The Eclectic Charm of Victorian Interiors: Opulence, Detail, and Drama

The Victorian era (1837–1901) was a time of remarkable transformation in Britain, shaped by Queen Victoria’s reign, industrial progress, and cultural shifts. Architecture and interior design flourished, embracing a blend of Gothic Revival, Italianate, and classical influences. My Introduction to Victorian Architecture post elaborates on these architectural movements. In this post, I explore how these architectural shifts shaped the interiors and furnishings of the Victorian period (in British homes), from grand drawing rooms to practical yet characterful working-class homes.

As Britain’s cities expanded and the Industrial Revolution fuelled a housing boom, homes evolved to accommodate a growing middle class. Terraced houses (row houses for American readers), semi-detached villas, and grander suburban residences emerged, showcasing architectural innovations such as bay windows, decorative brickwork, and encaustic cement tiled hallways. Interiors reflected this prosperity, becoming increasingly elaborate with ornate wallpapers, richly coloured textiles, and furniture styles influenced by Gothic and Italianate styles – which evolved to become the Arts & Crafts movements.

The rich red Drawing Room of Audley End House, image courtesy of English Heritage.

What influenced Victorian Interiors?

Victorian interiors and furnishings were heavier, darker and less elegant than in previous eras. However proportions and room arrangements still resulted in interiors of comfort.

One influence on interior design in this period was the rise in understanding of health and hygiene. Germs had been recently discovered, cholera epidemics plagued the century and bedbugs were common to all classes. Design reform attempted to create artistic yet healthy homes. Charles Locke Eastlake’s widely read design guidebook Hints on Household Taste (1868) recommended strategies for a dust-free and more sanitary home. He became associated with a particular style of Art furniture; rejecting ornately carved furnishings that could trap dust and dirt, Eastlake called for a simpler style of furniture based on Renaissance and Gothic Revivals but with incised decoration that allowed for easier cleaning, as well as honesty in craftsmanship. Eastlake’s influence crossed the Atlantic—many Americans know his name from the popular Eastlake furniture style of the late 19th century.

Another influence on Victorian interiors was the Design Reform Movement. The Government School of Design was founded in 1837 (which became the Royal College of Art), to improve the education of designers, and in turn improve the output of British industry. Following criticism of the standard of domestic furnishings at the 1851 Great Exhibition, by the designer and educator Henry Cole, artist Richard Redgrave and ornamentalist and theorist Owen Jones, they were supported by Prince Albert to develop formal guidelines for a modern yet morally conceived design vocabulary. The Design Reform movement never completely achieved its goals. Instead of refining and reforming the plethora of styles, the movement created more styles from which the consumer could choose. However, it did lay the theoretical foundation for numerous designers and artistic movements, including C. R. Ashbee in the Arts & Crafts Movement and Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Art Nouveau.

Gothic interiors were ornate and heavy, with lots of artisanal wood carved panels on walls and ceilings, gilding and elaborate fireplaces. The lower ceilings could make these rooms feel both oppressive and cosy in equal measure, and they succeeded in presenting the religious connotations of Pugin’s ‘purer’ Medieval ethos.

The decorative ceiling mouldings in Queen Victoria’s Osborne House, courtesy of English Heritage

What defines a Victorian Interior?

Mouldings contributed to the structured and layered aesthetic of Victorian interiors, reinforcing the period’s preference for detailed ornamentation and craftsmanship.

Cornices and coving (crown molding) were elaborate in larger properties, often featuring classical motifs such as egg-and-dart, acanthus leaves, and floral swags. In grand rooms, ceilings often had multiple layers of moulding, combined with ceiling roses to complement gas or oil lamps. In more modest homes the coving would be deep but more simply stepped and layered with sinuous curves.

Victorian skirting (base) boards were taller than in later periods, often between 15-30cm high, providing a visual foundation for the room. They were usually painted in a gloss finish to protect against dirt and scuffs. Designs ranged from simple chamfered edges in smaller homes to more intricate profiles with fluted or scrolled detailing in wealthier properties.

In the Georgian period, dining chairs were usually positioned against the walls when not in use, and hence dado or chair rails, positioned about a metre from the floor, were a fashionable yet practical protect the walls from knocks. However in Victorian times it became fashionable to leave the chairs around the table so the dado rail-served no function and eventually disappeared. Wooden picture rail mouldings remained and skirting/base boards became taller and cornices deeper to balance the dado-less wall.

Characteristics of Victorian decorative schemes.

An exhibit at the V&A Museum in London depicts how wallpapers and borders were combined in one decorative scheme.

Mass production led to more walls being papered. Never known for their Minimalism, Victorians  often treated each part between cornice, picture rail, dado and skirting boards with a different paper or colour. Designs covered a vast range of styles, with wallpapers in the early years bursting with busy patterns often with dark backgrounds and large florals, and morphing through to simple designs in the middle and later period. Embossed papers which were then painted became popular, adding texture.

