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