Hubert Savage, Architect (3)

 

 

Magdalen College Hall, Oxford, built circa 1500 (note flattened Tudor arches)

 

 

Tudor Gestures

One aspect of Victoria's Arts and Crafts architectural tradition was about creating continuity with the past, without trying to mimic it or copy its building practices. This was more complicated in the new world than in Europe, where traditions of local building dating from medieval times and earlier were living parts of the built environment. Hubert Savage shared the local aspiration to present a reassuring modicum of this continuity, achieved by means of a smattering of details drawn from the Tudor-era (also, Savage was an emigre British-trained architect). 

 

 

 Aberconwy House, Aberconwy, Wales: 15th century room

 

Generally, Arts and Crafts architects eschewed copying specific styles, preferring instead to emphasize local building practices and local or regional materials, and limiting themselves to expressing the inherent qualities of the materials used to construct or decorate the building. On Vancouver Island, these materials always involved use of old-growth fir, stone if quarried nearby, and to a more limited extent, locally made brick for utilities like chimneys and fireplaces. Arts and Crafts architects preferred local building practices to those more exotic and remote, because staying with how buildings were built locally increased the likelihood of new building fitting in. A convincing continuity of tradition could also be achieved by incorporating a few elements gesturing in the chosen direction. Here in Victoria, that direction tended to be Tudor (an era that fell roughly in the sixteenth century in England). As using Tudor details was intended to be decorative rather than functional, it was important that they not be laid on too thick. Hence, a few details giving contemporary structures a distinct look or character thus reflected the progressive design idea of 'alluding' to a prior era, which established the desired continuity. Allusive Tudor imagery (for example, Tudor boards used in the gable ends, or similar boards used elsewhere on the exterior) had been found to work in the Victoria housing market, convincingly so in the works of talented society architect Samuel Maclure (see photos below, where Tudor-style boards are shown gracing three of Maclure's smaller structures). 

 

913 Burdett Avenue, Victoria, chalet for Cecil Roberts, built in 1905

941 Meares Street in Victoria, bungalow for William Christy, built in 1906

2141 Granite Street, Oak Bay, built in 1912, colonial bungalow for A.O. Campbell

 

The use of Tudor boards was standard practice back in 1913, imparting feelings of familiarity to a largely British clientele with the resources to commission architect-designed homes. These architects strove to incorporate a smattering of Tudor details into structures that were otherwise thoroughly modern in layout and equipment. Savage's use of a limited palette of such details for his own house thus nods in the same direction. Hence, the Tudor boards he used in the cross-gables on the frontage are obviously not meant to be taken as authentic half-timbering (which reflected a particular method of using oak planks in the construction of buildings) but were used as a device to panelize gable space in a way not inconsistent with Tudor.

 

 

Authentic Tudor building, with arch and timber details in oak, reconstructed

 

I think Savage designed the original panels between the Tudor boards to appear as plaster-like (perhaps the spaces between the vertical boards were originally plaster-on-lath, a common wall treatment in houses back then). But whatever Savage's original approach had been, the effect had long been updated by the time I arrived. By then the panels between the Tudor boards were made of plywood that was painted undercoat-white, of the modern grade known as 'good one side'. 'Good one side' plywood utilizes the inferior product of younger trees grown in replanted forests - or second growth timber, as it's known in these parts. This product comes with lots of knots (the residue of branches) that are patched-over in manufacture, with the patches kept to one side of the plywood (hence the grade 'good one side'). It's notionally intended for uses requiring just one good face. The strange thing here, however, was that whoever bought the replacement plywood hadn't paid attention to how it was used - so the replacement panels had been installed with the patches facing outwards! And these patches were at the point of showing through the fading colour scheme. The problem of patch show-through was resolved by the suggestion of Mike Abernethy, of Double A Painting, a heritage paint contractor who has worked extensively on the building. Mike proposed mixing coarse-grained sand into the exterior paint, which he felt would dry to mimic the look of plaster. It took considerable work on the part of his skilled painters to keep the heavy sand suspended in the paint, but the strategy ultimately worked like a charm!

 

Panels mimicking a plastered look, masking the visible plywood patches

Patches be gone, and via the magic of suspended sand in paint, they were!

Another element of Tudor imagery in the Savage bungalow is the extensive use of clear leaded glass. This includes diamond-shaped panes in a fixed window on the north wall, rectangular-shaped panes in the dining room, and hexagonal panes in twin bays on the front elevation, and in a single fixed window on the south wall. The use of Tudor-style leaded-glass through the entire bungalow contributes greatly to the overall atmosphere, adding classy, artistic touches that enrich rooms while distantly evoking Tudor times. Tudor was an era that was smitten by the possibilities of joining small pieces of glass into panes held in place with lead cames, at the time such glass was more widely available (see next photo). 

 

 

Tudor-era building, leaded-glass windows, with casements that open 

 

 

Manufacturing larger sheets of glass with lead cames, which could then be framed with wood, allowed designers to open the walls and bring more light into buildings. In the rainy, often overcast English climate, this was a revelation that took those who could afford to purchase such glass by storm. Look closely at surviving Tudor-era buildings and you will see this new effect being explored (cf. photo above). The overall feeling a particular window evokes derives to some extent from the shape and size of the individual panes it's made of, which are nearly always a repeating form. As a result, the use of clear leaded-glass panels still evokes the Tudor era, and Arts and Crafts architects were very much alive to the possibilities of such glazing. But the phenomenon also had to do with the unique impacts of the leaded-glass, and not simply from nostalgia for bygone days.

