While some architects do a good job of producing modern interpretations, you won’t find many contemporary home tracts built to look like authentic Tudors or English cottages. The look has been romanticized through magazines like The Cottage Journal and films like The Holiday, in which two women swap houses at Christmas. The house that most people fell in love with: Kate Winslet’s fairytale-perfect Rosehill Cottage outside London, which was actually a specially built set. Before universities trained architects, carpenters and craftspersons built homes by following plans outlined in illustrated books published by architects like Alexander Parris, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Alexander Downing. One of the most popular, Downing’s 1842-published Cottage Residences, introduced Picturesque architecture to homeowners and builders. Designers emphasized the charms of a rugged and rustic lifestyle in the country.
The Influence of Voysey
At the turn of the century, the architectural, furniture, and wallpaper designs of Charles Francis Annesley Voysey became extremely popular. Cotswold homes of the 1700s inspired Voysey’s Tudor cottage designs of the early 20th century. Voysey supported the use of stucco on wood framing for cladding in his Tudor designs. After 1920, the solid-stucco home-building technique was preferred; leaving behind the half-stone/masonry and half-timber patterns. The cottage style was phased out around World War II, after which postwar home builders promoted a whole new modern world.
Thatched roof: A dense covering of harvested reed, rush, or straw was applied to roofs for insulation and also added to the homes’ rustic charm False thatched roof: Since reed or straw aren’t the most practical roofing materials, a fake thatched roof can be made with modern materials. Wood shingles are steamed or composition roofing is rolled around eaves, resembling thatch Half-timbered: In an effort to use what was available, cottages were often built of stone or brick on the first floor and timber or a mix on the second Leaded windows: Multi-paned or lattice-style windows Bargeboard: Aka vergeboard, is a carved, ornamental board attached to the projecting gables of a roof Smart use of concrete Sash windows Vines often covering the cottage An emphasis on rustic and an almost Medieval look Stacked chimneys Sometimes, a single tall roof Especially on Tudor styles: front-facing gables Low eave lines Massive chimneys Side gables Steeply pitched roof Decorative half-timbering on facade A beautiful English cottage garden
Enjoy a tour of diverse cottages that all have one thing in common: charm.
Subtly curved roofline, dormers, lintels made of reclaimed brickThickly painted brick embedded in sandLintels made of reclaimed brickDark accents for the trim, windows, doors, and posts and beams
