Regal, Rustic, and Grand: Tudor Revival Style
Key features of the movement that breathed new life into the architecture of the English Renaissance
Hollywood movies and period dramas have conjured the candlelit world of Tudor England (1485-1603) so successfully through the years that the look of the era’s architecture is fairly easy to visualize. And with exceptionally well-preserved examples of its grandeur still intact—including Hampton Court Palace in Surrey and Hever Castle in Kent—its key stylistic elements provide a vivid historical backdrop for a tour of the United Kingdom.
Classic Tudor Palace
One of the signature characteristics of this architectural movement was the Tudor Arch (also known as the four-centered arch), which is much broader and wider than the narrow, pointed arch of earlier Gothic architecture. Tudor palaces and later Elizabethan prodigy houses were also extensively adorned with carved stone. Brick, which was considered something of an expensive rarity in Tudor England, was used to construct some of most impressive buildings of the period. And when innovations in construction allowed Tudor builders to devote more wall space to windows, classic mullioned windows with their characteristic diamond pane patterns became very popular.
Country Estates
Tudor style was replaced in Great Britain with Georgian and Neoclassical architecture in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. But by the Victorian era, a renewed, romanticized interest in England’s past led designers to draw inspiration from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Soon, the Gothic and Tudor Revival movements brought pointed arches, decorative brickwork, and diamond pane windows back into vogue. While the look and feel of Tudor Revival architecture were recognizable, there was a twist: rather than emulating the royal palaces and country estates of the nobility, this new iteration celebrated England’s medieval cottages and modest country homes by erecting half-timber houses with pitched roofs. This emphasis on rustic architecture was in keeping with the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, which was a dominant force in British and American design from the 1880s through the 1920s. Meanwhile, herringbone brickwork, dormer windows, and thatched roofs spoke to a desire for a pastoral lifestyle in an increasingly industrialized world.
Tudor Revival architecture flourished in every corner of the British Empire. One of the best known (and most beloved) examples of the style is the Liberty & Co. department store in London, which, early in its history, was a major purveyor of Arts and Crafts-style fabric and furnishings. British architect Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944) made the Tudor Revival style fashionable among tastemakers through a major project he designed for the editor of the influential magazine Country Life. This house had an openwork brick balustrade, oriel windows (a group of windows that project from a building, supported by corbels), and prominent clustered chimneys. The development of the Forest Hills and Kew Gardens neighborhoods in Queens, New York, at the turn of the 20th century brought the Tudor Revival style to the leafy outskirts of a major urban center in the United States. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in southeastern Michigan, designed by architect Albert Kahn and completed in 1929, is a 60-room mansion that exemplifies the luxurious limits of Tudor Revival style in the U.S. Though they vary in scale, exterior details, and size, examples of Tudor Revival architecture located around the world are instantly recognizable thanks to some key characteristics and features.
Half-timber Construction
The most recognizable feature of a Tudor Revival home is the half-timber style of construction, which sports wattle-and-daub exteriors in which dark wood contrasts with bright white walls, forming a striking geometric pattern. Wooden strips are woven together to form a “wattle,” which is “daubed” with a soft building material made from a combination of clay, soil, sand, or straw and left to dry. One of its major exponents was an architect practicing in Singapore, of all places. R.A.J. Bidwell pioneered a particular subset of Tudor Revival houses nicknamed Black and White, in which the visually graphic look of the half-timber exterior is especially prominent.
Steep Roofs and Gables
Tudor Revival homes great and small nearly always have steeply pitched roofs and gables. These are aesthetic signatures of the style, but they also have a practical use. Pitched roofs and gables encourage snow and rain to roll down to the ground rather than accumulate, which is one reason the style developed in Northern Europe and became so popular among U.S. builders in the Northeast and Midwest. Though it’s somewhat less practical than wood or slate, faux thatch is sometimes used in contemporary homes to give the roof an authentically Tudor look. Parapeted gables, in which the gables themselves have stepped edges, are quite common in Tudor Revival apartment houses.
Decorative Brickwork
Because bricks were expensive in Tudor and Elizabethan times, decorative brickwork was a sign of wealth and refinement. By the advent of the Victorian era, bricks had become more commonplace, allowing the intricate patterns of Tudor Revival brickwork to become a defining feature of the style. In addition to its ability to create visual interest within a relatively narrow color palette, decorative brickwork is one of the most durable forms of construction and an important contributor to the ability of period structures to stand the test of time.
Mullioned and Oriel Windows
Tudor Revival homes often feature mullioned casement windows rather than the much more common double-hung windows. Casement windows swing outward on a hinge rather than being raised and lowered, which means their pattern is visible even when they are open. One of the most classically Tudor styles of these windows is the diamond pane pattern, in which diamond-shaped pieces of glass are arranged vertically, sometimes surrounding a stained glass roundel. The other special feature of Tudor Revival windows is the oriel, a bay that projects out from the main wall and typically features a row of tall, slender windows positioned close to each other. The term “oriel,” which is derived from the Anglo-Norman word “oriell” meaning “gallery” or “porch,” refers to the way these windows can create an enclosed balcony.
An Emphasis on the Indoors
If a single word could be said to characterize Tudor Revival homes, even the exceptionally large properties, it’s “cozy.” This is due in part to the style’s historical focus on the indoors. Unlike a Roman villa or Spanish colonial estate designed around an open courtyard, Tudor homes originated in a chilly climate, where relaxing and dining near a crackling fire was preferable to spending evenings outdoors. Tudor Revival homes thus tend to feature fireplaces in most, if not all, rooms, and rarely include courtyards. Rather, owners are apt to landscape the surrounding area in a way that complements the architecture, planting English gardens for color and trees for summer shade. The wood paneling featured in many Tudor Revival interiors paired with stained glass windows, coffered ceilings, and rich wood floors all contribute to an atmosphere of warmth and a palpable sense of history.
