In previous articles, we have talked about the Victorian Age and architectural style, the Cabinet dollhouses, and also the Georgian style and age. Today, we are going for a (little) bit more simplistic style of dollhouses and that is the English Tudor dollhouse and the Tudor homes.
What is the English Tudor-style homes and what is a Tudor dollhouse?
During the reign of the Tudor dynasty, which reigned from 1485 to 1603, the Tudor style was a predominant style in English architecture.
The Tudor style was influenced by Flemish Mannerism (aka late Renaissance) and it contains many decorations carried out in masonry, such as arches (Tudor arches), stepped gables, and pinnacles. The interiors were decorated in a very ‘wealthy’ way.
The Neotudor style however is a romantic interpretation of the Tudor style that we can see in and outside England about halfway into the 19th century. Here as well, extensive use has been made of ornaments. Sometimes this style is also referred to as ‘Tudor style’, but that is not correct.
A typical architectural feature of the Tudor style for example is a Tudor Arch which you can see in this picture. It is a flattened version of a Gothic arch and has a wider base.
The picture belongs to Mats Halldin.
Oriel windows jutted from upper floors supported by corbel brackets.
The design of fireplaces improved in such a way, that it became possible to place them in every room, followed by chimneys sprouting everywhere on rooftops. Only the rich could effort expensive and large glass windows.
Thatched roofs were most common, but again the rich used mostly tiles or clay slates.
So for all the miniaturists out there: keep all of that in mind 😉
PS:
Do you want to see something funny? Take a look at this (Dutch) website, where they build this project of new houses, all in Tudor style. People tend to get a little bit crazy. But in a good way, no? 🙂
The Tudors, a little bit of history.
The Tudor Dynasty ruled over England and Wales from 1485 to 1603.
The five Tudor kings were in order:
– Henry VII (reigned from 1485-1509),
– Henry VIII (reigned 1509-1547),
– a son of Henry VII: Eduard VI (reigned 1547-1553),
– a son of Henry VIII: Maria I (reigned 1553-1558),
– the first daughter of Henry VIII: Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603),
– and a second daughter of Henry VIII
You can definitely say that king Henry VIII was most known for marrying 6 wives and murdering 2 of them.
But he also founded the Church of England (Anglican Church) in 1534, became King of Ireland in 1543, and was a great fan of tennis and darts.
Binge-watch The Tudors on Netflix!
Just a personal side-note. If you would like to know more about the Tudors, meaning their lifestyle, a little history, and especially the cruel King Henry VIII, then I can advise you to watch the Netflix series ‘The Tudors’.
It is (partly) fiction, but still, you can see how they lived and that is what we are interested in, right? In any case, you will have a few nights of entertainment, I binge-watched that show 😉
Tudor dolls house interiors and Tudor doll house furniture- 3 reviews.
Let’s check out all the beautiful craftsmanship of Tudor-style doll house interiors and Tudor dolls house furniture!
Shop number 1: HeirloomWoodworksJKR
Makes handcrafted miniature furniture, based on antiques from around the world.
Some more info:
Original designs are handcrafted in 1:12 scale, but can also be made in larger scales.
As far as I can tell, most miniature furniture is made in Tudor style (hardwood with walnut (finish) and consists of:
This is a store that collects and sells all kinds and styles of miniature furniture.
Some more info:
As said above, it is a shop that sells handmade dollhouse furniture. Mostly they are coming from this shop called JBM miniatures. So they resell the furniture.
They also have:
platinum dollhouses
modern furniture
miniature animals
dollhouse dolls
1:12 scale living rooms
All kinds of styles are featured, including our Tudor dollhouse furniture, but also Chinoiserie/Art Nouveau/Victorian style and more, for example.
As for as I can tell, they are all in 1:12 scale.
Many of the pieces in the different miniature collections are reproductions of furniture built in the past century by master cabinet makers from around the world.
