Victorian Architecture: Queen Anne vs. King Edward

An 1876 Queen Anne at 809 Pine

Our 1901 Edwardian house at 1109 Pine.

When I read the flyer for our home at 1109 Pine, it referred to the house as "Edwardian". I had no idea what this meant, beyond some faint recognition that it related to a period in English history and architecture. I did a simple search and found that Edwardian architecture refers to the style popular when King Edward VII was in power. He reigned from 1901 to 1910. His predecessor, Queen Victoria, had a much longer reign (1837-1901) and homes built during her reign, especially during the latter part of her reign, are referred to as Victorian. The British had a custom of naming architectural styles after their monarchs (Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, etc.).

But what about the "Queen Anne" Victorians? Didn't Queen Anne reign in the early 1700s? More searches found the explanation, which is quite interesting. The Queen Anne style of Victorians did not refer directly to Queen Anne's rule, but marked a "Queen Anne" revival. During her reign in the 1700s, art and science flourished, and it was British architect Richard Norman Shaw and his followers who began to refer to buildings in the Queen Anne style. Of all the Victorian styles, Queen Anne is the most ornate and embellished. You know them when you see them, wrapped in bay windows, vertically punctuated with turrets and towers and sharply pitched roofs, sometimes covered with intricate gingerbread motifs, often decorated with elaborately painted facades. There are many examples of the Queen Anne style in Boulder, and cities throughout the U.S. have rich examples of the Queen Anne style. In contrast, the Edwardian style was a movement towards modernism, towards a more simple, less ornamental style. Edwardian style would pave the way for some of the early 20th century modernist architects.

Weekend in Breckenridge

We went to Breckenridge with three other families last weekend. Our amazing babysitter gave us the use of her parents' house. It is a large 4 bedroom home a couple of miles outside of town. Breckenridge has recorded 362 inches of snow this season. This not only makes for amazing skiing, but also great adventures in the snow. The banks of snow around a house and driveway were astounding. The 9 kids who came with us were shocked, then delighted. When they were not skiing, they were busy tunneling through the 10-foot banks of snow, building their own covered slides in the mountains of snow and making their own X games extreme sledding run. In my childhood, the only time I had an occasion to tunnel through snow was after an historic blizzard in the 70s in New York. Living in Colorado, this will not be the last time they see snow like this, but it was definitely the first. Oh, and about the bear. Hmm....pictures are sometimes better than words.

1109 Pine

We are buying a house in Boulder in a couple of weeks. It's no ordinary house by several measures. First, it's 110 years old. Second, it hasn't been sold in 100 years, passing down several generations and staying within the family until now. Third, the seller will in all likelihood be leaving behind some of the historical contents of the house. It is an unusual situation to buy a house and immediately become a steward of its storied past. And it has a past. This is what we have learned.

In 1901, Montford Whiteley and his wife, Mena, built the house. Whiteley was mayor of Boulder from 1899-1905. Born in Georgia in 1859, Whiteley was a member of the first class to enter the University of Colorado when it opened. In 1911, Whitelely sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Kirby. The Kirbys had three daughters and when they passed away, the three daughters inherited the home. One of the daughters married and bought the other sisters' shares of the house. They produced one daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth married, but did not have any children. She died in 1995 and in the same year, her husband died as well. The sole heir was her husband's son from a previous marriage, James Bonn. In 1995, upon inheriting the house, Mr. Bonn moved from San Diego with his new bride to Boulder. In 2008, she filed for divorce. He was forced to put the house on the market in July, 2009. There were no buyers.

February, 2011. We visit the house. We are charmed by the pristine pine floors, the in tact wood work, the brass hardware throughout the house, the 1880s billiards table in the basement, the eight foot paneled doors. We are underwhelmed by the non-working boiler, the old plumbing and outdated wiring, the unremarkable kitchen, the one full bathroom.

It is always a leap of faith to buy a house. You have to somehow sense that you can live there, sleep there, grow there. You have to use your imagination and create stories of your life there before you get a chance to act your part. We saw many house. Dozens of houses. This one spoke to us. We will plunge in with some renovation before we move in. Stay tuned.

"COLE"

This is a picture of Cole's LL Bean tote bag. He's had it since he was a baby, a gift from my mother. It is faded and a bit dirty and stained from markers and wear and tear. It is more than 10 years old, after all. This summer I saw a mom with her newborn. Over the handle of her pristine new stroller was a brand new navy and white tote bag, the exact same one, with the name "COLE" on it. I peeked in the stroller and a newborn Cole stared back at me. I thought of my Cole and my tote bag at home, and I was suddenly so aware of how relatively old my Cole was. Today he is 11. He will gradudate from primary school next spring; he has mastered many things, including reading and surfing the internet; he likes to memorize songs; he knows things about pop culture that I don't know; he has had three passports; he tells his friends secrets about girls; his face is changing but he still has a scar on his right cheek from an accident when he was 7. After 11 years, he has a personal history that includes love and loss. Seeing that brand new tote bag this summer and the baby Cole to whom it belonged reminded me of my Cole. I stopped the mom and told her briefly about my Cole and his similar tote bag. "Good luck," I said. "Enjoy every moment. It will go fast."

Cole turns 11!

Happy Birthday, Cole Bailey Besser!

4 Mile Fire

After almost a week, firefighters have finally gotten the upper hand in fighting the Four Mile Fire, the worst fire in Colorado's history. The destruction has been staggering: 169 homes burned; nearly 7,000 acres charred; tens of millions of dollars in lost property; hundreds of lives impacted. It was a long and sad week. We sat helpless for days under smokey skies that signaled great loss and destruction. On Thursday, the wind forecast was so bad that our neighborhood was warned of a possible evacuation. We went through the motions of gathering passports and photos and paperwork and jewelry. It seemed a bit surreal. By Friday, the scare was over and the skies had turned a brilliant blue and life, for us at least, seemed a bit normal again. Soccer games were held, school recess resumed outside, weekend events were confirmed.

Boulder is a small community. I think we were unprepared by how many people we knew were impacted by this fire. The serene mountain cabin where our friend Melinda lived and wrote last winter is gone; another friend's house was thought to be gone for most of the week, but somehow it was sparred; the boys' beloved summer camp, Colorado Mountain Ranch, is a site of catastrophic destruction. Meanwhile, the community of Boulder has responded. A store has been opened in the community to take donations. They are now completely overwhelmed by generous giving. A volunteer told me that most of the folks who have come in to pick up supplies are too numb to shop, taking very little. A man walked in the other day and asked for a single item: sweatpants. "I just want some sweatpants so that I can sit comfortably on my friend's couch and watch some TV." Many lives will not be back to normal for some time.

Aspen, CO

I took the boys to Aspen to see my dear friends Barabara and Jonathan. Aspen is gorgeous and our accommodations at The Gant were superb. Our condo was unexpectedly upgraded, so the boys ended up with three 40" plasma tvs. The condo was remarkable. The boys begged to bring their featherbed enhanced queen beds home; I took notes on the kitchen and bathroom designs; the balcony looked out to the mountains and down to the saline pool....Aspen style. Though we were mostly there to see our friends, we got a good taste of the town. We hiked the Ute trail, biked down the Rio Grande on a scenic 8 mile path, found natural hot springs in Carbondale, and the boys hunted for snakes by the creek and even found some. Somehow we managed to leave Aspen with nothing new in our pockets. I still can't believe it!