| Many older homes in cities today have | | | | door, and a single second story window |
| their roots in the Arts and Crafts | | | | in the second floor gable. Roofs in this |
| movement. With their squared, low-lying | | | | style are generally hipped, with |
| layouts and sturdy construction, these | | | | overhanging eaves on all four sides. |
| homes are often easy to spot, but | | | | Other common Craftsman features include |
| generally not as widely recognized or | | | | extensive stonework, rough-hewn wood, |
| studied as Victorian homes from the same | | | | and stucco exteriors. |
| era - they simply remain unclassified or | | | | The popularization of Craftsman homes is |
| incorrectly identified as ranchers. As | | | | largely credited to designer Gustav |
| years progress, however, the homes, | | | | Stickley, a turn of the century |
| properly known as "Craftsman" buildings, | | | | architect who often featured these homes |
| are outlasting most Victorian buildings, | | | | in his magazine, The Craftsman. Stickley |
| and finding more recognition among | | | | famously referred to Craftsman style as |
| preservationists and historic home | | | | "a house reduced to its simplest form," |
| buyers who want to ask for them by name. | | | | wrote lengthy reviews on home and |
| In some ways it's remarkable that | | | | furniture originals by designers Harvey |
| Craftsman-style homes were so | | | | Ellis, the Greene Brothers, and others. |
| attractive, given the round-about way | | | | Large numbers of Craftsman homes began |
| they were conceived. Rather than | | | | appearing in San Diego in the early 20th |
| emerging simply as a new architectural | | | | century, which eventually led to the |
| form, Craftsman homes developed as part | | | | term "California Bungalow" for these |
| of the Arts and Crafts movement, which | | | | types of homes. |
| in many ways was a reaction against the | | | | Craftsman-style homes worked as well for |
| over-decorated and fragile aesthetics of | | | | families and middle class as they did |
| the Victorian era, as well as the lack | | | | for designers and artistic activists. |
| of personal touch in many modern-era | | | | One of the most significant advances |
| buildings. Given those prerequisites, | | | | made by these homes was the way they |
| one might have expected an unfocussed, | | | | re-aligned the kitchen area with the |
| impressionistic style to emerge, rather | | | | rest of the main floor - instead of |
| than the refined, often symmetrical | | | | having a segregated kitchen with a |
| building shapes for which Craftsman | | | | formal dining room, Craftsman homes |
| style homes are known. These homes can | | | | often had a built-in "breakfast nook" so |
| generally be identified by their front | | | | that families could eat closer to the |
| entrances featuring a large raised porch | | | | kitchen, which then became the center of |
| with columns on either side, a central | | | | activity on the upper floor. |