Design Styles: Arts & Crafts

ABOVE: This Arts & Crafts-style home blends perfect exterior design with a floorplan that is over 450m² but feels cosy and manageable rather than grand. Read more about this project.

Why is it so popular?

Arts & Crafts has endured as one of the most popular house design styles — even today you can see its influence on (usually inferior) homes on housing estates and one-off plots. The main reason is that it is quintessentially English — it is rustic, natural and homely; all English country garden rather than formal landscaping. The buildings are also reserved and restrained — this is a style that is the exact opposite of the showier Georgian styles.

What are the key characteristics?

Arts & Crafts homes were inspired by rural England rather than Classical architecture – barns, farmhouses, cottages and the like – and one of the key characteristics of this style is a strong sense of being wedded to the ground. Heavy buttresses and plinths draw the eye downward, while rooflines are heavy with low eaves – often flared – that perform the same function. For this reason, there is a strong horizontal emphasis on this style of home, which means they are usually best suited to a wider plot.

Roof pitches tend to be much steeper than in other styles, with defined gable ends a common trait. Another dominant feature of Arts & Crafts homes is their strong, heavy chimneys.

The front elevations of Arts & Crafts houses tend to be asymmetrical, while features such as tile hanging and weatherboarding were common. As with any architectural style, windows played a significant role in defining the look – usually casement in style, occasionally incorporating bays or dormers – and most often leaded.

ABOVE: A heavy roofline and windows directly under the eaves are two of the key characteristics of the Arts & Crafts style, which despite being very English has been adapted across much of the world.

How to get it right

Doors, door furniture and porches: Short and broad, plain doors with more ornate Mediaeval-style furniture are an essential of the Arts & Crafts house — they help to give a sense of nature to the entrance. As do porches that appear handcrafted (perhaps made out of oak) that might have seats and windows in them. Internal doors may incorporate stained glass and black iron furniture.

Rooflines: Get your designer to incorporate strong rooflines, with heavy gables and low eaves.

Windows: Leaded lights are a must for this era — they should also be casement in style, with the upstairs windows appearing just under the eaves.

History Lesson

Arts & Crafts style began in the late Victorian era — indeed its rise to popularity was largely driven by a reaction against the standardisation and industrialisation of design that had taken root in the booming Victorian period. In general terms, Arts & Crafts styles were most popular at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Arts & Crafts Style Homes:

• An Award Winning Arts & Crafts Style Home
• An Arts & Crafts Style Self-build in Cambridgeshire
• An Arts & Crafts Home with a Modern Annexe

More House Design Guides:

• A Guide to Tudor-style House Design
• A Guide to Georgian-style House Design
• A Guide to Contemporary House Design
• A Guide to American-style House Design