What Are The Characteristics of Arts and Crafts Homes
What Defines an Arts and Crafts Home's Style?
Most home styles offer a distinctive characteristic that defines the style, like the gable dormers of a Cape Cod home or the one-story living that a ranch offers. Other home styles are harder to pick out, like an Arts and Crafts style home.
The Arts and Crafts style draws characteristics from several different architectural aesthetics. In fact, Arts and Crafts isn't exactly a single style, but rather a specific approach to many different types of architecture.
For many lovers of old-homes, Arts and Crafts are one of the most confusing styles. What does a typical Arts and Crafts style home look like? Does it resemble a Craftsman bungalow or a Foursquare with bracketed eaves? Or is it more reminiscent of a quaint cottage or an architect-designed Prairie house?
The short answer... Yes!
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The truth is, Arts and Crafts isn't so much a single style as it is a philosophy or intellectual approach to architecture and design. In this post, we're going to take a look at the history of the Arts and Crafts home and some of the distinguishing characteristics you'll find in all Arts and Crafts houses.
The History of The Arts and Crafts Movement
this new home is a modern interpretation of the classic arts & crafts style.
The Arts and Crafts movement began as a reaction to the ornate style of the Victorian age. The style originated in England in the mid-19th century and first came to America around the beginning of the 20th century. Arts and Crafts-style homes embraced handcrafted design and approachable, natural materials.
The term “Arts and Crafts” encompasses much more than an architectural style. The Arts and Crafts movement was a much broader social movement that embraced architecture and interior design, fine art, textiles, and much more.
This movement was born as a reaction to the often needless opulence of the Industrial Revolution. Arts and Crafts focused on the opposite aesthetic. Instead of mass-produced, uninspired design, the movement was all about the handcrafted and personal approach. The idea being that quality trumped quantity, and good design and good taste would prevail.
The Arts and Crafts movement is connected to the rise of the Craftsman and Bungalow style homes, which featured architecture that embraced the same mentality of simple but thoughtful and well-built homes. The Bungalow was designed to give the working class access to owning a well-designed home that was easy to maintain and manage.
Americans embraced the movement as they sought a simpler but aesthetically richer life. However, Americans at the turn of the last century were not ready to give up mass production. While this was the case, promoters of the Arts and Crafts movement like architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the furniture-maker and publisher Gustav Stickley embraced mass-production of Arts and Crafts style furniture. Stickley's hugely popular magazine “The Craftsman” encouraged readers to embrace the style by building, furnishing, and decorating their homes using the Arts and Crafts principles.
Arts and Crafts architecture was actually a subset of the movement. It was so closely tied to interior design that the furniture and fittings of a house, even more than its appearance, determine its place in the movement. Simple but sophisticated design and master craftsmanship were the cornerstones of the Arts and Crafts style.
The Key Characteristics of the Arts and Crafts Style Home
this 1920’s craftsman bungalow presents many elements of an arts and crafts home.
While it can be difficult to pick out an Arts and Crafts style home, there are several key elements that they almost all share.
• The Roof: The typical roofline of this style is low-pitched, with wide, enclosed eave overhangs.
• Exposed Beams: The roof rafters and beams inside the home are often exposed.
• Build-Ins: One key element of the design style is the use of built-in furniture like bookcases, room dividers, window sears, and china cabinets that felt like custom additions and fit into the home design perfectly.
• Windows: The Arts and Crafts style home typically is made up of windows with smaller panes set in multiple assemblies.
• Fireplace: The typical Arts and Crafts home will have a very large fireplace centered in the open living space and serves as a major focal point for the room.
• Prominent Porches: Most homes in this style feature an obvious porch equipped with prominent columns. The porch is typically located on the front of the home but will sometimes wrap around the house.
Along with these commonly-shared features, because the Arts and Crafts house encourage an informal lifestyle, unlike the Victorian home with its formal parlors, most shared some aesthetic features, like the “original” open floor plan. They also featured natural materials prominently in their construction and design, including natural stone, brick, exposed woodwork, and exotic wood species.
Many homes in this style feature airy, light-filled rooms that encourage interaction with the outdoors and indoor/outdoor living space. Because Arts and Crafts is a design philosophy, many homeowners choose to decorate with a tasteful arrangement of a few well-designed, well-made, decorative, and useful objects.
The Arts and Crafts movement is represented by homes all across America, and it inspired many design styles in every region of the country. Because the main philosophy behind the movement is that of handcrafted simplicity, Arts and Crafts homes rarely go out of style, even as design trends have evolved and changed throughout the years!
While Arts and Crafts design lost favor after World War I, the ideas behind the style – well-made, handcrafted design – remained important since the 19th century and remain so today.
If you live in the greater Madison, Wisconsin area and are considering updating or remodeling your Arts and Crafts style home, give the award-winning design team at Degnan Design-Build-Remodel a call at (608) 846-5963. We're always happy to answer your questions. We're always ready to help you make the right choices to meet your needs and fit your budget. Call today for a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your project.
This article was updated by Abe Degnan on 8/23/2022.
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