TUDOR

Tudor architecture is a style that was started in England in the late 1400’s so it’s clearly been around for a long time and has been interpreted a lot of different ways. Often today when we think of a “Tudor” home we think of one with vertical and horizontal blackened timbers broken up with a white stucco or masonry type finish. While that is a feature of some Tudor style homes, there were many done with no visible timbers. Commonly the homes are done in brick or stone, with a variety of decorative brick designs and treatments. Most have chimneys that are elaborately decorated with varying brick patterns, even done into spirals, finished with a clay chimney pot at the top. Windows, especially those with glass, were a luxury few could afford when these homes were initially built because the manufacturing of glass was a long and tedious process even to make small pieces. This is why on many old English castles and manor houses you see elaborate windows with small, often diamond patterned glass, held together with led. This is still a popular look today on Tudor Revival type homes. Usually, at least at the entrance, there will be a lower, flat type “Tudor” archway; windows and doors have a uniquely shaped stone drip ledge above them. Initially Tudor houses had thatched roofs but over time the wealthy began to use slate and thin cut stone for their roofs, which is more like what you would see today on a high end custom Tudor home. The popularity of Tudor homes has gone up and down over the years through many iterations but it’s a style that people come back to time and time again.