Often, when you see a fabulous Victorian mansion, you're looking at a style called "Queen Anne." Why is it called Queen Anne when Victoria was on the throne? Well, because the style incorporated some motifs that were in style during the reign of England's Queen Anne (1712-14), which were in turn based on earlier Elizabethan and Jacobean forms. Created in Britain by architect Richard N. Shaw, the Queen Anne style spread to Canada via American architectural magazines.
Possibly a reaction against the symmetrical Georgian style fashionable before it, the typical North American Queen Anne home has an irregular outline, turrets or towers, broad gables or pediments, projecting two-storey bays, multi-sloped roofs, and tall decorated chimneys. Often there were Palladian windows in the gables and eclectic wall surfaces. Rambling verandahs connected the home with surrounding gardens.
Below is 536 Queens Avenue, one of the city's most imposing Queen Anne mansions. It was designed by architect George F. Durand in 1881 for Charles Murray, manager of the Federal Bank of Canada. Doesn't this home just cry out "banker?" It has two towers, one round, one square, the latter now missing its finial. Most interesting is the cross-bracing of the front gable. The two-storey verandah and entrance porch were likely added later but don't look too out of place.
Another fabulous mansion is at 496 Waterloo, now converted into offices. I took this photo before a 2023 fire in its attic, but the building has been repaired since. This 1893 home has updated windows but still has its arched windows, lovely corner verandah, cute balcony in the attic storey on the left, and, of course, the required tower.
Some of the city's most spectacular mansions were built along Grand Avenue in what was then a southern suburb of London. Below is "Waverley" at 10 Grand Avenue, now a retirement home. Architect George Durand built this extravaganza from a plan by Captain Hamilton Tovey. Lawyer Charles Goodhue's dream home was built in 1882-3 on 5.5 acres on what was then called Queen Street. Durand's design called for a "light and festive look"* and I recall one London historian jokingly referring to it as Queen Anne On Steroids.** The home was further enlarged by Thomas Smallman who bought "Waverley" in 1893.
Here one sees the varied roof line, massive corbelled chimneys, gables, dormers, and towers that say "Queen Anne." The name "Waverley," taken from Goodhue's father's home on Bathurst Street, is carved above the porte cochere. Stained glass abounds and attractive woodwork decorates the eaves. Unusual for a mansion turned into an institution, the building is well preserved.
Those of us who have been inside know that it's equally spectacular there, with carved woodwork, the Smallman family crest in a window on the stair landing, and at least one marble fireplace. The residents take their meals in the former ballroom added by Smallman.
Just to the east is "Idlewyld" at 36 Grand Ave., now a luxurious inn with fine dining. Built in 1879 by tanner Charles Smith Hyman, it's not quite as palatial as its near neighbour. But it was even simpler before Hyman hired the firm of Tracy and Durand to design an addition and alterations that cost more than the original house. The picturesque roof line and ornamented gables are part of the original Queen Anne design.
But not every Queen Anne is a mansion. 101 Cheapside Street, built about 1886, is a one-and-a-half-storey house that continues the Queen Anne theme with a broad one-storey tower on its northwest corner. The gable is shingled in a fish-scale design and the siding is of tongue-and-groove planks. High corbelled chimneys are typically Queen Anne. A former verandah at front has been enclosed.
336 Piccadilly Street was built in 1907 for Charles Somerville. Note its substantial round central tower, large wraparound porch with Ionic columns (meaning the capital is decorated with spiral scrolls), half timbering in the gables, and Palladian window in the gable. In fact, Palladian windows became more common in the Edwardian era, even as homes became simpler.
Edwardian, or late Queen Anne, homes were usually built 1900-1915, almost always of red brick. These buildings are almost always plainer, with a simplified roofline, and sometimes symmetrical. But they usually have a prominent entrance, verandah, and classical details. Below are 410, 408 and 400 Queens, a nice Edwardian streetscape designed by local architect John Moore in early 20th century. No. 400, at the far left, was built in 1909 for Arthur McClary. Note the Palladian window in the gable and modillions, or small brackets, below the eaves of the roof and verandah.
There's also such a thing as a Queen Anne cottage. Queen Anne cottages are similar to
larger Queen Anne houses except that the
style was adapted to a smaller one-storey home with an attic. This 1896 cutie on Tecumseh Avenue East has an asymmetrical design, irregular roofline, ornamented gable, decorative black string coursing, semicircular bricks over the front window, and bricks surrounding the keyhole window.
*Brackets & Bargeboards: Walks in London.
ACO London, 1989, p. 173.
** John Lutman, personal communication, probably on an ACO Geranium Heritage House Tour.
