PHOTO ESSAY: A Historical Tour Through Lutherville

Ralph Welsh, the village historian for the Lutherville Community Association, led a tour of local residents through historic Lutherville on Saturday.

He educated his neighbors on the community's first residents, Victorian architecture, and even a few little-known secrets.

Lutherville is a Victorian village. Most of the first houses built were built in the Victorian revival style. Welsh considers our local Victorian architecture to be both a rebellion against the Industrial Revolution as well as a celebration of the Industrial Revolution.

That seems like a contradiction, but Welsh explained his comments.

As cities were expanding in the 1800s, and getting dirtier, noisier and more clogged, the “country cottage” became the Victorian ideal. Designed to catch a breeze, and embellished with the finials and whimsies that brought to mind an earlier period, the Victorian-revival architecture of rural Lutherville turned its back on all things urban.

However, the builders embraced wholeheartedly all the fabulous and delightful decorations that machines could effortlessly turn out. Windows, porches, railings and shutters came in myriad styles, and some new landowners happily selected several of each.

“It was very pick and choose,” said Welch, citing that a French-style house might sport an Italian arch. “All looked back on the styles of the past, and drew upon it freely–all the little details that could get added into your house.”

Click through our photo essay and see for yourself.