When looking at bird houses, many people want to dress up the yard as well with a decorative birdhouse. There's a whole range of fancy birdhouses, ranging from a church birdhouse to ones shaped like a hat. But probably the most popular designs for birdlovers who are looking for the ultimate in a unique birdhouses is a victorian style birdhouse.

As well known as Victorian architecture is, it may surprise you to find that there is not one style of Victorian houses. A wide range of styles may be considered Victorian, and in reality about any home designed near the time of England's Queen Victoria reign is often considered Victorian.

Some of the more well known styles included Queen Anne ( seen mostly in the Southern and Western states), Second Empire ( a French influence seen in the Midwest and Northeast), and Italianate (in the Midwest and San Francisco area.)

Victorian Birdhouses

While you can find Victorian bird houses that are simple cottages, one common theme regarding Victorian architecture is that it is usually given to excess, another form of conspicuous consumption. Of course, in a birdhouse it's hard to go too far in excess, and that is part of the charm of these Victorian designs, in that it allows a display of excess in a setting where it is considered quaint and charming,

Because of this, Victorian birdhouse and feeders are some of the most intricate designs that you will find. Multiple story houses are the rule rather than the exception, and fine detail in the roofs (often wooden shake designs) and small balconies and porches make for some interesting homes for your backyard birds.

Of course these days many of the more intricate and complex bird house and bird feeder designs are made of resin and molded. This allows them to be made in a much more complex fashion at a reasonable cost, but to some it represents a loss of the artisan feel for some home decorations like bird feeders. If that concerns you, there are still a large number of these houses that are hand crafted.

Look around, and you will be sure to find a Victorian birdhouse that will look great in your yard.