Tudorbethan Style

Beginning in the Edwardian era, continuing through the 1920s and 1930s and on to the present day, many house buyers in the UK have wanted to have homes which embodied the styles of what are seen as comfortable periods in history, reflecting a rural life.

The most popular style in the Edwardian era and in the 1920s and 1930s, taking its influences from the Arts and Crafts movement, was the Tudorbethan cottage. The style was also referred to as the 'Quaint', 'Jacobethan', mock Tudor, Jacobean and Elizabethan.

With the rise of new ideas in marketing, this style became widely promoted. For example the Ideal Home exhibition of 1910 featured a Tudor Village.

The semi-detached layout was typical with two main rooms opening off a hall, with a kitchen to the rear. Some houses had an irregular layout, with detached ones perhaps at an angle in the plot. Grand chimneys can be seen on some houses. The upper storey often overhangs the lower with a gabled roof.

The construction was either brick with surface treatments, or wood-frames with brick infill.

Houses were often half timbered with a mix of red brick and some pebbledash. Pebbledash was less common by the 1930s than it had been in the 1920s. Other features were areas of herringbone brickwork, tile-hung walls and weather-boarding. Rendered surfaces were decorated with wavy lines and ripples, or painted or pebbledashed. These ares were also decorated with wooden features known as 'black-and-white work'; this was painted or else left naturally dark.

Windows had wooden frames with iron casements and diamond-shaped stained and leaded panes.

The roof had red clay tiles rather than slates, and chimneystacks were often elaborate.

The porch was either a simple hood with console brackets or else gabled. The door was planked in oak, with iron fittings and often studded.

Most 1920s houses in this style had a two-storey bay with square sides but by the 1930s rounded, three or five-sided bays became typical.

Inside there was often dark oak panelling, false beams and in larger houses an inglenook fireplace.