Welcome to Stately Wayne Manor.

From the late 19th Century all the way through the 1970s--and even today--the Tudor Revival has remained a favorite style in many parts of the country. It's picturesque. It's romantic. It evokes a sense of nostalgia and nobility and even lets you play princess for a bit.

The original Tudor style was a mashup of medieval and Renaissance forms, which is why you see both Gothic and Classic details on authentic English Tudor houses. The revival style is even more of a mashup, so you not only get Jacobean and Elizabethan elements but can also see clear nods to whatever other style was popular when a house was built. In other words, there are Prairie Tudors and Craftsman Tudors and split-level Tudors and also really strict repro Tudors.

Size and vibe vary tremendously--everything from mansions that look like Henry VIII might have slept in them to storybook cottages (which in their most extreme form make up their own separate style). The feeling can be regal, fairytale, cottage, modest, homey, imposing or whatever.

You find the same variety on the interiors. Not all interiors carry out the exterior theme, either.

The usual rules apply. Nothing is personal, give feedback, lurkers definitely feel free to try your hand or just comment.

Go.

I love these houses, especially the white cottage (picture #5). There's something about all those chimneys and cute roof lines, it really says fairy tale, doesn't it? :)

I figure you're not being true to the style of the house if you don't have a fireplace big enough to spit roast a whole ox. My auntie had a Catherine of Aragon Tudor (authentically half timbered and panelled reception rooms, stucco 20th C. California (Spanish) style bedroom wing and a patio in the back, wrapped by a glassed in den and vestigial kitchen. The kitchen was the size of an NYC highrise kitchen, and the fireplace was in the living room and only had room for a side of beef, rather than the whole ox.

I suppose, as a compromise to practicality, one could put a big, cast iron range in the kitchen FP. I'm thinking a tiled, wood burning monstrosity, but with gas functionality as well for practicality.

Okay. I suppose an AGA would do.

Flagged floor.

Stone sink.

Huge bleached timber work table in the middle, with a bit of a dip on the kneading side.

Antique butcher's block with a dip from constant use and sanding rather than one of these twee wavy ones they sell new.

Rough daub walls with the straw sticking out in places.

Soot in the ceiling corners.

Root cellar.

Still room.

Larder.

Smokehouse.

Dairy with stream for cooling.

I say go authentic or go home!!

Sorry, really. I don't know anything about period homes like you all. But it WAS the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

Now back to your regularly scheduled GW challenge...am eager to see more ideas...

Right off the bat I think the copper hood looks too brown and the copper back splash looks too pink but IRL this would be reconciled.

Mid-sized Tudor revival from about 1920.
Quartersawn oak cabinets
See iron strapwork and handles at bottom
Copper hood and backsplash
Zodiaq Mossy Green
Black range
Linoleum floor with Forest ground as main color
Bradbury & Bradbury frieze with stylized roses
Tudor Revival Fixture - 2nd Avenue
Stickley furniture including "Cottage" chairs
Hardware, and Jacobean, really, style chest.
I would be tempted to use a still life that was period to the House rather than the style of the house.

Recently I made this Tudor arched door out of walnut with an aged waxed finish.

A few other images of the style:

Sorry, I don't know how to do that collage picture thing so good.
John

Description from The Guardian: Property of the week: Montacute, near Yeovil, Somerset. This 15th-century pad is thought to have been a dairy serving a priory, the ruins of which are strewn beyond the garden. It looks the part with its Tudor beams and fireplaces, studded doors, stone mullioned windows and flagstoned floors embellishing four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room and three bedrooms. Shame it opens on to the road. Cost: �675,000.

They opted for a brown/red/blue colour scheme for their kitchen and first went in search of art and tiles for the kitchen. Most of the items were found in antique stores around the UK or on eBay. The bird tiles function as art for the walls rather than backsplash.

The kitchen is unfitted of course, with several key work areas: oven niche for the Italian wood and gas burning stove, stone sink with dark oak cabinets beneath. Open oak shelves above. Armoire functions as pantry, oversized studded butcher's block.

So, too medieval?

The range hood, reminiscent of the roofline, is set into an archway like a hearth. The round arch inset cabs are not vintage; they're custom from a company called Hudson Woodworking or something in New York; I know they took on an orange cast in the photo.

I have a couple of other things I wanted to put into this room but I'm trying not to get sick 3 days before Xmas.

To misquote a fairy tale to turn it into a cautionary tale against recirculating rangehoods: "Woe betide ye, Molly Whuppie, if your air come back again."

I used the table and chairs because they are period to the house and simple, and strangely like some of the more simple period chairs of the time. Not the high Jacobean spooled and carved chairs, but the more plank-ish ones. The fixture is classified as both Deco and Tudor Revival.

I liked this Storybook fixture but this one was from a distinctly earlier period than the house I had in mind:

Marcolo, your cottage is charming and warm and I can see the reference back to Tudor. Pal, clearly your kitchens are cohesive, but they don't seem to pull on any of the drama that I imagine in my mind when I think Tudor. And all your colour choices lately make me sad.

As for the colorways, well I am doing period kitchens with period wallpapers and thats what the colors were...I also refer back to my feeling that there is going to be stuff in that kitchen that will add a lot of color and distraction so I am keeping it "background". IMO nothing is worse than a kitchen that looks best empty and only goes downhill when you start to actually use it.

