The Seattle Bungalow

"This book will be an essential resource for historians examining modest housing anywhere in America in this period . . . . Bungalows are still popular today. . . but their current romanticization obscures a much more interesting story of how a building type was developed for and changed by a lower-middle-class clientele. Janet Ore has fortunately brought this history to light."

"Ore provides a fine addition. . . . By adopting a broad perspective, The Seattle Bungalow adds to our understanding of the process by which builders and owners expanded the twentieth-century markets for housing."

"The Seattle Bungalow presents architectural history from the bottom up. It unravels not only the decisions of designers, builders, and housing entrepreneurs, but also those who lived in such buildings. In Janet Ore's expert hands, the bungalow becomes more than an arts and crafts icon of the simple life. . . . she has demonstrated its significance as symbol, commodity, and place of living."

"The Seattle Bungalow makes an important contribution to the study of bungalows and early-twentieth-century architecture."

"By stitching together her variously themed chapters with constant reference to one house and one family, she brings an ethnographic approach to the study of the modern built environment. . . Ore's work amplifies on regionally based studies of the bungalow."

"Ore's book is a valuable addition to American cultural history. It is based on imaginative and wide-ranging research, is clearly presented, and is illustrated with a large number of photographs."

"A valuable retrospective."

"The Seattle Bungalow is recommended not only for urban historians but also for Seattle and Northwest historians and history buffs… Ore's analysis of the maturation of finance, salesmanship, consumerism, and citizenship in the early 20th century (is) well worth the read."

"Certainly every Arts & Crafts enthusiast should have this title on their bookshelf. As should architectural historians, students of material culture, social life and customs."

"Janet Ore's subject—-the origins, marketing, development, and legacy of working—class housing in Seattle—-offers an opportunity not only to explore architectural history but to characterize the economic, aesthetic, moral, and social dimensions of such housing."

"A valuable record of the housing boom that transformed the American suburban landscape in the first decades of the twentieth century."