Like most period revival architecture of its time, the English Picturesque displays a conscious attempt to achieve a "picturesque" look. The styles were modeled on Late Medieval cottages and country houses of the Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They were a response to a strong romantic movement which looked back to the Old World for a sense of tradition and culture. While most often characterized by generous half-timbering, some examples were modeled on all masonry rural English farmhouses and the more sophisticated English Country House which displayed little or no half-timbering.
CHARACTERISTICS:
- Steeply pitched roofs, usually with several prominent gables.
- Stucco, brick and/or stone wall surfaces, usually with exposed half-timbering.
- Large, expansive windows, often with small panes and casement sashes.
- Prominent, sometimes clustered chimneys.
- Smaller, asymmetrical porches.
- Upper floors often project slightly over lower floors.
- Windows with small panes over or around the primary pane.