English Cottage Style

As I've posted before, you fellas know that your Head Trucker gets off on looking at old house plans, and even trying to draw some of my own.  The English cottage style was way big in the 20's and 30's, and I remember as a kid I used to see a lot of old houses around town built that way - of course, being a goofy kid, I just thought they looked weird, with their narrow, pointy gables and long, long rooflines.  (I never heard anyone use the term "catslide roof" back then, but it's a great description.)

Even now, this is not a style I would ever choose for my own house - I'm a Colonial Revival man - but at this late age I can appreciate the artistry that went into them.  Here's a couple of pretty cool houses to share with you, from a 1924 Bilt-Well catalog of plans (see a lot more on the slideshow at Antique Home.)  Click to enlarge:

Dig the colored stonework around the doorways.
And notice the attached garage, a rarity at the time.

That catslide roof would have been way too tempting for a little boy who loved to climb - like yours truly.

And while we're on the subject, might as well show you Eudora Welty's Tudor-style home in Jackson, built in 1925, in which she lived until her death in 2001.

It's a very roomy, livable place.  You can see the floor plans and take a virtual tour over at the Welty House website.

And I was really amazed to learn some time ago that the architect her father (an insurance company executive) engaged to design the house is the same man - Wyatt Hedrick - who designed the awesome Art Deco Texas & Pacific buildings in downtown Fort Worth, local landmarks (my God, they're huge, you can't miss them) now turned into very high-priced condos.

They just don't build 'em like they used to, eh guys?