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Centenary Avenue Historic District

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The Centenary Avenue is one of the oldest historic districts in Cleveland, Tennessee . It is bounded by Eighteenth, Harle, Thirteenth and Ocoee Streets , is located adjacent to the Ocoee Street Historic District , and is regarded as one of the widest streets in Cleveland. The homes there were built from 1850 to 1949.

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65-540: Added to the city's historic registry in 1993, the private residences on Centenary Avenue are built in Tudor Revival , Bungalow/Craftsman and Colonial Revival architectural styles. The Centenary district received national attention from 1980 to 1998 when a house owned by businessman Allan Jones located at 150 Centenary Avenue NW became the site of Halloween appearances by the famous Tall Betsy goblin that stands more than 7 feet, 6 inches tall. Centenary Avenue

130-608: A few short months ago, they looked so old and crooked". A very well-known example of the idealised half-timbered style is Liberty & Co. department store in London , which was built in the style of a vast half-timbered Tudor mansion. The store specialised, among other goods, in fabrics and furnishings by the leading designers of the Arts and Crafts movement. The interiors of the Tudor style building have evolved considerably along with

195-413: A much wider range of styles than the modernism associated with the mid-20th century, few architects are known for buildings which could be called "Tudorbethan". In modern structures, usually on estates of private houses, a half-timbered appearance is obtained by applied decorative features over the "real" structure, typically wood stud framing or concrete block masonry. A combination of boards and stucco

260-631: A new version of the Tall Betsy goblin appeared at the famous address for the first time in 18 years. The appearance drew national attention. The new Tall Betsy was created by Jones’ son, Bailey and had an updated look. The new look for Tall Betsy was created by Hollywood Mask Masters in Van Nuys, Calif., using real human hair. The face and hands were intended for a big-budget Hollywood film that never finished completion. Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture , also known as mock Tudor in

325-533: A short span of around 25 years between 1903–1928. There was brief resurgence in such buildings just before the Second World War, due to a need to accommodate an increase in military personnel in Singapore. The Atbara House is one of the many remaining black and white houses unique to Singapore. It is the previous French embassy to Singapore, built in 1898 by Regent Alfred John Bidwell. The Atbara house

390-527: A similar vein, Henry Hutchinson & Thomas Rickman contributed the New Court and Bridge of Sighs at St. John’s College, Cambridge (1826–31). St. Luke's, Chelsea by James Savage (1824) is one of the finest early revivalist church buildings in England and shows the influence of Perpendicular Gothic design. In the early part of the 20th century, one of the exponents who developed the style further

455-701: A traditional Malay house. Only about 600 of these bungalows remain on the island of Singapore. In Malaysia and Singapore, bungalows such as these were built from the 19th century until World War II for the wealthy expatriate families, the leading commercial firm as well as the Public Works Department and the British Armed Forces. This style of houses adopted elements of the British Tudorbethan , Arts and Crafts movement and later Art Deco designs but adapted to suit

520-490: Is a subset of Tudor Revival architecture that eliminated some of the more complex aspects of Jacobethan in favour of more domestic styles of " Merrie England ", which were cosier and quaint. It was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement . Today, the term ' Tudor architecture ' usually refers to buildings constructed during the reigns of the first four Tudor monarchs , between about 1485 and 1560, perhaps best exemplified by

585-413: Is also used synonymously with Tudor Revival and mock Tudor . From the 1880s onward, Tudor Revival concentrated more on the simple but quaintly picturesque Elizabethan cottage, rather than the brick and battlemented splendours of Hampton Court or Compton Wynyates . Large and small houses alike with half-timbering in their upper storeys and gables were completed with tall ornamental chimneys, in what

650-491: Is applied to obtain the desired appearance, here seen in the image to the right. To minimise maintenance, the "boards" are now commonly made of uPVC faux wood, plastic or fibre reinforced cement siding with a dark brown or wood effect finish. In the United States, the style is often further modified by painting the timbers colors such as blue or green. The Tudor Revival style was most popular for new American homes in

