When biophilic design meets Victorian architecture, the result is truly magical. Biophilic Victorian design fuses two styles together in a most unexpected way: the ornate, historical character of the Victorian home meets the tranquil, restorative elements of nature that biophilic principles dictate. For this reason, biophilic Victorian design definitely has a look of the future—not only is it beautiful and harmonious to behold, but its components and principles also encourage a deep, natural connection with environments that are largely filled with nature. In certain contexts, it almost seems as if it’s begging to be expanded further into the biophilic realm.
The Fine Balance of Biophilic and Victorian Styles
Biophilic design and Victorian architecture may seem like two ideas that are a world apart. Yet biophilic design—which incorporates nature, or nature-like qualities, into built environments—may just find a natural partner in Victorian homes. These grand, human-scaled structures were often surprisingly in tune with the natural world and featured indoor plant life that could rival many contemporary indoor gardens. Beyond the intricate details of Victorian architecture, with its ornamentation and grandeur, lies a surprisingly sensible and direct route to bringing nature into the design of one’s home—just as biophilic design does today.
I find biophilic design in a Victorian context incredibly exciting because it offers the chance to reinterpret traditions of the past in a way that makes them relevant today. To me, it’s not just about taking an old house and slapping some new-age design concepts on top of it. It’s about thinking deeply and with intention about how to create spaces that are a perfect synthesis of history and modern environmental consciousness.
Take the stunning conservatory in my friend’s Victorian home, for instance. It’s a treasure of architectural history, but my friend was yearning for something a bit more tranquil and natural. With her, I worked on a plan to incorporate vertical gardens into the space without disturbing the leaded glass or the elaborate floor tiles that give the room so much character. The way my friend is now using the space is much more restorative for her because it feels like a bridge between the natural world and the old-world craftsmanship that makes her house so special.
To incorporate biophilia into Victorian houses does not mean stripping them of their ornamental charm. On the contrary, Victorian houses offer an ideal framework for biophilic design as well as biophilic living. The biophilic elements of Victorian architecture provide the perfect balance of nature and nurture. The tall, elegantly framed windows are perfect for harnessing natural light; and even the towering verticality of the houses themselves, which sometimes seems foreboding, can actually induce a kind of vertiginous lightness and luminosity inside the had intended by the original architect . . . . And while I have never been a fan of the environments created with just the accumulation of Victorian-era objects, I must say that the curvilinear imagination of Victorian decorative arts is unparalleled in any other household style from this same period.
A particular home from the Victorian era stands out in my memory. The homeowners were passionate about traditional design, yet they fervently merged that passion with a down-to-earth love of nature. They inherited a stunning home, complete with beautiful, over-scaled bay windows. Immediately upon moving in, they took affirmative action with these windows by surrounding them—most artistically, I dare say—with various types of plants. They chose shade-loving species like Boston ferns and ivy, and they filled the oversized window sills with tall, potted palms. Indeed, plants and wood paneling (dark, like that of the stereotypical claw-foot tub) seemed to share the stage in this print-appearing Victorian scene.
Yet my homeowners didn’t stop there. They creatively took advantage of this architecture married to their love of Mother Nature. They seriously framed their windows with climbing plants, creating a deep green aura around the top and sides of their excellent bay windows.
Natural materials play a huge part in making an environment feel organic and restful. Biophilic design recognizes this aspect and seeks to create spaces that take full advantage of what natural materials have to offer. Our Victorian homes are already brimming with rich, organic materials, especially wood and stone. The key in these homes is to let those materials sing by eschewing any artificial finishes or varnishes that might mask the textures and beauty of the unrefined grains. In one Victorian project, we had the great fortune to inherit an original herringbone floor made of dark, rich oak.
The owners were understandably hesitant to touch it, fearing they might damage it. After much discussion, we decided to sand the floor back as lightly as possible and treat it with a natural oil rather than a synthetic water-based finish that would have given it an obnoxious high gloss. The difference is remarkable: The oils bring out the warmth of the wood, while the natural satin finish makes the space feel alive in a way that the floor didn’t before.
