TABLE OF CONTENTS :
THE BUNGALOW THAT DOESN'T NEED AC: Some Notes on the Airplane Bungalow in Los Angeles and the United States INTRODUCTION As an enthusiast of the wood-clad architecture of the United States, there isn’t a style that is more alluring to me than the Airplane Bungalow. In the parts of the nation where they were built, Airplane Bungalows were most popular between 1910 and 1925. The style was particularly favorable in the Western, Midwestern, and Southwestern United States, where the hot seasons made the pop-up second story a cooler option for summer slumbering. The Airplane Bungalow's period of popularity coincided with the heyday of their probable parent, the Craftsman style. Airplane Bungalows share many similarities with Craftsman architecture broadly: low-pitched gabled roofs, pronounced eave overhang, exposed rafters, generous fenestration, built-in furniture, and clapboarded/shingled exteriors. Given the similarities between the two styles, it is not unreasonable to view Airplane Bungalows as an offshoot of Craftsman style; however, they could be viewed as vernacular or eclectic interpretations. What distinguishes Airplane bungalows, however, is the "pop-up" second story inherent to its design, widely described by historians as a cupola. These pop-ups usually consist solely of an extra pair of bedrooms. The isolated nature of this “pop-up” story, combined with the fenestration spanning contiguously around it, bears the likeness of an airplane cockpit to many who observe Airplane Bungalows. Today, we will discuss this elegant subgenre of wooden bungalow, it’s possible origins and etymology, and where to find gardens of these fine abodes in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Click "READ MORE" below ORIGINS and ETYMOLOGY What remains unclear is how these “airplane-like bungalows” became “Airplane Bungalows” in the lexicon. Alas, few forms of art come into existence from out of a vacuum. Indeed, the Arts-and-Crafts Movement in America was derived from the earlier Arts-and-Crafts movement in England. In turn, the term “bungalow” itself is an Anglophone corruption of “Bangalo,” a Gajarati word meaning "Bengali house." This is a reminder of how the etymology and style of the bungalow was essentially derived from the vernacular architecture of the West Bengal region of India called Banglaghar, or bangala in the shorthand. AS FOR THE AIRPLANE BUNGALOW, SPECIFICALLY...... The late Benjamin M. Turner, his wife Gertrude, and Dr. Bob Blackburn were early Anglo residents of Oklahoma City who were instrumental in identifying and preserving Airplane Bungalows in their neighborhoods of Mesta Park and Heritage Hills. They posited that the bungalow’s moniker is due to the contiguous fenestration around the pop-up floor, which forms the likeness of a cockpit. Mrs. Turner, for her part, believed that the name derived from the constant airflow to the pop-up floor created by the wraparound fenestration. According to Preservation Greensboro, a historic preservation group based in the city in North Carolina of the same name, the moniker derives from the concurrence of the bungalows’ popularity with World War I. After they returned home, the group narrates, Air Force veterans saw early incarnations of Airplane Bungalows and described the vantage offered by (and isolated nature of) the second floor as being similar to that of an airplane. Another more practical explanation may be the multiple obtuse crossed gables of Airplane Bungalows which, as the dominant feature, seemed to allude to an airplane’s wingspan. In the case of corner-lot Airplane Bungalows, “wingspan” gables adorned each street-facing side of the house. PERHAPS AN ECLECTIC INTERPRETATION OR VERNACULAR ADAPTATION? Still another way to interpret the Airplane Bungalow’s emergence is as a vernacular form of architecture. “Vernacular architecture” does not have a single stylistic definition, and instead is used to describe architecture that is reflective of qualities of the location in which it is built, the person(s) who built it, and/or their culture. This can range from igloos, to log cabins, to wigwams, to the motor oil-stained mini-malls of Southern California. At a basic level, the true Craftsman-style bungalow (and other styles like it) are reflective of the environments from which they derive. They are built from materials from the immediate areas in which they are constructed, such as old-growth hardwood, river rock, and matching earthen tones. Craftsman specimens in some places may avoid the use of masonry as much as possible due to long-documented seismic activity, while in places of seismic stability Craftsman homes may be mostly or entirely made of masonry. A significant difference between the homes of warmer climates and those of colder climates is that homes in warmer areas have verandas (cut-out or open-air front porches), enabling residents to enjoy the outdoors from the comfort of their homes. This contrasts with the mostly closed-in entries of homes in the neighborhoods of the East Coast, for example, where there are fewer opportunities to sit on a front porch and enjoy temperate weather. Alternately, the style that we know of as “Airplane Bungalow” could be viewed as a combination (and thus an interpretation) of several then-contemporary styles, as opposed to just being “just an offshoot of Craftsman architecture” per se. This would make the Airplane Bungalow a form of eclectic architecture, or architecture containing elements that the designer-builder chose from various existing forms. The methods of the Airplane Bungalow’s construction may hold some insights into this theory. Take one more look at the isolated nature of the second story. Fresh air circulates around a few rooms quicker and more effectively than it would around an entire floor. It is fitting that these airplane bungalows are found in places with intense summer temperatures, such as Southern California, Central Oklahoma, and inland North Carolina. The smaller footprint and panoramic ventilation made the upstairs sleeping area of Airplane Bungalows comfortable on hot summer nights. Central Oklahoma, for its part, has a decent amount of wind during even its hottest months. Furthermore, if you look at the matter from a bureaucratic standpoint, the Airplane Bungalow could be a product of property tax assessments. Check out this shotgun house in New Orleans’ Carrollton neighborhood: This house and others like it in the area are colloquially called “camelback shotguns.” According to Steven Holl in his brilliant Pamphlet Architecture 9: Rural and Urban House Types, the design is derived from a period in the late 19th century when many cities in the South and Midwest did not consider a pop-up appendage on the roof of a single-story house to be a second floor, and therefore did not assess or tax them as such. This was/is the case in many jurisdictions in the South and the Midwest during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. AN INVENTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ZINES? In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, magazines like McClure’s, Harper's Weekly, and Sears, Roebuck & Co. began relaying architectural styles from around the country and the world onto people’s coffee tables. Therefore, people from Southern California to Maine were rapidly made aware of each other’s (and other cultures’) architectural traditions. Builders and developers certainly would have benefited from this architectural pluralism, since variety is a marketable product. Below: An advertisement for a bungalow building kit (YUP!) in the September 1920 issue of American Builder catalog reads: “Built along the so-called "airplane" lines which are so popular in the west […] The cupola effect of the second floor is one of these […] Two bedrooms on the 2nd floor […] A sun parlor on ground floor […] The chimney has been well camouflaged to conform to the general design of the dwelling." Below: A similar ad, advertising a "Unique 'Airplane' Bungalow", includes the additional details: “A homey bungalow of unusual design […] Contains six large rooms […] and a sun parlor and breakfast nook” and attributes the "airplane" moniker to the "cupola-like second story." A built-in breakfast table. I love it.
