Tudor / Art Deco Bungalow 1930 - 1940

Although stylistically the Tudor superseded the Californian the departure was not radical in plan layout. In its most basic form the bungalow layout was much the same being of five main rooms with a sleepout under the rear lean-to. The main external difference is from gutter line up as the roof pitch changes from thirty degrees to a steeply pitched sixty degrees and invariably with three ornately decorated gables.

The verandahs are still in place but created from a simple change of angle from the main roof line, now often, extending to one side to accommodate a new necessity: the carport.

It is in the infill of the dominant gables that the fashion change is most evident, a taste for an old English revival of Tudor, Elizabethan framing timbers over white stucco. This gable patterning is highly variable: criss cross, diagonal, curved, circular and very rarely on any one house are all three gable infill patterns the same.

This theme also appears in clear leadlight framing above sash windows and around doors. Another defining characteristic is the "candy" columns; all smooth white plaster but infinite variation from classic roman to square fluted. Tudors were of brick construction with a feature freestone front wall and terra cotta tiled roofing became more popular.

Variations include the "Kentish Gable Tudor" [the gable not meeting at a peak but chamfered back at 45 degrees] and the mansions of their day the "Gentlemen's Bungalow" of up to twelve main rooms, sensibly including some within the voluminous roof line. Interior features of this era were large front drawing rooms with stained timber on high ceilings and walls and often lavish swirling plaster work including indented ceiling roses.

Other cultural influences occurred at this time with the distinctive Art Deco influenced "Spanish Mission" home [1929 -45] and later cousin the "Dutch Gable" [1934-45] emerging. These homes appeared smaller despite sharing the same internal layout as the Tudor as the distinctive gables had disappeared.

The Spanish flavour was achieved with rounded arches to the verandahs and windows with Cordova tiled roofs and again the same used as features on the stucco render chimneys and verandahs.

The Dutch Gable variation featured stepped or flowing curves of white masonry with featured front corbels in dark, often glazed brick, pairing into but contrasting with the gable. As the motor car gained acceptance many carports and garages were built in this style and often rather clumsily retro fitted to earlier homes. We are in danger of losing the built stock of these styles as they haven fallen from favour and are, too often, routinely "knocked" by developers.