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Regency (1820 - 1860)
Regency
in England------Royal
Pavilion, Brighton___
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Origins
King George IV's regency as Prince of Wales (1811-20)
was the beginning of the Regency Style in British architecture
and furniture. George IV was born into the strict family setting
of the Hanovers, his father George II being a Parsimonious and
just king, at least while he was in full control of his senses.
George IV was quite the opposite. He was handsome, talented, and
extravagant even as a child. Bishop Richard Hurd, his tutor, is
quoted as saying he would be "either the most polished gentleman
or the most accomplished blackguard in Europe -- possibly both".
It turns out he was both.
Known during his lifetime as the 'Prince of Pleasure',
George IV depleted the royal coffers and left Britain with a huge
debt and a disgust for the Georgian monarchy. His spending was
lavish and generous, His habits were overindulgent. His taste
was ebullient and exotic. The Regency style reflects his exuberant
and colourful nature. Both Thackeray and Preistly have provided
interesting biographies that set the stage for an understanding
of this style.
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Most of the original owners of Regency buildings were
retired military men from Britain's colonies. These men were used
to a privileged way of life in a temperate climate. They brought
their families to Canada and created lovely cottages with huge
front verandahs and large French doors
without really considering that Ontario in January is not, in
fact, similar to the tropics at all.
Nineteenth century architects took location seriously.
Regency buildings are always situated for maximum visual effect
and the best possible view. Regency designs are generally year
round "cottages" or much larger "villas".
The largest Regency residence in what was then known as Canada
West is Dundurn Castle in Hamilton.
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Regency
in England
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Regency architecture can best be described as Romantic
Classicism because it has liberal quantities of both the classical
and the romantic. The symmetry, columns, arcades and entablatures
of the classical world are embellished with oriental motifs, exotic
finishes and detailing from the Far and Middle East, the Americas,
and the Mediterranean. This was the time period of Piranesi
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Goya, Turner and Delacroix. Waterhouse was painting
the 'Lady of Shallot'. Chopin, Paganini, and the young Liszt were
composing, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe and John Keats were writing.
The world was consumed by all things exotic, romantic and otherworldly.
Gone are the strict rules of Georgian architecture and in their
place we have, instead, the colourful world of George IV.
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Click Hotpoints for descriptions
of terms in both text and images.
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Royal
Pavilion, Brighton
Henry Holland designed the first Royal Pavilion
in Brighton in the 1780s.
During 1812 and 1821, John Nash remodeled the
pavilion in a more exotic style. The classical symmetry of the
façade was covered with Moorish multifoil arches, minarets,
and ornamented copper domes. Cast iron was used to great advantage,
particularly in the palm tree columns in the kitchen area.
RoyalPavilionBrighton
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Brighton Palace
A flair for the exotic can be seen in all parts
of the building. This gate is no exception.
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Regency
Cottages in Ontario
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As fitting the era, Regency Cottages are usually
situated in romantic or dramatic settings. The detailing,
distinctly different than that of either Georgian or Gothic
Revival, was executed by British craftsmen experienced in
the style.
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Unlike the Georgian and neo=Classical, and even
the Gothic revival, the entrance door is relatively insignificant.
The owner could gain access to the garden by menas of a
variety of French doors. Fanciful treillages, tall decorative
chimneys and awning roofed verandahs would complete the
low, one-storey look.
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Odessa
This typical Regency cottage
in Odessa has a stunning verandah, a regular rectangular floor
plan, and large French windows with
a unremarkable entrance door. There is iron
cresting on the roof cap, and possibly a room or two on
the second floor.
Like most Regency cottages, it is beautifully
situated beside a stream and with a splendid view out the back.
Unfortunately, today, the main highway runs directly past the
front yard of the cottage, but this would not have been the
case when it was built in the 1830s.
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Odessa Ontario
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Dundas
This Regency
cottage is made of local limestone with an ashlar finish: all
stones are carefully finished to provide a smooth surface. It
has the low pitched roof and expansive rectangular floor plan
typical of Regency design.
Instead
of a large covered verandah, there is a wide terrace that surrounds
the building. The French doors are prominent, but the entrance
door is more ornate than in the Odessa example with Ionic
pilasters, a transom, and side lights
in the Neo-Classical tradition.
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Dundas Ontario
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Bowmanville
Like the Odessa example,
this Regency cottage has a very low hip roof
over a rectangular one-storey floor plan with an impressive,
ornate verandah. This house is brick
with wooden detailing on the verandah and the door
surround.
Symmetry is
essential for the Regency design. You can see from the placement
of the chimney that the interior of the house is placed around
a central fireplace. The house is currently in the center of
a large suburb, but it would originally have had a splendid
view.
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Bowmanville Ontario
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Simcoe
This small
Regency Cottage has most of the original adornments and is beautifully
kept. The low hip roof is augmented on all sides by porches,
bay windows, and verandahs that are softened by clever plantings
of hydrangeas and other hedges. This cottage maintains the feeling
of the original Regency attitude: unpretentious, well proportioned,
and wonderfully detailed.
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Simcoe
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Simcoe
Another
variation within the same area is this cottage with a small
gable over the front door and a barrel vault to protect the
front entrance, possibly added later. An addition has been added
to the back which maintains the same proportions but is made
of hardier brick. Like most Regency homes, it is beautifully
placed on a generous lot.
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Simcoe Ontario
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The
Chantry 1850
Sophiasburgh
Philip
Roblin Jr. built this house in 1850. The stones, brought over
by barge from Kingston, were cut by the prisoners in the penitentiary.
