Italianate Style

The Italianate style began to affect the post-Regency style in Glebe during the 1860s and gradually to replace it. Early examples are often symmetrical because of the strength of the Regency tradition, but the preference of the style, in detached domestic dwellings, is for asymmetry – following the Italian villa tradition. Terraces on the other hand, because of their nature, remain symmetrical.

In the Italianate, wall surfaces are smooth, usually of rendered brick; rustication where it occurs is usually confined to quoins (that is, corner stones at the angles of a building). Roofs are low pitched and may be hipped (earlier) or gabled (later). Windows are usually round-headed and often grouped in pairs or triplets. Bay windows are common, usually faceted, rarely bowed. Eaves are often supported by brackets. Plasterwork is used, often lavishly for decoration, around windows, on string courses, entablatures and parapets. Towers or belvederes are often a feature of larger houses.

Architects Ambrose Thornley (Bellevue, Glebe Town Hall), John Kirkpatrick (Kerribree) and James Barnet (Glebe Police Station, Old Court House) were exponents of this style.