Importing biophilic design to Victorian interiors can take many forms. One of my favorite applications is sound—a natural soundscape that enhances the natural sound environment already present in the home. We often think of biophilia as being purely visual, but the auditory experience is just as important. And it’s a good match for the Victorian interior, with its luxurious materials and ingenious building strategies that create a variety of auditory experiences. Often, Victorian homes have amazing acoustics. The way sound travels and is absorbed or reflected can be a defining characteristic of any room, and in the Victorian home, it’s often hallmarked by the presence of a parlor.
I remember collaborating with a couple who had received a magnificent Victorian dining room that felt weighty and commanding, with its dark wood paneling and large chandelier. Our biophilic transformation started with a simple tabletop water feature—nothing ostentatious, just a gently trickling stone bowl at the center of the table. Combined with the plants we placed in the room, the water feature made a huge difference. So much so, that the owners later added a larger, more permanent fountain, in the corner of the room, turning this formal dining space into a peaceful room that now served just as well for quiet reflection, as for hosting the kind of dinners where everyone’s having a great time.
Another important aspect of biophilic design is the use of natural sunlight. In many Victorian and other architecture of that era, the divided spaces that make up a room can, unfortunately, also restrict the flow of natural light. One way to work around this (if you don’t want windows in every surface) is with stained glass panels in your doors and skylights in your ceiling. Skylights can be in most any room: bathrooms, kitchens, even closets. Letting the sun and moonlight in not only improves the health of your houseplants but also your own health and happiness.
Another approach is to open up particular areas of homes while maintaining their Victorian appeal. I once helped a friend reconfigure the main corridor of her Victorian abode. The hallway was constrained and pinched, the apparent straight-line distance from the front to the back of the house just an illusion that deceived the eye. Instead of resorting to demolition, we blessed the doorways with a new upper level—stained glass transoms. With these beacons not quite but almost in the heavenly space above, the formerly dark and creepy passage became far brighter and more inviting than one might have guessed was possible without a sledgehammer.
Hang any of these beautiful works of art in your home, and you’d be hard-pressed not to feel a sweep of sunlight warming your skin or to envision the vibrant colors and delicately intricate patterns of the flowers, grasses, and leaves that make up their forms. That is, after all, the intent of biophilic art: to create a strong association with nature and the forms that make it up—without eliminating the Victorian sense of grandeur and elegance.
Whether you are fortunate enough to reside in a Victorian home or are merely attempting to bestow upon your abode the elegance of that bygone era, you can still go several key ways to achieve the timbre of biophilic design. By using these principles to your advantage, you can maintain the historic charm while improving the look, feel, and even the atmosphere of your home in a way that is, frankly, without parallel. These methods result not just in beautification but also in a kind of renovation for the soul, as your space takes on a more nature-like quality in appearance and ambiance.
Plant love among the Victorians has gone down in history, not just for their fondness for individual species, but because they imbued their homes with unusual, even extravagant, amounts of green. That is the ideal we are sometimes discouraged from considering because it is so rarely realized: not just a houseplant here and there, but a penetration of one’s living space by the plant kingdom.
When they did decorate, it was often with small trees and vines. You might consider using any of the space you have in your home that isn’t filled with humans or fire as a site for vines to grow, perhaps in the company of a few well-placed tree-sized houseplants. That’s a way to go.
Using trellises indoors is one of the lauded author’s favorite methods for softening a room, especially one with a high ceiling. One project involved a lovely but rather cold Victorian entryway, which was undeniably grand. The author and their team installed an ornate wrought iron trellis on one wall and got English ivy to grow on it, giving the room a more inviting feeling and a “sharp line”-softening aesthetic.
The quintessential Victorian home exudes an aura of natural intimacy and warmth that is hard to rival. Wood, stone, and the sorts of textiles (like cotton and wool) that invite you to snuggle up and feel totally at ease aren’t just the order of the day in these spaces. They are the very building blocks of biophilic design—of designs that more or less naturally resemble what you would find in a beautiful forest or a charmingly untamed patch of countryside.
