Architectural Styles in the Isle of Man
An island of rugged coastline, castles, countryside and seaside towns. The styles of houses across the Isle of Man range from the Victorian terraces of the seaside towns, stone cottages and much like mainland England, 1930s semis and millennium builds. Across the Isle are a variety of modern architectural builds and a home featured on Grand Designs dubbed the Bird Hide.
Victorian terraces
Along the seafront promenades of Douglas, Ramsey and Port Erin are the distinctive pastel-coloured Victorian terraces with bay windows standing four or five storeys high. In the streets leading away from the promenades, the Victorian terraces stand at two or three storeys high.
The Victorian terrace is a familiar site along Britain’s seafronts. The bay windows are the most distinctive feature that offers space and light inside whilst taking advantage of panoramic views.
Originally, Victorian terraces were built with wooden sash windows but most have not survived due to poor maintenance and were replaced with uPVC casement windows. To renovate the period property back to its original best condition, sash windows can be reinstalled. For energy efficiency, casement windows do offer superior heat retention and a buffer against the seafront weather.
Front doors are timber panel doors with glazed upper panels featuring stained glass. Again, these are prized original details to find still in a property today. The Isle of Man does feature many fine examples of Victorian stained glass.
Houses near the coast are often rendered and painted in pastel colours. To complement a coloured house, white windows and a brightly painted front door look the best.
For Victorian properties, we recommend:
Windows: Woodgrain effect Sash windows in UPVC or wooden sash windows, in white.
Doors: Composite panel door with glazed upper panels and stained glass, in bright colours. For the coast, bright turquoise, pinks, greens and blues are popular choices.
1930s and 1960s semi-detached house
Across all the towns across the Isle of Man are the predominant British housing stock of semi-detached houses and bungalows built in the 30s and 60s.
The 1930s semi has half brick and half render or pebble dash walls. The 1960s house has walls of light brown, grey or buff-coloured brick half-clad with weatherboards or concrete hanging tiles.
Earlier 1930s semis usually have faceted bay windows sometimes featuring leaded glass. In the 60s, windows became bigger in size with large casement picture windows, often in aluminium frames.
For semi-detached properties, we recommend:Windows: Casement windows in uPVC or aluminium windows and leaded glass or internal Georgian bars with frames in white, grey or black.
Door: Composite panel door with glazed panels and decorative glass. Early 1930s properties suit traditional colours such as white, black, brown and blue, or a natural varnished timber finish. 1960s houses suit brighter colours for doors.
90/00s New Build
Alongside the 1930s semi, the new build style of the last 40 years is the most prolific style of housing estates appearing in estates across most towns in Britain to meet demand for more housing.
The 1990s-2000s new build has light brown or red brick, a compact box shape with a minimal front garden or driveway and an economical back garden. Integrated garages are usually not large enough to house a car and instead used as storage spaces.
More energy efficient than previous housing styles,, the new build has small double or triple glazed uPVC windows, sometimes with cottage-style Georgian bars for decoration.
Front doors are uPVC or composite with a small glazed panel.
For 90/00s New Build properties, we recommend:
Windows: uPVC casement or tilt and turn windows in grey or white.
Doors: Composite door with a glazed panel in grey to match the windows or a range of bright colours to suit the brickwork.
Stone cottages and farmhouses
Away from the large towns on the Isle of Man, the seaside villages and towns are built with terraced cottages.
Traditional fisherman’s cottages are one or two-storey builds that feature thatched roofs roped down against the elements. Often rendered and painted white or pastel colours. Window style is either sash or casement.
Inland, traditional stone cottages feature low ceilings and small windows. Depending on the age of the cottage the windows will either be the more common timber casement, or sash window style.
A front door is usually timber with stable door styles popular.
For stone cottage properties, we recommend:
Windows: Wooden (sometimes uPVC) flush casement windows with traditional Georgian bar styling in muted colours.
Doors: Woodgrain effect composite door in classic green, brown or grey.