Bungalow simply means a one-storey home in TO regardless of style or era.

I would consider the subject properties mid-century ranches. If they had a little more pizazz or a lot more glass, they would qualify as mid-century modern, a style btw that is considered endangered in some quarters.

Bungalow, as it turns out, has various international definitions. This type of house is said to have originated in India, and consists of either an all one-level house or a small two-level house with the second level under the main roof and illuminated by a front facing dormer. A broad porch or veranda is another characteristic.

In the U.S., bungalow may often be called a Craftsman house.

I find it interesting that the definitive "A Field Guide to American Houses" does not mention bungalow, but devotes substantial space to Craftsman, and derivatives.

In the U.S. your photos would likely be called a "ranch" or a "splanch", meaning more sprawling than a typical ranch. Neither photo appears to have a large front porch or veranda.

In Maine, we'd call it a ranch.

In NY we'd call it a ranch too.

In Missouri, it's a ranch. I live in one. :)

I always thought ranch houses typically had gable roof's?

In the midwest, it's also a ranch. Millworkman, not here in the midwest -- there are all kinds of roofs and then there are different segments of ranches -- raised, split entry -- but we still call them "ranch"

So all of these are also called ranches? How would one distinguish, name, between the ones posted above and these. Is there a name for each design?

PG --these are probably going to end up being called something else someday, but they are Neo-Eclectic turn-of-the-millennium ranches or single stories.

The OP house is probably "Soft Contemporary" or Transitional.

The last two photos have far too many disparate elements, and design rule-breakers in them to qualify for any sort of recognized and respected architectural style. Calling them "ranches" is simply realtor and marketing terminology. Any house combining nested gables and hip roofs in one structure is simply "unrefined" and "unresolved". These are the kinds of houses which are designed by CAD floor plans and thereafter finished by putting a series of roof trusses on the building footprint, whatever it turns out to be. Depending on price point, the exteriors may have more or less rouge and lipstick applied, as these two photos clearly demonstrate.

Realtor-suburban speak here calls almost anything on a single floor "ranch" and anything on two floors "Colonial" unless it is a clearly defined historic house of a historic style (pre-1930 or so).

What Virgil and Pal said.

That first picture looks pretty much like every house in my late parent's Springfield MO neighborhood, including theirs. They call them ranch houses there.

According to "A Field Guide to American Houses", Ranch style was "originated in the mid-1930s by several creative California architects. It gained popularity during the 1940s to become the dominant style throughout the country during the decades of the '50s and '60s. The popularity of "rambling" Ranch houses was made possible by the country's increasing dependence on the automobile...."

"...in the decades following World War II, compact houses could be replaced by sprawling designs on much larger lots...and the rambling form of the Ranch house emphasizes this by maximizing façade width (which is further increased by built-in garages that are an integral part of most ranch houses)."

"The style is loosely based on early Spanish colonial precedents of the American southwest, modified by influences borrowed from Craftsman and Prairie modernism of the early 20th century."

"Asymmetrical one-story shapes with low-pitched roofs dominate. Three common roof forms are used: the hipped version is probably the most common, followed by the cross-gabled, and, finally, side-gabled examples..."

My midwest definition that I've now carried to NC is a ranch is a single story dwelling, relatively simple roof which can be gable or hip but not overwrought with nested gables and such. House does not have to be I shaped, it can be L or U. The first set of pictures are ranches IMO. The second examples may well be single story but they are not ranches.

Early Century Mistake?

You guys are amazing. Virgil, thank you for the education and Pal too. Worthy, always nice to get northern perspective, alas to those good old neighborhoods.

Hi mark, I burst into laughter, bet you just coined a new architectural term. Hehe! ECM!

Just curious, why do you ask the question?

A good reference for house styles is "American Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Home" by Lester Walker.

In Manitoba. I'd call it ranch, or possibly a "rambler "

Around Chicago, P G's picture shows a ranch, while this is a bungalow:

Whole charming handsome neighborhoods of variations on this theme.

