Architectural Style Profile
Style: Stick
Common Time Period: Unknown
Description: The Stick Style, an important but relatively rare style in American Victorian architecture dating from 1860-1890. Elements of the style began to appear on buildings in the 1850s and early 1860s but most construction in this style occurred in the 1870s particularly after the national economy recovered from the financial panic of 1873.
Bio: Stick Style buildings are noted for a number of unique features all united by the use of “sticks,” flat board banding and other applied ornamentation in geometric patterns that adorn the exterior clapboard wall surface. Similar to their European counterparts, many have asymmetrical floor plans with steeply pitched slate roofs topped by iron cresting. Porch posts, brackets and other support beams are square with chamfered edges. Although the Stick Style can be considered a celebration of wood frame construction, there are many brick homes that legitimately fall into the classification. The Mark Twain House in Hartford, constructed of brick, is considered an exemplar of the style. The wood portion of the Twain house consists of an exuberant variety of chamfered supports and other ornamental stick-work.
Properties that use the Stick Style
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