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Craftsman Bungalows (1906-1925)
Craftsman houses expressed a movement toward a simpler architecture following the excesses of "Queen Anne" Victorian design. The Arts and Crafts esthetic shunned the fancy carved brackets and finials and other ornamental details of the preceding Victorian era. These touches were felt to be dishonest. In their place, exposed rafter tails and prominent knee brackets were felt to be a more honest decorative element because they appeared to lay bare the actual structural skeleton of the house.
THE Prairie School of Residential Architecture (1895-1920)
Prairie School architecture was developed by a group of architects in Chicago in the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. Frank Lloyd Wright was prominent in the movement. (The name "Prairie School" was not used at the time, it was invented by architectural scholars in the 1960s.)
Tudor Style (1900-1940)
The Tudor Style came into favor as a result of the romanticism which has always been a recurring factor in American architecture. The romantic movements always found solace in architectural styles of the past. This romanticism expressed itself in the period after World War I by a rejection of the carefully reasoned tenets of the Prairie School and the Arts and Crafts Movement. The architectural motifs associated with these movements quickly lost favor.
Mediterranean Revival Styles (1915-1940)
The third romantic style of architecture found in the Lower Greenville/Lakewood area is Mediterranean Style, which includes Spanish Eclectic, Monterey, and the Classical Italianate. The Spanish Eclectic Style began with the San Diego Panama-California Exposition of 1915. The style was extremely popular in the 1920's, the Highland Park City Hall and Highland Park Village are evidence of this. Country Club Estates in Lakewood is noted for its many Spanish Eclectic houses, many by architect Clyde Hutsell. Vickery Place has its own Hutsell at 5513 Bonita. It is typical of his style with blond matte brick used to suggest a stucco wall finish. The roof is low pitch and shingled with red clay tiles. The eaves are shallow or non-existent. Usually there is one dominant front window, with other windows being relatively inconspicuous.
The Colonial Revival Styles 1876-1950The romantic ideals associated with the Tudor and Spanish Eclectic Styles also produced the Colonial Revival Style. The Centennial Exposition of 1876 fostered a renewed interest in the designs of the early republic, a time when Thomas Jefferson hoped to define an American architecture loosely based on the architecture of the Roman Republic. The final years of the Victorian era saw many homes built which were considered to be inspired by Colonial American antecedents.
The Post-War Styles 1945-1968
Construction of homes (and formation of new families) was virtually shut down during the war years of 1943-1945, as the nation mobilized al its resources for war. When World War II ended, hundreds of thousands of young veterans came back home, married their sweethearts, and began looking for a place to live. There was a tremendous burst of pent-up demand for housing of all sorts. Anything a builder could knock together would be snapped up immediately. There was a real possibility that millions of substandard homes would be built.
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