I loved the pics of the big fireplace with the spit like Circuspeanut dug up. So, like Marcolo, I wanted a surround for the range, using brick echoing the home's exterior.. For this kitchen, a really, really big surround, for a really, really big, expensive range. But I didn't want to go too Wayne manor, so I picked some au courant items for my kitchen--taupe cabinets and marble counters. There's a big island, which I propose to back with more brick. I want board and batten paneling for whatever walls don't have cabinets, probably mostly the dining area. Parquet flooring was big in traditional homes of the 30's, so that's what I went with here. Tudor style table and chairs. I don't love the color of the chairs, so I'm hoping the photo isn't showing the color correctly (I'd like them to be darker and less orange).

Because I really, really want a cooking fireplace with a spit, but finding it really impractical for inside, I added an outdoor kitchen for those things. Kate, barring dietary restrictions, can roast up a whole pig for a Memorial Day barbecue next year.

Brick cooktop surround
La Cornue Chateau range
Board and batten wall panelling
Hardware is all wrought iron, knob and twisted ring pull from Wroughtworks.com, twisted pulls from Rensup.com.
Teakwood marble counters for the perimeter
Walnut butcher block for island counter
Versailles walnut parquet floor from Antiqueparquet.com
Tudor chairs and dining table from Brookleberrys Antiques
English Centennial cabinet from Antiques.com
Tudor chandelier from Antiques.com
Sconce from Lighting Innovation
Outdoor fireplace picture is from TraditionalOven.com
Rotisserie spit is from spitjack.com
Crown Point Waterford cabinets

Kate's house and the before kitchen:

Here are the proposed design elements:

Alton and Olivia are a hip younger couple with a secure trust fund and eclectic flair. They appreciate their heritage but they also like to put a bit of a spin on the traditional. Olivia is always trying to find that perfect item that will be a modern counterpoint to lighten their traditional home. They like to cook and have been excited to put their own ideas in place in the kitchen of their adorable, more traditional home. They like bold patterns and they love color.

Olivia is itching to try her hand at mixing the masculine pub with a little floral/nature vibe and see if she can make it work. It may take some time to evolve to a point where it makes her happy but that's half the challenge. She does like for Alton to have things around that are masculine as well and she tries to blend the two successfully so he's not surrounded by frufru and frill.

Did Olivia succeed?

The floors are terra cotta.
The sink is travertine.
The countertops are walnut (not shown) by the sink (Waterlox is her friend).
The countertops are green slate everywhere else.
There's a vintage butcherblock that was left in the house when they bought. They are keeping it.
The table is walnut with some hip little chairs to carry out the "Tudor rose" theme.
There's a stag's head, some crockery and some baskets for feel.
She wants to set the Wolf into a bricked arch with a heavy walnut shelf inside to echo the arched doorways in the house.
The fridge will be stainless as well.
She picked a cute little accent tile for a possible starting point for a backsplash but it doesn't show up because her image hosting site hates her.

This is the pool house/studio guest house of one of those oxen roasting behemoths above. I wanted to combine brick and flagstone as the interior materials as so many Tudors did, but it was only after I finished things and I looked at the pic and realized that I should have reversed the materials and put the flagstone on the walls and the brick on the floor. It's done, and you'll just have to imagine that for some reason there's a second layer of brick on top of the stone walls in the interior.

The small living section has a vintage daybed and two vintage chairs recovered in orange leather and a vintage copper rug. It needs some tables and lamps, but I figure we'll just raid the attic of one of the mansions and see what's out of rotation.

I really wanted to work in this murphy bed for extra sleeping, but it's the wrong color and Photoshopping it walnut is beyond my skill level.

The rest is done, but I need to upload it, so it will come later.

Fair warning! I am calling dibs on using Rejuvenation's Sunset bat and serpent pendant light! It's insanely expensive, but I've wanted to use it in something ever since I first laid eyes on it. If Photobucket would just cooperate, you could see all of it together now.

Pal, I like that your first kitchen is respectful to the era as well as the style of the home (all yours are, really). An you managed to do "Tudor" while still doing a kitchen appropriate for a modestly sized and priced home.

Sochi, I really like the way all your elements work together. "Too medieval"? Maybe for most modern cooks, but it suits the building.

Marcolo, Hansel and Gretel have good taste. I like the storybook-ness of the light and table & chairs (table and chairs remind me of the banquettes from our 1920's thread). The cabs are very cute. And birds again! They've come up so many times in these threads now. Is it a coincidence, or are we on the cusp of a trend? Or have they always been popular and I've never noticed?

Pal, I like the femininity of your #2 (Storybook), especially the wallpaper and floor. What is the backsplash?

Doggonegardener, I think that Olivia really succeeded in mixing the masculine (colors, stag head, pottery, brick) with the feminine (lighting, chairs, fabric). The basket and pottery look like somthing that would have been in a real Tudor house.

LWO, I like what I see so far. Looking forward to seeing the rest.

Isn't this the coolest light ever!

Then there was the bat wallpaper I found.

And the gargoyle wallpaper.

And the animal andirons.

And the creepiest wrought iron wine cage ever.

Since the pool house was new obviously new construction and needed some connection with the past, I did allow most of the permanent fixtures to drift into just this side of kitsch, hopefully with that bit of restraint I mentioned. If you do not find it restrained enough, blame it on the eggnogg and late night. LOL!

Closeup of the orange chairs and daybed that I used for seating because they are so cool.

Here's the project---which morphed into the whole space, and I still have enough images left over to do the main house too.

Walnut cathedral arched cabinets, glass cathedral inserts on window wall.

Zinc topped iron baking table for island.

No name Chinese sink.

LSI Coral Troya stained 24x24 concrete tiles for counters.

Glass Tile Oasis brown arch blend glass backsplash.

Emenee gargoyle pulls for the two glass cabinets and Dimestorecowboys orange millefiori glass knobs for the rest.

The lighting fixtures, besides my beloved bat one, are all fairly simple wrought iron ones to try to avoid sensory overload.

