By looking at bits of bungalows, you should start to feel like you could maybe know one when you see one. A bungalow, like any house, is the sum of its many details, the characteristics that it has that no other type of house has. You might want to take a cruise over to the article WHAT THE HECK IS A BUNGALOW ANYWAY? to have a base from which to view these pieces.
The majority of the details that we show you are Florida bungalows, but when my friend from Eagle Rock came to visit me in my historic Tampa neighborhood, she was astonished to feel right at home. We drove around with my friend Steve who chaired the neighborhood preservation committee & he told her about the neighborhood which is so similar to her own.
These Florida bungalow details images & their descriptions were provided by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource. Jo-Anne has many years of experience as a consultant & a hands-on restorer of old houses. She is going to explain the various details. You will see links to the GLOSSARY sprinkled throughout the post. She graciously assisted in the creation of the glossary.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
Why would anyone design a house with a closed soffit when you could have fun exposed cut rafter tails like these?
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
I love how this brick path (real brick, not those pale pink concrete pavers) leads you to this darling cottage with a side clipped gable (or jerkinhead) roof and the entry portico centered on the symmetrical front facade. Hardscaping is an often-over-looked component to showing off a bungalow.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
This house demonstrates how lovely a soffit can be if it is enclosed with real wood beadboard. Just say “NO!” to vinyl.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
More symmetry to make me feel balanced (I need as much balance as possible in my life!)
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
I photograph a lot of Craftsman bungalows with Tudor style influences like this one with the great half-timbering in the porch gable.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
Isn’t this an interesting porch overhang? It’s suspended from the roof above in this 1915 postcard from the Florida State Archives. Then they had the confidence to hang a porch swing from the suspended porch roof! I have no idea where in Florida this Craftsman bungalow was constructed, or whether this daring porch design survived the test of time (and hurricanes) but would love to hear from anyone who might know.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
This little Craftsman bungalow is strong and simple with original windows and wood window screens. The side gable roof allows for a wonderful shed roofed dormer that likely makes for a nice finished attic space. While there is nothing wrong with a standard, sturdy Craftsman eave bracket, a detail like this with a little extra flair just makes you smile.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
Notice how the rafter is birdsmouthed to rest on the bracket properly (another thing that makes the architectural nerd in me smile.)
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS
There is an awful lot to love in this Craftsman bungalow with its half-timbered gable, wraparound hipped porch and double shed roofed dormers. Read here why it’s not a Tudor Revival, despite the lovely half-timbering on the gables!
This article was written by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource, Inc. & Historic Shed. Jo-Anne is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & a licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She has kindly provided these photos & this information based on her vast knowledge of bungalows.
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I just realized that these 3 videos about old house, exterior wood siding were made by some of my favorite guys in the old home fix-it business. Each one of them is friendly, bright & they are all excellent teachers. An interesting thing about all 3 is that every one is a perfect gentlemen, treating everyone respectfully, listening attentively & graciously. I think they have absorbed the manners of earlier ages from being so well-attuned to old houses.
They approach teaching very differently from one another, though they all know that if a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video has to be worth at least 1,000,000!
You can read about Bob & John here, in my article about schools. Bob Yapp has run a school in Hannibal, Missouri, The Belvedere School for Hands-On Preservation since 2008. His students come from all over the U.S. & even Europe & Asia.
John Leeke is the OG of wood widow repair as well as general restoration & has been teaching & writing books for years. John & Bob both do consulting including remote consulting, advising homeowners on correct sequences, procedures & materials. Chris you will find here being a terrific resource for DIY’ers at every level.
THE OLD HOUSE EXTERIOR WOOD SIDING VIDEOS
Replacement Siding Is Nasty! (24:13)
About your House with Bob Yapp
Exterior Woodwork, Repair Split Clapboard (4:34)
John Leeke
Wood Siding Repair: How to Repair Cracks in Clapboard Siding, Part 1 (1:38)
My Old House Fix
WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
I have a large number of informative old house videos on my YouTube playlists from scary tales of knob & tube to heartwarming stories of bungalow neighborhoods to the history of the Arts & Crafts Movement as it crossed the seas to America from England. So, if you want to know how the pro’s do it, or just pass an enjoyable afternoon eating popcorn in front of the computer, tune in!
And don’t forget the watch SAFETY FIRST!!!! There’s nothing sexier than PPE!