Bungalows are usually 1 to 1.5 story Craftsman influenced houses. It originally meant any smaller cozy house of that size

Ranch originated in the 1940s and is always one-story. In realtorspeak, all one-story homes get called ranch or rambler--rambler would actually be correct as it doesn't imply any style. The top pics are mid century ranch. There are other styles, like Spanish revival ranch, from the 60s and 70s. Ranch houses tend to be simple in footprint, with small eaves. They're most often brick faced and usually have shutters which were always originally nonfunctional and often the wrong size for the window. They rarely have much of a porch, which is the least appealing thing about them. Windows aside from the living room, den/Florida room, and perhaps dining room are usually small. Originals were aluminum. Ceilings are 8'. Kitchens are always separate with a door from the living room/dining room and usually from the den/Florida room. The living room and dining room are usually open to each other and often open to the entry. The laundry facilities are often poor--in a breezeway enclosed between a detached garage, inside the garage, or in the kitchen or a kitchen closet. The foundation is usually slab on grade or pier and beam. 3 bedrooms are most common, all with large reach in closets and bypass doors, with 1 central hall bath or a hall bath plus master .5-1 bath. If there is only one bathroom, it's often large and usually contains an integrated linen closet/hamper. Wall tile is 4x4 glossy ceramic and floor is usually small scale square or rectangular patterns. In the hall bath, vanities are standard. In the master bath, wall sinks are more common. The kitchen usually had slab doors, minimal overlay, and brass or chrome hardware or metal cabinets, tile counters, and a China sink--usually double bowl. The floors in kitchens were resilient. Soffits/fur downs/bulkheads were standard. So were valances above the sink under a window.

Hi Mark, you asked ":Just curious, why do you ask the question? " I ask because, when I searched for single level cape cod home or colonial or Georgian or even neo gothic it seemed that I could only find them in a 2 story. I wondered if these types of home were ever built as a single level or ranch etc. Another question, I have, is it possible to create any of these styles in a single level home?

Hi pbathome, love the bungalow pic you posted, very nolstagic and cozy home, it seems However, they appear to be deep and I am wondering if they are dark inside?

Hi miley, thank you for your information.

Milly Rey, while much of what you are saying about ranch homes is right on the money, there are a few things that need to be corrected.

They rarely have much of a porch, which is the least appealing thing about them.

Levitt built ranches with front porches, albeit without overhangs. Others had porches too.

Kitchens are always separate with a door from the living room/dining room and usually from the den/Florida room.

This of course depended on the layout of the ranch for which there were many different layouts.

The foundation is usually slab on grade or pier and beam.

This also depended on where it was being built. Again most of the ranches built in my neck of the woods were built atop full basements.

The kitchen usually had slab doors, minimal overlay, and brass or chrome hardware or metal cabinets, tile counters,

Actually formica was more common for counters.

"...Another question, I have, is it possible to create any of these styles in a single level home?..."

Some styles yes? Other styles, no, not really!

For example, a Gothic style home, by definition, is based on vertical proportions, not horizontal proportions. Gothic, or more properly Gothic Revival, homes have steeply pitched roofs, often with steep cross gables, frequently decorated with vergeboards and trim, among other characteristics.

So attempting to build a one-story Gothic home is a contradiction in terms, before the first graphite hits the tracing paper.

That said, there are many legitimate architectural styles which may historically be one-story, or appear as one-story.

Of course, one can use details and features of any architectural period on any house of any size. But, to the informed, it will look like what it is--inappropriate and pretentious.

You can dress up a pig, but it's still a pig...(humorous old Texas saying, not trying to offend)...! :-)

I ask because, when I searched for single level cape cod home or colonial or Georgian or even neo gothic it seemed that I could only find them in a 2 story. I wondered if these types of home were ever built as a single level or ranch etc.

Originally cape cods were considered single story houses. The attic was considered extra storage and/or were converted to bedrooms with dormers, etc.

Colonials and Georgian colonials are typically 2 story houses.

Another question, I have, is it possible to create any of these styles in a single level home?

What do you consider Georgian or Colonial?

Hi pbathome, love the bungalow pic you posted, very nolstagic and cozy home, it seems However, they appear to be deep and I am wondering if they are dark inside?

Typically bungalows are 1-2 rooms deep, so are not dark inside, with the exception that those older homes were very big on using dark woods for all moldings, etc.

Hi CP you asked " what do you consider Georgian or colonial"

Technically I would think it's possible to build a Georgian or Federal Revival house of one story because Monticello was designed to appear like a one story house from a distance.

