I must contradict Mr. Loewen. E.T.A. Hoffmann was not a Victorian writer, he is typical for the style of "German Romantic". The Deserted House (Das öde Haus) was written in 1817. The quoted 1909 could be the year of publishing the English translation. It reminds a bit of Mary Shelley.

I would suggest reading the novel The Devil's Elixir (Die Elixiere des Teufels). Published in 1815, the basic idea for the story was adopted from Matthew Gregory Lewis's novel The Monk.