As Halloween arrives, we often think about haunted houses and scary movies that we have seen in movies. There seems to be a common theme among spooky homes, so we have gathered 5 spooky architectural features that scream Halloween!
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Victorian Home
Victorian design and architecture are often shown in haunted TV shows and movies. These home styles are very grand with pointy elements on the roof, iron railings, and imposing roofs. The interior of these homes can be equally as spooky with decorative fireplaces, grand staircases, and heavy drapes covering the windows.
Although these homes can be very luxurious and beautiful inside, they can scare many trick-or-treaters off because they associate these types of homes with the scary movies they’ve seen. Considering that most Victorian homes were built between 150 to 100 years ago, this style of home is connected to a dark and spooky atmosphere.
Second Empire
In the 1850s, the Second Empire style of home started to become more prominent under the power of Napoleon III in France. Many Europeans and Americans visited France for exhibitions where they saw this architecture and then brought it to their home countries. This style of home is usually an L shape with either two wings or a boxed look with attention drawn to the main entrance. The roofs for these types of homes are always slate shingles. A central projecting pavilion or canopy will usually highlight the grand entrance, showing the elegance of these properties.
Second Empire homes can give off an eerie feeling to outsiders, mainly because of their intimidation and connections to scary films and shows. The Second Empire home is featured in Psycho and Stranger Things, giving it a bad reputation for a seemingly beautiful home style.
Spandrel
This is the creepy area under a flight of stairs that has a little door. Usually, Christmas decorations or random things go in here. The reason why it’s so spooky to us is that it seems like a little hideout for something unknown. Even though every time we check there’s nothing but a Christmas tree down there, we always wonder.
Gothic Revival
The Gothic design style of home became popular in the 1830s in England to reflect the public love for medieval architecture. With its picturesque feel and its pointed and sloped roof, this style reflects the pride that people had in their homes at the time.
With its elegance, came its eeriness, which is why it started to become prevalent in horror novels and movies. The writer of Dracula typically had the character in or around gothic architecture which has tarnished the thought of this style of home. These buildings are also hundreds of years old now which makes them look creepier than they are.
Turrets
A turret is a small tower built into the wall of a big house. These started to be used in the Middle Ages for defence purposes on city walls and castles. In later years, they started to become more ornamental in Victorian homes rather than defensive.
Oftentimes when you think of turrets, you think of castles which can themselves be mysterious and creepy. Old castles are massive, yet empty, and have lots of dark rooms and cobwebs everywhere. You might also think of Dracula and vampires which doesn’t make anyone feel safe, adding to the sinister feeling of this style of home.
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