They don't usually have MUCH of a porch, not any porch. I meant the area with an overhang! Otherwise, it's a patio or a stoop. If my head is wet, it ain't a porch. The "big stoop, tiny overhang" confuses me every time.

Levitt's (true) porches are larger on their 2 story houses, and even then, they are usually 4-5' deep--the longer the porch, the more uselessly narrow most plans are. I regularly jog through one of their nicer Levitt developments (I drive out when I'm tired of running in my neighborhood) and am constantly annoyed by the useless narrowness of the porches on their more traditional plans! What is the point of a porch across the front of the house that is 4' wide????

Levitt also built a LOT of slab on grade in areas where basements are the norm. Raised ranches, split levels, and split entries evolved off the ranch, and all the ranches in my own neighborhood have basements...but basements are remarkably less common in ranch houses than in other types in places we're both were feasible. One difference may be that our neighborhood was all custom houses. Of course, there are areas where no one at all has a basement!!!

I'm interested in true ranches where the kitchen was open to the formal dining or main living room! My 1960s modern house has this, but it's by no means a ranch: It also has cathedral ceilings and multiple stories. I've seen ranches that have kitchens open to a den or "Florida room" (that term cracks me up) but never to a formal living.

I totally forgot how old Formica is. You're quite right that it was used, but in all the places I've lived, tile has been the more popular counter. I guess I've just never seen a Formica counter in a house intact from the 50s or 60s. I associated it mentally only with diners! Lol. Then again, ive only seen the metal cabinets moved to garages or given away. I've seen lots and lots of 4x4 glossy tiles intact in old ranch houses, though.

There are Colonial houses that are one story: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/eb/95/31/eb9531cf0a64ea9eb9c751188a4221c2.jpg

Hall-and-parlor and I (letter eye) center halls are colonial one-story designs. But they were usually tiny (2-3 rooms) and still usually had sleeping lofts.

But...not always. The smallest houses didn't survive without major additions But I don't think you want a 2 room house!

I've seen a lot of attic bedroom gothic vernacular, too. Can't do that with a brick house. Can't do that without a steep angle to the roof.

Sometimes you can tell a style that was meant by the ranch and go that way--cottage or southern vernacular Victoria porch house or vaguely Mediterranean. Or you can go very modernist. Or mid century modern. Or Craftsman--this works oddly well on some ranches.

I have seen a colonial revival house that is single story that worked. The center of the house had 12' ceilings with 8' ceilings on the wings. The effect, with colonial trimmings, was colonial like. I've seen successful colonial inspired ranch houses, but they just looked colonial inspired. This is an example: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/bf/2f/46bf2f79ef3e21b5447f2d1590dee619.jpg

Totally charming.

Cape cod is defined by the second floor, though.

A successful cottage: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/24/7d/fc/247dfca13dc3cee58ba2241327091dc6--ranch-style-homes-ranch-homes.jpg

Could be a Craftsman remodel (really is new house): http://img2-3.timeinc.net/toh/i/g/12/houses/09-ranch-redo/craftsman-redo-x.jpg

Spanish colonial: http://1cqgxm3l59yi2wwbnn3qy35h.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Ford-Estate-Spanish-Colonial-Ojai-11.jpg

Mission (bad one, but this is hard to find): https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/65322ee103b03bfe_8-8624/home-design.jpg

Log cabin (totally weird when people do this remodel in a suburb--they make half log siding!): https://i.pinimg.com/236x/15/a3/ec/15a3ecd56e652f8a7e2e8d8d7f7905b1--barn-houses-log-homes.jpg

Lots of others.

CP - that example of a bungalow is a typical Chicago bungalow built on a 30 x 140 lot so they have to be deep and narrow. My grand parents had one and you can see how closely set the houses are in this blurry (sorry) pic. Garages (usually single) were in the back off an alley.

ETA - looking at this pic I'm not even sure that lot is 30'wide - it could be 25 - post war they were cramming in as many houses per block as they could.

They don't usually have MUCH of a porch, not any porch. I meant the area with an overhang! Otherwise, it's a patio or a stoop. If my head is wet, it ain't a porch. The "big stoop, tiny overhang" confuses me every time.

True. They were technically extended stoops.

