Tudorbethan

The Tudorbethan Revival which manifested itself in domestic architecture in the 20th century was a reaction to the Victorian ornate Gothic of the second half of the 19th century. Rejecting mass production that was beginning to be introduced by industry at that time, the Arts and Crafts movement, closely related to Tudorbethan, drew on simple design inherent in aspects of its more ancient styles, Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean.

Tudorbethan revived certain architectural elements of these styles, imitating the medieval cottages or country houses. Though it follows their characteristics, Tudorbethan cannot really be likened to the timber-framed structures of the originals in which the frame supported the whole weight of the house. Their modern counterparts consist more likely of bricks or blocks of various materials with a look-alike frame added on the outside which is really then deprived of its functional and structural weight-bearing role.

Steeply pitched roofs, half-timbering often infilled with herring-bone brickwork, tall mullioned windows, high chimneys, jettied (overhanging) first floors above pillared porches, dormer windows supported by consoles, and even at times thatched roofs: all these if not always present together, were certainly part of the style.

Tudorbethan became popular in the inter-war periods of the 1920s and 1930s and again in a modified version in the 1970s and 1980s.

Earliest among the exponents who developed the style was Edwin Lutyens (1864 - 1944). Later came Mackey Hugh Baillie Scott (1865 - 1945) and Blair Imrie who made their names as Tudorbethans.

Many London outer suburbs had developments of houses in the style, all reflecting the taste for nostalgia for rural values. It was also copied in many areas of the world, including the United States and Canada.

Tudorbethan has not always been popular with modern architects and is still reviled at times as a type of pastiche or indeed non-architecture, but despite this it is preferred by some would-be homeowners over more modern styles.

See also: Jacobethan