Asian-Influenced Bungalow StoryMap
ScoutSA Intern Angela Gallegos spent several months at OHP working on an innovative project about a unique architectural expression found in many of San Antonio’s historic neighborhoods. Craftsman bungalows can be spotted from Alta Vista to Highland Park, Denver Heights to East French Place. These homes represent a period of rapid residential growth in San Antonio’s early suburbs. Sprinkled throughout these developments are some exceptional properties with unusual features that seem to have been influenced by Asian designs. How did these bungalows come to exist in San Antonio?
Angela explains, “The story of the Asian-Influenced bungalows in San Antonio encompasses two global art movements that originated in Europe in the last half of the 19th century. The influence of these movements then spread across the Atlantic Ocean via the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Other World’s Fairs followed and inspired architects who were pioneering the Craftsman bungalow style in the early 20th century.”
While this style has been identified and documented in other cities, there’s not an established vocabulary for the detailed expressions found on the bungalows. Angela’s work included creating a rubric with criteria to classify bungalows that fall in this category.
Interestingly, the influence of Asian culture did not end as the bungalow tradition faded in the 1940s. Angela reports, “As we continued the research, it became clear that there are not only multiple terms used to refer to this home style, but that there are also multiple eras in which the Asian-Influenced home style was being built in San Antonio, which created two distinct types of Asian-Influenced homes. After much research and many conversations amongst OHP staff, we found that there was Asian-Influenced bungalows of the early 20th century, which exhibit distinct Craftsman style features, and homes that were built a couple decades later during the Post-War housing boom in San Antonio, which incorporated much more of the mid-century modern design elements combined with Asian-Influenced style elements.” Perhaps our next initiative could identify these Asian-Influenced ranch homes!
Do you know of an Asian-Inspired Bungalow that we missed? Use the ScoutSA Discovery App to tell us about it!