Decorating with Encaustic Tiles in the Victorian Era

In the Victorian era, encaustic tiles were combined with geometric or quarry tiles in order to cover large areas with less cost. In less affluent homes, entire floors were covered with geometric and quarry tiles.  

The most popular colours used at the time were red, buff and shades of brown. Blue and white tiles were popular however scarcely used due to their high price.

Drawing Attention to Valued Features with Victorian Floor Tiles

Geometric and encaustic tiles were only used in rooms seen by visitors and guests, whereas kitchens and passages seen only by servants were tiled with less expensive six-inch square quarry tiles.

The Victorian floor tiles laid in public places of the house as the living room, were often used to draw attention to valued or special features in the house.

Tiles were also used to decorate fireplaces. At times the entire chimney feature was covered with tiles , however more commonly, due to cost, the fireplaces were decorated with two framed panels in the back or “cheeks” of the fireplace. Fireplaces placed in the living room were incorporating the most expensive tiles decoration whereas lower in the hierarchy were fireplaces placed in the bedroom. Lowest in the hierarchy were fireplaces placed in kitchens, these would incorporate plain glazed tiles.*

We offer encaustic and quarry Victorian tiles in 25 different colours on our online shop and high-street shop located in Crouch End.

* These interesting facts about Victorian tiles and many more, can be found in the Victorian Society’s booklet: Decorative Tiles