What Is a Tudor Style House?

The front façade of a brown and white English Tudor house with interlocking gabled roofs with brick accents and an attached brick ADU with a separate entrance. The home is surrounded by healthy green shrubbery and has a small water fountain in the middle of the stone-paved driveway.

One look at a Tudor style house and you’re instantly transported to the English countryside. This distinct architecture dates back hundreds of years, borrowing elements of Renaissance and Gothic design, and later experienced a revival in the United States that continued to grow in popularity through the mid-twentieth century. Similar to cottage homes, their medieval imagery evokes a storybook charm, and their unique combination of materials makes for a truly signature look.

A profile shot of a brown and white English Tudor style house with a thatched roof and a tall chimney. The siding is made up of half-timbering wood patterns and brick accents. The garden surrounding the home is in full bloom, producing lettuce and spices.

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Features of Tudor Style Houses

Known for their brown-and-white color scheme, Tudor style houses are typically built from stone or bricks, with a façade of stucco and exposed timbering framing. The framing creates straight lines that connect each level of the home, giving it a sense of geometry. Their steep-pitched, intersecting gabled roofs are tailor-made for climates that experience high levels of precipitation; snow slides off before accumulating, and rainwater has a natural path to the gutter system.

The interior of a brown and white English Tudor style house with exposed wood ceiling beams. The furniture is soft Victorian-style, and the accent pieces are dark mahogany wood.

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From the outside of a Tudor home, you can imagine sitting around the hearth under exposed wood ceiling beams, taking in the cozy atmosphere as the fireplace crackles. And your imagination would be spot on! A large fireplace is a central feature of these homes, given that they were the primary heating source for households early on in their history. Arched entryways with stonework accents, decorative chimneys, and narrow, closely grouped windows are also defining features of Tudor architecture.

The front façade of a brown and white Tudor style house with interlocking gabled roofs, brick accents, a tall chimney, several windows, and a decorative front entrance with stone masonry framing the doorway. There are several shrubs and a hedge in the front yard garden beds.

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Once World War II-era housing development began to shift toward addressing suburban sprawl affordably, the masonry-heavy Tudor style house became less popular. However, they are still found throughout the U.S. today.