Style

Dates

Materials & Features

Medieval

to c. 1500

Generally built of timber, with the more affluent gentry having houses built of stone or brick. Designed using Gothic form i.e. pointed giving an ecclesiastical quality to the buildings.

Early Tudor

c. 1500-1560

The first Renaissance influences on English architecture can been seen in this type of building. Triangular pediments and columns, plaster panelling and wood carving becoming more elaborate. Windows became larger and there was also a strong Flemish influence with many houses being built with Dutch gables, fancifully shaped, especially in areas such as East Anglia.

Elizabethan

c. 1560-1600

Still looking toward Europe for inspiration buildings became increasingly elaborate. Ornamentation which gave an extreme richness to the architecture with plain houses being given fanciful parapets. Windows also became more plentiful, however Gothic detail persisted until the end of the 16th Century.

Jacobean

c.1600-1630

The shaped gable became a hallmark of the affluent. Comfort had become a priority with rooms being lit by large windows (although still of the medieval sort they now had opening iron casements).

Carolean

c.1630-1670

The basis of Georgian domestic architecture, this new approach incorporated Italian precedents which cast aside the elaboration and detail typical of the early 17th Century. Facades had correct reproductions of classical details such as columns, big hipped roofs, square plans and rectangular windows.

Early Georgian

c.1670-1760

Mellow red brick buildings with white sash windows, hipped roofs with big chimney stacks. This was the Queen Anne style of Architecture. So called 'Baroque' architects of this time abandoned Classical correctness and exaggerated it. Columns or pilasters ran up the full height of facades and were loaded with carved decoration in the style of composite columns.

Late Georgian

c.1760-1830

Opposed to the style of early Georgian Architecture these houses used detail sparingly. Wall surfaces and roofs were low and unassertive. These houses were brick built with details confined to fanlights and railings. One example of Late Georgian architects who did not keep to the rules was John Nash, examples of his magnificent terraces may be viewed around Regent's Park in London.

Victorian

c. 1830-1910

A fusion of Gothic, Tudor and Jacobean architecture in a time of industrial revolution: windows incorporated big sheets of machine made glass, roofs were built of Welsh slate despatched by train. Homes were of generous proportion and built with reliable construction.

Arts & Crafts

c.1880-1920

A rejection of Victorian values occurred during this period in architecture. Handmade bricks, tiles, natural timer, and exposed plasterwork reflecting the areas in which the properties were located. Inspired by old cottages and farmhouses these homes were picturesque and irregular. Lutyen houses of this period were picturesque and in the Tudor style however this architect moved towards a neo-Georgian style towards the end of this time.

Modern

c.1930

White walls, horizontal windows, flat roofs and sun terraces, concrete columns elevated living spaces, open-plan living spaces.

Post War
Traditionalism

c.1980's

Again, mainly in the Georgian style but architecturally designed and up to the standards expected of today's homebuyers. There has also been a resurgence of traditional domestic styles in recent years.