How Was My House Decorated?

For a late Victorian house, turn to issues of the Sears-Roebuck catalog, some of which are available in reprinted editions. Sears is your source for real middle-class style, which sometimes deviated remarkably from both upper-class taste and reform ideals.

It's also worthwhile to look for specialized sources that focus on your region or your house style. Local histories can help you determine the social class (and probable income) of past owners--which isn't as obvious as you might think. We cheerfully assumed that Edward Flanagan, the second owner of our house, must have been a rags-to-riches story of social mobility since he rose from being an iron molder to being Chief Detective of the local police. It turns out that the local police force had been dominated by Irish iron workers for 40 years by the time Flanagan took the job, and that molders were especially likely to hold positions of authority. If Flanagan was typical of his time and social setting, it's likely that his furnishings were also typical of what people like him owned.

Regional styles also can diverge from how "the Victorians" decorated. "Victorian" furniture is walnut in Massachusetts, pecan in New Orleans, and oak in Denver--and the most common styles are different because the eras when "everyone" had money were different. In 1885, a house in St. Paul, Minnesota, was probably spanking new and decorated in the very latest Eastlake derivative. In the same year, a house in Charleston, South Carolina, was more likely at least 40 years old and decorated no later than the pre-war Rococo Revival style, with the upholstery growing increasingly shabby.

What if you do find your house's original "look"--and the owners had appalling taste? A long-ago article in Old House Journal suggests that, unless the house was important in the history of decorative arts, or you intend to use it a museum devoted to the early owners, you may as well go ahead and decorate it in a period style that better fits your tastes. Be true to your region, your house's style, and your house's place on the economic ladder (many of our spacious Victorian homes were pretty modest by the era's standards). . . but don't burden yourself with a wallpaper that makes you squint.

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