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Victorian Italianate Style Constructed in 1868 by Asa and Dorothy Roff, this home is built in a style known as Victorian Italianate, with certain features that are Federalist in nature. Prominent in the United States from 1850 to 1880, Victorian Italianate style was meant to replicate the feel of the villas and country cottages of the Italian countryside. The style was first popularized in England and later crossed the Atlantic to the United States. This home features many of the factors that define Italianate style.
Thanks to the developing U.S. book market, publications such as this were able to reach people far removed from urban centers— people such as the Roff family that built the home—and could instruct them on current styles of architecture. Likewise, thanks to the development of the railroads, materials could be transported across the country to build these homes. (It is not known how the Roff family decided on the style of its home. It is conjecture that the family constructed the home due to the influence of books such as the one described above.)
Because of the dates of their popularity, homes in the Victorian Italianate style are more likely to be found in the Midwest and other Northern states. They are infrequent in the South because they were either destroyed in the Civil War or proved too costly to be built in the post-war South. Some homes in this style can be found in New Orleans.
At the front of the home, several features of Victorian Italianate homes can be seen:
More on Victorian Italianate Style Read more about Victorian Italianate style, its reflection in this home, and the renovation effort to save it through the Roff Home blog. More on the Home |
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Styles like Victorian Italianate were described in books such as 
There are also certain similarities between this home and Watseka’s former courthouse, pictured to the right, which was built in 1866, two years before this home. It is a possibility that the architect who designed the courthouse also designed the Roff home. However, this has not been confirmed.
The picture above, from 1895, and the one to the right, from 1941, help illustrate these features.