715-431: Is mentioned in a famous poem about Tall Betsy and in a state resolution adopted on May 24, 1989, honoring Tall Betsy as the “official Halloween Goblin of Bradley County.” The historic district was also featured in a 2011 documentary about Tall Betsy that aired on PBS and NBC and won a prestigious Telly Award in 2013. It was narrated by Lynn Hoffman, host of A&E ’s popular “Private Sessions.” The residential areas within

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780-409: Is only superficial. Artificially aged and blackened beams are constructed from light wood, bear no loads, and are attached to ceilings and walls purely for decoration, while artificial flames leap from wrought iron fire-dogs in an inglenook often a third of the size of the room in which they are situated. Occasionally, owners sought to replicate more closely the conditions of Tudor living; an example were

845-401: Is this mingling of styles that has led to the term Jacobethan which resulted in houses such as Harlaxton Manor which bore little if any resemblance to a building from either period. Hall notes the influence of Burghley House and Wollaton Hall , "fused with ideas drawn from Continental architecture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries". More often it is in the Tudor style houses of

910-582: The British Empire in the nineteenth century. The term 'black and white' refers to the dark timber beams and whitewashed walls usually found in these buildings. Such houses typically have a pitched roof with wide overhanging eaves due to the rainy tropical condition, and the high roof also allows for good ventilation that draws in cooling air. The ground floor is generally open and spacious, often tiled for coolness. The building may have large verandahs, and some have elevated foundations similar to that of

975-558: The Church of England and at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ) building additions and annexes were often designed to blend or harmonize rather than contrast with the archaic style of the older work. Christopher Wren 's steeple of St Dunstan-in-the-East (London,1668–71) and Tom Tower at Christ Church, Oxford (1681–82), and Nicholas Hawksmoor 's Codrington Library and Front Quad at All Souls College, Oxford (1751) are

1040-400: The inglenook fireplaces and heavy oak panelling. the large airy rooms are in fact more redolent of the 18th century than the 16th. Cragside is slightly more true to its theme, although the rooms are very large, some contain Tudor style panelling , and the dining room contains are monumental inglenook, but this is more in the style of Italian Renaissance meets Camelot than Tudor. While in

1105-815: The vernacular tradition of the North-East of England, but the architectural historian Mark Girouard explained Shaw's picturesque motivation; desiring it for "romantic effect, he reached out for it like an artist reaching out for a tube of colour". At approximately the same time, Shaw also designed Leyswood near Withyham in East Sussex , which was a large mansion around a courtyard, complete with mock battlements, towers, half-timbered upper facades and tall chimneys – all features quite readily associated with Tudor architecture; in Shaw's hands, this less fantastical style achieved immediate maturity. Confusingly, it

1170-687: The 1970s and 1980s. Today, it is rarely considered for residential construction in that country as Italian , Mediterranean , and French villa style homes have superseded them in popularity. The Tudor Revival style was a reaction to the ornate Victorian Gothic Revival of the second half of the 19th century. Rejecting mass production that was introduced by industry at that time, the Arts and Crafts movement , closely related to Tudorbethan, drew on simple design inherent in aspects of its more ancient styles, Tudor , Elizabethan and Jacobean . The Tudor style made one of its first appearances in Britain in

1235-569: The Broadway Centre in the London borough of Ealing , "dressed out with brick and tile, arches, gables and small window panes, all to put a smile on a friendly face - the mask of tradition". Many British builders include variations on Tudorbethan in the range of styles they draw on, and the style tends to be associated with pastiche . Architects are rarely requested to work in the style, and though current postmodern architecture includes

1300-660: The Gothic style remained popular in Britain well into the Renaissance and Baroque periods, by the end of the 16th century, it had subsided completely in the wake of classicism . While domestic and palace architecture changed rapidly according to contemporary taste, few notable churches were constructed after the Reformation ; instead, old gothic buildings were retained and adapted to Protestant use. In contexts where conservatism and traditionalism had great value (e.g., within

1365-518: The Jones house and stood waiting for young trick-or-treaters. As Tall Betsy became popular across Tennessee and eventually nationwide, thousands came to Jones' door each year and thousands more simply drove by the Centenary home. The goblin became so popular that in 1986, Jones organized the downtown Halloween Block Party that included games, costume contests and treats. The event was intended to draw