Appliances are a cute little 24" Avanti range (party space, remember) and an Advantium for most of the reheating chores that will predominate. A 30" Amana bottom freezer fridge, and a cheap Maytag cabinet round out the list.

Moooi Gothic chairs in orange and 3ds table. Both are modern takeoffs of classic designs and add a little whimsy into the space without being permanent fixtures.

Didn't Igloochick of this forum actually buy one of those bat chandeliers from Rejuvenation for her Victorian house?

Most elements are stripped version of something Tudor-Jacobean.
Pewter Finish Barrel range hood
Chemetal "Factory Dark" backsplash
Soapstone counters
Rift cut oak cabinets (and panels in apt)
Exposed concrete floors (most Tudor floors were stone)
Hardware in modern versions of ring&drop pulls, and studded nails
Wallcolor and Robert Abbey Rico Espinosa Chandelier
Jeffrey Greene 1970s chairs and GreatWindsorChairs farm table
Chinese Deco Dragon Rug
Paul Evans bronze-powdered composite FB surround from 1st Dibs - stands in for the heavily carved and motif panels in Tudor-Jacobean manor houses.
Modern Shelter Sofa based upon Knole Sofa
1960s floor lamp
Panels of leather wallcovering. Reproduction tooled leather wallpaper from Lutson Goudleder in Dragon pattern.

Pal, I really like the industrial Tudor. Very outside the box. Not sure about the cabinet color, though.

I know the floor is not working. I have just thrown in the towel. My photobucket is really touchy today and not uploading new images so I used one I already had on file. I know pal will not like this assumption but I am pretending the sink and marble were still in the home's lovely butler pantry and the kitchen was worked around it. The shelves would be deeper than the book cases posted so they could function as dish shelves but they are meant to tie in with the exteriors half timbers and I love the idea of a library ladder. The diamond pattern in the splash and lights along with the arched doors are also inspired by the exterior's arched gables.

This one gets a bit more "gothic" but that seems to be what the MCM version of this period of furniture was.
Ann Sacks Lake Garda backsplash
Cambria Aberdeen Quartz
Grey Rift Cut Oak cabinets in a gothic style (see below)
Amtico "Limestone" floor
Phillip Jeffries Chain Link wallcovering
MCM Tudor Revival Chairs and Gothic Table
Carini Lang rug
Weird midcentury panels that are also kind of like tomb-rubbings, and MCM fireplace surround from 1st dibs
Doorstyles, Cabinet knob and Iron wall hung sconces.

Yikes, this one was really hard for me too. Comments most welcome, including how appropriate these materials are for the house. I'm not period-savvy at all. Sarah can take brutal honesty.

____________________________________

From the moment she saw the blue-gray and white exterior, Sarah thought this could be her kind of Tudor home. She loved the colors, and the 1930's house was not too large in scale. She wondered if her discomfort with decorating drama could work in a Tudor Revival. She rarely cooked entire cows in a fireplace. Would her taste be too boring? "Probably," she said to herself, "but there's only one way to find out." She wrote the check.

She was excited about using her grandmother's Swedish farm table as a kitchen island, hoping the graceful arch would echo the arched doorways in the home. She hired a Florida woodworker to make a complementary arched door china cabinet, to anchor the end of the cabinet run.

Although Sarah admired the traditionally dark interior woodwork in the home, she wanted her cooking space to be light. She had the old wooden ceiling sandblasted and stained silver gray. The existing terracotta herringbone brick floors added warmth, and the white stucco walls bounced the light from the diamond-pane glass windows, draped with soft brown velvet.

She chose Rose Field Arts and Crafts tiles to pull in the lighter colors she loved, with reverse arch shapes. For the countertop by the stove, she installed black walnut butcherblock, as a nod to the darker wood elsewhere in the home. The painted alder cabinets repeated the white of the stucco walls, and she paneled the refrigerator and dishwasher with alder fronts in a warm brown finish with rustic details.

The countertops surrounding the copper sink were Tibetan blue granite.

Sarah was ready to call her mother for the reveal. Alice Olafsson arrived punctually, as always, but Sarah noticed something new.

"Mother. You have a snake. Around your neck." The white python fixed two beady black eyes on her, and flicked a pink forked tongue.

"Meet Montgomery," said Alice. She settled the creamy python into the folds of her Hermes scarf. "You were right, dear, living with those ceramic python tiles over my Wolf range has opened me to new experiences. Do you think OXO pop containers would work for white mice storage?"

"Let's all sit down at Grandma's table, and talk about it," said Sarah.

_____________________________

Rose Field Arts and Crafts tiles by Totten Tileworks
Reclaimed wood china cabinet: Mark Anthony, Winterwoodworks.com
Aiden Gray Atlas Chandelier over farm table
Pendants flanking sink: Garden Gates Outdoor Lantern, shadesoflight.com
White cabinets: customcabinets.com, Lexington door, Bone finish
Appliance panels: customcabinets.com, alder Old Manor door, Cobble Brown finish
Restoration Hardware Cafe Brown velvet drapes
Whitehaus Collection Twisthaus Bridge Kitchen Faucet
Viking gas range Chocolate Brown

Marcolo- I really like the Hansel and Gretel kitchen (especially the birds and the flagstone) but was wondering if you (or anyone else) has any ideas for a lighter, brighter, more romantic style of kitchen? Maybe something a little more feminine, but still storybook?

I found these exterior pictures, but putting the kitchen together has been difficult. I know what I want, but can't seem to find any good examples. Any ideas? Here's the cottage I like :)

From Snow White album

I thought this was a nice 'look' for the more romantic, storybook finishes, although a bit drafty...

