An ultimate bungalow is a large and detailed
American Craftsman
American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...
-style home, based on the
bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
form.
Overview
The ultimate bungalow style is associated with such California architects as
Greene and Greene
Greene and Greene was an architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th Century American architects. Active primarily in Cali ...
,
Bernard Maybeck and
Julia Morgan
Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...
. Some of the hallmarks of Greene and Greene's ultimate bungalows include the use of
tropical woods such as
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus '' Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Un ...
,
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when po ...
and
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...
, and use of inlays of wood, metal and mother-of-pearl.
As in their other major projects, Charles and Henry Greene—and to a lesser extent Bernard Maybeck and a few other Craftsman-era architects who built such homes—sometimes designed the majority of furniture, textiles, fixtures and other interior details of these homes specifically for their location both in the house and in the larger landscape.
The term "ultimate bungalow" was popularized by its use as a chapter title in the 1977 book ''Greene & Greene, Architecture as a Fine Art'' by Randell Makinson. The houses discussed in the chapter were the Greenes' Robert Blacker, David Gamble, Charles Pratt, Freeman Ford, William Thorsen, Earle C. Anthony, Dr. Crow,
Willam Spinks, and William Lawless residences.
Notable examples
Houses recognized as ultimate bungalows include:
*
Gamble House in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
*
William R. Thorsen House in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Em ...
*
Robert R. Blacker House in Pasadena, California
* Madison House in Pasadena, California
*
Charles M. Pratt House, also known as "Casa Barranca", in
Ojai, California
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and i ...
(built 1909)
Charles Millard Pratt House, USC Libraries Digital Collections
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* John T. Greene Residence in Sacramento, California
)
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See also
*
References
{{reflist
American Craftsman architecture
American architectural styles
Ultimate
House styles
House types