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Early Eclectic

Early Eclectic Style Qualities

  • Graceful, Picturesque, Artistic, Elaborate, Ornamental
  • The Pursuit of Richness & Beauty
  • "Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Early Eclectic house example 2 Early Eclectic house example 3

Houses

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.

Light Fixtures

Our Early Eclectic collection comprises both practical and elegant designs from the 1870s Gilded Age, when gas was the ultimate expression of "modern," to the early 1900s and the triumph of electric lighting. Fixtures of this period varied widely in style while sharing a common flair for the decorative. Light output was low for both gas burners and carbon bulbs, so fixtures tended to have multiple arms with delicate transparent shades. Fixtures often displayed visible evidence of their technology, such as pipes and gas cocks or exposed sockets (often both in the same "combination" fixture).

How does it feel?

Decorative is the keyword — even the most simple fixtures display an ornamental quality that reflects the era's love affair with beauty, pattern, and texture.

Where does it come from?

The late Victorian period was a time of global and industrial expansion, of artistic advance, and of unparalleled access to affordable manufactured goods. The Victorians celebrated their place in the modern age by adopting the latest worldly or exotic style trends in their enthusiastically and eclect-ically decorated homes.