The Roblins had been United Empire
Loyalists who built a log house in Adolphustown before settling
in Sophiasburgh. The style of this house follows the Regency
style with its long line of windows, low hip roof and ashlar
finish.
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Simcoe Ontario
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Cobourg
The Regency
villa is not as easy to find as the cottage. This one in Cobourg
has the usual low hip roof and French doors, but it has many
more Classical features than the cottages above. Two bow windows
accentuate the symmetrical layout. The front door has a portico
with Ionic columns around a door with
a transom and sidelights.
The foundation of the building
is local field stone and the exterior
finish is stucco. Like most historic buildings in Cobourg
this villa is very well maintained.
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Cobourg Ontario
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Erindale
The Robinson-Adamson House, also known as the
Grange, was built as a summer house for John Beverly Robinson
in 1833.
There is almost more glass than wall on the front
façade with the large windows
and their ornate fenestration.
The side lights, transom, and windows
all have decorative Neo-Classical moulding There is also a Neoclassical
frieze under the quite large cornice.
The roof is a low cedar shingle hip with two dormers.
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Erindale Ontario
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Waterdown
This Regency cottage was built by one of the founding
families of the town of Waterdown. The shape of the cottage
and the roof are distinctly Regency even
though the chimneys have been removed
over time. The windows flanking the
front door are sadly not original and thus they have large panes
of glass. At one time there was probably a verandah
along the front of the building.
What is missing in the verandah is more than compensated
for by the beautiful front garden.
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Waterdown Ontario
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Oakville
The Melancthon Simpson House of 1839 is the first
Regency design in Oakville, a city with a great many well- preserved
older buildings. The tent-shaped verandah
roof flanked by two shuttered French windows
identifies the style. The verandah once bordered the house on
three sides, but has since been reduced, allowing us to see
the architraves on the casement
windows. The low hip roof extends into a modern addition to
the house which has the same weatherboard finish. The owners
have meticulously maintained the proportions and detailing of
the original building with their extensions.
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Oakville Ontario
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Regency Cottages in Ontario
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Regency houses were elegant, polished, and symmetrical.
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Ancaster
The façade of St.
Margaret's Cottage in Ancaster is typical of the Regency period.
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St. Margaret's Cottage, The Grove
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Ancaster
This fireplace is relatively
new, but is in the style of the period.
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The Grove, Ancaster
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Ancaster
The front hallway has an
elegant fanlight.
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The Grove, Ancaster
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Ancaster
Pine floors in the salon,
once the bedroom area, show that not all of the house was fully
finished.
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The Grove, Ancaster
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High
Style Regency in Ontario
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There are very few High Style Regency buildings
in Ontario. Summerhill in Kingston, Holland House in Toronto
and Dundurn Castle in Hamilton are the three major Regency
buildings. Rideau Hall can also be grouped with these. A
bit smaller, and less ornate, it is possibly the best known
now.
The Regency buildings in Ontario follow the
style of Henry Holland, architectural advisor to the Prince
Regent. Holland created elegant country houses,
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Nash made them exotic.
There is no doubt that the owners of these houses
knew each other, and were even related. Photographs of Holland
House can be found in the Toronto Public Library. Summerhill
retains much of its original glory but has been altered
through time, and Rideau Hall has been renovated beyond
recognition. The only remaining Regency building is Dundurn
Castle in Hamilton.
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Hamilton
Dundurn Castle was built
by Sir Allan MacNab in 1835. Dundurn, the title of one
of the chieftainships of the Clan MacNab means "Fort on
Water", and this fabulous structure has been situated with
a grand view of Burlington Bay.
MacNab followed henry Holland's practice of building
with brick and covering that with stucco. All façades
are bisected horizontally with string courses that terminate
in entablatures in the front and verandah parapets in the back.
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Dundurn Castle, Hamilton Ontario
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Hamilton
Half-cylinders
and quarter cylinders are characteristic Regency devices. Here
the half-cylinder is used to create a lighted area off the drawing
room.
The top of the detail has a parapet
with a slight pediment. On the other
side there is a balustrade. Under
this is a cornice with curved dentil
blocks. The windows are tall and slender casements that are
similar to a French door design. The
bow window has a simple cornice, horizontal banding,
and very understated engaged pilasters.
The platform or plinth of the bow window could be similar to
a Greek stylobate. The entire detail, like most of the rest
of the design, is quiet simplicity and calm grandure.
In addition to the main building, Dundurn also
has the original chapel and dovecote as well as other lovely
outbuildings.
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Dundurn Castle, Hamilton Ontario
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Regency Extra
Reading
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Books
Blumenson, John. Ontario
Architecture A Guide to Styles and Terms.
1978
Boorstin, Daniel,
The Creators, Random
House, New York, 1992
MacRae, Marion, and
Anthony Adamson. The
Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture of Upper Canada.
Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, 1963.
Priestley J. B.
The
prince of pleasure & his regency, 1811-20. New
York:Harper & Row, 1969
Thackeray, William
Makepeace. The
Four Georges … with Illustrations.
London: Smith, Elder and Co. ... 1861.
For
information on Regency architecture in specific areas within
Ontario there are some very good books listed under the
About page.
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Films
Becoming Jane (2007)
- Ann Hathaway
Mansfield Park
(1999)
Mansfield Park (2008)
Master and Commander:
The Far Side of the World (2003) - Russell Crowe
The Madness of King George
1994
"His Majesty was all powerful and all knowing.
But he wasn't quite all there."
Persuasion, (1995)
(2007)
Pride and Prejudice,
(1995) (2005)
Sense and Sensability,
(1995) (2008)
Wuthering Heights (1998)
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