OUTSIDE:

> walls sometimes multi coloured brickwork in decorative patterns or rendered, some bluestone construction

> timber houses generally have square-edged weatherboards, sometimes with incised weatherboards simulating blocks of stonework

> decorative brackets under eaves

> windows generally timber double-hung, sometimes in tripartite format at the front

GARDEN:

> fences timber pickets, sometimes with more complex picket heads

> for masonry buildings, fences commonly palisade-style with cast iron spears on stone plinths and ornamented end piers of stone, rendered or face brickwork, or cast iron

> in large suburban gardens this period was dominated by the planting of conifers and evergreen trees

> small gardens feature simple geometric layout

INSIDE:

> large and elaborate skirtings, architraves, cornices and ceiling roses

> timber lining boards polished or painted

> walls usually painted, plaster, or wallpaper over plaster

> red and blue coloured glass beside entry doors

COLOUR & DESIGN NOTES:

> external walls often left brown or red brick, with white or cream bricks at corners and openings

> rendered walls left natural grey or sometimes lime-washed; timber houses painted to match stone colours

> trims, roofs and verandahs use the same darker, stronger colours as Early Victorian style

> interiors painted in bands of lower wall, upper wall, ceiling, with smaller strips of highlight colours on cornices

HISTORY:

> increased wealth from gold rush reflected in more ornate domestic architecture

> Victoria’s population increases and a middle class emerges

> local production of building materials increases with mechanisation

> property developers construct rows of freestanding and terrace housing

> Melbourne sprawls outwards along newly constructed train lines