Original content: Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Museum of American Heritage
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The roots of the American bungalow are found in the Indian province of Bengal. Eighteenth-century one-story huts with thatched roofs were adapted by the British, who used them as houses for colonial administrators. In the 19th century, the "bangla" or bungalow's economy of space, simplicity of form, and closeness to nature inspired the English architects for the Arts and Crafts (Craftsman) movement.
Some people believe that the bungalow is indeed the true American house, giving a physical place for such bedrock family values as practicality, simplicity, and openness. "It was in Southern California that the bungalow…found its true home," said the authors of Architecture in Los Angeles. "Here a young family on the make, a sick family on the mend, or an old family on meager savings could build a woodsy place in the sun with palm trees and a rose garden. The California bungalow, whatever its size or quality of workmanship, was the closest thing to a democratic art that has ever been produced."
The Prairie Style architects focused on integrating architecture into the environment, using nature to guide the blueprints and building. As a result, many Prairie homes were built low to the ground-flat like the prairie-and featured low rooflines with overhanging eaves to temper strong prairie winds. Essential to the Prairie home was a floorplan that flowed from room to room, an element most often linked to the Prairie School's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed floorplans that minimized the function and appearance of walls in the home, creating the effect of open, natural space. Although the Midwest boasts the majority of Frank Lloyd Wright's homes, his works can be found across the country, from Kentucky to California.
Late Victorian styles became a jumble of influences and ornamentation. Industrial growth creating a "golden age" of wealth helped to fuel increases in the size of homes, as well. While Queen Anne style uses English country homes from the Tudor period as a base, anything to avoid a flat surface or square form was adopted. Patterned shingles, fake half-timbering, towers or turrets, niche porches, bay windows, stained-glass windows, large wrap-around porches, large chimneys, lots of changing very steeply pitched roof lines all collaborated to make the essence of what we think of today as "Victorian". Think of it as Victorian-era baroque.
Identifying features
The American movie industry of the early 1900's helped to glamorize the Spanish Eclectic style. Stars weren't just seen at night; in true photo-op fashion, they were often captured lounging by their oversized pools in back of their Spanish Colonial mansions, dripping with water by day, and diamonds by night. It was also through the influence of the movies that the Spanish Colonial mansions came to be built in areas of the country like Minnesota, where the largely Nordic-rooted culture was far removed from Spanish heritage.
The most lasting legacy of the Spanish Colonial Revival as a national type was the one-story house that we know as the ranch house. Its characteristic U-shaped floor plan with a protected patio in the courtyard derives from the California ranchos of the late 1830s.
Examples of Spanish Eclectic in Palo Alto, many by Birge Clark, include:
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last updated: October 2, 2003 Original content: Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Museum of American Heritage Trademarks are the property of their owners |
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