From Snow White album

I just added this, since it looked fairy tale and winter...nice bridge, too.

From Snow White album

Too much??? LOL

From Snow White album

That is how historians describe the pomp and ceremony that the first Tudors used to glorify and justify their upstart monarchy. Royal barges and banners. Cloth of gold. Trumpets. The same words describe the intent of the 19th century robber barons who helped revive the style as a concrete symbol of their economic royalism. And the same may be said of today's robber barons and upstart autocrats--hedge fund managers.

Hunter bought his large Tudor estate in Connecticut from a family that had cared for it and kept it updated for decades. His wife Emily, who had a better education and sharper mind than he did, picked it out, just as she did many of his largest investments. Most of the house was fine, but the dining room was fussy and stodgy and the kitchen had been renovated in the '80s with golden oak cabinets.

Hunter called Dorothy, a designer who had handled his old boss's house, because she was the only one he knew. He told her he wanted the house ready by Christmas; it was already July. Emily met Dorothy at the house, with their little white dog in tow, but Hunter never came out once. Emily tried sending samples of fabics and stones but if Emily was busy Hunter never even responded. After she left ten voice mails he finally called her back. "Look," he said. "Do whatever you want. Just have it ready by our Christmas party. And make it damn impressive. Whatever it takes."

So, Dorothy did. First, the dining room: Tudor Rose wallpaper, a custom fixture based on one in a London hotel, wall lanterns that burned actual gas--commissioned from a company in New Orleans--and '60s chairs she had reproduced from two originals.

The dining room was all Hunter. But she dedicated the kitchen to the Emily, the eminence behind the throne.

The "cardinal" light fixtures were perfect for what she called the "Wolsey" kitchen. And for fire, only a Garland would do.

She wondered whether the ermine kitchen chair seats might be a bit much. But when Hunter saw it two weeks before Christmas, he loved everything. "Except," he said, "can you make it a little less red?" Dorothy said she'd see what she can do. Before she left, she dug out one of the dog's used dootie bags, and left the contents on Hunter's car seat.

Pewter and stainless steel barrel hood
Enkeboll "Party Story" carved doors flanking hammered pewter backsplash
Zodiaq Indus Red quartz around range
Linenfold door cabinets flanking Lacanche range
Antique limestone floors
Panels of Barker Mansion Tudor Revival wallpaper in eating area. Tudor revival fixture over
Tudor period table and tudor revival chairs
Tomb rubbings and Parish-Hadley Gothic mirror surrounding Tudor style limestone fireplace.
Knole sofa
Tudor Rose custom stained glass window, cabinet hardware and gothic revival relief tiles set into plaster walls.

Sochi--a very authentic timeworn look but feels a bit heavy. That's always an issue with this style.

Pal--what is that wall tile in the #2 deco? That room feels very middle class prewar English to me, for some reason. And #3--those materials are awesome. Where do you find those rug images?

mudhouse--super cute, but I feel like you're cheating slightly by assuming authentic 16th century beamed ceilings in a revival house!

cawaps--interesting interplay with the counters and the other materials. The parquet table on the parquet floor, I'm not sure about.

doggone--I like.

LWO--you are insane, girl. Very fun. Maybe the table would work if it were brown?

I just want to point out that Tudor works very well with the warm modern, boutique hotel look, if that inspires anybody.

Also, someone remarked (don't make me scroll up through this ponderous thread) about themey similarity between "tuscan" and Tudor. I absolutely see the correspondence but think there are big differences. First "Tuscan" was never any kind of a cohesive house style, nor was it ever really modeled on anything. At least if you build a theme-y Tudor kitchen you can find a consistently theme-y house to surround it, and that house was based on something that actually existed. Also, due to the era of the revivals, the craftsmanship and materials are massively superior for the Tudors. So was the scale--you never see a eight-foot-tall fireplace in a little Craftsman Tudor with eight-foot ceilings; the latter are simpler and their details are more petite.

mudhouse--super cute, but I feel like you're cheating slightly by assuming authentic 16th century beamed ceilings in a revival house!

Oh no, I would never besmirch the honor of this thread by such devious behavior! Here's the origin of that cool beamed ceiling. The blog didn't list the location or age of the house, but the impressively weathered beams appear to be applied over standard tongue-and-groove paneling. If I had enlarged it more you could have seen the white ceiling fan.

But, maybe it's a 16th century ceiling fan?

Cawaps, I would love to see that huge Kate Hudson kitchen redone in those materials (huge improvement and so much more fitting to the house exterior.)

Doggonegardener, I like yours a lot, especially what you did with the colors and accessories. I went blank on Tudor accessories, yours looked wonderful.

I liked Pal's first board, the beautiful geometric designs on the Jacobean chest and the mossy green counter. And the board with the pewter and stainless steel barrel hood.

I envy Marcolo's Hansel and Gretel design because of the light-hearted fun in it, including the yellow arch top cabinets. The second one was amazing, I had no idea you could design rooms around the concept of power. Those would be handsome and remarkable rooms. Glad Dorothy won the power struggle in the end.

LWO's bat fixtures are amazing. I understand you had to restrain yourself on other things accordingly, but I would have liked to see the animal andirons (maybe not the gargoyle wallpaper though.) Great colors and backsplash.

I enjoyed the deep saturated oranges/reds, turquoise/greens in many of the rooms here. Somehow that seems more "right" to me for this thread than the subtle colors I ended up with, but I'm still struggling to get my mind wrapped around how far Tudor can range.

