Craftman Style

This very popular style of the early 1900’s through the late 1920’s comes in many shapes and sizes.  the most popular is the bungalow, which is a subset of the craftsman style.  Bungalow’s are rectangular shaped one and a half story homes with a gabled roof that has a steep pitch.

When you walk into a Craftsman style home there is a sense of space, the openness of the rooms, and the rustic or bold-square styling feel completely different from the Victorian houses still being built into the 1910’s.   The style wad popularized at the turn of the 20th century by architect and furniture designer Gustav Stickley.  He built furniture in a simple plain style, and the craftsman architecture does not have all the ornamentation found in Victorian era homes.

This style features overhanging eaves, a low-slung gabled roof, and wide front porches framed by pedestal-like tapered columns. Material often included stone, rough-hewn wood, and stucco. Many homes have wide front porches across part of the front, supported by columns.

The insides of these homes often have wood cove molding, wood beams on the ceilings, built in buffets, china cabinets, book cases, benches and secretary’s.  Piano windows, and french doors off of the sun room are common.  These homes have a lot of wood work and wood trim.  The dark wood work went out of style and in many of these homes it has been painted white or refinished to a lighter color.

They can be found all over the twin cities.  In St. Paul they are plentiful in the Mac Groveland and Merriam neighborhoods and on the East Side.  The style can be found in new homes being built around the metro and around the country.  There are many books, magazines on how to decorate them and catalogs filled with old style hardware and fixtures.