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 a reassuring continuity with the past, without trying to mimic it or copy its building practices. This was more complicated in the new world than it was in Europe, where traditions of local building dating from medieval times and even earlier were a living part of the built environment. Hubert Savage shared the local aspiration for a reassuring modicum of continuity, which was achieved by means of a smattering of details drawn from the Tudor-era (besides, Savage was an emigre British architect). 

 

 

 Aberconwy House, Aberconwy, Wales: 15th century room

 

Generally, Arts and Crafts architects eschewed copying specific styles, preferring instead to emphasize local building practices, favouring locally or regionally derived materials, and expressing the inherent qualities of the materials used in construction or decoration of the building - materials that, for homes on Vancouver Island, always involved use of old-growth fir, stone if it could be 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 that were more exotic and remote, because staying with how buildings were usually built locally increased the likelihood of new builds fitting in. A convincing continuity of tradition could also be forged by incorporating a few elements gesturing in the desired direction. Here in Victoria, that direction tended to be Tudor (an era that fell roughly in the sixteenth century in England). As the use of these Tudor details was intended to be decorative rather than functional, it was important that they not be laid on too thickly. A few details giving contemporary structures a distinct look or character thus reflected the progressive design idea of 'alluding' to a prior era, which gave the desired continuity. Allusive Tudor imagery (for example, Tudor boards in the gable ends, or similar boards used elsewhere on the building's exterior) had been tested and found to work in Victoria's 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 who had 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 these details for his own house thus nods in the same direction. Hence, the Tudor boards he employed in the cross-gables along the frontage are obviously not meant to be read as authentic half-timbering (reflecting a precise method of using oak planks in the construction of buildings) but were used rather as a device to panelize gable space in a manner that is 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 to be plaster-like (perhaps the spaces between the vertical boards were originally plaster-on-lath, a common wall treatment in houses back in 1913). But whatever Savage's original approach was, the effect had long been updated by the time I arrived in 1988. By then the panels between the Tudor boards were made of plywood painted undercoat-white, of the modern grade known as 'good one side'. 'Good one side' plywood makes use of 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 knot holes (the residue of branches) that have been 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 a single good face. The strange thing here, however, was that whoever bought the replacement plywood hadn't paid attention to how the product was used - so the replacement panels had been installed with the patches facing outwards! And these patches were at the point of showing through a fading colour scheme. The problem of patch show-through was resolved by the suggestion of Mike Abernethy, of Double A Painting, a heritage painting 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 various shapes of clear leaded glass. These include 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 throughout the bungalow makes a singular contribution to overall atmosphere, adding classy, artistic touches that serve to enrich rooms while distantly evoking Tudor times (an era that was smitten by the possibilities of joining small pieces of glass into panes held in place with lead cames, at a time when such glass was becoming more widely available). 

 

 

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

 

 

Creating larger areas of solid glass with lead cames that could then be framed with wood allowed designers to open up 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 glazing by storm. Look closely at surviving Tudor-era houses and you will see this new effect being actively explored (see photo above). The overall feeling a particular window evokes derives to an extent from the shape and size of the individual panes it's composed of, which are most often a repeating form (see photo above). As a result, the use of clear leaded-glass panels still conveys Tudor feelings, and Arts and Crafts architects of the early twentieth century were very much alive to the possibilities of using such glazing for effect. But the phenomenon also had to do with the unique impacts deriving from such leaded-glass panes, not simply from feelings of nostalgia for a bygone era.

 

 

Play of light and shade reflected by 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 glazing at the Savage bungalow is the trio of fixed windows with hexagonal panes, two of which appear as centrepieces in the projecting bays that bookend the verandah, and the third as a standalone window in the living room's south wall (seen in the photo above). I have not been able to locate a precedent for this 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 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 strip of hexagonal panes runs horizontally, thus occupying more 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 both fixed and casement formats (casement windows are hinged on one side, so they open, and come equipped with locking and holding devices, called stays or adjusters) in the dining room, the fixed panel serving as a transom above a built-in window seat (see last two photos above). This creates 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 serves as a light trap, magnifying the amount of daylight that enters the room.

 

 

Diamond-paned glass gracing the walk-in closet

 

 

At the rear of the house there is a single 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 to the house (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 and adding considerable feeling to the house, all while enriching its details immeasurably. And because these windows are composed of clear glass, they neatly sidestep any association with Victorian times, when coloured-glass effects were more widely explored. They are thus, if you will, that much more pure in impact. We appreciated the subtle effects of the various leaded-glass pane-types, so it was natural for us to add more when addressing situations where windows needed replacement, such as in what eventually became the conservatory. During the first exterior renovation, in 1999, I had our skilled joiner-carpenter, David Helland, fabricate matching casement windows with rectangular glass panes (modelled on the dining room windows) to replace the cheap aluminum sliders someone had installed on either side of the small picture window. On plan, the original concept called the back porch a "summer tea room" that remained open to the elements, but could be shuttered in winter (a notion that can't have worked out well in reality, given the length of our wet 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 above 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 a low point (in contrast to Roman and Gothic arches, which are either rounded or brought to a sharp point) in a style that's 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 once again, not as functional replication. In fact, taking advantage of the wall cavity to create inset shelving is actually very California, adding an 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 example. 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 in their houses. Rosemary James Cross (P. L. James's daughter) confided to me once that in the early days, the wives of these architects 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.