Stupendous high-quality creations by JBM, the Tudor furniture has a walnut finish
free shipping costs
Good communication from the seller
The Bad.
returns and exchanges not accepted
Final Conclusion.
If you are mostly interested in Tudor dollhouse furniture, then maybe I would prefer the first shop, because it doesn’t have much choice in this style. Otherwise, this shop is perfect to buy any kind of quality furniture.
there are a few finished pieces, but you need to be aware that most are kits and thus need to be glued together and painted yourself (this is not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing, of course)
Final Conclusion.
To keep from buying Tudor dollhouse furniture that would turn out too expensive to fill a Tudor dollhouse, I would definitely buy furniture kits from this shop, so I can save a lot of money. Because frankly, the beautiful finished pieces from the previous shops are not exactly made for my wallet ????
I think that because of the size, Tudor manor dollhouses are not that popular amongst miniaturists. But there are kits in all kinds of sizes and scales for you to purchase (on Etsy), which we will talk about in another article soon.
First, let’s look at the work of these wonderful miniature artists, who specialize in the Tudor Style.
A. Gerry Welch.
This artist has a website where he shows his previous and current work. It is rather unclear to me if he still makes Tudor dollhouses because his ‘for sale’-page and ‘contact’-page seems to be down.
But of course, you can have a look at his work at the ‘projects’ and ‘previous work’-section.
B. Minis on the edge.
Tracy Topps from MinisontheEdge builds dollhouses and scaled miniatures. I can see that she also has an Instagram page. It is unclear to me as well if she still makes custom dollhouses and sells them.
The house that she made more specifically in the Tudor style, is to be seen in the next video:
C. Artist is unknown.
This video is an older one and the artist is unknown, but I would like to show you a wonderful piece of craftsmanship, that has sold for 10.000$.
The reason why I am showing this to you is to give you an idea of how much time and skills are put into these handmade dollhouses and that they really are pieces of art. Watch and be amazed!
D.Iris March Creations.
Iris March and her family work together to create dollhouses from scratch, but also ‘bashes’ miniature kits. Bashing a kit means that you buy the basic materials of a kit, but that you change it to your own taste.
You can for example use the walls, but you use your own wallpaper, make a stone brick wall, change the roof, use different furniture and curtains, etc.
Have a look at her video of the Tudor Toad Hall Interior that she ‘bashed’ :
E. Mr. and Mrs. Noelins.
This dollhouse was built according to the plans of artist number 1 that I mentioned earlier: Gerry Welch. So the building plans were not his, but still, the result is very fine craftsmanship and requires considerable woodworking skills!
Look at the fantastic video:
F. Kevin Jackson.
This is another fantastic Tudor-style dollhouse artist that I found while updating this blog post in Juli 2021.
Kevin Jackson (click on his name to see his website), makes custom and authentic Tudor dollhouses on a scale of 1:12.
Some day, I am going to make a Tudor-style dollhouse from scratch (if I can lol), but until then, we surely have the possibility to purchase wonderful DIY Tudor-style dollhouse kits, to make it a little easier on ourselves.
So I have reviewed about 6 of them!
Shop number 1: HartsDesireMinis
This store sells or creates
Miniature furniture, dollhouse kits and other miniatures in different scales.
Some more info about this shop.
This shop sells a whole bunch of different miniatures and dollhouse kits in scales : 1″, 1:48 scale, and 1:144 scale: books, china, bears, lamps, furniture, etc. And of course our dollhouse kits, in 2 scales: 1:48 and 1:144.
The structural pieces are laser cut out of 1/16” maple hardwood. The kits include the base, two floors that are etched to resemble hardwood flooring.
The exterior materials include stone, stucco, exterior trims, and two chimneys. And the interior materials include wallpaper, baseboards, cove molding, and trims for the edges of the walls and floors.
Also included are all laser-cut parts for doors, window frames, shutters, and window boxes.