I have lots of ideas for this one, but boy, is it time consuming to find materials. Wallpaper is particularly hard. Thibaut shows everything, Schumacher only shows a couple of collections. Tile is tough. And you can find Tudor or Gothic elements in all sorts of decent materials, from casegoods to lighting or whatever, but you have to know where they are and who makes them. For my Wolsey kitchen I wanted to experiment with a white Harlequin and black accents to mimic ermine, but couldn't find a single photo, even though I've seen them before.

My storybook kitchen is actually pretty light. I'm not loving Powerpoint because it seems to compress the files so much, and the photobucket code makes it harder to fix picture size. So I think those mood boards overstate the dark elements.

I think mudhouse's storybook is very cute also, but I guess it's not what you'd call bright. One of the issues is--what do you mean by storybook? CA storybook is its own thing, very cartoony, as well as Gaudi-esque or Mannerist, all stretched and distended. I think it's cool but could never live in one. Nothing normal looks good in it. Perhaps lavender means a Cotswold cottage, which is adorable but much less fanciful, so you're not likely to find it full of birds to put your corset on you.

Trying to decide next directions. I'm thinking one medieval adventure-ish; one Goth; maybe one realistic late '20s humble family home. I could do this one thread forever.

I'm still hoping to see Marcolo's 'Cinderella kitchen'. You know, something that would work with this type of hardware :)

From Snow White album

I also agree that finding the sources is tough on this one

Lavender,

That hardware is French, so as a purist it would be too much of a fairy tale for me to use that in a tudor thread...sorry :)

History - Dible Tudors

The homes in Rockhill gardens have a unique combination of materials like brick, stone and timbered stucco. These homes exemplify the commitment to excellence of Napoleon W. Dible, a legend in local Kansas City home builders, where he was know for his individual style, attention to detail and affordability.

Dible all but created the speculative home-building business in Kansas City. That is, he bought land and built houses without first securing buyers. He started his business here in 1905 and quickly became the most successful builder of single-family homes in the area. Dible studied and designed his homes to appeal to women of the era with apparent features such as oversized bedroom closets, built in shoes racks and extensive plaster detailing in the formal rooms.

Since its inception in 1929, Rockhill Gardens has grown into an active neighborhood community. Over five hundred homes were built through 1945, the majority being English Tudor style or two story Colonial.

Arches are in nearly every room on the main floor of Royce Baker's 1933 Tudor in Kansas City.Two identical doorways curve up into dramatic peaks and flank the interior wall of her living room. One leads to the dining room, the other to the staircase. Another arched doorway frames the entryway, which is big enough to tuck a small table and lamp inside. Yet another connects the dining room to the kitchen. "They make the house look so charming and cozy," a resident says. "They add to the storybook look of the style on the inside."

The tale of Kansas City's Tudor Revival houses begins and ends with a local builder's love for them.

Napoleon William Dible felt like he was handing the moon on a silver platter to homeowners with the easy-to-build, easy-to-sell style. He constructed his homes with characteristics of Tudor mansions he'd admired: towering chimneys, steep gabled roofs and decorative half timbering. Most of these were tiny by today's standards, having about 1,500 square feet.

"But he called them mini-mansions," says his grandson, William Hickok, a retired builder who worked for Dible. "It's his signature house."

The Tudor was also the style nationally in the 1920s, and because it was among the first styles to have detached garages, it is often considered the "automobile house". Shortly after World War I, one Model T rolled off the production line every 20 seconds. Porches moved from the front of the house to the side and were screened to "shield" residents from car pollution.

Hollywood helped bolster the Tudor's image. The storybook style was shown on the silver screen, notably in Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". But at the same time, the modernist movement was gaining momentum, rejecting historical references and ornamentation. Architectural critics decried the Tudor: "Houses or Stage Scenery?" was one essay's headline. Few were built after 1940.

The end of the Tudor came later for Kansas City and Dible, who was still building them in 1953, Hickok says.

Dible was often asked: "Aren't the English cottage days over?" So he tested the waters that year by building three ranch houses in a new subdivision of Tudors near 78th Street and Holmes. The ranches sold before they were finished.

"Well, boys," Hickok recalls Dible saying in his baritone voice, "we're changing".

Arches were popular when Tudor monarchs ruled 1500s England.

Architectural dictionaries define a Tudor arch as a pointed shape whose sides start with a curve about 60 degrees and continue to the apex in a straight line. However, a variety of arch shapes can be found inside Tudor Revival houses, says Dave Hiers, owner of Tudor Artisans, a company in Gerogia that handcrafts and sells period items.

"All types of arches, especially in doorways, really help define the Tudor style," he says.

The front door of Baker's house is a simply rounded arch. She also has arched decorative niches that are pointier - similar to the doorway - in the stairway, breakfast nook and bathroom. Her favorite arched niche is above the 7-foot-wide plaster fireplace and includes an electrical outlet that's original to the house for a lamp or clock.

"The details seem to be ahead of their time," she says. "Yet I know they're centuries old."

Erma Embry grew up adoring Tudor Revival homes. To her, they looked like Hansel and Gretel houses with their triangular lines, arched doors and narrow diamond-pane windows. She snatched up a brick one a decade ago in Westheight Manor, a high-style neighborhood near 20th Street and Washington Boulevard in Kansas City, Kan.

"I finally got my gingerbread house," she says.

Embry loves the 1919 brick house's interior, which features built-in drawers and two sunrooms. But she, like many revival-style homeowners, did not know how Tudors made their way to America.

The style is named for the Tudor monarchs of England. Fortified castles were no longer needed around 1520, when the population of the country was rising because of improved standards of living.

At that time, Henry VIII rewarded court favorites with land in the country. They were rich enough to pay skilled craftspeople to build decorative wall studs in diamond, herringbone and star patterns. The working class emulated the timbering in a scaled-down form and also made use of local stone for their cottages.

