The Craftsman Home Evolves
The Arts and Crafts Movement, which started more than a century ago in England, is often fused with more modern styles.
The Arts and Crafts movement, which started in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, has had a lasting impact on home design. Its signature details can be seen in everything from English cottages and California lodges to bungalows and modern coastal architecture.
Hallmarks of the style include low-slung roofs, deep eaves, large front porches, exposed beams, and the use of unadorned wood and other materials, according to Christopher Long, who holds the Martin S. Kermacy Centennial Professorship in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture.
Many of those design elements, as well as the quality workmanship and straightforward architecture, are still seen in contemporary homes, says Long, who was also co-curator of The Rise of Everyday Design: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and America, an exhibit earlier this year held at the Henry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
This house in North Carolina reflects a more classic style
The movement, also called Craftsman, lasted through the first decades of the 20th century, expanding from the U.K. to the U.S. It was a response to the industrial age, when designers, architects, and artisans grew concerned about mass production taking over.
In contrast, Arts and Crafts homes celebrated craftsmanship and handmade elements, Long says. And raw materials aren’t masked or disguised. “There’s a truth in materials,” Long says. “Wood should be shown as wood, metal is metal, and so forth.”
Architects like the Greene Brothers, based in California, and Frank Lloyd Wright took up the mantle, spreading the style throughout the U.S., Long says. The movement ended around 1930, but architects and designers today borrow heavily from its key ideas.
A Jackson, Wyoming home that’s all about light and space
The Craftsman style touched more than just architecture. Lighting, furniture, wallpaper, and other interior design elements were all built with the Arts and Crafts treatment in mind. British designer William Morris, a leader of the movement, became known for elaborate wallpapers, which are still available. Color choices were inspired by nature, with an emphasis on blues and greens. Paint company Sherwin Williams carries a collection of the historic colors, ranging from Library Pewter to Dard Hunter Green.
American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School is closely associated with the Craftsman style, sharing the same attention to quality and handcrafted design. It is known for flat roofs with broad eaves that protect ample outdoor space.
A contemporary home in Jackson, Wyoming (featured in the header of this blog post) builds on that concept by combining the horizontal lines of the Prairie School with concrete, glass and Kota stone, a limestone that comes from the Kota district in India. Wooden beams and window panes, signature Craftsman details, soften the home’s sleek modern lines.