The Italianate was so-called because it looked to the country villas of northern Italy for its inspiration. The style was characterized by a rectangular massing of the body of the house, often arranged picturesquely into assymetric blocks to imitate the sprawling look of centuries-old villas in Italy that had been modified and enlarged by many generations. The style also featured low-pitched, often flat roofs; heavy supporting brackets under the eaves, often elaborately carved; and windows with heavy hoods or elaborate surrounds. The style often features a square tower or cupola, in which case it is sometimes referred to as "Tuscan".

Although very elegant and even grand Italianates are fairly common in the East, Midwest and on the West Coast, this particular Victorian style is fairly rare in the deep South. The time of the greatest popularity for the style, the 1860's and 1870's, coincided with the economic devastation brought on by the Civil War, and there were few in the post-war South who could afford to build expensive new houses then.