Period Wood Mouldings, skirting and architraves. Georgian, Victorian, & Edwardian

The skirting board like the coving was a decorative feature that covered up the joints. The skirting was used to bridge the gap between the wall and floor. It was more practical to make the skirting out of wood due to the wear and tear it would receive. As with all the periods the room that received the guests such as reception, parlor and hall tended to have mouldings that were larger and more decorative than and the private rooms.

In the Georgian period it was fashionable to leave the dining room chairs against the walls away from the table and so a wooden dado rail or chair rail became fashionable to protect the walls from knocks. The dado rail would be positioned 3 to 4 feet from the floor.

In Victorian times it was fashionable to leave the chairs round the table so the dado rail disappeared and the wooden picture rail remained to provide a feature that pictures could be hung from. In later Victorian period the picture rail tended to be found level with the top horizontal part of the door frame.

Victorian skirting boards were particularly deep, about 30cm high and 4cm thick. BBC Homes

With the introduction of the Arts & Craft movement and the later Edwardian period, moulding became simpler. The Arts and Craft followers preferred wood panelling that stopped at picture rail height (or two thirds of the way up the wall). The Edwardian preferred clean cut lines that were easy to clean and less likely to gather dust and dirt. The dado rail reappeared again for more decorative purposes and could be often seen on the hall wall.

Skirting

1 Victorian Torus 2 Ogee 3 Bullnose 4 1930's 5 & 6 Victorian