Bungalow Style

Is there such a thing as the ‘typical New Zealand bungalow?'

Not really. Although there are common features found in New Zealand bungalows (and in bungalows around the world), the term ‘bungalow' encompasses a huge variety of styles and features that came together in almost limitless ways in ‘bungalow' style homes built in New Zealand during the first thirty years of the 20th century.

These influences had widespread origins - from India (the home of the original ‘bangla' from which the word ‘bungalow derives), by way of the English arts and crafts movement, the Australian ‘Federation' style and most importantly, from California – home of the Californian bungalow – the most popular and well-known bungalow style.

Although the first bungalows were designed in New Zealand around the turn of the century, notably by architects George Selwyn Goldsbro, Samuel Hurst Seager and Basil Hooper, it was the Californian bungalow that popularised the style.

The Californian Bungalow in many ways represented a rejection of Victorian values and style and the emergence of a new way of living here in a land where there was more space to expand – horizontally, rather than vertically. Our kinder climate also encouraged people to open living spaces up to the outdoors and the sun, rather than hiding from it. The less symmetrical and flexible bungalow style meant that living areas could be oriented to the sun, or to views, rather than to the street. Where the Villa was symmetrical and prescribed, the bungalow was more flexible and organic, with verandahs and bay windows projecting out from the main structure of the house.

There were practical considerations too. Victorian high ceilings made heating difficult and added to the building cost. The bungalow's low sloping roofline gave an average ceiling height of around 9-10 feet. The bungalow's side-opening casement windows were easier to use and maintain than the villa's traditional double-hung windows, while bi-fold windows were often used to open up whole walls in sun-porches and living rooms.

The flexibility of the bungalow also endeared it to New Zealand lifestyles. They ranged in size and style from the very large, grand, highly detailed homes of the wealthy to very simple worker's dwellings, which nevertheless carried some of the detailing seen in grander homes. Unlike the Villa, with it's prescribed ‘rooms off a central hallway' style, the bungalow was a more organic structure with rooms added or configured in a way to suit the family, the section and the sunlight.

Features were flexible too – bay windows, gable treatments, roof lines and verandahs were quintessential bungalow features, but could be treated in a huge variety of ways, or discarded entirely.

Roofs were lower and wider, front or side-gabled. Early bungalow gables were clad in shingles which flared or belled out at the bottom. Other treatments included tudor style half-timbering. Later bungalow gables tend to be simpler, less decorated, though often incorporated ventilator grills or louvres in keeping with the belief that good air-flow was conducive to good health.

Common exterior features:

Gabled roofs were made to look long and low by increasing the width of the eave overhang – from 18 inches to 3-4 feet. This effect was enhanced further by extending rafter ends out past the gutter by as much as 1 foot.
Barge boards were made to protrude beyond the line of the gutter – with designs cut into the ends.
Corbels (cantilevered brackets) were another decorative feature protruding from the wall beneath a belled gable as if it was supporting it.
The Californian bungalow turned the verandah from an entrance-way into a more usable outdoor living space – sometimes known as a loggia, (open-sided gallery).
Leadlighting was often used at the front of the house in fanlights, in and around doors, and on small windows, often detailed with Art Nouveau patterns. Sometimes these incorporated coloured glass, but often a variety of textured and bevelled clear glass was used. Hallways often featured small circular, oval or diamond- shaped windows.
Bay Windows in bungalows projected from a flat wall and had their own roofs. They often contained a built-in interior window seat. Outside, they are often enhanced by special detailing – for example, cladding in shingles or belling the lower weatherboards. There are three main shapes; square or rectangular, curved (bow) windows and multi-faceted.
Exteriors were most often clad in timber weatherboards, or, less commonly cedar shingles, but bungalows were also built in concrete and given a stucco finish. There are many examples of a variety of all of these being combined successfully. Brick tended to be used for decorative work.