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1430-512: The Moynes at Baliffscourt in West Sussex , a house which Clive Aslet describes as "the most extreme - and most successful - of all Tudor taste country houses". Lord Moyne's wife, Evelyn, a society hostess, employed the amateur architect Amyas Philips to create a house inspired by the medieval Baliffscourt Chapel which stood on the site. The cloister -like design required visitors to leave

1495-471: The Tudor Revival style such as "hung tiles and patterned brickwork". At St Alban's he also made use of rag-stone footings to create the impression of a Tudor mansion built "on the stone of medieval foundations". Some more enlightened landlords at this time became more aware of the needs for proper sanitation and housing for their employees, and some estate villages were rebuilt to resemble what

1560-448: The Tudor or Perpendicular Gothic period also influenced new institutional buildings beginning in the 1820s. The architect of Dalmeny, William Wilkins , followed the precedent of Wren and Hawksmoor in designing new quads for various Cambridge colleges in a historic mode including New Court , Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (1822–27); Front Court , King’s College, Cambridge (1824–28); and New Court , Trinity College, Cambridge (1825). In

1625-772: The UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture , in reality it usually took the style of English vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages that had survived into the Tudor period . The style later became an influence elsewhere, especially the British colonies. For example, in New Zealand ,

1690-461: The architect Francis Petre adapted the style for the local climate. In Singapore , then a British colony, architects such as Regent Alfred John Bidwell pioneered what became known as the Black and White House . The earliest examples of the style originate with the works of such eminent architects as Norman Shaw and George Devey , in what at the time was considered Neo-Tudor design. Tudorbethan

1755-553: The centuries, which the architectural historian James Stevens Curl considered "one of the most significant of English contributions to architecture". An example is the "Tudor Village" constructed by Frank Loughborough Pearson for his client William Waldorf Astor at Hever Castle in Kent. Pearson went to considerable lengths to source genuine Elizabethan building materials for the cottages, including stone, tiles and bricks, leading Astor to comment; "I could not believe they had been built

1820-518: The church, which was likely to be Gothic, and because the larger windows patrons wanted were easier to work into the style than into a "pointed" Gothic. At this stage it was essentially a style for the country rather than houses in towns. Tudor style was "almost infinitely adaptable, particularly to low, spreading houses", After about 1850 "Old English" came to mean a rather different style based on vernacular architecture, although some Tudor features such as tall brick chimneys often remained. Examples of

1885-451: The classical Euston Arch . The historian Michael Hall considers the hall and library among "the finest Tudor Revival buildings (of) the nineteenth century. Tudorbethan represents a subset of Tudor Revival architecture; the word is modelled on John Betjeman 's 1933 coinage of the " Jacobethan " style, which he used to describe the grand mixed revival style of circa 1835–1885 that had been called things like "Free English Renaissance". This

1950-446: The cottages at Mentmore the interiors are no different from those of any lower middle-class Victorian small household. An example of a Tudor Revival house where the exterior and interior were treated with equal care is Old Place, Lindfield, West Sussex . The property, comprising an original house of c.1590, was developed by the stained glass designer Charles Eamer Kempe from the 1870s. The architect George Frederick Bodley described

2015-516: The crowds off of Centenary Avenue after 8 p.m. In 1993 the Jones house kept count and set a world record of 11,201 pieces of bubble gum given away one at a time to young kids coming to the Centenary Avenue home from 5 to 8p.m. After drawing a crowd of 25,000 in 1998, Jones retired Tall Betsy and moved away from Centenary Avenue. The goblin was said to have vanished forever to a mausoleum at Cleveland's Fort Hill Cemetery. On Oct. 31, 2016

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2080-464: The district achieved their maturity before 1900, though Sycamore has grown considerably from the 3,330 or so that lived there from about 1900 until the 1970s most of the historic district remains intact as it was organized in 1978. Tall Betsy was started in 1980 by Jones, who at the time was a single parent raising his daughter Courtney and living at the Centenary residence. Jones had heard his mother, Gincy Slaughter Jones, tell stories of Tall Betsy as he

