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The bungalow's predecessor first appeared in India, where British travelers used a low, galleried native hut, called a bangla by Bengali natives, as a rest house. An identical word meant "belonging to Bengal" in the Hindu language. The British somehow corrupted these words into "bungalow," then carried the idea of a low-slung bungalow house home to England. From there, the idea migrated to the United States through professional architectural journals. The first American bungalows were vacation houses and casual mansions for the wealthy. Starting in 1907, brothers Charles and Henry Greene of California became important designers of some of these early examples. They combined the Japanese and Swiss wood working traditions with American precedents such as the importance of the fireplace in colonial homes and the importance of the gallery in the South to produce a new house prototype. Although this dwelling was large, the Greenes chose to call it a bungalow. Gradually their ideas drifted downward, and the bungalow as a middle class home took off. Some scholars call the middle class bungalow the California Bungalow because it originated there. Magazines, pattern books, and mail-order manufacturers helped to popularize the bungalow, just as they had the housing styles of the Victorian Era. Although some of these exhibited quality in their designs, others were cheap versions which contributed to an eventual decline in the style's popularity. The most influential magazine was The Craftsman, published by Gustav Stickley. Stickley campaigned for the bungalow because it reflected many of the ideas of the Craftsman style (not being covered in this unit) which he preferred. (Every bungalow is also a Craftsman house, but not every Craftsman house is a bungalow.) He especially stressed simplicity, craftsmanship and harmony with nature. The Craftsman eventually began publishing house plans, many of which were bungalows. CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLE:
THE BUNGALOW "CONFUSION": The bungalow's appearance and the life style it represented became so popular that people began adapting the style in ways its creators had never intended. Although by definition the California bungalow was not a two-story house, builders applied bungalow stylistic elements (especially porches and gables) to two-story houses which were not otherwise bungalows. Another adaptation was the application of decorative motifs from other styles (for example, the Colonial Revival or Spanish Colonial Revival) to the bungalow form. After a while, the concept of the smaller house became so popular that people began using the word "bungalow" to describe any early twentieth century small, cozy, cottage-type home. Today, cultural geographers use the word "bungalow" to describe a house type very different from the California bungalow. This house is similar to a shotgun double except that doors penetrate the walls between the two sides to make one large rather than two smaller dwellings. When reading about bungalows, it is necessary to make sure one understands what type of house the author is discussing. LOUISIANA CONNECTIONS: Most of Louisiana's bungalows resemble those found in the rest of the nation. Thousands exist in neighborhoods across the state. Local adaptations of bungalows were made throughout Louisiana. Although these variations contradicted the bungalow's concept of a one or one-and-one-half story single family home with an open and flexible floorplan, they proved to be quite popular in New Orleans and, occasionally, in other cities and towns. These variations include:
EXAMPLES: Highland
Historic District, Caddo Parish PRINTABLE
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