The Secret Life of Victorian Houses

by Susan Zingman-Leith and Elan Zingman-Leith

Book Overview

The Secret Life of Victorian Houses traces the fascinating connections between the eras domestic tastes and its social history. The Victorians were the first Americans to enjoy a bounty of affordable,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880216108
• ISBN13: 9781880216101
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Elliott & Clark Pub.
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 2.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.4" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating text, intriguing photos

I found this book to be a fascinating read, albeit a quick one. If you really just want info on nuts and bolts then go buy a boring restoration guide and look through antique catalogs, but I liked the secrets that are revealed about the Victorians in this book. There is a problem with the title though because the pictures do indeed seem to allude to a secret life of the home itself, but the text is clearly more focused on the Victorians as people. I think the two work well together, but the secrets aren't about the houses, they are about the people.The photographs are truly beautiful and a bit mysterious, and I found the text equally compelling. Granted it's a social history lesson in the Victorian era, but through that I've learned much more about how people would have lived in my partially restored Victorian home. For example, if you are looking at pictures of dining rooms, you are reading about the change in eating manners and how food was served. Indeed you learn that the dining room was a new invention altogether. The most striking point the author(s) make is that there is much sharper contrast between the Victorians and the people that preceeded them, than between the Victorians and modern-day families.