What Is Italianate Architecture? Its History and Signature Style Elements

As the name suggests, the Italianate architectural style does have Italian roots, but it actually developed in Victorian England as an homage to the informal housing styles of Italy. Architects, designers, and travelers returning from areas like Tuscany were inspired by the villas and homes found in the Italian countryside. Though it reflects elements of Italian Renaissance architecture, Italianate was considered by many to be a modern Italian style during its time, in part because it was less formal than both its namesake and the popular architectural styles that preceded it. By today’s standards, we’d still find Italianate quite traditional thanks to its characteristically ornate exterior trim. 

Italianate architecture dominated the housing market in the United States for a few decades in the 1800s. Part of its pervasiveness was because the style's detailed trim could be applied to housing of many shapes and sizes, from modest single-family homes to row houses, large commercial buildings, and even grand estates. In fact, Italianate style inspired the remodeling of Highclere Castle—the real-life setting of the fictional Downton Abbey—by architect Charles Barry in the 1830s and 1840s; his drawing still exists with the Royal Institute of British Architects.

And even though landscaping was important to its inception, the style was adapted in urban areas, too. The fictional home of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City is among many iconic New York brownstones in the Italianate style. Historic single-family homes in the United States include the John Muir house built in California in 1882, and the 1860 Ulysses S. Grant house in Galena, Illinois.

Read on to find out what brought Italianate homes to such pervasiveness and learn about their signature styling.  

History of Italianate Architecture

The Italianate architectural style emerged in Victorian Britain, following a long period of formal, classical architecture. During this time, the Picturesque movement was in swing. Instead of design driven by strict architectural standards, people wanted homes that, in essence, looked as good as a painting and emphasized “the relation between buildings and their natural or landscaped setting." Aesthetics of how the house looked on the land played a key role, and landscaping and greenery were integrated into planning for how the house was designed and perceived. 

Many sources credit British architect John Nash for creating the first Italianate structure in Cronkhill in 1802, though the architectural style fully developed in later decades. According to the book A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia Savage McAlester, the first Italianates in the U.S. were built in the 1830s, and by the 1860s, the style had “completely overshadowed its earlier companion, the Gothic revival.” Italianate architecture was common throughout the United States, except for the southern states that were most impacted by economic challenges of the Civil War and Reconstruction, which occurred during Italianate’s peak popularity. 

Critical to the proliferation of Italianate style was the popularization of architectural and landscaping pattern books, like Cottage Residences by Andrew Jackson Downing. These books were inspiration for those looking to build a home, as well as something of a design template for builders. Downing was one of the country’s early landscape architects, an emerging profession at the time, and intentional landscaping was likely part of Italianate’s appeal. 

The adaptability of Italianate architectural features also helped extend the style’s reach. Italianate houses' most prominent features are their adornments, like bracketed cornices and windows with ornate trim. These exterior details were varied and not prescriptively applied, allowing the Italianate style to be interpreted in many ways, for many sizes of buildings and budgets. In New Orleans, for example, Italianate details were added to the facades of existing and newly developing buildings. Even the city's iconic shotgun houses have incorporated Italianate’s ornately bracketed overhangs. Though widespread, Italianate styles began to fall out of popularity in the 1880s. 

Key Characteristics of Italianate Architecture 

While there is plenty of variation in the application of the style, there are a few key characteristics that help identify an Italianate house. Typically constructed with brick or wood clapboard, the features of Italianate houses give them a vertical visual emphasis, meaning they look tall and stretched upward. True Italianate homes are usually two or three stories—sometimes more, but rarely just a single level—and generally offer a layout that is compact rather than extended far horizontally. According to the National Park Service, they usually have asymmetrical floor plans inside.

Perhaps the most distinguishing features for Italianate style are the ornamental architectural details, including cornices, brackets, corbels, arches, and quoins. These architectural details were highly dimensional, not subtly painted on or etched into the structure, but projected from the house. They appeared in a number of places on the home's facade.

Tall and narrow windows and doors were critical to both Italianate’s vertical sensation as well as its decorative flair. Whether flat or curved, windows and doors are always decoratively trimmed: topped with crowns, highlighted with framing, or even capped with hoods. Windows were installed in singles, pairs and even triples. Bay windows were common, though not mandatory, and often found on a side of the house.

Italianate homes also frequently incorporated single-story porches. These porches could run the width of the front of the house, or just to one side of the front door, or be limited to the home’s entry. Porticos—covered entries, without the porch—may also be found. Like windows and doors, these porches and coverings offered opportunities for embellishment, including decorative columns, railings, and bracketed eaves.

Another icon of Italianate architecture is the low-pitched roof, sometimes flat or only slightly sloped, with wide eaves overhanging. The roofs and eaves are underscored by ornate cornices and decorative brackets that are sometimes doubled together for extra emphasis. These features may be painted in multiple colors for added prominence.

A distinctive feature on some Italianate homes is a tower, cupola (a raised dome), or belvedere (windowed gallery above the roofline). Though not require, or necessarily common, they are a hallmark of the style that can make an Italianate structure easy to identify. Generally square, not rounded, these features offered the possibility for better viewing of the surrounding landscaping, which was another important factory in Italianate design. Italianate homes on larger grounds may have abundant green space that include features like follies, grottos, and winding pathways that offered picturesque views of the house.