French Normandy
By Watson Hawkins, hgtv.com
French Normandy is an American home style that was inspired by the traditional farmhouses and opulent chateaus of the Normandy region and Loire Valley of France. Featuring formal and informal elements from these French traditions, contemporary French Normandy homes (figure A) can vary in appearance, but all share a romantic elegance and charm.
Steeply pitched roofs are a regular feature, and dormers, half-timbering and stonework are often seen. The earliest French-style homes were built for America's elite and were more akin to 16th-century French chateaus (figure B). The emerging French middle class began to desire their own chateaus, borrowing the dominant roofline and incorporating a more rambling, informal style arrangement with windows and doors (figure C).
With the prosperity that followed the first World War, the growing middle-class of Americans eyed these French-style chateaus with a view to adopting a more scaled-down version for themselves (figure D). It is these more affordable French-style homes that came to be known as French Normandy. These homes in America borrow elements from the elegant formality of the French chateaus such as steep roofs and dormers, and also from the picturesque charm of the farmhouses that dotted the Normandy countryside--such as half-timbering.
The earliest French-style homes in America were created in the late 19th century for America's wealthy establishment. They wanted opulent manors that rivaled the grand 16th-century chateaus they had seen in their travels to France. American architects such as the renowned Richard Morris Hunt, who had trained in France, were able to build these French-style chateaus. One of Hunt's first creations was Belcourt Castle (figure E), built in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1891 as a 52-room summer home for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, a banker and member of Congress. The chateau is now being restored, with the distinct half-timbering (figure F) among the most difficult projects. Replacing the wood and stucco to its original position takes patience and expertise.
Nine hundred miles to the south, in Asheville, North Carolina, is another one of Hunt's creations--Biltmore Estate (figure G). Once America's largest private residence, it was completed in 1895 for George Washington Vanderbilt, one of the wealthiest men in the country at the time. Nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains, Biltmore is now a museum, hotel and winery that attracts tens of thousands of vistors each year. Although quite formal, this chateau would go on to inspire less-wealthy families to build scaled-down versions of the home style. Hopelands (figure H), a charming farmhouse built in Newport, Rhode Island in 1930, is an example. This home features a high, tiled roof, dormer windows, whitewashed brick and wide, blue shutters. At 5,000 square feet, it is smaller than a chateau but much larger than most French Normandy farmhouses in France.
At the heart of Hopelands is a great hall that combines the dining room with the living room (figure I). The concept of tangential rooms with multiple uses comes directly from the casual French Normandy country home style in France. Most impressive is the 30-foot high vaulted ceiling, which adds a grandness to the room without causing the room's occupants to feel dwarfed. As the appeal of French Normandy grows along the East Coast, the style takes hold in the South. In the shadow of Biltmore Estate, French architect Louis Charles Darnet offered Fontainbleu--a community of French Normandy-style homes that were eagerly anticipated by the local middle-class residents of Asheville in the 1920s. Known today as Kenilworth (figure J), this is one of the more beautiful homes on a street fittingly named Normandy Circle. The home looks like a charming French cottage, with its stucco exterior and irregular brick trim around the windows and doors.
Another remarkable home in Kenilworth showcases the typical French Normandy open floor plan, with the living room and dining room visible to each other (figure K). The original oak floors, once covered with carpet, have been restored by the current owners. The biggest restoration job, however, was the bathroom. Resembling a cave more than a bathroom, the owners realized they were starting from scratch. Unfortunately, scratch meant taking six inches of concrete off the floor to access the plumbing. A radiator was removed, so duct work and insulation were added to keep the room warm. The end result is a modern bathroom with a sunken tub surrounded by new tile (figure L).
The French Normandy home style quickly spread from the East Coast to the South and finally to the West. The spread was aided by architectural magazines that were beginning to included photographs of houses. William Raymond Yelland was one of the architects who was instrumental in bringing the French Normandy style to the West Coast. One of his earliest creations is the Richards Estate (figure M), built in 1925 in Berkeley, California. The home is a picturesque blend of used brick and redwood half-timbering. The decorative use of wood is similar to that found in French farmhouses.
The West Coast version of the French Normandy-style home is a bit more theatrical than those found in other parts of the country. Farmhouse features are more liberally combined with heavier architectural details such as Spanish tiles on the roof. The living room (figure N) has a high-pitched ceiling that is supported by carved redwood trusses. As in a French country home, plenty of wood is used because of its easy accessibility in the region. Just a few blocks away is another Yelland creation (figure O). This 4,500-square-foot home was built in 1925.
French Normandy homes in the United States can be any size because American builders adopted their own loose version of the style. The stucco in this home is pigmented so that it never has to be painted and ages nicely over time. Aside from Yelland's romantic designs, southern California has many homes that more closely resemble the simple farmhouses of France (figure P). The Bungalow Court--six French Normandy cottages in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles--features a delightfully whimsical, picturesque charm that is reminiscent of the traditional French farmhouse. The homes are sometimes referred to as the Disney cottages because of the number of cartoon illustrators who have lived in them over the years.
One of the more interesting French Normandy-style homes is this one built in the Beechwood Canyon section of Los Angeles. This 2,600-square-foot home has a high-peaked roof and is made of half-timbering set inside stucco. In typical style, the home features windows of varying sizes (figure Q) and has a great hall that includes both the living room and dining room (figure R). The 20-foot-high vaulted ceiling is supported by wide beams and is detailed with wrought-iron railings. The living room is flanked by theatrical balconies, giving the country farmhouse a touch of Hollywood flair.
  Figure S |
A small sunroom (figure S) was added on to this house in the 1940s. The additional room has a California-beach look, which is different from the rest of the house. It blends right in, though, because the informal French Normandy style effortlessly combines different architectural styles into one house. That is one of the reasons this timeless home style never goes out of fashion.
Resources Los Angeles: An Architectural Guide
by David Gebhard, Robert Milton Winter (Contributor) (ISBN: 0879056274)
Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1994
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Belcourt Castle
Belcourt Castle
657 Bellevue Ave.
Newport, RI 02840
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Phone: 401-846-0669
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Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission
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Richards Estate
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166 Tunnel Rd.
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Phone: 510-652-2133
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Society of Architectural Historians
Founded in 1940, the Society of Architectural Historians encourages scholarly research in the field of architecture and promotes the preservation of significant architectural monuments that are an integral part of our worldwide historical and cultural heritage.
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Historic Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County
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Biltmore Estate
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Guests Richard Chafee, Ph.D.
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12 Humboldt Ave.
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Paul Templeton
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Ted Wells
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