OVERDONE!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 77, 22 June 1927, Page 12

OVERDONE!

“Bungled Bungalows” Englishman’s Criticism At a period when the bungalow is getting more attention than ever before, primarily because it offers the possibility of a little dwelling not over-costly to build, and certainly the easiest to maintain, it is very necessary to emphasise the necessity for suitability in design, writes John M. Fife in the “Illustrated Carpenter and Builder.” To this epd, simplicity should be tl*e standard of achievement. Like summer-houses and bandstands, both in themselves quite simple structures, the bungalow is too frequently overdone, and often becomes a piece of architectural Turkish delight, or is made banal with embellishments of a monstrous fretwork type. It is worried with “features” and dotted all over with bits of carving, coloured glass, flower baskets, vases, etc., until one begins to deplore the whole genius to which it belongs. Unfortunately it is the fact that there are “regiments” of this class. Whole “collections” of them, especially at seaside resorts, stand as proof of what a bungalow ought not to be — bungalows bungled by bunglers!