Bamboozling Bungalow

By OHJ Staff

	A single storey and a low-slope roof define the basic bungalow form behind the Colonial entrance and Prairie-influenced fenestration.

Though we believe we have just bought a 1926 Prairie style old house, we also have 4/1 windows, French doors, and a Colonial arched entry. What the heck is it?
Penny Petersen Wilson
Toledo, Ohio

It's easy to be perplexed by unexpected details when you attempt to get a handle on the architecture of an old house, so instead of looking at an assortment of small clues, first stand back and study the big picture. Here, weÕre looking at a one-storey house with a low-slope roof (a pyramid in this case), and deep eaves—the basic definition of a bungalow. Looking for corroborating evidence, we start to see some of the features the house has in common with other bungalows, for example, a prominent chimney and fireplace and the multi-paned top sash of those 4/1 windows.

Now, because a bungalow is not a style but a fundamental house form that can come in more than one style or idiom, we can start to see some of the influences behind this particular bungalow. The way those windows are ganged together in twos and threes was, indeed, a favorite practice of Prairie School architects. While popular for many kinds of early 20th-century houses, it does add to the horizontal, ground-hugging Prairie feel of your house, especially in combination with the pyramidal roof and front-facing mass of the chimney. WeÕd agree the entrance shows signs of the Colonial Revival movement by virtue of its columns. This could be a later addition, or an original, transitional element. After all, 1926 was just about the time Arts & Crafts bungalow details of the 1910s were fading out in favor of all things Colonial.

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