What Is Tudor Architecture? History and Key Characteristics

Tudor architecture is a stately and historical architectural style that developed in medieval England and Wales and reached its distinct look during the 16th-century Tudor period. A traditional Tudor-style home features a façade with white stucco exteriors punctuated with decorative half-timbering or a dark brick-and-stone construction. This charming storybook house style made its way to the United States in the 1900s and now Tudor buildings are found in many neighborhoods around the country.

What Is Tudor Architecture?

Tudor architecture refers in part to the architectural style that emerged during the period between 1485 and 1603 when craftsmen built sophisticated two-toned manor homes with a combination of Renaissance and Gothic design elements.

History of Tudor-Style Homes

Tudor architecture continued to pop up in villages throughout England until Elizabethan-Tudor architecture took over after 1558. Eventually, the traditional Tudor architecture fizzled out. It wasn't until centuries later that the design style was reborn in the United States. 

Tudor Revival architecture is less common than some other American architecture styles, but it has an unmistakable charm. The revitalization of this design style began in the 1890s and lasted through the 1940s. Many Tudor Revival homes are located in the northern United States since their facades are ideal for colder climates thanks to steeply pitched gables and roofs.

Key Characteristics of Tudor-Style Homes

Some uncommon yet striking features make a traditional Tudor-style home relatively easy to identify. These fundamental elements can help you distinguish a Tudor-style home from others.

Exterior Features

• Half-timber detailing: Long and strictly decorative beams are usually vertically placed.
• Stucco/stone exterior: A lighter-colored stucco or stone fills the gaps between the timbers to create a two-toned exterior.
• Red brick: Other Tudor-style facades made from red-toned brick feature ornate brick detailing around windows, chimneys, and entryways.
• Gables: Several front-facing gables are placed in intricate, asymmetrical patterns, each with a steep roof line that can extend from the highest elevation of the house to just 10 or so feet from the ground.
• Windows: Long, rectangular windows are often positioned in clusters along with oriel or bay windows with several panes of glass on either story of the home. Stained and leaded windows are also a common feature of Tudor-style homes.
• Front door: A prominent off-centered front door often features arches or decorative concrete detailing to make it stand out from the rest of the home's facade.

Interior Features

• Ceilings: Ceilings are accented with non-load-bearing ceiling beams stained dark. 
• Walls: Rooms either have white plaster walls accented with dark stained wood rails indoors or they are fully paneled with dark wood squares or rectangles.
• Floors: Living spaces featured either porcelain tile, wood, or brick flooring.
  
• Staircases: Tudor-style homes commonly have sweeping wooden staircases that span several floors.

Types of Tudor Homes

• Tudor Gothic: This term refers to the early Tudor period (beginning in 1485) with elements of medieval Gothic influences that focused on heavy timbers and motifs found on churches. Tudor is considered the end of medieval architecture and the beginning of the English Renaissance style.
• Elizabethan Tudor: The Tudor style falls into this period (beginning in 1558 to 1603) when traditional Tudor architecture in England and Wales became embellished with lavish Renaissance detailing, additional gables, and more windows.

• American Tudor Revival: Tudor Revival architecture is an extension of the Tudor homes found in England during the 15th and 16th centuries that migrated to the United States in the late 1890s into the early 1900s. This type of home features a brick exterior accented with timber, a large gable on a shingled roof, and traditional mullioned windows.
• Mock Tudor: A new construction home built with the style and features of a traditional Tudor home.
  

More About Tudor Revival Architecture

Intricate and Custom Layouts

After the Industrial Revolution, homes were being built faster and more affordably than ever. For example, the American Foursquare was a popular type of home style because its symmetrical footprint was practical and fit comfortably on city lots. On the contrary, there is nothing typical about a Tudor Revival-style home. They had complex and often custom layouts that worked best on larger lots. The floor plans had to be formatted in a way to make sense of the home's exterior. Because of this, these homes were more expensive to build and were found in more prominent suburbs.

Known as "Stockbroker Tudors"

Several European-trained architects designed and built these homes for well-to-do families, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Purchasers and admirers of Tudor-style homes even coined the term "Stockbroker Tudor" as an homage to the people who built houses with their newfound wealth from the stock market.

Tudor House Sizes

Even though Tudor revival homes were pricey to manufacture, you can still find them in all sizes from small cottages to sprawling mansions. Each size will still have the main design elements that make it a Tudor.

Tudor Popularity

This elaborate style of house eventually went out of fashion after WWII when tight budgets demanded a simple way of life. If you drive through an older suburban neighborhood, it's easy to designate a street that was built pre-WWII or post-WWII. Before the war, you would find a lot of brick Tudors but in the 1950s, many of these homes were replaced with efficient and straightforward Cape Cod-style homes.