Bungalow and Ranch House:
The Architectural Backwash of California

John Mack Faragher

This essay examines the development of two American housing styles--the bungalow of the early twentieth century and the ranch house of the post-World War II era--each of which developed in the West and spread eastward, a "backwash" that suggests the changing currents of regional influence in twentieth-century America.

The history of vernacular house design is a subject that offers insights into the lives of ordinary people and documents important trends in social and cultural history. Two humble western housing styles--the California bungalow of the early twentieth century, and the ranch house of the post-World War II era--offer good examples. Both styles originated with builders and homeowners and were reluctantly and belatedly embraced by professional architects. The bungalow and the ranch house, as types, also offer interesting perspectives on the cultural relationship between the American West and the rest of the country. Both styles originated in Southern California, where they played important roles in building the suburban culture of that region. They then spread eastward to become nationally significant. Ethnohistorian A. Irving Hallowell once called attention to what he termed the "backwash of the frontier"--the eastward surge of cultural traits and practices originating in the West, reversing the prevailing westering tide of cultural influence to affect the nation as a whole. With a nod to Hallowell, I argue that the "backwash" of the bungalow and the ranch house styles suggest the changing currents of regional influence in twentieth-century America. 1     A classic example of a simple California bungalow, Glendale, California, c. 1910. B. D. Jackson Collection, reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

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