Cotswold Cottage

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond
With roots in the pastoral Cotswold region of England, the picturesque Cotswold Cottage style may remind you of a cozy storybook house.

Cotswold Cottage: This subtype of the Tudor Revival style may remind you of a picturesque storybook cottage.

Other names for the Cotswold Cottage style :

• Storybook Style
• Hansel and Gretel Cottage
  Tudor Cottage
• English Country Cottage
• Ann Hathaway Cottage
  

Cotswold Cottage houses have many of these features:

• Sloping, uneven roof, sometimes made of pseudo-thatch
• Brick, stone, or stucco siding
• Very steep cross gables
• Prominent brick or stone chimney, often at the front near the door
• Casement windows with small panes
• Small dormer windows
• Asymmetrical design
• Low doors and arched doors
• Small, irregularly-shaped rooms
• Sloping walls in rooms on upper floor

About the Cotswold Cottage house style

The small, fanciful Cotswold Cottage is a popular subtype of the Tudor Revival house style. This quaint English country style is based on the cottages built since medieval times in the Cotswold region of southwestern England. A fascination for medieval styles inspired American architects create modern versions of the rustic homes. The Cotswold Cottage style became especially popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.

The picturesque Cotswold Cottage is usually asymmetrical with a steep, complex roof line. The floor plan tends to include small, irregularly-shaped rooms, and the upper rooms have sloping walls with dormers. The home may have a sloping slate or cedar roof that mimics the look of thatch. A massive chimney often dominates either the front or one side of the house.

Cotswold Cottage Building Plans

• Sears Mail Order Plan

Cotswold Cottage PhotosThese homes from our House Helpline series have features of the Cotswold Cottage style:

• Cotswold Cottage in New England
• Cotswold Cottage with painted stucco
• Cotswold Cottage with dormers added
  

Read About Cotswold Cottages

• Buildings of the CotswoldsAuthor Denis Moriarty explores the Cotswold region of England and looks at the cottages, manor homes, and humble farm buildings that inspired America's Cotswold Cottage style. Color and black-and-white photos show architectural details. (compare prices)
• Storybook Style: America's Whimsical Homes of the TwentiesDuring the 1920s, architects with a flare for drama tried to capture the flavor of medieval England and Europe. Half timbered and turreted, pinnacled and portcullised, the homes they built combined features from many traditions, including the picturesque Cotswold style. (compare prices)