As Kevin Flaherty drove down Bradford Street in Glen Rock, N.J., one day in 1994, he spotted a homeowner sticking a "For Sale" sign in the lawn. He pulled over immediately, and pretty soon, he and his wife, Cathy, were the proud owners of a 1913 bungalow with a handsome front porch overlooking the leafy street.
"I love the look of the house," Flaherty said. "It's really quaint."
Built across America between 1900 and 1930 for middle-class homeowners, bungalows have a warmth and coziness that still hold appeal a century later. These buildings — often only 11/2 stories — have a horizontal, close-to-the-ground profile, with overhanging roofs and wide front porches on solid piers.
The bungalow style can be traced back to the Bengal region of India, where bangalas — one-story buildings with thatched roofs — were adapted by the British. The bungalow's simple style and emphasis on fine workmanship — as well as its use of wood, stone and other natural materials — made it a favorite with the Arts and Crafts movement, which began in Great Britain as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
Bungalows spread rapidly in the U.S. after 1900 as more households bought cars and early suburbs sprouted around the nation. The style was popularized in America by Craftsman magazine, published from 1901 to 1916 by designer and furniture maker Gustav Stickley, whose own house, Craftsman Farms in Parsippany, N.J., has been preserved as a museum. Bungalows' interiors are full of details like fireplaces, window seats, wood trim and pocket doors.
"The original bungalow may have been a reaction to the industrial age and its dehumanization," said John Brinkmann, founder and publisher of the quarterly American Bungalow magazine, which is based in California. "We have a similar situation going on today, with the electronic age. We yearn to return to something that feels like home."
Read the whole article here.
