Craftsman Style Homes

What is a Craftsman Style Home
Craftsman style homes were built in America from the early 1900's during the American Arts and Craft movement. This was a time when the industrial revolution was at its peak and America had a rapidly rising middle class population.

The Craftsman style home is attributed to designers such as Gustav Stickley, Henry Mather Greene, and Charles Sumner Greene. They were all a part of the American Arts and Craft movement, and the Craftsman home became a natural extension to the art and furniture that they then created.

The Craftsman style home borrows heavily from the bungalow style home which has its origins in India. The British are attributed with designing bungalows in colonial India.

Characteristics of Craftsman Style Homes
Craftsman style homes are easily recognized by their unique and typical shape. They are usually 1 to 2 stories high and very simple in construction, lacking all the fanciful ornamentation that would be found in other home styles such as Victorian homes.

Typical characters of Craftsman style home will include the following.

-- Front, side, or cross-gabled, low-pitched roofs
-- Decorative braces / beams under gables
-- Simple doors and small windows grouped into 4 or more
-- Wide overhanging eaves with exposed roof rafters under them
-- Huge front porch with thick square pedestal-like tapered columns supporting them
-- Built with a mixture of locally available materials such as wood and stone
-- Heavy use of wood for building the home and furniture
-- Cross-members and roof beams usually exposed inside the home

Advantages of Building a Craftsman Style Home
A Craftsman style home is usually built for an entire family and is designed as per the requirements and tastes of that particular family.

Almost all of the raw materials used during construction (internal and external) are available locally. Wood that is locally available is used for the home construction, and used internally for staircases, cupboards, furniture, beds, and cabinets. These homes are very strong and require practically no maintenance.

Since the Craftsman style home is uncomplicated and easy to envision, draw and construct in a short period of time using locally available material, there is a huge cost advantage.

Elements of Craftsman Style Homes
There are certain elements that go into building a Craftsman style home and are common to all such styled homes.

Following are some of these elements that are common to almost all Craftsman style homes.

-- Porches - usually full-width with street-side facing gable within its roofline
-- Roof planes - usually gable, hip and shed configurations
-- Roof-overhangs - usually 2 feet or more supported by triangulated brackets, supported by exposed beams and rafters
-- Trimwork - usually of almost similar width for rake, and exterior casings
-- Exterior clads - usually of similar or different natural materials that are available locally
-- Columns - thick and heavy, right-angled corners, usually flared downward
-- Foundations - usually masonry used and flared downward
-- Windows - usually small and grouped in sizes of 4 or more
-- Steps and staircases - usually of solid wood

Craftsman Style Homes From the Inside
The inside of any Craftsman style home will have a square appearance. Rooms are usually uncluttered and spacious. Ornamentation is either missing or to its bare minimum.

The fireplace is in the living room and usually made of brick and tiles, and framed with symmetric benches or bookshelves. Windows are small and in groups of 4 or more and are made of wood and plain glass or stain-work, allowing the entire home to be well illuminated. Heavy ceiling beams are visible throughout the home.

In a maximum number of Craftsman style homes the living room with fireplace, kitchen, dining, and storeroom are on the first story, and the bedrooms are located on the first story, connected by an internal wooden staircase.

Many today are leaving their apartments in multistoried buildings for a more traditional and comfortable Craftsman style home.