The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-07-20
INTERESTING STORY
OF THE BUNGALOW

low and rambling, with unsurfaceC
lumber for the outside finish, the
frame resting upon mudsills, the ROOF
Of shakes, and the interior walls GOV
cred with burlap in lieu of plaster
Its lineup pleased him; its economy Of
cost satisfied him, and for the puT.
poses of q residence it answered his
every need in that semi-trOpical land
Some adaptive genius, seeing a fanci'
ful resemblance to the officers quar-
ters in faraway India, in this improve
ment upon the temporary shack which
lot owners, at that time, were per
miteed TO erect upon their property
while building Itheir permanent resi-,
dence, ehristened il a Bungalow.
No one then thought that this new
creation was aught but makeshift,
to be superseded by real" house az
soon as the pecuniary circumstances
of the owner would enable him te
do so.
In fact, when others sought to imi.
tate IL, the owners Of new additions
treated such structures as infringe
ments upon their building restrictions
in the matter of cost, and attempted
in many instances to prevent their
erection on their tracts. The term
bungalow" until l904-l905 was
treated as a name indicative Of poor
and cheap construction-an unplas-
tered, inexpensively finished residence
of the cheapest materials.
AT about this time, possibly in 1903,
few architects, at the behest of
clients who saw more clearly than the
trained builders, the points of beauty
and usefulness In this new idea, began
treating the bungalow from the stand
point of the artistic designer; and the
cottage, the Qeeun Anne house, and
the moderate o.story residence gave
way in the affections of the home
builder to this latest creation.
The term bungalow" as name,
became fixed, though its resemblance
to the original Indian structure of that
name is far fetched and imaginative: /:
it is purely Of California origin, a
spontaneous evolution from the i'm
pecunious lot owners shack, brought
forth and made possible by the won
derful climate of that land of sunshine.
and its habitat was. s.thought to be re-
tricted to that state. Not 50, how
ever. As built in California, il is i'll
adapted to protect its occupant from
the rigors of more trying climate.
But the visitors to the South took
home with them the plans of those
bungalows which pleased their fancy,
and had their architects model their
new homes on the strange lines of the
new-fangled house design, adapting
the construction to the requirements
of the climate of their own locality.
These found the bungalow to be all
that could be desired in moderate
priced house. Others, and not few,
used the plans as they bought them,
and at the first experience of cold and
storm, raised their voices in lamenta-
tion that bungalow might be good
summer home, but that it could not be
heated in winter.
AS indicating the distaste for the
term bungalow" that prevailed at
the period when the idea was at its
inception, an owner had plan pre-
pared of house containing six rooms,
all on the one floor, and had 1t built at
Raymond Park, new addition at that
time the spring OF l903-iust south of
the Raymond Hotel at Pasadena. The
broad fiat roof, prominent bays. porch
of clinker bricks, and dominant chin
ney of the same material, marked its
strange individuality, and despite the
owners protests, the people who saw it
called it bungalow, and bungalow"
it remained. The owner could never
reconcile himself to the fact that a
house which cost him over $4,000 could
possibly be classified as a bungalow.
This house was among the earliest,
possibly the first, departure from the
cheap construction. Like the fad for
mission furniture, the desire for
bungalows became epidemic, and in its
acute form it has brought forth some
strange results. Some of the newer
types are, however, marvelously pleas
ing, and exhibit considerable skill and
artistic talent on the part of their
designers. IL affords a vehicle for the
tyro and the inexperienced to do their
own room planning. The absence of
stairs, and the fact that a chimney can
be placed almost anywhere without
fear of its appearing in the center of
a second-story room, affords the oppor-
tunity Efor every prospective bride to
plan her own home. In this respect
1t could not help but be favorite.
Portland early took up the new idea.
The first bungalow in the city was
built on East Thirty-fourth street in
May 1904, and the strangeness of the
design excited considerable curiosity
and interest. Ii was built on the lines
of the convertible room idea. Folding
beds, excritoires, chitfoniers, cut glass
and china closets, bookcases contained
in buttressed partitions, were some of
the new ideas installed. The new
house became nuisance for time to
the owners. No less than thirty per-
sons asked permission to examine il
one Sunday shortly after its compile
tion, ana never day passed without
one OF. more applicants seeking admis-
sion.
The popularity of the bungalow as a
comfortable type of home at any
seasons when properly built, has not
shown any sign OF waning, but on the
contrary, both architects and owners
have sought to outdo one another in
dItisttS SuNCcptlul anu execution OF
this truly new American style of
domestic architecture. for IN every line
and every feature it is distinctly
American and Western at that. Only
its name bellies it. Its originators
never saw, perhaps never heard of
bungalow, but were Influenced by the
lines of the homes of the Spanish first
settlers. II is more properly devel.
opment of the rancho of the early Cal
ifornian. or the more pretentious adobe
residence of the prosperous hacienda.
that existed in California before the
division of the vast landed estates
under the Spanish grants.
Many of the old line architects were
slow to gauge-the new movement, and
prophesied the early according to
them, timely demise of an ill-consid.
cred fad. But the houses are here,
and the type will remain; it is toe
good lit is too elastic-to become old
and out of date. Ii is susceptible OF
greater variety though this seems
scarcely credible than any other stvle
of dwelling, and this quality will keep
| it ever new and attractive 10 the home.