AIRPLANE BUNGALOW ARBORETUMS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY Airplane Bungalows were a common sight across Southern California, wherein during the 1880s to the 1920s, land was liquidated for very cheap. In bustling Los Angeles, these large bungalows were most commonly constructed during the period 1910 to 1919. Large lots were necessary to build the elaborate and sprawling bungalows, relegating their construction to districts like Hollywood and Highland Park, as well as the nearby City of Pasadena. According to Modlar Modern Architect’s Digest, the large lots allowed for sprawling bungalows, as the facades of the houses became wider and the depths became longer. Not to mention, the concurrent rise of the germ theory had made people across class aware of the importance of light, space, and ventilation. My favorite Airplane Bungalows in Los Angeles are a set of three built by architect Lee Campbell for a one Mrs. Anniss A. Hoyt. They are found in Los Feliz on Franklin Avenue and Winona Boulevard. Franklin Avenue is the first main thoroughfare south of Los Feliz Boulevard; both were developed in the 1920s, but the Los Feliz Homeowner’s Association disallowed wood-clad buildings on the Boulevard. Thus, the neighborhoods between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue are rich with Airplane Bungalows. Above: The Anniss A. Hoyt Bungalows, designed by the renowned Los Angeles architect Lee Campbell and built in 1917. The trio of bungalows span half of the south side of the 5100 block of Franklin Avenue. (Source: The author) Above: This trio of Airplane Bungalows are located in the 1900 block of North Taft Avenue in the Hollywood Grove HPOZ. (Source: Google Street View) Below left: A terrific Airplane Bungalow (along with two other terrific Craftsman specimens) that graced the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Edgemont Street were systematically neglected for 7 years before being demolished in 2018 to make room for some. megadevelopment. Me sad. (Source: The author) OTHER PLACES in the UNITED STATES WHERE AIRPLANE BUNGALOWS CAN BE FOUND
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma The Mesta Park and Heritage Hills districts of Oklahoma City contain remainders of Airplane Bungalow districts built by Dr. Gilbert Apple Nichols, an early developer-builder credited with bringing architectural pluralism to Oklahoma City, Dr. Bob Blackburn of Preservation Greensboro told The Oklahoman in 1983. Nichols career spanned from before Oklahoma’s statehood in 1907, with most of his airplane bungalows constructed between 1918 and the mid-1920s. Nichols built homes stretching all the way east to the Santa Fe Railroad, and practically all of them for $5,000 to $6,000 (or about $128K-$154K in 2019). Dr. Blackburn documented other Airplane Bungalows in Oklahoma City dating from the earliest days of the Prairie movement in 1895 to as late as the 1930s. Sadly, the majority of these were demolished either for urban renewal or the expansion of the Interstate 40, 44, and 235. Greensboro, North Carolina The Westerwood district of Greensboro contains a number of examples along Lakeview Street, Courtland Street, Fairmont Street, and Guilford Avenue. Unlike Mesta Park, Westerwood was not cleared for urban renewal or freeway expansion. Below: An Airplane Bungalow on Courtland Street in Westerwood, Greensboro, NC. (Source: Google Street View) BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Bungalow (Noun).” Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, www.etymonline.com/word/bungalow#:~:text=1670s%2C%20Anglo%2DIndian%2C%20%22,style%22%20(see%20Bengal). “Entire Site.” Preservation Greensboro Incorporated, Preservation Greensboro, preservationgreensboro.org/. Holl, Steven. Rural & Urban House Types in North America. 2nd ed., Princeton Architectural Press, 1997. McAlester, Virginia, and A. Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture. Revised ed., Knopf, 2015. Modlar Modern Architectural Digest. Nelson, Mary Jo. “Airplane Bungalow Air-Conditioned Itself.” Oklahoman.com, The Oklahoman, 8 Apr. 1984, www.oklahoman.com/article/2063999/airplane-bungalow-air-conditioned-itself. Various Authors. American Builder, vol. 29, American Carpenter and Builder Company, 1920, pp. 87–88.
2 Comments
Ericka Villamar
2/14/2023 08:44:00 pm
I live in an airplane bungalow in Beaumont, Texas.
Reply
5/7/2023 10:49:11 am
Ericka,
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2022
Categories
All
|