Style Guide: Early Eclectic

The Pursuit of
Richness & Beauty

Few Americans at the turn of the last century considered themselves "Victorian" as we use the term today. Most imagined themselves liberal, forward-thinking, and quintessentially "modern." Eager to pursue the most current technologies and styles, homeowners of the late 19th century embraced a freewheeling eclecticism that gave their architectural and decorative efforts an individuality, richness, and material opulence that has rarely been seen since.

If one word could sum up the spirit of the period from 1880 to 1910, it would be "artistic" — used to describe everything from doorknobs to tea pots. The highest compliment of the day, it reflected an entire generation's pursuit of taste and beauty.

While our Early Eclectic collection features our most extraordinary fixture — the Drake — it focuses mainly on bread-and-butter fixtures of the 1890s and 1900s. Decorative without being overly ornate, fixtures like these were used in countless homes of many styles — often the first non-kerosene lighting the occupants had ever known.