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I see it all the time on Facebook groups. Someone asks what the architectural style of their home is and someone comments, “It’s a bungalow.” And even if the statement is correct, the answer is wrong. That’s because the term bungalow does not reference an architectural style at all; it’s an architectural form, meaning the general shape of the building. And that form can come in a variety of architectural styles.
So what is a bungalow? Here’s the definition according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
also: a house having one and a half stories and usually a front porch
And here is a definition from Google’s online dictionary:
a low house, with a broad front porch, having either no upper floor or upper rooms set in the roof, typically with dormer windows
As you can see, the definition is pretty broad and encompasses a lot of homes out there. And note that it does not reference architectural style at all – just the house form – so you can find bungalows in Folk Victorian, Prairie, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Minimal Traditional and other architectural styles, as well as bungalows with no formal style at all. You will also find wood framed bungalows, masonry bungalows, bungalows with siding, bungalows with stucco, bungalows with big porches, bungalows with small porches, etc. I will note, that although the definitions do not specify it, in general, a bungalow is generally agreed to be fairly small in size as well.
And speaking of definitions, check out our GLOSSARY of bungalow terms.
WHAT IS A BUNGALOW? FORM VS STYLE
So, if you want to know if a house a bungalow, apply the simple definition or follow the oversimplified graphic below. Look at the shape of the house, not the column type, window style, or any other element that helps define the architectural style of a house and you should get your answer pretty easily.
So, let’s apply this to some homes of different architectural styles for a fun, nerdy exercise.
This Folk Victorian house is one story with a full width porch; however, it has a steep pitched roof which by some definitions would preclude it from being a bungalow. That said, the term “bungalow” originated from housing in India that had steeper pitched roofs, so I consider this a bungalow.
This Craftsman house ticks all the boxes to be called a bungalow with its one-story, low pitched roof and wide porch form.
This little Mission style house is one story, has a low pitched roof, but only a very small portico. I would still put it in the bungalow category as many definitions of a bungalow do not reference a porch.
This unusually styled house built in 1911 has a full two stories. Therefore, it is not a bungalow, but I love it anyway!
This Craftsman house is 1-1/2 stories, which means the second level is under the roof rather that a full 2nd story on its own. It has a moderately low pitched roof and a full width porch. This is definitely a bungalow.
This Craftsman house is a variation of the bungalow form known as an Airplane bungalow. In this house type, there is a small second floor perched over the house, much like a cockpit in an older style plane.
THE CRAFTSMAN/BUNGALOW CONFUSION
This is where people tend to get the most confused since the phrase Craftsman Bungalow is used together so often. The association comes from the reality that many Craftsman style homes are in the form of a bungalow. In fact, you can find entire neighborhoods that consist almost entirely of Craftsman bungalows. But you can have a bungalow that is not Craftsman style. And you can have a Craftsman style home that is not a bungalow.
The exquisite Gamble House is a perfect example of a Craftsman house that is not a bungalow. The house is considered to be the epitome of Craftsman styling but does not meet the criteria of the bungalow form, as it has three rambling stories.
This article was written by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource, Inc. & Historic Shed. Jo-Anne is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & a licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She has kindly provided these photos & this information based on her vast knowledge of bungalows.
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There are a lot of styles with crossover elements that can make them confusing to classify (and sometimes make architectural historians argue). Craftsman (1905-1930) and Tudor Revival (1890-1940) are two house styles that were popular around the same time period in the U.S., and you see elements of each in many homes since both styles “express the structure” in their design.
The most common crossover design element creating a Tudor/ Craftsman house connection is half-timbering, which is the exposed structure found in historic Tudor homes in Great Britain. This design element it can be found on many Craftsman style homes, although often as a faux version rather than actual structural components. Craftsman elements like brackets and wide eaves can also find their way into Tudor Revival homes. When classifying one or the other, the immediately noticeable difference is in the roof slope: Tudor Revival homes have a steep roof pitch while Craftsman homes have a lower roof pitch. Another distinction is that Craftsman homes have wide eaves and Tudor Revival commonly have little to no eave overhang. You can see some examples of Craftsman details here.
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE TUDOR CRAFTSMAN HOUSE CONNECTION
Below are some images of homes with both Craftsman and Tudor elements, each with a description below:
Craftsman bungalow with half timbering in the porch gable.
The half timbering in this gable end is a strong character defining feature of this Craftsman bungalow.
