Historic Home Tour: An 1880 Victorian Mansion, Beautiful & Bright

I subscribe to several "old house" websites featuring information about historic homes available for purchase.  Though I doubt I'll ever own an historic home, I do love to tour them pretty much every chance I get.  I drool over their large windows, deep moldings, high ceilings and rich history.  If there's a ghost story attached, it's all the better.

But this post isn't about ghosts, instead it's a tour of a beautiful historic home, an 1880 "Victorian Mansion" located in Madison, Florida.  The listing states, "Located in the historic section of the City of Madison is the Victorian Mansion that was built in the 1880s for Major William H. Dial. The home is one of the finest examples of the Italianate style in north Florida."

The listing also states, "The home features bay windows, a roof cupola, and an unusual bow porch on the main facade. It is lavishly decorate with bracketed cornices, window pediments, and other distinctive late 19th century mill work. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.  The historic home has 4 bedrooms with their own private bathroom, a library, parlor, dining room, kitchen, and enclosed porch for a total of 3773 square feet."

Let's take the tour!  (All photos are from OldHousesdotcom)

Beautiful, large entry with a wonderful chandelier.  Look how deep the baseboards are.  Wonder if it's still called a baseboard when the molding is this deep.  When I go on historic home tours, I sometimes almost miss the furnishings from oohing and ahhing over the heavy moldings and architecture of the room.

Not sure if this is the parlor or the library.  Love window seats in bay windows.  What a gorgeous mirror!  Notice all the plantation shutters throughout the home...my favorite window treatment in the world.  I love them layered with draperies...not heavy draperies...gotta have lots of light.  But I do love the look of the plantation shutters, both from the inside of the home and from the outside/curbside.

All the draperies in the home were custom made.  Guess this would be called the Billiards room.  There are lots of wonderful old mirrors throughout the home.  In this room we see a beautiful Federal mirror.

Perhaps this is the parlor.  Love the yellow walls.  The color reminds me of my fave yellow paint, Duron, Sugar Cookie.  Again we see a delightful bay window complete with window seating.  Love!

Large dining room with more custom drapery and another gorgeous mirror.  Notice the collection of ironstone on the wall.  Really looks beautiful displayed against the salmon/coral wall color.  This wall color would be beautiful with an antique rug since they often have this color in them.  Notice all the symmetry in the room: the candlesticks on the table, the lamps on the buffet/sideboard, the plates/wall shelves on either side of the mirror.

The kitchen...I wonder if the kitchen is this small or if we're only seeing a section of it?

Fabulous bed, reminds me of a Henredon bed I used to really like.   There is just something special about sleeping under a canopy.  Look!  There's a garden seat in the bathroom!  In our garden seat posts HERE and HERE a few folks mentioned they were great in baths for holding towels or in large showers.

This bedroom has a sink right in the room.  Great coverlet/bedspread.  Notice the ball and claw feet on the bed...love that look!  There are two more bedrooms in this home but these are the only two featured in the listing.

This is a sweet little play house.   Spanish moss hanging from the trees...such a romantic, dreamy look.  Even the play house has a cupola!

There's also a guest cottage on the property.

I think this is the front porch of the guest cottage, looking back toward the main house.

Inside the guest cottage...

Love all the built in bookshelves.  This guest cottage even has a full kitchen.

What a beautiful neighborhood!  Look at those great balusters on the porch...love the design.

Wouldn't this be wonderful to see from your front porch...a gazebo in Town Center Park.  Awesome view!  You can read more about this house HERE.

Love historic home tours?  Just click on the "Home Tours" category and scroll down for links to many beautiful historic homes.

Pssst: Still haven't heard from the winners of the Amazon/Teeny giveaway.  I'll try to contact the winners via email if I don't hear from them soon.