Edwardian Architecture

Introduction

   Edwardian architecture style started in 19^th century during the reign of the Edward VII (1901-1910). Its basically originated from Victorian era, which started back in 18^th century but Edwardian architecture is considered to be less ornate than Victorian.

   The characteristics of Edwardian era comprises on:

·       Colour: lighter colours were used; the use of gas and later electric lights caused designers to be less concerned about the need to disguise soot build up on walls compared to Victorian era architecture.

·       Patterns: "Decorative patterns were less complex; both wallpaper and curtain designs were more plain."

·       Clutter: "There was less clutter than in the Victorian era. Ornaments were perhaps grouped rather than everywhere."

   Most distinctive features of the Edwardian era are front garden, porches, sash windows, balconies, pebbled and mock timber frame on the upper story and less elaborate barge boards. The use of timber is quite elaborative in Edwardian period and can be seen on windows and even porches which are edged with timber railings. Other material that was quite heavily used in Edwardian era was red brick. Edwardian era tended towards elaborated balconies with ornate railings and massive windows dived into two parts where lower part tends to be clear while the upper part is normally divided with glazing bars and the other distinctive part is having generous front garden with huge amount of area but they became less common by the time.

    Most of the buildings of 19^th century in Limerick were not in the good shape in late 2000’s, the ceilings were falling down, were full of dry rot and wet rot, the floor boards were rotting. But soon they were taken care of and were renovated after they were listed by county council for preservation.

    Shannon rowing club still serves the same purpose for what it was built for and same is the case with other two i.e. Springdale and Glendale, both are used as private accommodation.

    Due to change in technology and building regulations there has been changes made in the structure such as now all of the buildings are well insulated, provisions of fire and safety is present and other things like windows are well glazed which makes the building efficient but there has been no changes made in the façade and even inside every inch has been preserved.

History

  Edwardian architecture was very evident in Limerick. Building having detached or semi-detached dwellings with unified terraces which can be seen today in number of places in Limerick such as O’Connell Avenue, North and South circular roads and Ennis road are some of the examples of it. Springdale is red brick house situated on Ennis road, Limerick. It was built in 1900, a two-storey house facing south with three-sided canted bay window to gabled breakfront. It was built using terracotta comb ridge tiles, an arch built with red bricks, red brick reveals, an attic opening and timber windows with limestone sills. Similar to other Edwardian structure it includes balcony, timber and porched gables and brick detailing.

  Its one of the rare ones in Edwardian style in Limerick, it is one of the fully detached period houses with huge garden area, which was very common in 19^th century.

  Springdale was designed by William Clifford Smith, a young Welsh architect. He was born in 1881 in Poole, Dorset. William Clifford designed number of buildings in Edwardian style in and around Limerick such as, Shannon Rowing Club which is located on Sarsfield Bridge and a townhall in Adare.

Exterior Features

   Red bricks were common choice for Edwardian architecture. But over the years use of roughcast walls and pebbledash have been seen as well. But due to changing trends in the renovations they have been smoothen over.

    Timber was widely used as well in the Edwardian architecture and in some of the country houses timber frames can be seen for external and internal walls. Timber styles has been mocked from Tudor styles and Edwardian adopted it pretty well.

    Art Nouveau style can be spotted on particular places on the exteriors of the building but interiors were more dominated in the particular style comparatively.

    Porches were the main features of the Edwardian era and we can find massive porches in almost all of the buildings in Limerick which were built in Edwardian period. Porches were really popular in that era. It was really important to have a porch area and to some extent considered to be a hard and fast rule. Moreover, the porches in that era use to reflect the financial status of the person, the rich people use to have very rare and unique materials in their porches which shows how equally important it was with the building itself and considered to be a status symbol.

    Springdale has a huge porch area too and as being one of the less detached houses of Edwardian era in Limerick it covers even more area then the semi- detached ones, as now the porch area increases to the three sides of the house. The porch is extending around the front main door and is on the same plain with the wall. The stain glass in a wooden panelled door is there which is pretty typical Edwardian feature. The entrance is covered merging with the façade itself and a small step at the entrance just to seclude the porch area from entrance.

Interior Features

   Edwardian era was very much influenced by the Art Nouveau style it was not only with the exteriors but interior too was highly influenced. The amount of detailing, embracing the modern styles and features and use of curves even in furniture was pretty common.

     ‘The curved shape of the furniture of that period is reflective of Art Nouveau style,’ explains Rebecca Hayes.

     Dark polished wooden floor was pretty common flooring type of the era and can be widely seen in Springdale as well. Dark herringbone design wooden floor really stands out in the interior and gives a very luxurious feel.

     Another thing that was introduced by Art Nouveau was floral design wallpapers and that became common too in the Edwardian era. The Springdale has couple of its focal walls featuring floral wallpapers. Due to the invention of electricity and it being very common, the houses moved away from having wallpapers and dark colours as the smoke marks were not a problem anymore and walls were not going to get dirty from sooty air

    Multi-paned sash windows, which were commonly popular in Georgian architecture, were again seen in Edwardian homes after years.

‘It was all about the big spaces and getting natural light in,’ Michael Parinchy explains. Which is why big sash windows and big patio doors that let in plenty of natural light became popular.

   Edwardian houses really needed to stand out so besides the usage of ornate and rare materials, they hard large windows and high ceilings almost everywhere inside giving the luxurious feel.

Conservation

    The 19^th century house has been conserved very professionally and with great interest all the above and known features of Edwardian era can still be seen and that is not just the case with Springdale but almost all the structures throughout Limerick has been preserved and renovated very carefully.

    In the case of Springdale a minimal intervention was taken place, building can easily be recognized from its older pictures and sightings. The style has been kept and renovated properly and conserved with same materials and elements as were used in the first while building it.

    There has been little change with the furniture inside but as considering it a modern accommodation it needs to be changed and other issue is that, its hard to find furniture of the same period and style and they will be expensive too.