Architecture

1905-1930: Bungalow Styles

Picture Dictionary of House Styles in North America and Beyond: Bungalow Styles

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California Bungalows, Craftsman Bungalows, and Chicago Bugalows were variations of an affordable housing type that swept across America. Find facts below.

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Photo © iStockPhoto.com/Diana Lundin

Bungalow houses come in many styles. The California Bungalow shown here has heavy square columns and a simple concrete foundation.

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A Bungalow is an early 20th century home with these features:

One and a half stories
Most of the living spaces on the ground floor
Low-pitched roof and horizontal shape
Living room at the center
Connecting rooms without hallways
Efficient floor plan
Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seats

Bungalow houses may relect many different architectural styles, and the word Bungalow is often used for any small 20th century home that uses space efficiently. In their book American Bungalow Style, authors Robert Winter and Alexander Vertikoff identify dozens of variations on the Bungalow form:

About Bungalow Houses

The Bungalow is an all American housing type, but it has its roots in India. In the province of Bengal, single-family homes were called bangla or bangala. British colonists adapted these one-story thatch-roofed huts to use as summer homes. The space-efficient floor plan of bungalow houses may have also been inspired by army tents and rural English cottages. The idea was to cluster the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms, and bathroom around a central living area.

The first American house to be called a bungalow was designed in 1879 by William Gibbons Preston. Built at Monument Beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the two-story house had the informal air of resort architecture. However, this house was much larger and more elaborate than the homes we think of when we use the term Bungalow.

Two California architects, Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, are often credited with inspiring America to build Bungalows. Their most famous project was the huge Craftsman style Gamble house (1909) in Pasadena, California. However, the Green brothers also published more modest Bungalow plans in many magazines and pattern books.

Learn more about Bungalows:

American Bungalow Style, book by Robert Winter and Alexander Vertikoff (compare prices)
Bungalow Colors, book by Robert Schweitzer (compare prices)
American Bungalow Magazine
The Chicago Bungalow