Victorians were not afraid of colour, though they often applied it in line with prescribed rules – red was considered the choice for dining rooms, whilst boudoirs and bedrooms were opulent and colourful, often in vivid blue. Halls and stairways were sometimes in neutral tones but also in very dark shades for maximum practicality. Colours used at this time included Pompeian red, buff, taupe, tobacco and chocolate brown, Stuart and olive green, indigo and Prussian blue, burgundy, black and gold. Carpets and rugs were also often elaborately and colourfully patterned.

A woven red and gold fabric by Augustus Pugin in the V&A Museum

Velvet upholstery was popular, along with needlepoint and an embroidery technique called Berlin wool work. Towards the end of the period loose furniture covers were made from striped fabric or floral chintz. Floral prints, tartan and paisley patterns were popular, as was lace. Chintz remained fashionable for some time, though the geometric designs of the Reform movement replaced this at the end of the century. There was renewed interest in chinoiserie designs of peacocks and dragons, phoenixes and flowers, all favoured by the Aesthetic movement of which the artist James McNeill Whistler and playwright Oscar Wilde were popular proponents.

From the middle of the 19th century, geometric and encaustic tiled floors started to appear in municipal buildings, churches and villas. As mass production improved by the 1890s, they had become an essential feature even in the most ordinary of Victorian terraced houses. The hall was one of the most important areas, as this was the first way (after the façade) of impressing visitors – so tiled hallway floors were extremely common in a range of styles. In larger homes the expansive hallway was furnished as a reception room.

A bright hallway from Homes & Gardens magazine features a stunning encaustic tile floor.

Conservatories and orangeries became more affordable due to the availability of sheet glass and metal construction methods. Victorians were avid plant collectors, and filled their conservatories and other rooms with lush greenery including ferns, palms, and potted plants. These sunny rooms usually had encaustic tiled floors, whilst some had heavy draped curtains or lace panels to protect wicker furniture and soft furnishings.

The features of Victorian Furniture and objects

Victorian Gothic Revival furniture was embellished with Gothic ornaments, such as pointed arches and the architectural technique of tracery (dividing into sections of various proportions by bars or ribs of moulding). Furniture had cabriole legs and oval backs similar to Louis XV style of the 1700s. Large pieces, such as mirrored wardrobes, sideboards, and display cabinets, were carved and decorated. Mahogany, dark oak and, later, walnut and satinwood were the most popular woods for Gothic furniture. However by the middle of the period Arts and Crafts became the popular trend.

Seating included balloon-back chairs and curvy sofas and the introduction of coil-springing, usually accompanied by deep-buttoning of luxurious upholstery. Dining chairs seats were often covered in stamped leather or tapestry. For the first time, furniture was designed with comfort in mind, a positive outcome of the Design Reform rules of form and function. However, the demands of the mass market led to an inevitable decline in standards of ordinary domestic furniture with lots of showy, hastily and cheaply put on ornament and veneer attempting to conceal the lack of quality craftsmanship. The seeds of the Arts and Crafts movement had been sown.

A highly decorative – and surprisingly sturdy – papier mache chair in the V&A Museum collection

The Victorians loved to experiment with new materials, one of which was papier mache. Small items such as trays, inkstands and letter holders were later joined by larger items and furniture such as fire screens, chairs and tables, bookcases and sometimes wardrobes and beds. Nearly always in characteristic black, but occasionally in red or green, the pieces were very ornately decorated with flowers, birds and patterns – frequently embellished in gold. Some of the finer pieces were inlaid with shimmering mother-of-pearl shell.

Victorian interiors were generally cluttered, bold and colourful in comparison to the homes of previous periods. In the middle of the era, parlours would be host to masses of ornaments and collectibles, a reflection of the 1851 Great Exhibition, the revolutionary world fair celebrating British and global innovation. The Victorians were massive collectors and obsessed with the past – decoration focused on accessories, with mantelpieces loaded with candlesticks, vases and figurines, as were occasional tables in reception rooms and bedrooms. Photographs joined portraits, miniatures and silhouettes to demonstrate to visitors the important family past and connections.

The sketched design for a billiard room by Victorian designer Thomas Jeckell, courtesy of the V&A Museum

Key features of Victorian interiors

Ceilings

Plastered, with cornices and a central rose, sometimes more elaborately decorated in grander homes

Walls

Wallpaper of numerous designs, including embossed. Panelled or painted sections below dado. Vivid and rich paint colours and schemes.

Floors

Encaustic tiles in hallways and kitchens. Large patterns on fitted carpets and rugs, floor cloths and oil cloths.

Windows

Bow windows, sash, casement – new styles to suit the architecture. Stained glass transom windows and door glazing. Curtains with large ornate pelmets (valances or cornice), supplementary blinds.

Fabrics

Needlepoint, Berlin wool work, velvet, Chintz, tartan, roller-printed patterned cottons

Motifs

Gothic arches and patterns, medieval influences including fleurs de lys, heraldic motifs and quatrefoils, Owen Jones’ Islamic geometrics, paisley, large and small florals, stars and diamonds – a large variety

Materials

Mahogany, oak, papier mache

Lighting

Gas or oil lamps, candles and electric light by the end of the century.