The style faded in the 1700s when cheaper materials and labor became available, but it came back in favor in the 1860s in England. The humbler abodes, not the sprawling castlelike manors, were emulated as people sought houses that blended with the landscape. Period fiction writers wrote about their appeal, helping to spread the style.

The Tudor made its way to America in the 1890s but didn't take off until after World War I. It was the popularity of the automobile that jumpstarted the Tudor boom in the 1920s. Cars allowed people who worked in the urban core to live farther away, sparking a home-building boom. At the same time, people of Anglo-Saxon descent, wishing to distance themselves from a growing immigrant population in the city, sought to showcase their own heritage in their homes.

Throughout Kansas City and across the country, builders began naming subdivisions and shopping centers after British places to capitalize on the sentiment. "There was this whole sense of creating English villages," says William Worley, a historian and adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "The Tudor style fit that better than any other style."

The tony trappings so attracted H. O. Peet (of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet) that he carved a soap block model of it and planned to build his own. However, he eventually bought the home.

"One just has to look around to see Kansas City has one of the best and the most numerous collections of Tudors anywhere in America," says Mike Tecton, a house-plan book publisher in Virginia and a Tudor Revival expert.

Napoleoan William Dible built most of the Tudors in the Kansas City area. He built a few basic floor plans of mostly small and moderate-sized houses. Even though they were replicated hundreds of times, a homeowner thought his or her dwelling was unique in the neighborhood.

From house to house, Dible would alternate kitchens left and right, locate front doors in different spots and add extra roof peaks.

Nationally, the Tudor style is considered masculine and so associated with financial achievement and conservative taste that it was dubbed the "Stockbroker Tudor".

"The plaster, stone and heavy timbers were attractive to lordly and baronial personalities, giving them fake roots", says Bo Sullivan, a historian and buyer for Rejuvenation, a period lighting company in Portland, Oregon.

But Dible, Worley says, was a smart businessman and gave Kansas City Tudors feminine appeal. As home appliances were becoming all the rage, he pored over copies of The Ladies' Home Journal and talked to women about what they wanted. The result: built-in ironing boards, laundry chutes and ice-cream-colored tiles for bathrooms and the entryway. On the exterior, Tudors received extra touches such as foundation landscaping and curving front walkways to give them curb appeal.

"Dible understood something that Nichols didn't," says Worley, author of J. C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City. "It was the man who signed the contract, but it was the woman who made the final desision."

Although most Kansas City Tudors were constructed inexpensively, they have thrived and few have been demolished. The exteriors are relatively unchanged except many screened porches are now all-glass sunrooms. Often, tiny breakfast nooks got the heave-ho to make way for bigger and better kitchens.

"Tudors are relatively well built here," Worley says. "They've held up well over the years."

Credits

Stacy Downs, reporter for the Kanasas City Star 816-234-4780

Books
Tudor Style: Tudor Revival Houses in America from 1890 to the Present, by Lee Goff
(Universe Publishing, $45)

Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the Twenties, by Arrol Geliner
(Viking Studio, $33)

Manor Houses of England, by Hugh Montgovery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon sykes
(Vendome Press, $57.80)

Class Cottages: Simple, Romantic Homes , by Brian Coleman
(Gibbs Smith, $40)

Creating a New Old House: Yesterday's Character for Today's Home, by russell Versaci
(Taunton Press, $27)

Paul and Sarah were so excited to find the house. It had all the old world charm Sarah had always wanted. Paul's parents were only a few blocks away, and their kids would be able to go to the same Parish grade school their dad had gone, and where their cousins attend now as well.

The kitchen layout was fine, but everything suffered from a tired re-do in the 1970s. They knew they couldn't enlarge the kitchen, but were happy that it opened to the sunny dining room.

Sarah chose a Stickley table and chairs that would only look better with age. The hood would be the beautiful star of the kitchen. She loved the blue and white tiles, and she had chosen the same dishes as her grandmother when she and Paul had married.

Paul wanted a bad-boy gas stove, and heated tile floor. That was what he wanted in the new space. In the end, it matched their style, budget, and house and family just right.

Mudhouse - amazing attention to detail. Perfect tile. I can't get over how much I am loving all the brown appliances we're using in these threads.

LWO, that tile is incredible, as is the bat kitchen. Who knew there were bat lights?

Julie - sweet and lovely. The painting is just charming.

Roarah, I find this one difficult as well. That is quite the sink in your kitchen, very commanding.

The front gable always looks like it has snow on it, which reminded me that I had wanted to do a Mrs. Claus thread for Christmas. Since that's not happening, I'm multipurposing a Tudor.

Santa and Mrs. Claus live at the North Pole in a timeless Storybook cottage. Supplies are limited in the far north, and they must bring everything in by sleigh. Energy is a problem in terms of supply, reliability and conservation. They rely primarily on biomass, because it is reliable and carbon neutral (Santa and Mrs. Claus are concerned about the effect of global warming on the polar ice cap).

The north pole is cold, even in the summer. They have 24 hours of sun in the summer and none at all in the winter. Seasonal effective disorder is a perennial problem.

Mrs. Claus wants her kitchen to be warm and inviting, with no cold surfaces, and to have a bit of summer cheer all year round. To that end, she keeps a kitchen herb garden under an HID grow light from Home Harvest. Santa buil the plant stand. She also chose a backspash tile mural depicting a summer warm-climate garden, from Artworks by Julia.

The cabinets have plank doors (Jamestown by Omega) and decorative strap hinges from Tudor Artisans. The drop pulls are also from Tudor Artisans. The other hardware is from cclranchdecor.com. The counter is Corian, inThyme, because she wanted something warm to the touch.

