Queen Anne (architecture)

The Queen Anne style in Britain refers to either the English Baroque architectural style approximately of the reign of Queen Anne (reigned 1702–1714), or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century (when it is also known as Queen Anne revival). In British architecture the term is mostly used of domestic buildings up to the size of a manor house, and usually designed elegantly but simply by local builders or architects, rather than the grand palaces of noble magnates. Contrary to the American usage of the term, it is characterised by strongly bilateral symmetry with a Italianate or Palladian-derived pediment on the front formal elevation.

The architectural historian Marcus Binney, writing in The Times in 2006, describes Poulton House built in 1706, during the reign of Queen Anne, as "...Queen Anne at its most delightful". Binney lists what he describes as the typical features of the style:

When used of revived "Queen Anne style" of the 19th and 20th century the historic reference in the name should not be taken too literally, as buildings in the Queen Anne style often bear as little resemblance to English buildings of the 18th century as those of any revival style to the original. Furthermore, the Queen Anne style in other parts of the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States and Australia, is significantly different from that in the United Kingdom, and may hardly include any elements typical of the actual architecture of Anne's reign.

George Devey (1820–1886) and the better-known Norman Shaw (1831–1912) popularized the Queen Anne style of British architecture of the industrial age in the 1870s. Norman Shaw published a book of architectural sketches as early as 1858, and his evocative pen-and-ink drawings began to appear in trade journals and artistic magazines in the 1870s. (American commercial builders quickly adopted the style.)

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