Bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single- or one-and-a-half-storey. If a smaller upper storey exists, then it is frequently set in the roof and windows that come out from the roof. It may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a bungalow was built in 1869.
The term bungalow is derived from the word Bengali language and used elliptically to mean "a house in the Bengal style".
In the U.S. bungalows were first built as a vacation architecture, and were most popular between 1900 and 1918, especially with the Arts and Crafts movement. The style quickly developed into its own class of residential architecture whose ancestors include the Prairie School and American Craftsman.
Different U.S. cities and regions in the early-to-mid twentieth century, from California to Chicago to New York, developed styles of bungalows unique to their geography, climate, landscape and social milieu. Organizations continue to celebrate the style, including the Kansas City Bungalow Club and the Twin Cities Bungalow Club.
The popularity of the American movement was spearheaded by the Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s hugely popular mail-order Modern Homes program between 1908 and 1940. The company sold precut house kits, including many affordable, stylish Craftsman bungalows, shipped by rail to ordinary Americans, making homeownership accessible with unique financing and standardized, attractive designs that became iconic of the era's middle-class aspirations.
One Massachusetts architect poked fun at the fashionable home-building movement in the article, "The Rampant Craze for the Bungle-oh." Another wrote a poem, "Bungal-Ode."
Design considerations
Bungalows are very convenient for the homeowner in that all living areas are on a single storey and there are no stairs between living areas. A bungalow is well-suited to persons with impaired mobility, such as the elderly or those using wheelchairs.Neighbourhoods of only bungalows offer more privacy than similar neighbourhoods with two-storey houses. As bungalows are one or one and a half storeys, strategically planted trees and shrubs are usually sufficient to block the view of neighbours. With two-storey houses, the extra height requires much taller trees to accomplish the same, and it may not be practical to place such tall trees close to the building. Bungalows provide cost-effective residences. On the other hand, even closely spaced bungalows make for quite low-density neighbourhoods, contributing to urban sprawl. In Australia, bungalows have broad verandas to shade the interior from intense sun, but as a result, they are often excessively dark inside, requiring artificial light even in daytime.
Cost and space considerations
On a per-area basis, bungalows are more expensive to construct than two-storey houses, because the same foundation and roof is required for a smaller living area.Although the "footprint" of a bungalow is often a simple rectangle, any foundation is theoretically possible. For bungalows with brick walls, the windows are often positioned high, and are close to the roof. This architectural technique avoids the need for special arches or lintels to support the brick wall above the windows. However, in two-storey houses, there is no choice but to continue the brick wall above the window.
By region
Australia
From 1891, the Federation Bungalow style swept across Australia, first in Camberwell, Victoria, and through Sydney's northern suburbs after 1895. The developer Richard Stanton built in the Federation Bungalow style first in Haberfield, New South Wales, the first Garden Suburb, and then in Rosebery, New South Wales. Beecroft, Hornsby, and Lindfield contain many examples of Federation Bungalows built between 1895 and 1920.From about 1908 to the 1930s, the California bungalow style was very popular in Australia with a rise of interest in single-family homes and planned urban communities. The style first saw widespread use in the suburbs of Sydney. It then spread throughout the Australian states and New Zealand.
In South Australia, the suburb of Colonel Light Gardens contains many well-preserved bungalow developments.
Bangladesh
In rural Bangladesh, the concept is often called Bangla ghar and remains popular. The main construction material is corrugated steel sheets or red clay tiles, while past generations used wood, bamboo and straw. In houses that used straw as roof, it was used for keeping the house cooler during hot summer days.The dak bungalows were formerly used by the British mail services during the British Raj period in Bengal.
Canada
Canada uses bungalow to mean a single-family dwelling that is one storey high.File:2012-03-27 Bonn Kanzlerbungalow.JPG|thumb|alt=Kanzlerbungalow|Kanzlerbungalow by Sep Ruf, from 1964 to 1999 the residence of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in BonnGermany
In Germany, bungalow refers to a single-storey house with a flat roof. This building style was most popular during the 1960s. The two criteria are mentioned in contemporary literature, e.g. Landhaus und Bungalow by Klara Trost.India
In India, the term bungalow or villa refers to any single-family unit, as opposed to an apartment building, which is the norm for Indian middle-class city living. The normal custom for an Indian bungalow is one storey, but as time progressed, many families built larger two-storey houses to accommodate humans and pets. The area with bungalows built in the 1920s–30s in New Delhi is now known as Lutyens' Bungalow Zone and is an architectural heritage area. In Bandra, a suburb of India's commercial capital Mumbai, numerous colonial-era bungalows exist; they are threatened by removal and replacement of ongoing development.In a distinctly utilitarian usage, the dak bungalow was formerly used by circuit-riding British jurists, as well as quotidian private citizens, the most substantial of which have been converted into local governmental buildings and the like. The vast majority, however, were the most sparse of lodgings.
Ireland
The bungalow is the most common type of house built in the Irish countryside. During the Celtic Tiger years of the late 20th century, single-storey bungalows declined as a type of new construction, and residents built more two-storey or dormer bungalows. There was a trend in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland of people moving into rural areas and buying their own plots of land. Often these plots were large, so a one-storey bungalow was quite practical, particularly for retirees.Singapore and Malaysia
In Singapore and Malaysia, the term bungalow is sometimes used to refer to a house that was built during the colonial era. The structures were constructed "from the early 19th century until the end of World War II." They were built by the British to house their "military officers, High Court judges and other members of the colonial society's great and good."At present, there is still a high demand for colonial-era bungalows in Singapore and Malaysia. Most of the units are used as residences. Over the years, some have been transformed into offices, hotels, galleries, spas, and restaurants.
In the post-colonial period, the term bungalow has been adapted and used to refer to any stand-alone residence, regardless of size, architectural style, or era in which it was built. Calling a house a bungalow often carries with it connotations of the price and status of the residence, and thus the wealth of its owner. Local real estate lingo commonly includes the word "bungalow" when referring to residences that are more normally described as "detached", "single-family homes", or even "mansions" in other countries. The pervasiveness of the word in the local jargon has resulted in bungalow being imported into the Malay language as the word banglo with the same meaning.
In Singapore, large luxurious mansions in exclusive areas are referred to as Good Class Bungalows.
South Africa
In South Africa, the term bungalow refers to a single-storey, detached house. It may be implied that it is a temporary residence, such as a holiday home or student housing.United Kingdom
The first two bungalows in England were built in Westgate-on-Sea in 1869 or 1870. A bungalow was a prefabricated single-storey building used as a seaside holiday home. Manufacturers included Boulton & Paul Ltd, who made corrugated iron bungalows as advertised in their 1889 catalogue, which were erected by their men on the purchaser's light brickwork foundation. Examples include Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum, and Castle Bungalow at Peppercombe, North Devon, owned by the Landmark Trust; it was built by Boulton and Paul in the 1920s. Construction of this type of bungalow peaked towards the end of the decade, to be replaced by brick construction.Bungalows became popular in the United Kingdom between the two World Wars, and very large numbers were built, particularly in coastal resorts, giving rise to the pejorative adjective "bungaloid", first found in the Daily Express from 1927: "Hideous allotments and bungaloid growth make the approaches to any city repulsive". Many villages and seaside resorts have large estates of 1960s bungalows, usually occupied by retired people. The typical 1930s bungalow is square in plan, with those of the 1960s more likely to be oblong. It is rare for the term "bungalow" to be used in British English to denote a dwelling having other than a single storey, or one adapted from a single-storey building, in which case "chalet bungalow" is used.