The rangehood, from Brooks Custom, is equipped with a heat exchanger to recover heat from the exhaust air. The range is a wood-fired "Aga" style cooker, by Eco Range. Mrs. Claus doesn't have a refrigerator; an adjacent room is normally cooled with outside air. During the summer, they bring in blocks of ice to keep the temperature cool.

Ceilings are low to minimize heating energy, so the ceiling fixtures are modest profile flushmounts from Mica Lamp Company on Tudorfurnishings.com. The wall sconce is from Lighting Innovation (same on from the last board; I got lazy).

The floor is harwood. The sink is copper from Treasure de Old Mexico, and the faucet is a random ORB faucet pic I found.

In the dining room, they used quartersawn oak wall panelling and a stone fireplace from Tudor Artisans. The fireplace mantle is a front for a high efficiency masonry heater, not just a draft-creating nuisance. The dining table pic is from Canadian House and Home, but Santa is planning to build something similar in his workshop. The chairs in the pic seem like the wrong style/century, but I couldn't find anything better to put on the board. Mrs. Claus likes them so they might go with something similar, even if it doesn't suit the house. The reindeer head over the mantle is Rudolph, who died from old age in 1984. He was a prized member of the reindeer team and will be part of the household forever. The ceiling detail is also from Tudor Artisans and the rug is from Tudor Furnishings (over the flagstone floor). The ceiling fixture is from Restoration Hardware.

Kitchen

Dining Room

Bisazza Springrose Mosaic
Red Lacquer cabinets
Ann Sacks TrendQ terrazzo
F&B Bone wall color; Fixture from Neena's lighting
Superordinate Lamp (antler)
Nakashima Free-edge shelf
Bellini Chairs
Matthew Hilton Table.

I like that one too Palimpsest. You're on a roll.

You also have to be ruthless and throw out something that doesn't work, particularly when other elements are coming together. It doesn't matter how great that individual finish or whatever is all by itself. If it doesn't work you need to let it go. I think people tend to want to use every idea they have in one project, or conversely, get stuck on using one particular finish and then they can't find anything else to work with it--and there might be 99 other things that are close and they could get things to work with those.

I think it would be good for more people to do exercises like this and get it out of their systems. I won't ever conceivably own Tudor house, a $40,000 rug, or a piece of Nakashima, but I can use any or all of it in these exercises.

Materials
Knotty pine
Metal cabinetry
Interesting tile (we can do this one over and over)
Vetrazzo
Marmoleum graphic series
Back-painted glass
Commercial Kitchens/Restaurant Supply

Defining the Home
Minimal traditional house from the '40s through the '70s
Tract house (specify decade? or any tract house?)
Queen Anne
Spanish Colonial Revival
Craftsman
Prarie School
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Pimp this kitchen (choose home/kitchen from real estate listing)
Beach House
Mash-up house (what do you do with a house that is already a mash-up of styles, like a Mission-style Queen Anne)

Theme/Decorating Styles
Pink Kitchen
French Country
Steampunk
Eclectic
Starting from clothing fashions as your inspiration pic, design a kitchen that suits the era/mood/style
Rustic Modern Cottage
Hollywood Regency

Budget/Supply restrictions
$10K budget
Ikea kitchen (all Ikea?)
Mail order kitchen
Home Depot kitchen

Define the People
Mid-life crisis bachelor (or cougar) pad
Rabid sports fan wants to decorate in team colors

Presentation Strategies that Can Be Combined with Other Choices
This/Not That (Good taste/bad taste, works/doesn't work)
High/Low (same look, different budgets)

 
What we have done so far:
1) Apple Jasper
2) Colonial Revived
3) 1920's Kitchens and All That Jazz
4) Formica Patterns are Cooool!
5) Neo-Tuscan/TuscAmerican
6) I'm Dreaming of a White Kitchen, But...
7) Victorian/Queen Anne
8) Animal "Prints"
9) Keeping the Golden Oak
9) Tarting Up a Tudor
10)

I'd still like to do pink kitchens. The last two have been style of home (Tudor) and material (golden oak).

I was looking back through the older threads and I think in general are getting better at working within a specific style as the threads go on. Tudor could tend to get kind of theatrical or stage-settish and I don't think there was much of that here. I do wonder about whether the type of personality that would buy a traditional tudor would go for some of the finishes presented though--or would be more likely to do a version of SGTG or OTK. I think some of the things might be too quirky or trendy for the demographic, although I did the same thing I tried to break it out into different house types.

In terms of restrictions, I'd like to see people choose a house style/era and have that in mind when they design the kitchen, although I'm not terribly interested in seeing people slavishly recreate the same kitchens that would have been put in back in the 1950s. I also would like so see pink featured prominently (though not necessarily dominantly) and be integral to the design (not just appearing in the afterthought accessories).

"Pink for the Present Day."

Good luck with your "Pink for the Present Day" theme!

Maybe in a few weeks, we can do something french? :)

As a student of art history, Liz had always admired Tudor portraits, but her favorite was the 17th century painting of Anne Boleyn by Frans Pourbus. She loved the beautiful shading and subtle palette. In addition, Liz loved bling.

Liz was not a fan of overly fussy antiques. There were only two things she wanted to keep from the original kitchen in her Tudor Revival home: the old tile floor, and four leaded glass cabinet doors. She would update the rest with a sense of fun, mixing traditional and contemporary features.

She replaced the old cabinets with modern Shaker style doors, and topped the counters with brown marble on the perimeters, and orange onyx on the island. For the backsplash, she couldn't resist the luxury of Swarovski Crystal tiles. The cabinet pulls reminded her of keys to the castle.

