Tudor Revival

In England, they call it "Black and White" for the stripes made by the timber framing. In America, during the roaring '20s, it was known as "Stockbroker's Tudor" because of its popularity among the new-monied set as a statement of conservative good taste. Sparking fresh interest, the book Tudor Style, offers the first comprehensive look at American Tudor Revival houses. And a new 15,000-square-foot Tudor Revival house designed near Annapolis, Maryland, by architect Wayne Good for Bob and Mary Roggio attests to the enduring popularity of the style.

Newfound prosperity gave birth to the original English Tudor architecture, which spans the reign of Henry VII in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Coming on the heels of the Gothic movement, the houses gained popularity among the nobility who no longer felt the need to live in fortified castles. In fact, the oak-paneled Tudor was a step up -- cozier and more elegant than a Gothic pile of stacked stones.

In the 19th century, having fallen for the style's inherent romanticism and craftsmanship, Victorian poet and designer William Morris, among others, helped spark an English revival in the vernacular style. And during the early decades of the 20th century, the style crossed the Atlantic. Developers constructed entire Tudor neighborhoods in wealthy, fast-growing suburbs, such as New York's Bronxville and Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill.

"Tudor style became popular in America as a means of suggesting ancestral ties to England," explains Good. In the United States, it was -- and still is -- popular for many reasons. In such a young nation, the houses add a patina of age even to new neighborhoods. Informal and often rambling, Tudor-style houses conjure associations of aristocracy, unstudied wealth, and genteel country living. They're also very romantic. "People just fall in love with Tudor houses," says Good.

Visits to the English countryside fed the Roggios' infatuation with Tudor style, which actually began amid the stately old Tudor manors of Main Line and Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia. Searching for a place to retire, the couple bought 9 wooded acres bordering a saltwater creek near the Chesapeake Bay and hired Good, an authority on eclectic residential architecture of the '20s and '30s -- including Tudor Revival -- to design their home. They even tracked down the same stone, called Wissahickon schist, that gives the Tudor houses of Philadelphia their unique character. Flecked with mica, this native gray-brown stone "catches the light and glimmers at sunset," says Good.

In the process of developing the plan for the Roggios' house, "we looked at both authentic English Tudor and American Tudor Revival houses," says the architect. "The result is a kaleidoscope of the most desirable elements from each."

But Good also added his own twists. Inspired by the scalloped legs of an antique English pub table, he designed a cluster of massive solid-oak columns for the entry and commissioned a decoy-maker from the Eastern Shore to carve the oak-leaf-and-acorn relief above the arch.

Good characterizes the house as primarily American Tudor. It is more formal than the 16th-century English houses, which "often began as tiny buildings and grew over time," he says. "They have idiosyncratic little windows and doors. That's what gives them charm."

To complement the architecture, the Roggios took four trips to England searching for authentic furnishings. "We shipped back several containers full of antique fireplace surrounds, cabinets, and even an entire room of Tudor-style linenfold paneling that was once part of an English country house," recalls Bob. "We wanted this house to look like it had been here for a long time."

TUDOR TRADEMARKS

Half-timbering is timber framing with stucco infilling. In America, it is almost always decorative, not structural, a technique known as sham timbering. Surprisingly, only about half of the Tudor Revival houses in America feature half-timbering.

Chimneys often feature a cluster of individual flues that tower above the roofline. Decorative chimney pots may be placed atop each flue.

Arches are flattened and pointed. They are often found on entry porches and on door surrounds.

Windows are typically tall casements (although double-hung windows appear too), with wood, metal, or stone mullions. Leaded diamond panes are also common.

Other features include steeply pitched roofs, front-facing gables, wood-paneled interiors, and ornately plastered (parged) ceilings.

 

RESOURCES: Architecture by Wayne Good, Good Architecture, 410/268-7414; Tudor Style: Tudor Revival Houses in America from 1890 to the Present, by Lee Goff, photographed by Paul Rocheleau, Universe Publishing, 2002; landscape architecture by Stratton Semmes, Stratton Semmes Landscape Architecture, 410/507-1926, www.strattonsemmes.com; builder, Smith & Orwig Builders.