 

 

Play of light and shade reflects off leaded glass panes

 

 

"Think of the beauty of leaded glass compared with the lifeless hard mechanical perfection of polished plate. This beauty has nothing to do with its old-fashioned look, with romantic associations, or quaintness of effect; it is simply an inherent property of all leaded glazing, due to the wonderful and never ending charm of the play of light and shade on the different panes, each one catching the light slightly differently from any other..." Barry Parker & Raymond Unwin, The Art of Building A Home, 1901.

 

 

Hexagonal panes running horizontally (right, above) at dusk in early spring 

One unique configuration of Tudor-style leaded glass at the Savage bungalow is the trio of fixed windows with hexagonal panes, two of which appear in the projecting bays bookending the verandah, and the third as a standalone window in the south wall of the living room (seen in the photo above). I have been unable to find a precedent for the design among pictures of surviving Tudor-era glass (unlike the rectangular panes shown below, or the diamond-shaped panes on the north wall) so this use may in fact be a Savage-original. In Tudor-era buildings, the leaded-glass panes tended to run vertically (as for example the casements shown below, second and third photos) whereas in Savage's use the hexagonal panes run horizontally, thus occupying greater width than depth, in a pattern that reflects and reinforces bungalow lines.

 

 

Hexagonal window in one of two bays flanking the projecting verandah

  

Transom above opening casements, with stays

  

Casement windows framing a built-in locker seat that invites sitting

 

 

There are also vertical panels of leaded glass in casement format (casement windows are hinged on one side, so they can be opened, and come with locking and holding devices, called stays or adjusters) in the dining room, as well as the fixed panel serving as a transom above the built-in window seat (see last two photos above). This arrangement is a cozy niche in a glazed area that invites human use, especially because the casements face south and are set into a projecting bay. The device of a seat crafted into a bay window also acts as a light trap, magnifying the amount of daylight entering the room.

 

 

Diamond-paned glass graces the walk-in closet

 

 

At the rear of the house there is a diamond-paned window in clear leaded-glass (the only north facing window in a bedroom; the main bedroom has no north-facing windows). Whenever the walk-in closet was added (the precise date isn't known) two small diamond-paned windows were installed as casements (see photo above). Overall, Savage's use of Tudor-style glazing is spare but inventive, reinforcing the theme of continuity with Tudor times that adds considerable feeling to the place and enriches its details immeasurably. And because these windows are just of clear glass, they neatly sidestep association with Victorian times where coloured-glass effects were widely explored. They are thus, if you will, that much more pure in effect. We appreciated the subtle effects of the various leaded-glass windows, so it was natural for us to add more when addressing situations where windows needed replacing, as they did in what eventually became our conservatory. During the first exterior renovation, back in 1999, I had our skilled joiner-carpenter (David Helland) fabricate matching casement windows with rectangular glass panes (similar to the dining room windows) as replacements for the aluminum sliders installed on either side of the small picture window. On plan, the original concept called the back porch a "summer tea room" open to the elements, but that could be shuttered in winter. David did a fantastic job of making and installing the new casements, which we dressed with hardware in an oil-rubbed bronze finish. 

 

 

New leaded-glass casement, conservatory room

 

 

Further use of details evoking era-specific themes are the Tudor-style arches over inset wall shelves in the dining room, spare bedroom and the kitchen (photos below). This was another of Savage's many artful touches, tastefully spread throughout the house. The Tudor arch is one that has been flattened to come to a low point (in contrast to Roman or Gothic arches, which are either rounded or brought to a sharper point) done in a style that is said to be of Moorish origin. Many themes of Medieval architecture came from contact, via the crusades, with the more architecturally sophisticated Middle Eastern nations.

 

 

 

Tudor-style arches at Hatley Castle, designed by architect Samuel Maclure

 

The arch as a device over inset shelving reinforces Tudor-era continuity, but again, not as functional replication. In fact, taking advantage of the wall cavity to create inset shelving is actually very California, adding another American Arts and Crafts touch to the bungalow. These arches gesture in the direction of Tudor without literally trying to copy what would have been done in that era (pictures below).

 

 

Tudor arch above inset shelving, dining room

 

More severe (deco-era) Tudor-arch over shelving beneath diamond-paned glass

 

Tudor arch set over inset shelving in the kitchen

 

There are, of course, other Tudor references embedded in the building's interior: the matte black wood panelling, plate rail, boxed beams, and the mantle piece and mirror above the fireplace, for instance. Matte black wood was a favoured device of many British Arts and Crafts architects, and Savage and his coterie (the James brothers, both architects and close personal friends) tended to prefer this type of treatment for their houses. Rosemary James Cross (P. L. James's daughter) confided to me once that in the early days, the  architects' wives would organize blacking parties where the woodwork (in the Savage bungalow, matte black woodwork was dominant in the entry hallway, living room, and dining room) was actively re-coated with black shoe polish! You can just imagine the ladies having a go at the walls with rags and black shoe polish!

 

 

You can see the ladies having a go at this room, blackening the walls

"In the English Arts and Crafts tradition, Douglas [James] insisted on having interior wooden trim finished in black...the black finish to interior woodwork has been preserved in most cases." Rosemary James Cross, The Life and Times of Victoria Architect Percy Leonard James (2005). 

 

Books for Looks:

 

Rosemary James Cross, The Life and Times of Victoria Architect Percy Leonard James, Dear Brutus Publishing, 2005.

Martin Segger, The Buildings of Samuel Maclure - In Search Of Appropriate Form, Sono Nis, 1986.