2145-401: The elite, who built what are now called prodigy houses in a distinctive version of Renaissance architecture . Elizabeth I herself built almost nothing, her father having left over 50 palaces and houses. Outside court circles styles were much more slow-moving, and essentially "Tudor" buildings continued to be built, eventually merging into a general English vernacular style. When the style

2210-485: The exterior in rooflines and setbacks to provide a visual variety to the street view. Owing to the smaller lots employed in modern developments (especially in the Western US ), Tudor Revival may be placed directly next to an unrelated style such as French or Italian Provincial, resulting in an eclectic mix. The style has also been deployed for commercial developments; the architectural historian Anthony Quiney describes

2275-472: The group of nine cottages at Blaise Hamlet , built around 1810–1811 by a Bristol banker for his retired employees, John Nash demonstrated a remarkably forward-looking selective appropriation of Tudor vernacular architecture such as fancy twisted brick chimney-stacks to make picturesque and comfortable middle-class homes. Several have thatched roofs, some at two levels in a completely unnecessary but very picturesque way. Nash published an illustrated book on

2340-557: The group; this was a formula with a future. In contrast with Nash's Blaise Hamlet , Dalmeny House near Edinburgh, built in 1817 for Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery , is a large stately home in a revival of the early Tudor palace style, drawing in particular from East Barsham Manor in Norfolk , built c.  1520 . At this time the style was known as "Old English", and considered especially appropriate for vicarages and rectories, partly because they were usually next to

2405-431: The house and access their bedrooms via external staircases. Chips Channon , the diarist and politician described the bedrooms themselves as "decorated to resemble the cell of a rather ' pansy ' monk". The novelist E. F. Benson satirised the style in his book Queen Lucia ; "the famous smoking-parlour, with rushes on the floor, a dresser ranged with pewter tankards, and leaded lattice-windows of glass so antique that it

2470-558: The house been planned that it seems to have grown out of the landscape rather than to have been fitted into it". An example of Tudorbethan architecture was that seen at Greaves Hall , which was built in 1900 as a mansion house for the Scarisbrick family. Many of the features of the original building could still be seen until it was demolished in 2009. Later came Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865–1945) and Blair Imrie who made their names as Tudor style architects. Lutyens though took

2535-508: The late 1860s at Cragside , a hilltop mansion of eclectic architectural styles that incorporated certain Tudor features; Cragside was designed by the architect Norman Shaw . Shaw sketched out the whole design for the "future fairy palace" in a single afternoon, while his client Lord Armstrong and his guests were out on a shooting party. Pevsner noted its derivation from "the Tudor style, both in its stone and its black-and-white versions". The half-timbering has been criticised as unfaithful to

2600-547: The most notable examples of "Gothic survival" in the Baroque period. As the last and most recent phase of the Gothic period, the Tudor style had the most secular survivals in 17th and 18th-century England; many older buildings were rebuilt, added to, or redecorated with ornament in the Tudor period. As such, the Tudor style had perhaps an over-sized influence on the image formed by the Georgians of their medieval past. Before

2665-415: The oldest parts of Hampton Court Palace . The historian Malcolm Airs , in his study The Tudor and Jacobean Country House: A Building History , considers the replacement of the private castle by the country house as "the seat of power and the centre of hospitality" to be "one of the great achievements of the Tudor age". Subsequent changes in court fashion saw the emergence of Elizabethan architecture among

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2730-590: The original medieval hall house , Crowhurst Place in Surrey , firstly for himself and latterly for Consuelo Vanderbilt . The result, "remarkable in its own right", saw Crawley add extensions, chimneys, gables, linenfold panelling and large amounts of half-timbering. Martin Conway , writing in Country Life , considered Crawley's reconstruction gave the remains of the original manor, "a beauty far greater than

2795-658: The outside to mimic the earlier functional and structural weight-bearing heavy timbers. An example of this is the "simple cottage" style of Ascott House in Buckinghamshire. This was designed by Devey for the Rothschild family , who were among the earliest patrons and promoters of this style. Simon Jenkins suggests that Ascott, "a half-timbered, heavily gabled, overgrown cottage, proves the appeal of Tudor to every era and condition of England". Devey's work at St Alban's Court and elsewhere incorporated other features of

