When was the last time you stood in front of a building and said, "This is making me hungry?"

Very few architectural design styles can be described as good enough to eat, but the highly ornamented and fanciful designs of the Victorian Era take the cake (pardon the pun) when it comes to positively impacting an appetite. No other design style evokes more memories or conjures up more romantic images of the past than Victorian architecture.

Rooted in a rebellion against the stoic and stringent design rules associated with Greek Revival and Federal Style architecture popular throughout the 1840s, the Victorian era ushered in a new and fresh interpretation for domestic, civic, religious and mercantile buildings.

The popularity of Victorian Architecture is closely linked to the actual reign of Great Britain's Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901. Victorian architecture is the general term used to describe highly decorated buildings, especially private homes, but actual Victorian style consists of 10 specific movements.

The earliest style, American Carpenter Gothic, features steeply pitched roofs, pointed arched windows and "gingerbread" trim along the eaves and cornices with the emphasis on vertical, "church-like" elements. Victorian Italianate, on the other hand, is characterized by flat, deep roof overhangs with massive supporting brackets, tall slender windows and projecting bay windows.

Of the 10 documented styles, Queen Anne is most associated with "gingerbread" detailing. Popular from 1880 to 1900, Queen Anne represented the most picturesque homes of the era with wraparound porches, turrets, towers, tinwork, iron work, balconies, spindles, balustrades, decorative brackets, ornate windows, leaded glass, patterned wood shingles and monumental chimneys.

Victorian designs were inspired by nature, geometry, history, theory and personal experiences. But it was the industrialization era and the ability to mass produce building materials, combined with the introduction of architectural pattern books with floor plans and elevations, that made decorative wood frame homes affordable to the middle class.

The industrial era also witnessed the rise of the railroad and the ability to transport building materials farther and more efficiently than ever before, the development of saw mills to pre-cut lumber, mass-produced factory-made nails, public water and sewage systems, electricity and, finally, the introduction of pigmented paint. White had been the standard for exteriors and interiors but newly available, vibrant exterior colors became the trademark for Victorian architecture.

The tradition of creating houses from edible materials also can be traced to the Victorian era. Christmas celebrations and décor became more opulent and lavish during this period with ornaments, garlands and even miniature representations of the hosts' most prized possession — their house — in miniature, baked and decorated for holiday guests to admire and ultimately consume.

The gingerbread house tradition has survived well into the 21st century, evolving into a craft of limitless potential with ongoing introduction of new candies, cookies and other edible decorations. The true enjoyment comes from the designer's creative interpretation of candy construction: Pez for brick, chewing gum sticks for clapboard siding, Shredded Wheat for a thatched roof, Captain Crunch for cobblestone walls, Necco wafers for scalloped shingles and Wheat Chex or crushed Oreos for streets.

So the next time you bite into that pretzel stick, think of it as a future stair spindle.

This column is contributed by Gregory J. Scott, a local architect with 35 years of national experience in innovation and design.