Introduction

Revivals in art, architecture, and design are movements that draw inspiration from the past. Tudor Revival is a style that became a nationwide phenomenon and remains beloved in cities and communities across the country.

When it burst onto the American landscape in the early twentieth century, Tudor Revival was immediately the subject of debate. Emerging at a time of heated discourse about immigration, race, and class, Tudor Revival was seen by many as an antidote to modern America's changing social fabric. Critics, academics, and tastemakers worked to define the style's limits and meaning. It was parsed into increasingly narrow subgenres, each with its own rigid rules that remain with us today.

''Olde England on the Ohio'' challenges this narrowing of Tudor Revival's scope and definition. Using Louisville as a microcosm, this exhibit suggests Tudor Revival was an expansive movement that went far beyond architecture and design. While elites looked to restrict Tudor's access and importance to a select few, everyday Americans freely drew from a wide spectrum of Tudor influences to create fun, fanciful, and beautiful worlds for themselves. This exhibit reconsiders Tudor Revival as a broad cultural moment decided from the ground up, not the top down.