
Nowadays, there are architects and builders who would see building a Victorian replica as just a custom house project. A bit challenging perhaps but certainly not impossible. Enough companies have gotten into the reproduction business that building a high style Victorian faithful to an original is entirely feasible. Just make sure your budget is large because carpenters today earn a bit more than 10 cents an hour common in the 1880's and while a thousand dollars worth of millwork would be quite an expense from a millwork catalog back in the late 1800's it would not suffice for one room now. Beautiful stained glass windows cost less than $100 then, now expect ten time or more money for a replica Victorian design.

But lost in the quest for authentic Neo-Victorian style homes is the fact that quite a few real Victorians are being lost to neglect. In some Midwestern cities (leaving out the extreme cases of Detroit or Flint, MI) entire blocks of Victorian era houses are still being razed in an effort to eliminate blight. And these are not burned out shells but relatively intact houses in ok neighborhoods with surviving period details and in restorable condition.

I am aware of the many arguments for building replicas...they are up to modern building codes, (no hidden surprises) in the location of your choice and will not need maintenance for years if not decades. (assuming they are well built) At least folks now have a choices... an authentic 19th century Victorian that might need a fair amount of TLC or a new replica that may seem more expensive at first glance but when you add on the restoration costs of an old one, not such a big difference.

[mkeller234]

Speaking of modern code laws, I'd imagine a number of me hinder some of the original aesthetics. For example, look how high the porch railing is on the new home.

I also notice that they spent just over 1,000,000 dollars building the home, not including the cost of the land. That would certainly pay for a complete renovation of an old Victorian... At least I imagine. It's for sale now too, for 700,000. I realize they didn't build it as an investment. 11 years is not very long to occupy a dream home.

[mkeller234]

That may have sounded a bit harsh. It's their money to do with as they please. It's not my own personal preference, but my opinions don't cost anything.

It is pretty nice inside. I do think something is missing on the exterior though. The covered balcony supports look a little plain and wimpy to my eye, maybe the trim along the roof lines too?

[Powermuffin]

Thanks for posting this. It made me think about the definition of old houses. The house is very nicely done - no argument there, but it doesn't feel historic at all to me. Maybe that wasn't the intention. There is something about old stuff that softens the new stuff and makes a house a home. I think that is why people are drawn to old houses in the first place. In this house they dip a toe into history, but just didn't make the jump.

The kitchen was a good place to have added some cozy features, but instead it looks like a brand new house and despite all the wood, not particularly warm. The stove and floor are the only "character" features to me. A big old farm table would do a lot there. And some painted stand alone pieces instead of a mass of cabinets.

Fun to look at all the same. I liked that there were details of how things were built and what things cost.
I love my small, cheap, old house.
Diane

[clover]

mkeller - I don't think what you said was harsh. It's not like when someone is trying to reproduce something because the original no longer exists. There are thousands of Victorians in need of restoration, and a cool million could get you a full restoration plus everything else you might ever want to need. That's obviously not what they wanted to do, so I guess I just don't understand why they bothered trying to copy an old house when they could build anything they wanted.

There's something so cold and sterile about this house. They mention keeping things historically accurate many times, but this does not succeed, in my opinion. I've seen plenty of new builds that recreate the warmth of an old house. This is just a McMansion in the shape of a Victorian.

[Newline]

A beautiful home but I agree clover, very sterile.

I work in the trades on mostly new construction and while this is a lovely reproduction, one cannot build a house from like materials these days. I've worked on dozens of McMansions and a handful of 10-17M mansions. This house will not be around for a century without major reconstruction. Modern codes have strict envelope and infiltration requirements; engineered flooring, roofing and decking systems. Most of these systems? 30 year warranty. A $17M "estate" I worked on was completed three years ago and they have already had serious moisture and mold issues that has led to structural repairs.

I own an 1880-ish Spanish colonial/Italianate/something. My home is solid masonry (triple-course brick) and the foundation is 8' below grade. Most new construction in this area is slab-on-grade, flush crawl and the occasional basement. My exterior walls are 14" thick. Our home sat empty and unconditioned for about three years before we purchased it. The only mold issue we had was on modern materials that were used for previous repairs. Our exterior hardcoat stucco is original with no expansion joints or corner bead and had a handful of stress cracks that were easily repaired. Warranties for some synthetic stucco systems are as low as 3-11 years.

I could go on for days about issues with nearly every phase and system of new construction but I'll leave it at this. I've been wanting to have a garage/shop built to match the existing architecture and style of our home (not necessarily of like-materials). One general contractor gave me a bid. 1 out of 17. That bid exceeded the purchase price of our home.

[Corsetière]

I know this home was a huge undertaking and appreciate the effort and commitment to their vision but I'm with Clover. It lacks spirit. Something is just "off". It really does look like a McMansion to me.

[Kashka-Kat]

One thing that identifies it as a modern McMansion is sticking it up on top of the highest hill for miles around. They might have a great view, but everyone else's is ruined. Back in the day houses needed to be near a spring or if they drilled for water they were limited by how far down they could drill -I don't know if it was technology limitations or just prohibitively expensive but drilling a well from the top of a hill wasn't generally done.