2860-423: The outskirts of all our towns". It was also copied in many areas of the world, including the United States and Canada. New York City suburbs such as Westchester County , New York and Englewood and Teaneck , New Jersey feature particularly dense concentrations of Tudor Revival construction from this period. Brewery companies designed "improved" pubs , some in a mock Tudor style called Brewer's Tudor. The style

2925-532: The rooms as "a series of pictures" and an article in Country Life asking whether "anything could be more English in character than Old Place", was written when much of the house was barely 10 years old. In some of the larger Tudor style houses the Tudor great hall would be suggested by the reception hall, often furnished as a sitting or dining room. Large wooden staircases of several flights were often prominently positioned, based on Jacobean prototypes. It

2990-440: The style away from what is generally understood as Tudor Revival creating a further highly personalised style of his own. His buildings coupled with their often accompanying gardens by Gertrude Jekyll , while in a style thought of as "olde world" would not be recognisable to inhabitants of the 16th century. Another noted practitioner was George A. Crawley . A decorator and designer, rather than an architect, Crawley greatly expanded

3055-516: The style remained closer to its Tudor roots, in the USA it evolved into a form of architecture not instantly recognisable as that constructed in either the Tudor or Queen Anne period. The style was also utilised for public buildings; an early example was the Great Hall and Library at Lincoln's Inn in central London, built in the late 1840s. The architect was Philip Hardwick , better known for

3120-458: The style, all reflecting the taste for nostalgia for rural values. In the first half of the 20th century, increasingly minimal "Tudor" references for "instant" atmosphere in speculative construction cheapened the style. The writer Olive Cook had this debased approach firmly in her sights when she attacked, "the rash of semi-detached villas, bedizened with Tudor gables, mock half-timber work, rough cast and bay windows of every shape which disfigures

3185-424: The style, often becoming truer to the replicated era than were the first examples of the revival style, where the style "rarely went far indoors". At Ascott House, Devey's great masterpiece constructed throughout the last twenty years of the 19th century, the interior was remodelled thirty years later. The Tudor Revival style was considered passé and was replaced by the fashionable Curzon Street Baroque sweeping away

3250-472: The tropical environment of these countries as well as providing for an airy and spacious family home. Its popularity in the early 20th century has been attributed to Regent Alfred John Bidwell . His design for W. Patchitt House at Cluny Road in 1903 spurred on a trend for building houses in such style, which peaked in popularity just after the First World War . Most of these houses were built within

3315-634: The various phases of medieval architecture had been well identified and studied, and designers such as A.W.N. Pugin and George Gilbert Scott had advocated for the use of the Decorated gothic rather than the perpendicular, Tudor elements figured heavily in the early examples of the Gothic Revival . Horace Walpole 's Strawberry Hill House at Twickenham (1749–76; designed in collaboration with Richard Bentley , John Chute, and James Essex ) features elements derived from late gothic precedents. In

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3380-447: The very early 20th century that a greater devotion to the Tudor period is found, with appropriate interior layout, albeit coupled with modern-day comforts. This can be seen in older upscale neighbourhoods where the lots are sufficiently large to allow the house to have an individual presence, despite variations in the style of neighboring houses. Whether of older or recent origin, the appearance of solid beams and half-timbered exterior walls

3445-516: Was Edwin Lutyens (1864–1944). At The Deanery in Berkshire, 1899, ( right ), where the client was the editor of the influential magazine Country Life , details like the openwork brick balustrade, the many-paned oriel window and facetted staircase tower, the shadowed windows under the eaves, or the prominent clustered chimneys were conventional Tudor Revival borrowings, some of which Lutyens

3510-630: Was a child growing up at 480 21st Street NW in Cleveland, TN. According to Jones, who later became known as “Mr. Halloween,” the real Tall Betsy was a very tall woman who walked the streets of Cleveland, TN in the early 1920s. She always wore black and was referred to by the townspeople as Tall Betsy, Black Betsy, and the Lady in Black. Tall Betsy first appeared in Cleveland's Johnston Park downtown for an afternoon event on Halloween day, 1980. Jones' mother

