IS THIS A CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW?

The Answer:

This home is more "late Victorian" in character.

The style we call "Craftsman Bungalow" did not spring fully-formed from the pen of a clever architect. Scholars have traced the influences of Japanese architecture, the Swiss Chalet, and the Eastern Mountain Lodge in the development of this uniquely American house style. As popular taste turned away from the Queen Anne style, suburban builders had to come up with something new and distinctive. It was a messy process with many intermediate stages.

This house represents one of those transitional stages between the late-Victorian notion of a cottage and the later notion of a Craftsman Bungalow.

The home has one story, it has a low-pitched roof, and it has the "look" of being firmly planted on the ground. These three characteristics must be present if a home is to be called a Craftsman Bungalow.

Notice, however, the spindly porch posts, the old-fashioned treatment of the roof gable, and the lack of significant roof overhang. There are no exposed rafter ends and none of the triangular brackets normally associated with the Craftsman Bungalow.

This home probably was built around 1910, when the late-Victorian ideas of beauty where being replaced by an increasing emphasis on horizontal lines. It is a perfectly lovely home, but perhaps would best be classed as a "late-Victorian cottage."

Illustration by Luis Escalante. Copyright 2002 by Ken Lampton.