Craftsman bungalow with Tudor influenced gable ornament. This one has a steeper roof than many Craftsman homes, but I would still classify it as more Craftsman than Tudor Revival with wide eaves supported by eave brackets and beefy square columns.
Tudor Revival home (note the steep main roof) with Craftsman style eave brackets and wide overhangs. I apologize for the wonky photo – just pretend I was being artsy and not clutzy.
This little gem is a wonderful example of Tudor Revival with half timbering, but also has wider eaves than many of the style, with outriggers to support them.
This article was written by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource, Inc. & Historic Shed. Jo-Anne is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & a licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She has kindly provided these photos & this information based her vast knowledge of bungalows.
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Let’s break down some bungalow characteristics to better understand what makes a bungalow, a bungalow. Character defining features, as further explained in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation Projects is a term that means the way the visual & material aspects of a particular house style that set it apart from other styles.
My friend Jo-Anne Peck, of Preservation Resource, Inc., & Historic Shed, is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She has kindly provided these photos & this information based her her vast knowledge of bungalow preservation. They are grouped according to how they appeared on Facebook & I will add more from her every month, in a new part.
I am creating this page so that when I am asked, “What is a bungalow?” I’ll be able to point to these pages & after a bit, you’ll just know.
The links are to our glossary of exterior bungalow terms. Please follow it if you see a term that might be unfamiliar to you.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
When someone says bungalow, we often first think of Craftsman style bungalows, but in reality, the term bungalow refers to the form of a house, not the style. Here is a Folk Victorian style bungalow with a hipped roof. I have to admit that I am partial to designs with a simple symmetry.
Here you can see some images of a more typical Folk Victorian.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
Texture, rhythm, and details. I love how the trim surrounding the windows flares differently on each side of the casing to accommodate the 4 vents. And look at the great cut rafter tails! This house was built by a craftsman skilled at their trade.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
A gable dormer with shingle siding and divided lites with wavy glass. What more needs to be said?
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
I know it’s a bit abnormal to get excited over foundation lattice, but I love when something so utilitarian and mundane is a design feature worthy of attention on its own. It’s a far cry from bright white plastic lattice, isn’t it?
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
One of the most common Craftsman bungalow forms is the front facing gable house with a separate, front facing gable porch. The porch is often 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 the width of the house. Or, as in the case of this structure, the porch wraps around the side of the house, making the porch roof nearly the same width of the house front gable, but still providing a separate roofline.
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
Some homes are so rich in detail that you just have to stop and take a photo!
This house in Tampa, FL has a lot going on from the jerkinhead roofline, to the surplus of eave brackets, porch dentil trim, paired and triple columns on sturdy tapered brick piers, shingled gable, and so much more …
DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERISTICS:
This bungalow has what is referred to as an integral porch, which means the roof is continuous over both the house and porch. It creates a clean, unfussy look and has no pesky transitions that can often be sources of potential leaks down the road. Shingle siding, exposed rafter tails and groups of 4 slender posts supporting the porch make for a lovely home.
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The story begins with my love affair with the Alfred W. & Grace D. Hare House, a beautiful Craftsman, in Eagle Rock, a bungalow neighborhood in N.E. Los Angeles. Once an incorporated town in its own right, Eagle Rock is just west of Pasadena & was clearly influenced by the architecture being built there.
The entrance to the property is through an arbor that I had built with saplings that were so green that leaves kept growing long after the fence was constructed. An arroyo rock border lined the sidewalk & roses grew intertwined through the sapling fence. There’s a great, full page image of the arbor in BUNGALOW DETAILS: Exterior, on page 190
The rocks came from the nearby Arroyo Seco (which in Spanish means “dry gulch”) a canyon between Eagle Rock & Pasadena. This rock is a common material seen in houses in this area & clearly shows their place in the world.
My next-door-neighbor retired & got herself a chainsaw, Every time I heard the buzzing start-up, I’d grab my keys & head for the nursery to buy another tree. I ended up with a small grove of birches in the front & a shaggy, grafted tree that looked like a parasol under which fairies could dance, when it was first installed but turned into Cousin Itt as it grew. The house is on 1 1/2 lots & is set well back from the street, so the Addams family representative, the huge, aged pine & the new birches made a nice little forest.
