Wilcox house

The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in terms of broad antique furniture designations. In architecture the Eastlake style or Eastlake architecture is part of the Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture.

Eastlake's book Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details posited that furniture and decor in people's homes should be made by hand or machine workers who took personal pride in their work. Manufacturers in the United States used the drawings and ideas in the book to create mass-produced Eastlake Style or Cottage furniture.

The geometric ornaments, spindles, low relief carvings, and incised lines were designed to be affordable and easy to clean;^[1] nevertheless, many of the designs which resulted are artistically complex.

Although Charles Eastlake did not make furniture, his movement influenced the interior design of American homes with English designs that were easy to clean, functional, and simple. The ‘Eastlake’ style is of Victorian architecture and one of the core principles of this style was that Eastlake thought that the furniture in people's homes should be good looking and be made by manufacturers who enjoyed their work.^[1] This was contrary to the previous style of furniture, with pieces that were large, heavy, and thick, and that collected dust and germs.^[2]

This Eastlake home was built in 1886 by D.B. Wilcox who served as the Police Commissioner for the City of Dayton.

The Wilcox house is a good example of the late 19th century Eastlake style rendered in masonry. The Eastlake style is named for British furniture designer Charles Locke Eastlake. The style is known for its fanciful combinations of three-dimensional ornament and color.

The masonry construction of the Wilcox house dictates a rather more subdued design in contrast to the numerous wooden-frame Eastlake homes that you will see when you tour the McPherson Town Historic District. Nevertheless, there are numerous features of the Eastlake style before you. These include the porch with its furniture-like turned porch posts, delicate incised motif and lattice work. The curved brackets and wooden gable awning are also clear evidence of the Eastlake influence. Also notice the decorative possibilities of patterned masonry in the second story of the front-facing gable.

Characteristics

Eastlake style applied to houses as well as furniture. Characteristics of these houses include the lathe-shaped wooden forms and mechanical jigsaw wooden forms. Porch posts and railings had intricate wooden designs and curved brackets and scrolls were placed at corners.^[5] The façade also included "perforated gables and pediments, carved panels and a profusion of beaded spindles, and lattice work found along porch eaves."^[5] Mansardic porches were another characteristic and had wrought iron crestings. The color combination of the houses also emphasized the contrast between the lighter colors of the details and the darker colors of the house body.^[5] In the United States, especially in California, American home builders in the 1880s replaced flat-cut gingerbread ornamental elements that were popular in the 1860s and 1870s with lathe-tuned spindlework for balusters and wall surface decoration. Charles Eastlake criticized the American adaptation as "extravagant and bizarre". However, the style lived on and it was later combined with Italianate and Second Empire elements to create the "San Francisco Style".^[7]

In furniture, Eastlake was particularly fond of oak and cherry wood grains; however, American manufacturers still used ebonized wood despite Eastlake's suggestions.^[5] The forms of the furniture were often rectilinear and had "geometric ornament, turnings, brackets, trestles, and incised linear decoration."^[5] Additionally, the designs were easily made by machines. Eastlake also believed that the prices of his furniture should be "as cheap as that which is ugly" as he could not understand why anyone would buy a more expensive piece of furniture for a more intricate design.^[3] Eastlake's furniture was for the middle-class home, and being easy to clean was another one of the characteristics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastlake_movement