Twentieth Century House
Forms and Materials
Bungalows 1890-1940
Bungalow has its roots in Stick Style, particularly as expressed in
the Craftsman movement as popularized by Gustav Stuckey in
his magazine, The Craftsman. It was inspired by Charles and
Henry Greene, who practiced in Pasadena, California between
1893 and 1913. Their bungalows began about 1903. These
houses are contemporaneous with Prairie Style buildings and
were popularized through style books and magazines as were
the Prairie and Colonial Revival buildings. It has enormous
variety of forms and finishes. Bungalow houses continue to be
built up to World War II, but are rare from the rebuilding after
that War.
Often called Arts & Crafts houses; Craftsman bungalow or A & C bungalow
Term “bungalow” derived from words used to describe houses built
India for English colonists by local laborers
Influenced by Arts & Crafts movement in England
Gustav Stickley & William Morris
Originated in California in 1901
Charles Sumner Greene & Henry Mather Greene
Period of Popularity: 1905 - 1930
Blended elements of Arts & Crafts, vernacular folk houses, Stick Victorian,
Romanesque and Asian architecture and design
Popularized through magazines
Numerous pattern books promoted the style
Utilised by Sears, Aladdin Homes and other mail order kit house companies
Provided affordable single family houses for new suburbs
Helped satisfy high demand for housing post WWI
in
Defining Features
Low pitched gabled roof
Wide, unenclosed overhanging eaves
Exposed roof rafters; simple decorative beams and braces
Full or partial width one story porches
Square or tapered square columns as porch supports
Solid masonry piers supporting columns; or solid porch balustrade
Gabled dormers
Wall cladding is typically wood clapboard or wood shingles with stone,
brick, concrete block and stucco used in North & Midwest
Bungalows, 1890-1940
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Charles and Henry Greene
Diverse origins, American production
Contemporary to Prairie style
Middle class worker housing
Popularized through style books, magazines
(The Craftsman, Ladies’ Home Journal)
• Mail order companies (Aladdin, Sears &
Roebuck)
Bungalows, 1890-1940
Characteristics
• 1 or 1 ½ story
• Distinctive roof w/ low pitch and overhanging
eaves
• Porches and posts (battered piers)
• Asymmetry
Sears and Roebuck
advertisement
Irwin House, Pasadena, Calif.
1906 (Greene and Greene)
Gamble House, Pasadena, Calif.
1908, (Greene and Greene)
Gamble House, Pasadena, Calif.
1908, (Greene and Greene)
Gamble House, Pasadena, Calif.
1908, (Greene and Greene)
Gamble House, Pasadena, Calif.
1908, (Greene and Greene)
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Kit House catalogue
1908 - 1914
“The Osborne”
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
1915-1920
FOUR Subtypes
Front Gabled Roof ~35%
Full or partial width one story porches under main roof or
with separate extended roofs
Typically 1 story; 1½ - 2 story examples exist as well
10% have dormers
Cross Gabled Roof ~25%
Partial width front gabled porch forms cross gable
75% of these are one story
20% have dormers
Side Gabled Roof ~35%
1½ story with centered shed/gable dormers
Porches usually under main roof; often break in slope
Common in NE & Midwest
Hipped Roof <10 %
1 & 2 story examples are equally common
Similar to simple Prairie house
Four Square
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Kit House catalogue
1908 - 1914
American Foursquare
American Foursquare
American Foursquare
Lustron Homes and other modular components
1. Lustron House, 411 Bowser Ave., CHESTERTON, Porter
County, IN. Originally designed by Roy Burton Blass and
Morris H. Backman.
Interior view.
2. Armco-Ferro House, 251 Lake Front Dr. (moved from Century
of Progress exhibition in Chicago,IL 1933), BEVERLY
SHORES, Porter County, IN. Robert Smith, Jr., Cleveland
Ohio (architect). Sponsored by the American Mill Rolling
Company and the Ferro Enamel Corporation.
Manufacturer Plate
HABS Drawing of first floor.