3575-513: Was captured in John Betjeman 's 1937 poem Slough , where "bald young clerks" gather: And talk of sport and makes of cars In various bogus-Tudor bars And daren't look up and see the stars. The late 20th century has seen a change in the faithfulness of emulation of the style, since in a modern development it is common to have only a few basic floor plans for buildings, these combined with variations in interior surface treatment and in

3640-541: Was ever theirs in the days of its newness". Ian Nairn , Nikolaus Pevsner and Bridget Cherry , in the 1971 revised Surrey Pevsner Buildings of England , note the sense of escapism which inspired much of the Tudor Revival, calling Crowhurst, "an extreme example of the English flight from reality around the 1914–18 war ". Following the First World War many London outer suburbs had developments of houses in

3705-410: Was generally modelled on the grand prodigy houses built by the courtiers of Elizabeth I and James VI. "Tudorbethan" took it a step further, eliminated the hexagonal or many-faceted towers and mock battlements of Jacobethan, and applied the more domestic styles of " Merrie England ", which were cosier and quaint. It was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement . Outside North America, Tudorbethan

3770-425: Was hosting a party for Courtney at the Centenary Avenue home before the kids went out trick-or-treating. Jones left Johnston Park and got a friend in a pickup truck to allow him to lay in the back and deliver him to the party at 150 Centenary Avenue. Jones appeared in the backyard and scared the kids, who were the first to see Tall Betsy. As they left to go down the street trick-or-treating, Tall Betsy walked in front of

3835-440: Was originally a simple cottage style. It was here that the influences of the arts and crafts movement became apparent. Tudor Revival houses are dissimilar to the timber-framed structures of the originals, in which the frame supported the whole weight of the house. Their modern counterparts consist of bricks or blocks of various materials, stucco, or even simple studwall framing, with a lookalike "frame" of thin boards added on

3900-473: Was practically impossible to see out of them... sconces on the walls held dim iron lamps, so that only those of the most acute vision were able to read". Black and White House Black and white bungalows are white-painted bungalows , in a style once commonly used to house European colonial and expatriate families in tropical climate colonies , typically the Southeast Asian colonies of

3965-582: Was revived, the emphasis was typically on the simple, rustic, and the less impressive aspects of Tudor architecture, imitating in this way medieval houses and rural cottages. Although the style follows these more modest characteristics, items such as steeply pitched-roofs , half-timbering often infilled with herringbone brickwork , tall mullioned windows , high chimneys , jettied (overhanging) first floors above pillared porches , dormer windows supported by consoles , and even at times thatched roofs , gave Tudor Revival its more striking effects. Although

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4030-415: Was then promptly named "Queen Anne style", when in reality it combined a revival of Elizabethan and Jacobean design details including mullioned and oriel windows. The style later began to incorporate the classic pre-Georgian features that are generally understood to represent "Queen Anne" in Britain . The term "Queen Anne" for this style of architecture is now only commonly used in the USA . While in Britain

4095-487: Was thought to be an idyllic Elizabethan village, often grouped around a village green and pond; Mentmore in Buckinghamshire is an example of this, Pevsner noting the "Arts-and-Crafts (and) cottage orné " building styles. The Tudor Revival, though, now concentrated on the picturesque. This combined with a desire for "naturalness", an intention to make buildings appear as if they had developed organically over

4160-446: Was to remake in his own style, that already predominates in the dark recessed entryway, the confident massing, and his signature semi-circular terrace steps. This is Tudorbethan at its best, free in ground plan, stripped of cuteness, yet warmly vernacular in effect, familiar though new, eminently liveable. The Deanery was another example of the "naturalistic" approach; an anonymous reviewer for Country Life in 1903 wrote; "So naturally has

4225-444: Was used for colonial management, unlike other Black and White Houses which were mostly used to house European colonial and wealthy expatriate families or for military purposes. The Atbara House consists of a strong mixture of indigenous Indian and Malay vernacular design mixed with roof and construction methods adapted from colonial source. Large numbers of these colonial era mansions were built but many have since been demolished due to

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