Levitt also built a LOT of slab on grade in areas where basements are the norm. Raised ranches, split levels, and split entries evolved off the ranch, and all the ranches in my own neighborhood have basements...but basements are remarkably less common in ranch houses than in other types in places we're both were feasible. One difference may be that our neighborhood was all custom houses. Of course, there are areas where no one at all has a basement!!!

You originally said, "The foundation is usually slab on grade or pier and beam."

No they weren't necessarily slab on grade. Please don't make generalized statements.

I totally forgot how old Formica is. You're quite right that it was used, but in all the places I've lived, tile has been the more popular counter. I guess I've just never seen a Formica counter in a house intact from the 50s or 60s. I associated it mentally only with diners! Lol. Then again, ive only seen the metal cabinets moved to garages or given away. I've seen lots and lots of 4x4 glossy tiles intact in old ranch houses, though.

Well considering formica was introduced in 1912, it was around even a lot longer than you're insinuating.

And just because you only see tile counters, I can tell you that was not what was popular when most of the houses were built in the 50's and 60's. Formica was pretty much the most modern material for counters and it was put in almost every house. It usually had a metal edge around it. By the later 60's Corian was introduced as a high end new material and most counters no longer had the metal edging.

If you're seeing tile on counters, it's because they were redone in the 70's and 80's when tile counters became popular again.

There are Colonial houses that are one story: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/eb/95/31/eb9531cf0a64ea9eb9c751188a4221c2.jpg

Sorry, but that is NOT a colonial house. That is more of a cape cod style house. What we call a colonial house will always have 2 full stories.

Might I suggest you brush up with the book, A Field Guide to American Houses

Hall-and-parlor and I (letter eye) center halls are colonial one-story designs. But they were usually tiny (2-3 rooms) and still usually had sleeping lofts.

If you're talking about a home built in the Colonial period, then you are correct that there were one story designs. However, if you're referring to what we like to call a colonial, then they are not one story.

I have seen a colonial revival house that is single story that worked. The center of the house had 12' ceilings with 8' ceilings on the wings. The effect, with colonial trimmings, was colonial like. I've seen successful colonial inspired ranch houses, but they just looked colonial inspired. This is an example: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/bf/2f/46bf2f79ef3e21b5447f2d1590dee619.jpg

Sorry but this too would be considered a cape cod style home. This would be considered colonial revival:

• Symmetrical façade, Rectangular, 2 to 3 stories, Brick or wood siding, Simple, classical detailing, Gable roof, Pillars and columns, Multi-pane, double-hung windows with shutters, Dormers, Temple-like entrance: porticos topped by pediment, Paneled doors with sidelights and topped with rectangular transoms or fanlights, Center entry-hall floor plan, Living areas on the first floor and bedrooms on the upper floors

A successful cottage: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/24/7d/fc/247dfca13dc3cee58ba2241327091dc6--ranch-style-homes-ranch-homes.jpg

This is also a ranch style.

Could be a Craftsman remodel (really is new house): http://img2-3.timeinc.net/toh/i/g/12/houses/09-ranch-redo/craftsman-redo-x.jpg

There is NOTHING craftsman about the house you pulled off the net except that they decided to put some craftsman like beams on the gables. Otherwise it's a gussied up ranch. Here is a craftsman:

Spanish colonial: http://1cqgxm3l59yi2wwbnn3qy35h.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Ford-Estate-Spanish-Colonial-Ojai-11.jpg

Here is a Spanish colonial revival:

Or are you meaning something like Pueblo style because what you show is a typical Florida style ranch house. Here's a Pueblo style:

Mission (bad one, but this is hard to find): https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/65322ee103b03bfe_8-8624/home-design.jpg

Nope not mission. It's a 1950's version of something. Here's an excellent version of a mission revival style home.

CP - that example of a bungalow is a typical Chicago bungalow built on a 30 x 140 lot so they have to be deep and narrow. My grand parents had one and you can see how closely set the houses are in this blurry (sorry) pic. Garages (usually single) were in the back off an alley.

Great example DLM! Reminds me of my first bungalow which was on a spacious 40 x 100 lot. No I didn't add the lions. The buyer did and she repainted the house in those colors. When we had the house, the trim was a warm brown. And she unfortunately replaced the original windows with those fake ones.

Good morning, milly, cp and dlm. Love these illustrations and discussions. So here's a different, yet classic bungalow, located north of the 48th. Only in Canuck country eh!