Laying Claim to Louisville’s Tudor Revival
Given both the explicit and inferred messages surrounding Tudor Revival during its heyday, one might expect large swaths of Louisville’s population to have felt excluded from the popular style. Many did not fit the presumed definition of an “appropriate” Tudor Revival homeowner, either because of their skin color, income bracket, or familial heritage—or perhaps all three.
Yet, even as some sought to restrict Tudor Revival’s meaning and purpose, the popularity of the Olde English aesthetic was expanding in all directions. In Marion, Indiana, a young African American architect was experimenting with blends of architectural styles including Tudor. Meanwhile, an up-and-coming labor advocate was considering using Tudor elements in worker housing. Companies and developers began looking for ways to bring Tudor Revival to the people, regardless of wealth or English heritage. Many of these trends and ideas converged in Louisville. Tudor Revival was breaking through the very barriers that elites had tried to construct.
James T. Taylor
Real estate developer James Taylor created something that was unique for Louisville in the 1920s: a modern subdivision for African American families. The James T. Taylor Subdivision at Harrod's Creek included modern homes with large plots and all the benefits of country living—the very same themes that white subdivisions marketed.
When it came time to build his own house in the community he founded, Taylor chose Tudor Revival. The above photo shows Taylor in front of his Tudor home, which included steep gables, an asymmetrical layout, and an exaggerated chimney.
Tudor Revival for Workers
Louisvillian Ethel B. du Pont was a lifelong labor journalist and activist who earned a national reputation advocating for workers, particularly in Kentucky. One of her earliest endeavors in this vocation was a 1921 article in House Beautiful. She argued that “England’s Rural Architecture” could provide a template for worker housing. Although she never used the term Tudor Revival, it is clear she was talking about all the hallmarks of the style: white stucco, substantial chimneys, sunny casements, gateways. For du Pont, the love of Olde England that fueled much of the Tudor fad could be put to a practical and uplifting purpose for America’s workers.
West Louisville
Although the densest concentration of Tudor Revival was in Louisville's eastern suburbs, it also appeared in western neighborhoods like Shawnee and Chickasaw.
One of the most prominent examples is today's The Academy @ Shawnee, known for most of its existence as Shawnee High School. The school is an excellent example of how Tudor styles were incorporated into educational buildings. This is most associated with universities and the Collegiate Gothic movement; however, elementary and secondary schools likewise tapped into visions of Olde English arches, windows, towers, and turrets. When it opened in 1929, the Shawnee High School building incorporated all of these.
As the surrounding neighborhood became predominately African American, the English-inspired school building remained a focal point for the community, including as a source of debate over the city's bussing program. With major renovations now complete, the Tudor Revival building is a West Louisville landmark.
Samuel Plato
Pioneering Black architect Samuel Plato thoroughly thwarted the notion that Tudor Revival was meant to serve as a marker of Anglo-Saxon whiteness. Plato had worked with Tudor and Craftsman styles in several of his early commissions throughout Marion, Indiana. But after moving to Louisville and gaining a reputation across racial lines for his excellent work, Plato leaned even more into Tudor Revival for his most important project: his own home.
Built along bustling Walnut Street—the business and residential backbone of Louisville's African American community—Plato's custom-designed family home featured Tudor-inspired rooflines, mixed materials, and the style's classic asymmetrical facade. In pursuing his Tudor dreams, it is notable that Plato found financial backing from a white-owned institution. His mortgage from The Louisville Trust Company (not one of Louisville's African American-owned banks) was a testament to the inroads Plato had made within Louisville's white power structure.
