THE EDWARDIAN GABLE
Many of us have come to know that most quintessential of Toronto architectural styles: the Victorian Bay & Gable. It is instantly recognizable with its soaring peaked gable, protruding angled bay, gingerbread trim, and red and buff brick. It has come to symbolize old, historic Toronto.
Victorian Bay & Gable rowhouses in Cabbagetown, via Archinect.
However, there exists another, less recognized style, but one just as prevalent in our city: the Bay & Gable’s offspring, the Edwardian Gable.
A foursquare Edwardian Gable house on Dorval Rd.
The Edwardian period started at the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and ended just prior to the beginning of World War One in 1914. A short timeframe compared to the 63 years of the Victorian era, but an important one all the same. The Edwardian period ushered in the modern age, and even traditional styles were influenced by it. Out were the decorative flourishes of the Victorian era, and in came a much more sobered point of view.
The change is easy to see among homes built before and after 1901. Most apparent is the loss of intricate, gingerbread trim in the front gable. While other detailing remained traditional, its components were pared down to what, when compared to the Bay & Gable style, seems minimal. The gothic influence waned completely: the roof pitch became less extreme and the windows less exaggeratedly tall. Direct references to “period styles” diminished, and the result looks neither Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek, or anything otherwise historically derivative. What developed was a more vernacular style: one that reflected local culture more than historical or foreign styles, and one that prized simplicity in detailing and composition.
A Google street view image of semi-detached Edwardian Bay & Gables on Constance Street.
What remained from the Bay & Gable was the basic form of the Toronto house: typically L-shaped in plan to allow light into the building’s middle; two-stories with a large pitched roof at the front; and the same general dimensions and layout. What remained, as if almost in defiance, was the bay and gable. Often the feature was morphed into something new and interesting. Other times, the gesture seems more forced. In fact, the City is filled with peculiar examples where, though a different roofline may have been more complimentary, the builder seemed determined to include a gable, no matter how miniature or applied looking. Somehow it seemed synonymous with home, even without the gingerbread details.
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Written by Brian Hagood, OAA