To echo the lace in Anne's collar, Liz stenciled a soft gray pattern on the walls, and hung the translucent Organza Pendant in the breakfast area. Liz chose the sparkly Lucia pendant over the island as her Crown Jewels (she was, after all, the queen of her kitchen.) Anne Boleyn had also spent lavishly on her own redecorating, fashion, and self-indulgences. Liz was only being true to her kitchen's inspiration, as any good history student would.

Finally, the rich bronze tones in the sinks, range hood, and faucets echoed the dark browns in the background of the painting. Liz liked to think that Anne would have approved. She was thankful she could enjoy it for years to come, with very little threat of any beheading in her immediate future.

Backsplash: Swarovski's Bisazza Crystal Collection
Countertops: Brown Dynasty Marble, Orange Flower Onyx
Organza Pendant by Charles Loomis
Lucia Drum Pendant Light by Murray Feiss
Key cabinet pull, Soko Studios Hardware, Hearst Castle Collection
Wall stencil by Royal Design Studio
Bronze range hood by Handcraftedmetal.com
Lace plates by Mateus
Carved porcelain vase by Isabelle Abramson
Felicia Dining Table, globalhomeny.com
reproduction early 19th century dartboard by Daryl McMahon (modified with portrait of Henry the Eighth)

cawaps, what a great story and board! (I was so upset by Rudolph�s passing it took me a while to post back here, though.) I really loved the dining room especially, but that would be a great kitchen to pass a dreary winter in.

pal, your advice about being willing to do something awful, or being willing to throw out something terrific, really hits home with me. My problem is I throw out something that is terrific, but making trouble, and then the design works better. Except for the counter, so now I change that, but now the floor has to go, so I change that, and now the cabinets are wrong�and I can go in endless circles. As a real designer I would be starving to death in the dark. Good thing this is for fun.

I may have the same reaction to pink that Marcolo had to golden oak. I have a pink tile bathroom though, so I suppose I could/should push myself to deal with the ickiness of the color.

Roarah, I had to go back and look at your 1920's kitchen. I had forgotten it was a Tudor. I liked that one and the new one. The work table is awesome. Hefty. And a library ladder would be great, in a large-enough kitchen.

Pal's mock Tudor with the orange range: I like the whole gothic thing. The MCM panels are creepy, but work with the design.

Sochi's portrait chairs: Ann's chair may be dripping in blood but Henry's has bird poop.

Mudhouse (rose tile): The rose backsplash is awesome! I really like the off white/brown/blue combination. The blue is very understated and the combo is very relaxing.

Marcolo Theater of Power: I'm not sure what to think of this one. It's definitely not a kitchen that has mass appeal. The story is great and the design works in that context. But it is super theatrical (yeah, I know, duh, that's the "Theater" part), and some of the elements look like they were salvaged from a church.

Pal (pewter & stainless hood): I like everything about this one. It has a real sense of history. I love that rangehood.

Pal (Storybook pink & green). This one is fun and feminine. I really like the wallpaper.

Juliekcmo: I appreciated the history, too. Great summary. The painting in your design is adorable, and the dishes totally work with it. Are those lights for over the island? They look huge! Too huge, if my perspective is right.

Pal (White): Very queenly.

Pal (Rose Bisazza): I like this but the color of the chairs seem off (too much orange compared to the cabs and the roses).

Mudhouse (Ann Boleyn): This one totally worked for me. I especially love the two lighting fixtures. The backsplash might be a weeeee bit over the top.

I have another direction I want to try for an English colonial, which is a very common style of dressed-down Tudor that a lot of people in the Northeast live in.

At some point I think it might be fun to try one of these threads using a real kitchen that's in the planning stage. One volunteer could post pics of their house along with some inspiration items, and we could see what we might come up with. We'd need a rule that says the "client" is not really the client--no squashing of ideas.

writersblock, you're right, there does seem to be some controversy about that lovely portrait. I pulled it from this site Tudor Portraits, but Wikipedia has an entry saying it was misidentified as an Anne Boleyn portrait at some point in time. Liz will contact her professors for further research, and will take down the Henry the Eighth dartboard, if necessary. ;-)

A general comment - I would encourage people who didn't post in earlier threads to feel free to do so now or in the future. I might go back to one or two of them if the mood (muse) strikes me. I don't think the threads have to been static in time.

In addition, there's an entire genre of very common Tudoresque house styles we haven't touched yet called the English Colonial, or English Cottage, depending on what part of the country you're in. Built in mass numbers in the '20s, they have obvious links to Tudor forms but are based on the vernacular architecture of the period rather than grand palaces, with the basic structure created out of leftover, stripped-down craftsman elements. Rather than stucco, half timbering and stone exteriors, these houses are normally covered with brick, shingles or clapboards.

The interior uses classic English cottage elements. The iconic English cottage is a rustic dwelling built in Tudor times but with a later overlay of folk 18th century updates. Hence we see French ladder-back chairs, a lantern pendant and a Welsh cupboard, freshened with a more modern paint color.

This style of interior appeared in 1920s magazine ads as an example of folk English style.

Sochi, thanks, and I agree it would be good to be able to go back and post new ideas to previous Design threads too. Sometimes I am slow to incubate ideas. And one thread might cause someone to have a new idea about an older one (a new approach, or the introduction of a cool material.)

Marcolo, your last pretty board helps me to understand why you said you could do this topic almost endlessly. So many different levels to work on. Those elements are great together.

But since this is the Tudor thread, I will say, on topic, that I went to a Christmas party at a friend's 1927 Tudor house. It still has all the original lighting fixtures. They remodeled the kitchen a couple years ago and kept some of the original Douglas fir cabinets and had new ones built to match. Thanks to this thread, I was in a much better position to appreciate her house than I would have been before.