Here in the United States the Second Empire style always had a mansard roof.
After that, many of its other characteristics were the same as the Italianates including
wide eaves, corbels, towers or Cupolas, and chamfered columns.
I got up really early this morning to help avoid some of the noise of the city and show
you some of its beautiful houses. (Car noise)
We're here before the Queen Victoria but it would be better named the Napoleon III.
The second empire was a period, so, I could criticize using it as the name of a style.
But it was a much shorter period than the Victorian Era.
It lasted from 1852 to 1870 Under Emperor Napoleon, (no not that one, that one.)
Under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III . The original empire, or First Empire, was under
Napoleon I.
So what happened to Napoleon II?
Napoleon III wanted to make a complete over hall of Paris, and he did, the new look has
been a big success, and it is the look that we think of as the quintessential Paris.
It was done under his rule.
The essential characteristic of the style in America was the mansard roof, as popularized
by architect François Mansart (mansard, mansart) He did his work during the reigns of Louis
XIII and Louis XIV.
The Mansard roof is a type of roof having two slopes on every side, the lower slope
being considerably steeper than the upper.
The advantage of the mansard roof is that it allows a full floor of living space above
the cornice line of a building without increasing the number of stories in the structure.
François Mansart promoted the mansard roof in his designs in the 17 century and his influence
can be seen in French architecture ever since.
It was extensively used in the buildings of Paris constructed during the Second Empire
period in the 19th century.
Beneath their rooflines, Second Empire American homes had much in common with the Italianates,
things such as the stylistic use of overhanging eaves with decorative brackets, and ornate
and often curved door and window trims.
Stick Style 1.
Timbered look 2.
Open stickwork 3.
Square bays 4.
Steeply pitched roofs 5.
Angular and vertical emphasis In Stick style architecture you'll find a
timbered look showing open stick work with square bays, steeply pitched roofs, things
that will generate an angular or vertical emphasis.
The Stick style favored displaying an overlaid, half-timbered effect, with boards attached
to the exterior walls in grids, grids intended to be suggestive of the underlying frame construction.
Other characteristic features included attached open stickwork verandas.
The word veranda and porch can be used interchangeably, but, usually veranda is used if the porch
is very large and extends the entire side of the building or even wraps around it.
My French friend says we shouldn’t call it a veranda if it isn’t enclosed in glass
or has the option to be enclosed in glass.
In French verre means glass and a verande is a porch enclosed in glass.
Well my French friends, you shouldn’t call this shampooing, its just called shampoo.
Shampooing is a verb.
Shampooing…shampoo 2x Shampoo , no ing.
Stick Style buildings often featured projecting square bays, steeply pitched roofs, and overhanging
eaves.
Angular and vertical elements were emphasized.
Though associated with Carpenter Gothic, the Stick style made less use of gingerbread.
It favored simpler curves and circular shapes.
The 18-room mansion here at the Emlen Physick Estate on Washington Street, was designed
by architect Frank Furness and is open for tours.
Built in 1879, it is one of the finest examples of Victorian Stick Style architecture in America.
The Estate was designed for Dr. Emlen Physick, descendant of a wealthy and famous Philadelphia
family.
Physick’s grandfather, Dr. Philip Syng Physick was known as the Father of American Surgery.
Emlyn himself did not follow in the family tradition.
He never practiced medicine, opting instead to live the life of a country gentleman here
in this home.
Even the home’s furnishings show the simpler geometric and circular shapes that were favored
in stick style over the more elaborate gingerbread of the gothic revival.
The exterior of the Mansion is distinguished by the architect’s trademark oversized features,
including upside-down chimneys, and the huge stick-like brackets on the porch and hooded
jerkin-head dormers.
Now, you are probably wondering, what the heck is a jerkin-head dormer.
Jerkin-Head describes a roof that is a combination of the two more common roof styles, the gable
roof, a simple pointed roof that come up from 2 sides, and the hip roof, a roof that come
up from all sides.
The Jerkin-head dormer starts out at the bottom coming up toward the top like a gable dormer,
but, then somewhere on the journey upward, gets joined by another roofline that slopes
inward as it also goes up.