by Sue Osgood

Created on: November 25, 2008

Today's interpretation of Tudor architecture might best be expressed as a copy of a copy. This style derives from building methods commonly used during the reign of Britain's Tudor monarchs (1485 to 1603) and, as is the case with many historical styles, is not compatible with today's building methods. These days, the well-known "black-and-white" of authentic half-timbered Tudor buildings is often an add-on to an otherwise unremarkable modern facade.

Understanding the origin of the half-timbered Tudor style requires a look at British building after the Middle Ages. The vernacular architecture of the time reflected materials immediately available and the common knowledge of how to use them. England at the beginning of the sixteenth century was densely forested with ancient oaks. Huge timbers felled from the nearby forests were a logical choice for structural members of a building. Trunk sections ("crucks)"were sawn and sunk into the ground to form vertical members, giving the name to cruck construction.

Verticals were further braced by the addition of lesser branches placed at an angle to the trunks. Bracing members were flat sections cut from the branches and often reflected the curve that the branch took as it grew. These branch sections often expressed a graceful curve in the braces of the Tudor style not intentional decoration, but the builder working as best he could with the materials at hand. Members were not laid out in even, symmetrical bays; instead, spacing was worked out with whatever dimensions the available timbers presented.

Once framed in, walls in a typical Tudor dwelling were completed with wattle and daub construction. This was based on a framework of twigs. (The form is still seen in woven-twig, or "wattle," fencing in English gardens.) Wattle filled the spaces between vertical and bracing members and was then covered with "daub," a mixture of whatever local clays, mud, straw and animal dung might be available. Certainly an early forerunner to lath and plaster construction, the daub-covered wattle was still relatively exposed to the elements and required protection. Daub and wattle was whitewashed (and recoated frequently), giving the bright white so familiar in authentic Tudor construction.

As the daub surface was protected by its periodic coat of whitewash, the exposed timbers expressing the building's structural members also needed protection from the elements. The best means of protecting exterior timbers in Tudor times was a liberal coating

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