The 20 Most Famous Victorian Buildings Around the World

Westminster Palace truly needs no introduction—the magnificent building that towers over the River Thames was designed by Sir Charles Barry after the Great Fire of 1834 that destroyed most of the previous structure. The new Westminster Palace was inspired by Gothic architecture that would later come to symbolize the Victorian age.

While Windsor Castle precedes the Victorian period by many centuries (the castle is almost a thousand years old), the structure as we know it today is largely considered a masterpiece of Georgian and Victorian architecture with Gothic and medieval influences. Windsor Castle is also the longest-occupied palace in Europe and remains the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II.

Built in 1857, the V&A museum was first known as the Museum of Manufactures and subsequently as the South Kensington Museum. In 1899, Queen Victoria herself laid the cornerstone for its new buildings designed by Aston Webb. It was during this ceremony that the museum was finally renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum. Today, the cultural institution has a record-breaking 2.3 million objects in its permanent collection documenting over 5,000 years of human history.

Formerly known as the Victoria Terminus, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus was designed by British architect Frederick William Stevens and was inspired by late Victorian Gothic architecture. The eclectic building also incorporates elements of classic Indian and Bombay Gothic architectural styles.

Sydney’s beautiful yellow sandstone town hall was built in the late 19th century and is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city. Designed in a French Second Empire style, it remains one of the most magnificent examples of Victorian/Beaux Arts architecture in Australia to this day.

Located on the River Dee in the picturesque region of Royal Deeside in Scotland, Balmoral Castle now serves as one of the Royal family’s holiday residences. Prince Albert purchased the original structure in 1852, but he decided that it was too small for the royal family, so a new one was built in 1856. The castle was inspired by Scottish baronial and Gothic revival styles, popular during that period.

The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences is one of the most popular and prestigious performance venues in the world. It was conceived by Prince Albert who unfortunately passed away before he could see it completed. Its most notorious feature is its domed wrought iron and glass roof that was first constructed in Manchester as a trial (for fear of collapsing on the workers in London) and then disassembled and brought to the capital.

Built for lumber baron William Carson in the mid-1880s, the Carson Mansion showcases the mix of architectural influences that best describes the Victorian era. Featuring elements from Queen Anne, Eastlake, Italianate, and Stick styles, the eclectic 18-room mansion in Eureka, is considered one of the best examples of Victorian architecture in the US.

Cliveden House, an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property, is a mansion-turned-luxury-hotel on the River Thames, boasting gorgeous countryside views and 376 acres of gardens and woodlands. Interestingly enough, the house had to be rebuilt twice because it suffered extensive damage due to fires—once in 1795 and then in 1849. After the second fire, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland commissioned renowned architect Sir Charles Barry (who also designed Westminster Palace) with the task of rebuilding Cliveden. While Barry managed to preserve certain details from the first and second houses, he designed the new structure in a blend of English Palladian and Roman Cinquecento styles popular during the Victorian era.

Birmingham's stunning red terracotta courts building dates back to 1891 and is one of the most magnificent examples of Victorian architecture in the country. The foundation was laid by Queen Victoria herself while the structure was designed by London architects Aston Webb and Ingress Bell. Inside, five enormous chandeliers modeled after the crown of Queen Victoria hang in the grand hall complemented by the rich ornamentation of the interior design.

Victorian and Georgian architecture became extremely popular on this side of the Atlantic in the late 19th century. During this time, tens of thousands of houses were built in San Francisco including a row of brightly hued Victorian residences across from Alamo Square. Known as the Painted Ladies or the “Seven Sisters,” they have become one of San Francisco’s most photographed sights and a true cultural phenomenon making cameos of numerous TV series.

Melbourne’s most famous and luxurious hotel was conceived by shipping magnate George Nipper whose dream to open a world-class hotel (it was initially called The Grand Hotel) became reality in 1883. It was one of the first properties to offer modern (for that time) amenities such as electric lights, hot and cold water, and elevators.

One of London’s oldest and most visited markets dates back to the 1st century when its foundations were laid on the site of a Roman Basilica.

In 1881, Leadenhall’s original stone structure was replaced with wrought iron and glass giving it a full Victorian makeover. The market became a pop culture phenomenon when it was featured in the blockbuster Harry Potter movies.

Designed by Decimus Burton and constructed in 1844, the Palm House in London’s Kew Gardens is considered one of the most important Victorian iron and glass structures in the world. It was the first glasshouse ever built on this scale so to make Burton’s designs a reality, workers borrowed techniques from the shipping industry (which is why its silhouette might remind you of an upturned hull of a ship).

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest cultural institutions in New York City occupying eighteen interconnected buildings—the result of almost a hundred years worth of development and expansion. The museum’s first building, though, is a five-story red brick and stone structure that opened in 1877 and was designed in the Victorian Gothic style.

Modeled after Big Ben in London, Mumbai’s Rajabai Clock Tower was designed by one of the most prolific British architects of the Victorian era, Sir George Gilbert Scott, in a Venetian and Gothic style of architecture. The construction was funded by Premchand Roychand, a successful broker who founded the Bombay Stock Exchange, and who later named the tower after his mother.

When in the 1860s, architect Alfred Waterhouse won a competition to design the new town hall of Manchester, it was his creativity and ability to think outside of the box that helped him secure the win. Why? The construction site had a rather unordinary shape—an irregular triangle, that had to fit a large hall, reception rooms, and the mayoral residences.

The townhall was ultimately completed in 1877 and its Gothic façade with its imposing clock tower is now one of the most important landmarks in Manchester. The building can also be seen in many movies and TV series such as Sherlock Holmes, Darkest Hour, and the Iron Lady.

The former seaside retreat of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is a picture-perfect estate that the Queen used for over five decades until her death. There was already a house on the property when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought the land but it was deemed too small for the royal family so a new one was built in 1848. The main mansion, designed by the Prince himself, was in Italianate style and features several grand terraces, clock towers, and Italian gardens.

Dubbed “a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture,” London’s St. Pancras Railway station was built in the 1960s by the Midland Railway Company in part to manage the delivery and storage of beer from Burton into London. In fact, the distance between the cast-iron columns in the station’s Eurostar’s International check-in and departure lounge (which was at the time a beer barrel warehousing space) is about 14 feet and it matches exactly the arrangement in Burton’s beer warehouses.

Nestled in the heart of the English countryside, the fairy-tale-like Charlecote Park consists of a grand Tudor-style mansion with magnificent Victorian interiors and over 92 acres of lush, grassy scenery, woodlands, and wildlife. According to a legend, Shakespeare was caught poaching deer and rabbits here (before he made a name for himself as England’s most prominent writer, of course).