STYLE
bungalows came from India, sort
of—variations of the word existed for
hundreds of years before any bungalows
showed up in England or the U.S. Long,
low buildings with wide verandahs and
deeply overhanging eaves, “bunguloues”
were temporary and quickly erected
shelters, built for Englishmen by native
labor in India. Around 1870, the builders
of newly fashionable vacation houses
on the English seacoast referred to themas “bungalows,” giving them an exotic,
rough-and-ready image.
But it was in California that the true
bungalow boom began. The climate was
perfect for a rambling “natural” house
with porches and patios. Los Angeles
and upscale Pasadena, a resort town in
the 1890s, were growing fast. Architects
Greene and Greene called their million-
aires’ chalets “bungalows.” The California
Bungalow —a term in use by 1905—wasTHE BUNGALOW, 1890–1930
A BELOVED TYPE ALIGNED WITH AMERICAN ARTS & CRAFTS. By Patricia Poore
Bungalow may seem to some like a synonym for cottage, but in its
heyday it was prized both for its exotic, Anglo–Indian associations and
for its artistic naturalism. Early in the 20th century, the bungalow had
close ties to the Arts & Crafts movement. The bungalow showed up in
the U.S. in the 1880s, but it was its development in Southern California
that paved the way for its new role as a year-round house.
Weathered shingles,
an artistic chimney
of shore rocks and
brick: bungalow in
the vernacular.ILL
US
TR
ATI
ON
BY
RO
B^ L
EA
NN
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DO
UG
LAS
KE
IST
ER
RIGHT An “artistic
bungalow” of the Arts
& Crafts era, modeled
on an actual planbook
model that was avail-
able as a kit home.
Ground-hugging and
with deep eaves, the
bungalow promises cozy
shelter; the pergola
porch blends indoors
and out. Exaggerated
structure—brackets,
battered piers, belt
courses—provide the
only ornamentation.From the “Bungal-Ode”... my blood is all a-tingle / At the sound of blow on blow, /
As I count each single shingle / On my bosky bungalow / And I dream of every ingle /
Where I angle at my ease, / Naught to set my nerves a-jingle / I may bungle all I please...
—excerpt of a popular ditty by burgess johnson, 1909