Bungalow- A New Orleans Craftsman House

It is said that the name “bungalow” comes from India (though it is called bangla in Hindu) and the style is similar to the rest houses that were built there by the English government for foreign travelers. The houses were built low with porches, but Europe’s take on the style was folded in to the Arts and Crafts movement that was started in the late 1800’s.

The Arts and Crafts movement and Bungalow style for the United States got it’s start in the early 1900’s due to a couple of factors. Gustav Stickley is up first, as he was very important for the American Craftsman style. He, like our friend Charles Locke Eastlake (important during the Victorian period- you can read all about the period on my blog if you’d like, as it's a favorite of the time periods for me), was a furniture designer whose work expanded from popular furniture to eventually offering different styles of housing, one being a bungalow.

Later, in Pasadena, California brother architects, Charles and Henry Greene popularized this style at their practice in that area. This style is also known as the “California Style”.
As the Victorian Period came to an end and people grew tired of the retina-burning aesthetic and colors that the time brought with it (I’m not hatin’, I’m just sayin’), the people were very happy to adopt a much simpler style of housing and this was a perfect fit.

As with the Victorian Period, advances in technology and the ability to communicate made this style spread like wildfire thanks to plan books that were produced and widely circulated around the states. Around the 1920’s and 30’s, New Orleans started to see a rise in popularity of these Arts and Craft homes in the newer neighborhoods being built like Lakeview and Gentilly. So much so, that these areas were known as “Little California” (an original take on “LA, not L.A.”, perhaps?) The city had just drained the swamp in those areas and the folks who moved into those new neighborhoods wanted a different style of living from traditional New Orleans.

Along with the neighborhoods mentioned above, you can find a lot of these bungalow houses in the Uptown neighborhoods, too! This is where most of my photo stock of them have come from. I in fact LIVE in a craftsman and my nextdoor neighbors all do, too. I've been here for four years and never realized until recently. Maybe due to the fact that my house is one of a kind (a double) that was raised and the bottom floor used to be a bar! The pillars that once supported my roof have been replaced, unfortunately. I live in a poor Frankenstein house.

Some characteristics to help you identify a craftsman: Brick/concrete bottomed pillars that support squared columns to support the front porch, sometimes features a screened in front porch (because this is how they were in the early days- still makes sense to me to keep pests out!), exposed rafter tails (this means, under the roof line where it meets the house, you can see the wood beams sticking out from underneath), sometimes the windows will feature more panes in the top half than the bottom- signature mark of the craftsman!

I kind of love this house- has an addition on the back- love the front flower bed and mis-matched columns

Massive double found Uptown- brick pillars, wide staircase, multi-paned windows..

one of my all-time favorites. Screened in porch, vented attic space, multi-paned windows, pillars. it's got it all!

a neighboring bungalow. don't the porches look so welcoming?