MY ARTS & CRAFTS GARDEN
I also used the same rocks to form a path from the driveway to the front walk. I installed baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) a mossy appearing tropical perennial with tiny, tiny leaves between the path & the border. They were very soft & sweet & I coaxed them to grow so that they would provide a natural woodland look. A week before my mother was supposed to arrive to see the house for the first time, my gardener edged them so they were level on top & flat against the border. I am a plant whisperer but I admit that during that week I was more of a plant cheerleader & probably even a plant sergeant, alternating cheering & commanding them to grow back into gentle, fluffy mounds before my mom’s arrival.
Inspired by the origins of the Arts & Crafts Movement, I planted an English garden. Arroyo rock bordered the garden beds which I enlarged & planted with shade loving plants on the shady side & plants that looked like shade loving plants on the other side. It was very difficult! Los Angeles is not England. Los Angeles is a desert & plants easily fry in the sun, so I had to stretch my wits to fill a bed that got nuked every day with plants that could have maybe been in an English cottage garden.
A great deal of my planning was centered on choosing what I would want to cut, to bring in the house. I love old flowers, so I chose calla lilies & several different types of ferns so that I would have greens. I grew roses in honor of my mother & my grandmother. My grandmother was an accomplished rosarian, & in 1930, was certified as a rose judge.
THE HOUSE
The centered, front-gabled porch is supported by massive timber framing & arroyo stone piers. A free-form arroyo stone chimney is on the east side. Sadly, I have no pictures of my chimney, but you can see it in Jane Powell’s book BUNGALOW DETAILS: Exterior, on page 57. It’s chunky!
Typical of Southern California Craftsman style, as one of the earlier houses built, the Hare House helped set the style for later homes in Eagle Rock. Its solid massing & low horizontal profile, is boldly embellished with honest decorative elements, employing simple & natural building materials. As celebrated by the Arts & Crafts Movement, there are many connections from the outside to the inside, with the inviting porch & the sunroom & the many large windows, both casement & doublehung in every room of the house.
The entry features a centered Douglas fir door with 4 beveled lites. We added a screen door (not original) of quartersawn oak with brass screen. You can read about the door & the tiny faces who loved to look out of it here.
The shingle siding was stained when i purchased the house. I hire an inexperienced painter who had slapped a coat of paint on it by the time I arrived home from the office. We had chosen colors together & I thought that he noticed that I was showing him stain samples, but he did not. There is a good chance that he had never stained a house & didn’t know that you could. It broke my heart. I felt like I had betrayed the house.
THE BUILDER OF MY CRAFTSMAN IN EAGLE ROCK
The original owner (through 1923) Rev. Alfred W. Hare & his wife Grace D. Hare made significant contributions to the community of Eagle Rock & the City of Los Angeles.They were both active in the cultural, social & religious life of the town. Local papers of the time feature many stories of their travels, their house guests & their participation in events on behalf of the town’s various social organizations, such as the Women’s Club, the Elks, the Red Cross & the Near East Relief work after the war.
Ordained as a clergyman of the Congregational Church in 1896, Hare moved to Eagle Rock in 1909 as pastor of the shuttered Eagle Rock Congregational Church. Soon after, due to his inspired success of the church, Hare oversaw the construction of a new church building.
Sadly, this church, an extraordinary example of Arts & Crafts design, is no longer standing. I have been unable to track down both the architect of the house & of the church. To my eye, the house & the church were not drawn by the same hand. I would love to know your opinion of this.
After 1912, he was the pastor at other churches in Los Angeles, notably 27 total years at Park Congregational Church in Angeleno Heights.
Admitted to the Los Angeles County Bar Association in 1912, Hare founded the large & successful law firm of Hare & Walden situated in downtown Los Angeles, which was connected by trolley to Eagle Rock. The little home office, with its built-in desk & fireplace was probably well-used by Hare, writing sermons, counseling parishioners & then, after he began practicing law, working on cases that he brought home from the office so that he could be with his wife, Grace.
Mrs. Grace Dunsmoor Hare had been a “successful & popular” teacher & was the daughter of Charles Dunsmoor, who was County Clerk of Los Angeles County & California State Bank Commissioner. Both Mr. & Mrs. Hare were revered leaders in the realms of social activism & philanthropy in their community of Eagle Rock.
Learning these things about them helped to explain the house. Though one of the finest homes in the neighborhood, it was situated well away from the grah-ah-ahnd street of the town, Hill Drive. Learning of Reverend Hare’s astute ability to handle money -he helped several churches whose congregations he led to tear up their mortgages- my surmise is that he thriftily chose a less pricey, but large & beautiful lot on which to build.
