Bungalows: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America) (Paperback)
January 15, 2010 by admin
Filed under Remodeling Books
From Publishers Weekly
With this first in the series Updating Classic America, Taunton focuses on bungalow houses, which were built throughout Canada and the U.S. between 1900 and 1930. Authors Connolly and Wasserman (both architects and bungalow owners) offer suggestions on how to modify the cozy bungalow. With more than 200 photos, the authors illustrate how to add onto the house, open it up, raise the roof, and do more inside and out while keeping the integrity of the original de (more…)
The authors of this book do a very good job of highlighting the bungalow’s unique traits and then showing inspirational bungalow renovations. Early pages give the requisite definitions of what makes a bungalow, but I was most impressed by the middle three chapters: “Remodeling Inside the Walls”; “Beyond the Walls”; and “Brand New Bungalows”. It is here that the authors challenge you to update your bungalow without losing any of the home’s original character (or build anew with the same overall goal of classic home character).
As any bungalow fan knows, there are three definite “branches” to the bungalow tree: in the Eastern U.S. craftsman bungalows rule, in the Midwest you find prairie styles and simple Chicago bunghalows, and in the west you find mission styles and the Greene and Greene influenced California bungalows. Being from the Midwest, I found this book especially compelling because so many of the example houses illustrated in the book are from my part of the country. Thus if you are from the Midwest I recommend this book with 5 stars, otherwise I give it a 4.5.
Updating Classic American Bungalows is a must read for anyone who owns, lives in, or loves the bungalow style of architecture.
Highly recommended!
This book focuses largely on the updating of bungalows through renovation (and even new construction), rather than restoration. While it’s not as true to the period as books like Bungalow Bathrooms or Bungalow Kitchens, it is a useful reference to readers like us who are looking to balance a respect for vintage architecture with modern conveniences.
The most interesting things we found in this book were definitions of the different kinds of bungalows. While the Chicago-Style Bungalow Initiative restricts their bungalow program to a fairly specific architectural style (the “Chicago-style”), this book points out the definition of a bungalow and reviews the different variations of bungalows that exist in many places.