Buyers are raving over this shop, which means that it gets a lot of 5-star reviews in the last 7 days
These kits include everything needed to finish the interior and exterior of the house. It also includes 2 fireplaces, a staircase, a corner fence, and a trellis. Above, you can see what else is included, basically everything you need to finish the houses.
Instruction booklet included
returns and exchanges accepted
fast shipping
The Bad.
The only thing is maybe that the kits are mostly in very, very small scales and not in 1/12 th scale.
Final Conclusion.
I would buy from this shop, I love the little Tudor-style dollhouse kits.
the seller seems to have some communication issues
shipping not so fast
not enough sales yet to give this shop 5 stars
Final Conclusion.
I love the designs of these Tudor dollhouse kits, but as I have seen a few negative reviews about shipping, I would be a little bit more careful. On the other hand, most reviews are still positive!
When I first started writing about the different styles of dollhouses, I didn’t realize that there were actually so many. The Victorian style was the first article describing one and so now the English Tudor style homes and dollhouses.
I wonder if you would be interested in me writing about other styles of dollhouses as well? Then please let me know in the comments! Or you can now join me on my newest Facebook group.
And of course, have a look at Etsy, if you are interested in buying miniature kits or even finished houses in this beautiful style!
6 thoughts on “What Is An English Tudor Dollhouse And What Are Tudorstyle Homes – Some Insights”
Hello Lizzy, it’s been really amazing seeing how you’ve made this thing really clear for understanding and I really enjoy learning about this dollhouse which my kids have always been fantasising about. It sometimes surprises when they say they want one and reading about it now, I can clearly see what they like about it. Cheers,
Hello there Lizzy, these are some really beautiful designs that you recommended in your article and I really enjoyed going through them thoroughly. I like that there is an intricate detailed concept to the tudor home style that does give the hose being designed a sense of reality but also simplicity in essence. Thank you for sharing this article.
Thank you so much for your wonderful response and yes those Tudor homes are interesting, right ?! I have always been interested in the architectural history of buildings, apart from human history. Love it !
Thank you for all the information and the designs are amzing . I am interested in midevil do you have any information on that era I am thinking its on the same line as the tudor and if it is what are the differences hope you can help with your wealth of knowledge thank you
Hi Rosemary!
Thank you for the comment.
About your question: do you mean more information on the architecture of the Middle ages, or more specific on dollhouses? Because as far as I know, “medieval’ dollhouses are just that yes: The Tudor style, and also the Dutch cabinet dollhouses.
Unfortunately, I am not a historian, I just know something here and there about dollhouses and miniatures 😉
Kind regards,
Lizzy
Hello Lizzy, it’s been really amazing seeing how you’ve made this thing really clear for understanding and I really enjoy learning about this dollhouse which my kids have always been fantasising about. It sometimes surprises when they say they want one and reading about it now, I can clearly see what they like about it. Cheers,
Hello Justin, thank you for your positive comment and I wish you happy crafting with your kids !
best regards,
Lizzy
Hello there Lizzy, these are some really beautiful designs that you recommended in your article and I really enjoyed going through them thoroughly. I like that there is an intricate detailed concept to the tudor home style that does give the hose being designed a sense of reality but also simplicity in essence. Thank you for sharing this article.
Hello Beesean,
Thank you so much for your wonderful response and yes those Tudor homes are interesting, right ?! I have always been interested in the architectural history of buildings, apart from human history. Love it !
happy crafting!
Lizzy
Thank you for all the information and the designs are amzing . I am interested in midevil do you have any information on that era I am thinking its on the same line as the tudor and if it is what are the differences hope you can help with your wealth of knowledge thank you
Hi Rosemary!
Thank you for the comment.
About your question: do you mean more information on the architecture of the Middle ages, or more specific on dollhouses? Because as far as I know, “medieval’ dollhouses are just that yes: The Tudor style, and also the Dutch cabinet dollhouses.
Unfortunately, I am not a historian, I just know something here and there about dollhouses and miniatures 😉
Kind regards,
Lizzy