The house, at 1950 square feet had only 2 bedrooms. In none of my research on him have I seen any evidence of children. In later years Grace was sickly & I wonder if her maladies could have affected her fertility. By the time the house was built, they had been married for 7 years & had probably stopped hoping to grow their family.
The public areas were clearly designed for entertaining with a large living room & dining room, as well as a sunroom. I can easily imagine gay fundraisers for the Women’s Twentieth Century Club building fund to have taken place there, with Alfred playing the guitar & the 2 of them singing, perhaps accompanied by his sisters who wrote songs & skits to contribute to the effort.
Almost 100 years later, I was a member of Club & participated in fundraising events to restore & preserve the beautiful building. Again, I wonder at the architect because all the members of the Hare family, Alfred, Grace & his 3 sisters were instrumental in the fundraising that enabled it to be built & they possibly would have had some influence in its design.
It was an honor & a privilege to hold the stewardship of this beautiful home. When I restored it, I kept the Hares in mind & strove to create make choices that would please them & create a space in which they would feel comfortable. The woman to whom I sold the house held them in the same regard & the remaining restoration that she performed, was done with the same reverence, for the family, the neighborhood & the period.
TIP: TO READ MORE ABOUT MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE HARE HOUSE, CLICK HERE.
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By looking at bits of bungalows, you should start to feel like you could maybe know one when you see one. A bungalow, like any house, is the sum of its many details, the characteristics that it has that no other type of house has. You might want to take a cruise over to the article WHAT THE HECK IS A BUNGALOW ANYWAY? to have a base from which to view these pieces.
This article was written by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource, Inc. & Historic Shed. Jo-Anne is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & a licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She has kindly provided these photos & this information based on her vast knowledge of bungalows.
STAY IN THE BUNGALOW KNOW!!!
I just realized that these 3 videos about old house, exterior wood siding were made by some of my favorite guys in the old home fix-it business. Each one of them is friendly, bright & they are all excellent teachers. An interesting thing about all 3 is that every one is a perfect gentlemen, treating everyone respectfully, listening attentively & graciously. I think they have absorbed the manners of earlier ages from being so well-attuned to old houses.
STAY IN THE BUNGALOW KNOW!!!
I see it all the time on Facebook groups. Someone asks what the architectural style of their home is and someone comments, “It’s a bungalow.” And even if the statement is correct, the answer is wrong. That’s because the term bungalow does not reference an architectural style at all; it’s an architectural form, meaning the general shape of the building. And that form can come in a variety of architectural styles.
There are a lot of styles with crossover elements that can make them confusing to classify (and sometimes make architectural historians argue). Craftsman (1905-1930) and Tudor Revival (1890-1940) are two house styles that were popular around the same time period in the U.S., and you see elements of each in many homes since both styles “express the structure” in their design.
Let’s break down some bungalow characteristics to better understand what makes a bungalow, a bungalow. Character defining features, as further explained in the Secretary of the Interior’s 
The 
I also used the same rocks to form a path from the driveway to the front walk. I installed baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) a mossy appearing tropical perennial with tiny, tiny leaves between the path & the border. They were very soft & sweet & I coaxed them to grow so that they would provide a natural woodland look. A week before my mother was supposed to arrive to see the house for the first time, my gardener edged them so they were level on top & flat against the border. I am a plant whisperer but I admit that during that week I was more of a plant cheerleader & probably even a plant sergeant, alternating cheering & commanding them to grow back into gentle, fluffy mounds before my mom’s arrival.
The centered, front-gabled porch is supported by massive timber framing & arroyo stone piers. A free-form arroyo stone chimney is on the east side. Sadly, I have no pictures of my chimney, but you can see it in Jane Powell’s book BUNGALOW DETAILS: Exterior, on page 57. It’s chunky!
Admitted to the Los Angeles County Bar Association in 1912, Hare founded the large & successful law firm of Hare & Walden situated in downtown Los Angeles, which was connected by trolley to Eagle Rock. The little home office, with its built-in desk & fireplace was probably well-used by Hare, writing sermons, counseling parishioners & then, after he began practicing law, working on cases that he brought home from the office so that he could be with his wife, Grace.
The public areas were clearly designed for entertaining with a large living room & dining room, as well as a sunroom. I can easily imagine gay fundraisers for the