...bungalows & cottages abound

my house is an expanded version of a "Pendleton" kit home...
sold by Sears only in 1930, though I've seen earlier dates for my house...
it follows the floor plan & exterior design of the Pendleton...
except for the nook, galley kitchen, utility porch corridor...
on the south end, which would be a fairly common sort of "add-on"...



if you take everything to the left of the tree away...
the exterior is almost identical to a one story version of the Pendleton...
the floor plan is not the same, due to the kitchen being in the add-on...
but the dining room/living room/fireplace orientation are there...

my neighborhood is full of these kinds of "kit homes"...
quite different from the "cookie cutter" tract homes of the last 50 years...

come along with me for a walk around the 2 blocks to either side...
of where I live and you see a plethora of design styles...
and more than one "re-muddle" mistake...
along with some accurate restorations...



there are a number of "Mission"[Spanish] style homes...
the "accurate ones" will have be stucco...
have some wrought iron trim & clay tile roofs...



the ones that have been "re-muddled"...
had all the trim & design elements removed...
just look "wrong"....



a bungalow with Mission style elements...
often has odd shaped windows and fireplaces...
as well as the wrought iron trim & tile vents & roof...



this is an example of a Mission style stucco fireplace...



this Mission bungalow has the round tile vents...
as well as the odd shaped window...
the paint job may be an attempt at either a Tuscan color scheme... [?]
and who knows where the matching ladders came from...
[they are intentional, they've been there for a long time...]



I'm not sure why these folks put a tile roof...
on such an obviously English style brick house...
but they did... destroying what little style it had...



this house is owned by a contractor...
it's behind me & I hear the construction noises all the time...
this gate is very Craftsman & fits the cottage style...



but unable to control himself...
he went too far with the fence & gate...



not too mention the UGLY pergola he put in the front...
west facing windows would have had a simple canvas awning...
similar to the one they have in the previous picture...
or at the most, something a lot less massively invasive as this...

this one gets one of my "thumbs down" awards...



this is a simple cottage with a pergola done well...
it seems to fit and is part of the flow of the structure...



this is not a kit, but a 50's style "ranch"...
complete with ugly palm trees...
[have I mentioned that I detest palm trees ?]



the elaborate porch covering structure...
meant to house some sort of vine...
is very Craftsman...



and a covered porch area is not uncommon either...



here's one covered with climbing roses...



this neatly kept brick bungalow has aluminum awnings...
but in the correct period shape & color...
so it looks like part of the whole...



this bungalow has "eyebrow" windows...



this one has the same shape in the porch roof...



this is only one example of the "fairy tale" style of cottage...
there are numerous ones in the surrounding blocks...



this 2 story has a bit of the fantasy style...



this Craftsman has a vine covered pergola...



this one used to...



and this covered porch has the decorative pillars so common to the period...

most of the houses in my area were built...
anywhere from the 1920's...
through the 1930's & 40's...
into the 50's...

though there are a couple of exceptions...



the oldest house, by far, in this immediate neighborhood...
is UnklePhil's...

I once met an old man who stopped to look at it...
he said that he'd been born & grew-up there...
in the late 1800's...

of course Mudville was established in 1850...
and this area was one of the first "suburban tracts"developed...
though only 2 miles from downtown...
it was once the end of the trolly line...
the "car turn around" being only blocks from my house...

now to reach the city limits to the north...
I'd have to drive about 10 miles...
through tract homes that all look alike...

I think I prefer all the quaintness of the past...
it's more interesting and more pleasing to the eye...

next... a "fireplaces as art" post...