There’s no place like home! But when did your home come to be? From modern eco-friendly new-builds to traditional Tudor houses, the UK has a rich architectural history that makes up the bounty of characterful homes found across the nation.
Can you tell the difference between a Victorian or Queen Anne era of house? Take a step back in time with us as we look at some of the most common styles of homes that make up the tapestry of today’s housing market and the characteristics that make them so distinct.
Tudor Houses
Characterised by their distinctive timber framing, steeply pitched or thatched roofs, asymmetry, and half timbering to the exterior, the Tudor style of housing emerged during the 15th to 17th century during the Tudor reign of England.
An exterior of black timber and whitewashed walls showcases the materials used with the construction of Tudor homes. The timbers were joined together with wooden pegs and in between, the classic wattle and daub technique was used to create a stucco look, created using materials such as a mixture of soil, clay, or straw.
While the official timeline of the Tudor era ran from 1485-1603, due to the popularity of Tudor revival architecture in the 19th and 20th century the style was reintroduced (though with updated building techniques) and you can find many houses with a Tudor aesthetic to have been built outside of the Tudor period.
Queen Anne Houses
While Queen Anne’s reign was short (1702- 1714) the architectural style that takes her name long succeeded her, with the style largely popularised in a 19th century revival.
In British architecture the Queen Anne style is mostly associated with larger manor houses. The style of architecture can commonly be found in neighbourhoods such as Chelsea or Kensington and is recognisable by its use of bilateral symmetry, and the incorporation of Palladian-derived pediments to the front formal elevation.
Georgian Houses
Towards the latter half of the 17th century and the early 18th century, alongside the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions within the UK, the Georgian Style of housing arose. From grand Palladian manors to more modest urban dwellings, the Georgian style of homes was quickly adopted by the emerging middle class, largely created upon the designs of the 16th century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio.
One notable characteristic of Georgian houses is the move towards a more symmetrical look. Heavily inspired by classical Roman and Greek architecture many Georgian houses follow a pattern, being three or four stories high, often featuring columns and built around garden squares.
During the period of the emergence of the Georgian style of architecture England was facing a Window Tax. Due to this many house-builders minimised the number of windows being built into the property to avoid a greater tax burden. Therefore, Georgian homes will often contain large feature windows to the ground and first floor, with a focus on geometric shapes, with smaller typically square shaped windows to the higher floors. A common feature of Georgian houses is the use of quoins, contrasting stone masonry blocks to emphasise corners, which was also a feature of the Queen Anne style but peaked in the Georgian style of housing and more often associated with Georgian buildings.
Victorian Houses
The Victorian era, spanning from 1837 – 1901 under the rule of Queen Victoria, saw a shift in the socioeconomic structure of England and introduced many changes in fashion, working dynamics and architectural style.
Rapid advancements of the Industrial Revolution led to growth in the middle classes size and wealth, who sought to display their socioeconomic fortunes through elaborately decorated homes.
The period saw a revival of gothic architecture, with high rooflines, ornate gables, and arches heavily featured.
However, although these features can be attributed to the architecture of the middle class, a highly recognisable style of housing that emerged in this period for the working class is the back-to-back terraced houses that sprung up as a result of the dense population of working-class people moving to the nation’s industrial hubs.
Despite the wealth disparity in housing there are still commonalities in the characteristics of buildings from this period:
- A move back to brickwork, often with colourful or patterned brickwork
- Narrow hallways with multiple entertaining rooms
- High ceilings
- Fireplaces in every room
- Decorative moulding
- Heavily patterned tiles and wallpaper (watch out for arsenic-based green Victorian wallpaper)
Edwardian Houses
While the Edwardian period was short lived, owing to the commencement of the first world war, it marked a noticeable swing from the Victorian era of architecture.
The Edwardian era was heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, which rejected the mass-produced goods of the industrial period promoting craftsmanship and traditional forms of building. Edwardian homes typically have more of a focus on outdoor space and privacy with homes being set back further from the street with front gardens.
While the exterior of Edwardian homes were still built to be colourful and decorative with red brickwork, timber porches, and intricate balusters; the style can be considered to be more subdued than Victorian architecture. Moreover, where Victorian homes where characterised as smaller darker homes with narrow hallways, Edwardian homes were built to be wider and larger with bigger hallways and more windows to help let in natural light.
Key recognisable characteristics of Edwardian architecture are:
- Red brickwork
- Porches with a wooden frames
- Houses set back with front gardens
- Rooms that are wide in dimension, as opposed to high ceilings
- Large windows for natural light
1930’s Semi-houses
After the first world war many more rural areas faced an agricultural depression and large plots of land were being sold off. Concurrently, there was an expansion of train-lines and transport links. With the land alongside these areas selling at lower prices than in the city, it led to the construction of housing developments on these large plots of land.
The 1930’s semi’s were smaller than previous 1914 sized houses, typically following a set floor plan of a hallway with a small front room leading off from it, a second living room at the rear, and a kitchen on the ground floor. Upstairs the plan consists of two large bedrooms, a third smaller room, and a bathroom.
A 1930s house was commonly built with solid brick walls and lime mortar, being fairly boxy in shape with curved bay windows to the front elevation.
The 1930’s semi remains to be one of the most prevalent forms of architectural styles you see today, accounting for a large portion of the UK’s older housing stock.
90’s–00’s New-build houses
By the time the 90’s rolled around several new forms of architecture had been trialled and abandoned, from the mass produced and quickly erected 1940’s Airey houses to 1960’/70’s terraced built with modernism in mind.
Both of these examples of architecture were targeted for tight budgets and didn’t necessarily take details such as insulation and material longevity into account. Thus rose the 90’s new-builds.
The 1990’s new build constructions once again embraced more traditional house features: timber framing and rendered walls with the new-builds of this time characteristically built with either a red or beige style of brickwork.
However, it’s not the outward appearance of the 90’s new-build that draws its distinction, but rather the greater consideration for sustainability and building safety regulations, laying the standard for measurements such as fire and gas safety to this day.
Several notable construction choices were made to improve energy performance of homes: cavity walls were a mainstay of the period with insulation also being introduced into walls and loft spaces. Deeper concrete strip foundations were implemented as were trusted roof rafters with better ventilated eaves. The most recognisable inclusion of the 90’s new-build, however, was arguably the double-glazed windows, which have since become the standard practice for new constructions and in the retrofitting of older homes. These windows matched with uPVC or composite front doors with a small, glazed window panel are distinct trademarks of the 90’s new-build.
The Eco-homes of today and the future
The new build homes of today have adopted many of the same construction values of the 90’s newbuilds but accelerated to adopt an even greater emphasis on sustainability and eco-friendly ingenuity into their building practices.
Modernistic architecture has once again risen to popularity with the incorporation of environmentally friendly and modern ways of living.
These modern homes factor in the importance of natural lighting and shading often built with large windows and open floor plans to make the most of lighting, but also using double or triple glazed panes to prevent air leaks. EPC’s are at the forefront or these builds with homes built to be as energy efficient as possible, not only through cavity walls and insulation but by also often adopting renewable energy such as solar panels and including smart technology to help monitor and reduce energy consumption.
While energy efficiency building practices may be the future, this doesn’t call for the eradication of the historically and architecturally rich landscape of the UK’s housing stock. Great strides are being taken in the world of retrofitting, allowing for the preservation of these character homes whilst also improving their EPC rating.
Find out more about retrofitting and EPC’s here.