Tudor Architecture - Crown Inn

The Tudor architectural style is the final development of Medieval architecture in England, during the Tudor period (1485�1603) and even... more

by John Straton

Title

Tudor Architecture - Crown Inn

Artist

John Straton

Medium

Photograph

Description

The Tudor architectural style is the final development of Medieval architecture in England, during the Tudor period (1485�1603) and even beyond. It followed the Perpendicular style and, although superseded by Elizabethan architecture in domestic building of any pretensions to fashion, the Tudor style long retained its hold on English taste. Nevertheless, 'Tudor style' is an awkward style-designation, with its implied suggestions of continuity through the period of the Tudor dynasty and the misleading impression that there was a style break at the accession of Stuart James I in 1603.

The four-centered arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature. Some of the most remarkable oriel windows belong to this period. Mouldings are more spread out and the foliage becomes more naturalistic. During the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, many Italian artists arrived in England; their decorative features can be seen at Hampton Court, Layer Marney Tower, Sutton Place, Nonsuch Palace, and elsewhere. The Dissolution of the Monasteries provided surplus land, resulting in a small building boom, as well as a source of stone.[1]
Commoner classes
The houses and buildings of ordinary people were typically timber framed. The frame was usually filled with wattle and daub but occasionally with brick.[1] These houses were also slower to adopt the latest trends, and the great hall continued to prevail.[4]

Smaller Tudor-style houses display the following characteristics:

Simpler square or rectangular floor plans in market towns or cities
Farmhouses retain a small fat 'H' shape and traces of late Medieval architecture; modification was less expensive than entirely rebuilding
Steeply pitched roof, with thatching or tiles of slate or more rarely clay (London did not ban thatched roofs within the city until the 1660s)
Cruck framing in use throughout the period
Hammerbeam roofs retained for sake of utility (remained common in barns)
Prominent cross gables
Tall, narrow doors and windows
Small diamond shaped window panes, typically with lead casings to hold them together
Dormer windows, late in the period
Flagstone or dirt floors rather than all stone and wood
Half-timbers make of oak, with wattle and daub walls painted white
Brickwork in homes of gentry, especially Elizabethan. As with upper classes, conformed to a set size of 210�250 mm (8.3�9.8 in) x 100�120 mm (3.9�4.7 in) x 40�50 mm (1.6�2.0 in), bonded by mortar with a high lime content
Jettied top floor to increase interior space;[5] very common in market town high streets and larger cities like London
Extremely narrow to nonexistent space between buildings in towns
Inglenook fireplaces. Open floor fireplaces were a feature during the time of Henry VII but had declined in use by the 1560s for all but the poor as the growing middle classes were becoming more able to build them into their homes. Fireplace would be approximately 138 cm (4.5 ft) wide x 91 cm (3 ft) tall x at least 100 cm (3.3 ft) deep. The largest fireplace � in the kitchen � had a hook nailed into the wall for hanging a cooking cauldron rather than the tripod of an open plan
Oven not separated from apparatus used in fireplace, especially after the reign of Edward VI; middle class homes had no use for such enormous ovens nor money to build them
More emphasis on wooden staircases in homes of the middle class and gentry
Outhouses in the back of the home, especially beyond cities in market towns
Little landscaping behind the home, but rather small herb gardens.

Uploaded

May 21st, 2014