If, for instance, your Victorian residence features antique wooden floors, opt to keep them in their original, slightly worn condition rather than refinishing them to a high luster. Allowing even the dog to walk on the untreated floor in the parlor room where I worked on a design project was part of the aesthetic (as was the choice to cover the floor, in part, with a nicely textured sisal rug). Unrefinished wood and sisal: two natural materials that feel right in a house built in a time when such things were of primary concern.
A similar principle applies to walls. In a room with classic wainscoting or wood paneling, you have a great opportunity to wall vibe and amplify the natural aesthetic by using environmentally friendly paints in earthy hues, or by considering lime wash, which offers a subtly textured and natural-looking finish. Lime wash reflects light in a way that feels totally soft and organic compared to paint and is a far better option than faux or simulacra finishes, which can only ever look like something that isn’t quite real.
Creating experiential spaces was a hallmark of the Victorian era. Conservatories were designed as nature-immersive spaces. Biophilic design captures this principle and takes it a step further. It engages not only sight but also sound, smell, touch, and taste—the five senses that make each of us biologically unique. When designing with biophilia, think about how to engage all of your senses. What are the spaces in your home that allow you to experience them fully? If you’re lucky enough to have a conservatory or sunroom, these spaces are ideal for sound and the subtle climate that allows plant life to flourish.
Your conservatory as a biophilic space could include hanging plants and a small waterfall trickling into a pond with koi fish. That’s an ideal space to hear natural sounds that mask the less pleasant sounds of the outside world while you enjoy the view of your plants as they sway in the warm air.
When it comes to aroma, consider the use of natural fragrances. One way to achieve this is by using plants that have highly fragrant flowers, such as jasmine, lavender, or rosemary. You could also integrate these plants into a charming kitchen window herb garden. You’ll get more bang for your buck by placing any of these eight herbs close to the kitchen’s cooking area. Use this fine rosemary, sage, and lavender within the chapters of recipes offered here to make your home distinctive and delightful in a way that’s edible, memorable, and entirely biophilic.
The aesthetic of many Victorian homes is dark and moody, with the heavy drapery that characterizes its interior spaces countering the essence of biophilic design, which is all about light and inviting natural elements into the home. It’s a design principle with roots in the near-universal human love for nature, a recessive trait that lights up our brains like a Christmas tree when we’re outdoors. In one project, a designer friend working in a historic home in Lafayette, California, wanted to bring more light into the kitchen without changing the essence of its Victorian bones. By replacing some of the solid-panel cabinet doors with frosted glass, the designer was able to achieve a significant lighting effect without a significant effect on the kitchen’s character.
In addition, we swapped the dank, oppressive wooden door that led into the kitchen for a salvaged stained-glass door. That door, with its wavy glass, lets in the same amount of light—if not more—as the solid, heavy wooden door. But in the kitchen, that light refracts and reflects in such a way that you can’t help but see it as art. The kitchen is now a bright and cheerful place, and it remains unsurpassed the way that kitchen is in the kitchen.
Think about making your porch or sunroom into a yearlong place to enjoy a diversity of plant life. You can put in plants that will make your otherwise unused space into a green sanctuary you’re inclined to “live” in all the time. You can also make use of natural materials like rattan for furniture, creating an outdoor feel even when you’re indoors. In one home, the space in question was a small back porch, and the owners turned it into a meditative garden. They added potted citrus trees, a small fountain, and bamboo furniture, and the effect is astounding.
If you want to build a garden room, think about installing large glass doors that open out to the garden. That way, you can unify the room and the great outdoors. You could also build a Zen rock garden or a quiet little corner with a minimal water feature—both arrangements would let you enjoy nature, even when it’s too cold or wet for you to go outside. Or you could take the biophilic approach, which subliminally connects you to the natural world. That means surrounding yourself with plants, natural materials, and lots of light and sound.
Your room could be a pond, a rainforest, or a moonlit night—the only limit is your imagination.
The primary objective is to respect and uphold the fundamental character of both the Victorian dwelling and the natural environment, establishing an equilibrium that is both credible and enduring. When biophilic Victorian design is executed with skill and intention, it does more than beautify our spaces; it invigorates us, fosters a sense of connection, and cultivates an atmosphere of tranquility.
