Notes on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg

Tudor Style

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Virginia Tech president Julian A. Burruss wanted Tudor architecture for the stone buildings around the Drillfield. Tudor is a late British Gothic style that developed under the Tudor monarchs, who reigned from 1485 to 1603. A characteristic of the style is the Tudor arch, which is a flattened or compressed arch, composed of two arcs on each side with radii of different lengths. A relatively tight arc at the base eases into a broader arc with a longer radius.

Arch of the Hampton Court Palace clock tower.

Earlier Gothic arches are steeper, with a single arc on each side and a distinct point at the apex, like a lancet, as often seen on American churches.

Tudor arch over the main gate house of Hampton Court Palace of Henry VIII.

The Hampton Court Palace of Henry VIII on the Thames River is an exemplar of the Tudor style.

Hampton Court Palace Great Hall.

Ceiling of the Hampton Court Palace Great Hall.

Tudor was the inspiration for the Collegiate Gothic style adopted by many American colleges and universities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Collegiate Gothic loosely emulated the Tudor era of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, which followed royal trends.

At Virginia Tech, any form of compressed arch sufficed to evoke the Tudor style.

Sandy Hall, completed in 1924, is the oldest Virginia Tech building with a Tudor arch. A tighter arc at the base merges with a broader arc. At the apex, a decorative point flows into a floral motif.