Description of a Bungalow from 1926

THE term “Bungalow” provides a curious example of how we Americans overwork a word that is euphonious and the meaning of which, because of the word’s comparatively recent assimilation into the language, is somewhat uncertain. One hears nearly every type of country or suburban home called a bungalow, provided only that the house is somewhat informal or picturesque in its lines. Someone has facetiously remarked that in the new dictionaries a bungalow should be defined as ” a house that looks as if it had been built for less money than it actually cost.”

It seems worth while, in view of the popular misconception of the word’s actual significance, to look into its derivation with the purpose of finding out just when it may properly be applied and when it is a misnomer.Â

According to the authorities, a bungalow is a ” Bengalese house,” but it is not the typical native’s home in India. These are of an entirely different type from our conception of the word. The only bungalows to be seen in India are the ” Rest Houses,” erected by the English government along the main roads of travel. These are inns or hotels, consisting of a large central building divided in the middle by a hall separating large rooms, with a kitchen in a separate building that is reached through a covered passageway. In these Rest Houses the bedrooms are in still another adjoining structure, always a long low building with the bed-chambers opening upon a straight corridor. A low, rambling mass, with wide verandas, overhanging eaves, floors of stone or concrete and single-story construction, are the characteristics of the true Indian bungalow. There is never a second story, never dormer windows to break the long simple roof planes that appear to come down, particularly at the ends or corners, nearly to the ground.

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