When Something Just Doesn't Look Quite Right.

This house is one of my favorites in my hometown of Spencer, Iowa.  The ornament and detailing are classic examples of the Queen Anne.  Note the beaded spindle work on the porch, including the frieze across the top, turned porch posts and large newels.  This sort of elaborate spindle work is characteristic of the Eastlake sub-type of the Queen Anne.  Other features commonly found on examples of the Eastlake are the incised, geometric patterns between the second story corner windows and on the porch gable and the baroque-style scrollwork under the front eave.  

A beautiful home for sure.  But can you spot something that doesn't look quite right?

However, when you look at this house as a whole, something does not look quite right.  Here are a few things that stick out to me. On most buildings the rake angle of gables and the pitch of the roof are similar.  That isn't the case here as the gable on the porch roof has a much steeper angle than the very low-pitched roof.  Queen Anne houses are also known for their asymmetrical shape where bay windows, porches and wings are often capped with a complicated roof with hips, valleys, gables and dormers.  This roof is symmetrical and does not follow the irregular shape of the house below. 

What is going on?  This house is an example of how buildings can change through time.  Sometime around 1910 this ca.1890 Queen Anne had a fire which destroyed the roof.  Rather than rebuild the original roof, the owners built one typically found on Foursquare homes popular at that time.  It is unclear whether this decision was a stylistic one or due to expense, since rebuilding the more complicated Queen Anne roof would have been more expensive.   The results are not unpleasant, but do lead to a moment of pause as we try to reconcile the different parts into a stylistic whole.