Building a Bungalow— II. 



By George M. Petersen 



{Concluded from the April Number of the Popular Science Monthly) 



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Fig. 1 



HOW often we hear the expression 

 "You should see my bungalow — 

 the plan was original with me and 

 we think it ideal in e\^ery way." Per- 

 haps the plan was "original," so far as 

 the speaker is concerned, but in reality 

 the writer has never seen a really original 

 bungalow that was a success. The fact 

 of the matter is that every conceivable 

 plan, that is wor- 

 thy of the name, 

 was discovered 

 years ago and the 

 so-called "new 

 ideas" are only al- 

 terations or chang- 

 es made in these 

 old lay-outs. Of 

 course there are 

 new elevations that 

 are original, and 

 some of them are 

 really pleasing, but 

 on the whole they are only an assembled 

 product combining the attractive fea- 

 tures in several houses which the de- 

 signer has seen. 



The writer's experience in designing of 

 residences has been wide. When he 

 first started in he would feel highly 

 elated over some new feature which he 

 had conceived and installed in someone's 

 plans, only to find out, sometimes 

 months or years afterw^ards, that the idea 

 had been used by someone else 

 perhaps years before. It was 

 rather discouraging, but was 

 really unavoidable as the old 

 saying that "there is nothing 

 new under the sun" holds 

 especially true in house de- 

 sign. There are numerous 

 features in connection with 

 modern appliances and con- 

 veniences that are either new 

 or are worked up in such shape 

 that they are really practical, 

 but so far as the design itself 

 is concerned it is the same old 



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Fig. 2 

 796 



story under a new title. It therefore 

 behooves the designer of houses not to 

 say that the design was original with him 

 as it is really an untruth. 



So far as bungalow designs are con- 

 cerned, the writer has never had the 

 pleasure of seeing one yet that could not 

 be directly traced 

 back to one of the 

 twenty used as the 

 illustrations for this 

 article, although it 

 may be that there 

 are one or two stud- 

 ies that have been 

 omitted. It makes 

 no difference how 

 large or expensixe 

 the bungalow or 

 house is, it must fol- 

 low some general 

 plan and these gen- 

 eral plans are term- 

 ed "plan studies" on 

 account of the fact 

 that the designer 

 looks over his "stud- 

 ies, " selects one that he thinks will be'suit- 

 able to the arrangement he has in mind ; 

 and, with the study as a foundation, 

 he designs the wonderful plan which peo- 

 ple look over and remark how wonderful 

 his plans are. His arrangement may be 

 clever, his lighting arrangement may be 

 nearly perfect, his heating 

 plans may be exceptionally 

 well arranged, his ventilating 

 scheme may be well-nigh per- 

 fect and the whole may make 

 a very pleasing, attractive and 

 nearly perfect home, but when 

 it is traced down it will be 

 found that the living room 

 can be found in so-and-so's 

 house, the dining room in 

 someone else's dwelling, the 

 chamber arrangement may be 

 brought down from the old 

 Colonial days, while the fire- 





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