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Bungalow
c.1910-1930
Related to the Craftsman style is the
bungalow. More accurately a house type than a style, the popular
bungalow has a relatively consistent form and massing, which is creatively
altered with a variety of decorative stylistic features. The term bungalow
comes from India, where it refers to a low house surrounded by galleries or
porches.
The prototype of the
omnipresent American box bungalow is the massive shingled bungalow designed
by Greene and Greene in southern California between 1903-1909. Scaled down
to modest size, means and materials by countless pattern books and popular
magazines—most notably Ladies' Home Journal--the bungalow quickly
became the house type of choice among the middle class in America's urban
and suburban areas. It was inexpensive, fashionable, generally of modest
scale, had a practical, functional floor plan, and often incorporated the
most up-to-date technology, including electricity, fireproofing, heating,
plumbing, and gas ranges.
Rooted in the Arts and
Crafts movement, which stressed the importance of "honest" materials and
construction, the bungalow featured simplicity of detail and massing, roofs
with exposed
rafters and
knee braces. Porches, normally under
an extension of the main roof, and
dormers were also integral parts
of the bungalow.
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Houses By Mail
Between about 1900 and
1940, bungalows, and many other small ready-to-build houses, could also be
ordered by mail from various manufacturers. These kit, or catalogue, houses
are commonly (and often erroneously) called Sears houses after Sears and
Roebuck, a major manufacturer. But there were actually many different
companies producing mail-order houses, including the Aladdin Company, Lewis
Manufacturing Company, Montgomery Ward and Company, Bungalowcraft, and so
on.
Potential home owners
could select a house from a catalogue, order it, and have it delivered to
the local railroad station. Typically, crated materials--foundation,
framing, and roofing materials; fixtures; interior doors and woodwork;
exterior paints and stains--would arrive in the order they would be needed.
A set of blueprints and instructions guided the homeowner or contractor in
assembling the house piece by piece, much like a puzzle.
Today, many people claim
to own a "Sears house" without having much evidence. It is difficult to
identify catalogue home from others on the street without a very good
knowledge of the great variety of houses produced by the manufacturers.
 Many
experts have spent years collecting old catalogues and committing their
contents to memory. To begin creating your own database, start with these
publications:
- Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and
Company (1986) by Katherine Cole Stevnson and H. Ward Jandl
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America's Favorite Homes: Mail Order Catalogues as a Guide to
Popular Early 20th-Century Houses (1990) by Robert
Schweitzer and Michael W. R. Davis
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Any of the books by Rosemary Thornton
To learn more about
catalogue houses from Rosemary Thornton, click
here.
Bungalow: Sweet House (c.1920) , 260 North
Wayne Street
Bungalow: House (c.1920), 269 North Graham
Street
Bungalow: House (c.1920), 989 East Jackson Street, Martinsville
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