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The Bungalow Bill In Global Languages
What began as a simple hut of the Bengal peasant has become the only
building type which can be found in every continent
SRIKUMAR BONDYOPADHYAY
At the talk of bungalows, you recollect a fond nostalgia of a happy
holiday on a hill station, and, with it, the romanticism of staying in a
house that was built during the British era, some 100 years ago.
Indeed, bungalows have now been relegated to a place where people stay
on a holiday tour or, at the most, a place people buy as their second
home. Charming in their own way, of course, bungalows are, however, no
longer a serious proposition when it comes to a major life-defining
investment in bricks and mortar.
Bungalows, with the capital ‘B’ defining a special building type, have
their genesis in India which later on flourished in every continent
across the world. Check in the dictionary and you’ll find the term first
occurs in 1659 as an Anglicisation of the Hindi Bangala, meaning ‘of or
belonging to Bengal’.
Describing the specific attributes that make a ‘Bungalow’ is a little
more difficult. There are Bungalows with shed roofs, gable fronts,
pyramid roofs, and even double and cross-gables. And there are
variations such as the Spanish Bungalow, Swiss Bungalow, English Tudor,
Prairie, or Victorian Bungalow and describing what is common to this
distinctive house type is even more complex.
Writing his ceremonial essay The Bungalow: The Development And Diffusion
of A House-type (appeared in Architectural Association Quarterly in
1973) and the book, The Bungalow: The Production of A Global Culture
(1984), Anthony D King notes: The word bungalow originated in India some
time in the 17th century and although “...from the Hindi Bangala or
Mahratti Banggolo, meaning ‘of or belonging to Bengal’—the dwelling it
came to describe was primarily European.” King further elaborates,
“...essentially what began as a simple hut of the Bengal peasant was
transformed to meet the requirements of a European commercial and
governing class.” (King, 1984, p14).
Whether described in terms indigenous to the region such as Bangala or
Banggolo or Dutch Bangaelaer or the anglicised bungalow, King succinctly
states the importance of this dwelling type: “It is possibly the only
building type which, both in form and name, can almost certainly be
found in every continent of the world. Where every language has its own
set of terms to describe different forms of dwelling, ‘bungalow’ has
been accepted into the principal world languages and also many more.”
(King, 1984, p2).
“This indigenous banggolo, however, may not be the basis for the
European synthesised structure, rather a building type known as Chauyari
may in actuality be the model for the bungalow house eventually adopted
by Europeans on the Indian continent” (King, 1984, p24). Chauyari,
literally translated, means ‘four sides’. Combine this concept with a
thatched roof in either a pyramidal or hipped configuration, add a
pillared gallery, and the prototype for the Anglo-Indian structure,
bungalow, begins to take form.
Colonial Past
The architecture of dwelling huts built by peasants, with a raised
plinth and a thatched roof structure with two sloping sides, was later
adapted when the British took root in India and used to house its army
officers and colonial administrators. Built in small compounds, open and
well-ventilated with a verandah all the way around, the bungalow design
proved well-suited to fair-skinned Europeans who needed shelter from the
fierce heat of the sub-continent and somewhere secluded to escape from
the discontented multitudes they were supposed to be governing. “...life
in the country or hill-station bungalow was seen as a positive
experience, far from the maddening crowd,” notes King.
By 1880s, the clamour of the maddening crowd had grown considerably in
England following the industrial revolution and the growing middle class
were feeling increasingly alienated from a social world defined by
industrialisation, urbanisation and class conflict. This spawned the
famous Arts and Crafts movement in Europe and with this the bungalow
made its first appearance on English soil—the first bungalow was built
on the north coast of Kent, designed by John Taylor in partnership with
the Arts and Crafts architect John Seedon. Less rigid and formal than a
typical Victorian house, bungalows became synonymous with a carefree
lifestyle as opposed to tight-laced suburban society and hence became
popular.
The American Story
A 1920s song says it all: “I just can’t keep my tho’ts away from
California’s shore/ To the land of fruit and honey/where it doesn’t take
much money/to own a bungalow.”
Walk through any neighbourhood in the United States that was developed
during the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, even the most
casual observer will find a bungalow. The bungalow was one of the most
popular house types at the turn of the 20th century. It’s simple design
and natural materials made the type readily accessible to the growing
middle class which, in turn, introduced it to the suburbs.
As for the American bungalows, a wide array of architectural influences
and styles were attributed over time to its development and evolution.
Certainly, Britain is the progenitor of bungalows, but it not only
matured in the United States, it also flourished there. Starting from
California, bungalows spread throughout the country, first as a vacation
or cottage home and eventually becoming the main dwelling of the
suburban middle class. Its clean lines and simple design, use of natural
materials and a ‘return’ to the qualities and craftsmanship helped it to
become the ‘American home’.
Even in 1960s when the counter culture, race relations, the Vietnam War
and the rise of feminism shattered the optimism, bungalow appeared in
Beatles’ White Album, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, rebuking
Lyndon B Johnson’s bombing campaign in Vietnam: “Hey, Bungalow Bill/What
did you kill/Bungalow Bill?/He went out hunting with his elephant gun/In
case of accidents he always took his mom/He’s the All American
bullet-headed Saxon mother’s son”.
Bungaloid Invasion
Arts and Crafts architect, Robert Alexander Briggs in 1891 introduced
some variation into the basic design of the bungalow, notably rooms in
the roof space, but kept the one storey template intact. Thereafter,
bungalows quickly spread.
Between World War I and II, local authorities in London turned to
bungalows to provide the much-needed council accommodation. The Alton
Estate in Roehampton, built in the 1920s, was part of this movement.
In 1931, when Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker designed and built the new
capital city, New Delhi, outside the rampart of Red Fort and the walled
city of Old Delhi, for the British government in India, the Lutyens’
Bungalow Zone housed 112 bungalows with flat roofs. These bungalows,
however, were look alike and resemble more like row houses or bungaloids.
However, unfortunately, nearly 60 out of these 112 bungalows were
knocked down to make room for multi-storeyed government offices. The old
Inspection Bung-alows, Planation Bungalows and Dak Bungalows of the
British Raj are almost all converted into tourist bunglows or government
circuit/guest houses.
It’s ‘villas’ and single-storey ‘row houses’ that have replaced
bungalows in modern residential complexes.
Bungalow Basics
• One to one-and-a-half storyed high house. The attic space may have
windows.
• No basement.
• Low-pitched roof sweeping over verandas.
• Wide overhangs.
• Living rooms and dining rooms are almost one.
• Exteriors are made of inexpensive natural materials.
• Wide porches either full or nearly full width along the front and sides.
• Columns on the porch which were usually square.
• Columns commonly half-sized and placed on top of large bases of stone
or brick.
• Flat shed roof, gabled roof, or hipped roof on the front side.
• Craft-oriented surface materials—natural stone, brick, clapboard,
cobblestone, shingles, or stucco.
• Earth tone colors, such as tans, browns, and yellows.
• Windows are placed in bands; bay windows usually on the side of the
house. Exposed rafter ends and decorative beams.
• Chimneys.