What kinda house is this?

January 15, 2019 6:24 PM

In the movie Breakfast with Curtis, some of the characters live in a multi-story house, referred to in the movie as The Purple Citadel. I feel like it's a definite architectural style, but nothing floating around in my head matches up and I don't know enough about the subject to Google it.

Images here. (I've recommended this movie here several times, but I have no connection with it other than liking it a lot.)

posted by bricoleur to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

That looks like what we call a Victorian here in Massachusetts. From New England Today Magazine: "There is so much going on in Victorian architecture, and so much unabashed borrowing, that it is difficult to sort out the individual house styles. But there are some common elements. Steep, many-gabled roofs, irregular floor plans, and an asymmetrical arrangement of windows and doors give Victorian houses their characteristically excited look. Patterned roofs and multi-textured walls show off the builders’ experimentation with curves, arches, hexagons, and other complex shapes. Porches appear everywhere, along with the profusion of fanciful detailing familiarly known as “gingerbread.""

I guessed at first that it was filmed in Massachusetts because it looks like about 100 houses in throwing distance from me, but it says it was filmed in Providence. Pretty close.
posted by cocoagirl at 6:38 PM on January 15, 2019

I'd call it Edwardian.
posted by synecdoche at 6:48 PM on January 15, 2019

I'd say that's classic Queen Anne style, burdened somewhat by time and modification.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:13 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: What you've got there is Queen Anne.

(Cred: Architectural Historian)

There really is no such thing as "Victorian" (or "Edwardian") style...those are periods within which there are many styles. Victorian styles in the US were popular from the 1860s to about 1900 (although some persisted well after) and can range from Stick to Queen Anne to Richardsonian Romanesque. They do share some characteristics...for example, industrialization permitted mass production of house components that could then be put together in various ways, so you begin to see complex shapes and elaborate details on even very modest houses, rather than being restricted to upper and upper middle class housing.

Things that make this Queen Anne: The steeply pitched roof and dominant front gable, what looks to be shingles on the upper walls, the asymmetrical facade, partial-width porch, and the polygonal bay.
posted by Preserver at 8:17 PM on January 15, 2019 [15 favorites]

Yeah, a Queen Anne. Although most people around here (New England) will indeed call them Victorians. And yeah, it looks fairly typical in that it's been kind of haphazardly maintained and modified over the years. The vast majority of Queen Annes in New England are rather shabby, although every so often you'll encounter a truly magnificent one. That one looks about average shabby, or maybe slightly better than average.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:04 AM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]