The period of buildings covered by the term Victorian architecture does not correspond exactly to the actual reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901), but it reflects the British and French custom of naming architectural styles after the reigning monarch.
The Carson Mansion in Eureka, California, with its 18 rooms and in excess of 16,200 square feet, represents one of the most beautiful examples of Victorian architecture in America. At a cost of an incredible (for the time) $80,000, it was constructed between 1884 and 1886. It is a mixture of every major style of Victorian residential architecture.
Victorian Gingerbread Houses
These structures are often nicknamed Gingerbread houses because of the decorative elements and gingerbread type scroll work and ornamentation. Interestingly enough, Toledo, Ohio is recognized as having one of the largest collections of Victorian homes east of the Mississippi. Boston, Massachusetts is noted in the National Register of Historic Places as having the oldest Victorian neighborhood in the U.S.