Victorian Exuberance
From 1880 to 1915, a wave of Victorian excess hit Montreal: houses are ornate, from the most refined to the most garish. Some ornaments are sculpted on site by skilled artisans, but most are made in factories and bought through the catalogue. In this period, you can buy through the catalogue cornices and pediments in wood or tin, friezes, columns, plaster capitals and great variety of wooden pieces made in factories: stairway and balcony railings and consoles, door and window casings and all kind of mouldings. Once the decorative elements have been chosen, all that is left to do is assemble according to the taste and imagination for the builder or owner. The diverse combinations, colours and forms create an urban decor which is whimsical, picturesque and original.

The cottage
These single family houses are also from the traditional English cottage. They present a great diversity of facades, with or without balconies, and often with a bay window. You enter by a few steps leading to an individual entrance often protected by a porch, an awning or a wooden drum. On the main floor are the living quarters: parlour, dining room and kitchen. A winding wooden staircase leads to the bedrooms upstairs.

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