Fullerton Heritage - history & information about the city of Fullerton

Tudor Revival

Also called Elizabethan or English Revival, the Tudor Revival takes its style from English Renaissance buildings of the 16th and early 17th centuries, including those of the Elizabethan (Elizabeth I, 1558-1603) and Jacobean (James I, 1603-25) periods. Some Tudor houses also mimic medieval cottages. While Tudor houses aimed for medieval and Renaissance overtones, they were always built with 20th century materials and amenities. World War I sparked an interest in English and European buildings, and the Tudor style was enormously popular in the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the suburbs, and modified versions became fashionable again in the 1970s and 1980s. The Minimal Traditional style also employed stripped down Tudor Revival elements.

The most dominant features of the Tudor Revival are the half-timbering (false or only decorative) that covers the upper stories and the very steeply pitched roof. The exterior is textured using brick, stone, or stucco, all designed to give the house a picturesque look. Other characteristics of this imaginative style include:

2½ stories (although 1½ stories is common)
Asymmetrical
Picturesque façades
Tudor or flattened pointed arches in door and door surrounds
Prominently crossed gables
Oriel windows -- along with tall, narrow windows -- often with small window panes
Massive chimneys, often topped with decorative chimney pots, placed in prominent positions on the front or side of the house
Side porches
Heavy shingles in tile or slate
Breakfast nooks off the kitchen
Recessed window seats
Beamed ceilings with dark wood or plaster beams finished to look like wood
Stone floors or plain wide boards or parquetry in herringbone, checkered, or geometrical patterns

In Southern California, Tudor houses ranged from elaborate estate mansions to restrained suburban dwellings, but all were designed to create a cozy, homelike effect. An excellent example of a Tudor Revival residence in Fullerton is the Lamhofer House (1927) at 600 W. Valley View Drive. Another, more modest example of the style is located at 745 N. Euclid Street, constructed in 1928.

While Fullerton residents built a number of Tudor Revival homes, the preferred English style was the Cottage, a variant of the Tudor style that includes a picturesque plan but without the half-timbering. After World War II, the Tudor Style had a resurgence and was used in a number of postwar dwellings (e. g., 505 Virginia Road (1976), 1879 Edgecliff Drive (1955)).

Read More about the Tudor Revival Style:

Ballantyne, Andrew. Tudoresque: In Pursuit of the Ideal Home. London: Reaktion Books, 2011
Bock, Gordon. "Inside the Tudor House: A Look at How Architects Derived Modern Interiors from Medieval Inspiration." Old House Journal December 2005: 62-67.
Goff, Lee. Tudor Style: Tudor Revival Houses in America from 1890 to the Present. New York: Universe, 2002.
Pond, Catherine Seiberling."Tudor Tutorial." Old House Interiors, November 2002: 68-73.
Poore, Patricia. "American House Style: Tudor Revival." Old House Journal August 2000: 75+ (foldout).
Walsh, Michael. Tudor Houses. Farmington Hills, MI: Home Planners, 1989.
York, Trevor. Tudor Houses Explained. London: Countryside Books, 2012.