BUNGALOWS Cleveland Heights is home to hundreds of bungalows, Most likely, there are some in your neighborhood. The term 'bungalow' is derived from 18th-century huts in Bengal called 'bangala.' The single-story design, as well as the name, were adopted by the British and embraced by Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The typical American bungalow has one or one and one-half stories and strong horizontal lines accentuated by a wide front porch and a low-pitched roof. The roof line is often broken by a front dormer or a front gable. The interior design is open and functional and may feature space-saving built-ins, such as bookcases, china cabinets or benches. Materials often used were natural wood, stone, art glass and decorative tile. Color preferences, both inside and out, were natural earth tones. The bungalow's simple structure is marvelously adaptable. A bungalow can be small and informal or grand and elegant; it may borrow architectural details from the Arts and Craft movement, the Tudor style or the Prairie Style; it may be reminiscent of a Spanish mission or a French chalet. Various national companies and local builders published hundreds of catalogues and pamphlets which helped to popularize the style across the country. Plans for a bungalow could be purchased from builders' catalogues such as Sears and modified to suit the individual owner's tastes and needs. However, the onset of the Great Depression ended the large-scale construction of bungalow homes. Cleveland Heights is rich in bungalows since most of its housing stock was built from 1910 to 1930 when the bungalow's practicality and relatively modest cost made it very popular. Several neighborhoods and streets boast particularly interesting clusters of bungalows. Middlehurst and Hampshire Roads in 'Old Mayfield Heights,' east of Coventry; Hyde Park Avenue in the Boulevard School neighborhood; and the northwest intersection of Cedar Road and Cottage Grove Avenue are a few examples. Their charm, affordability and diversity have revived interest in bungalows. Because they have housed Cleveland Heights residents from the 1920s to today, bungalows remain a symbol of the city's enduring vitality, worth of recognition and preservation. A Bungalow Tour of the Caledonia, Oxford and Noble Neighborhoods Bungalows enjoyed great popularity during the 1920s, years of dramatic growth for Cleveland Heights. In 1920, the city had 15,396 residents and by 1930, the number had escalated to 50,945. Reflecting this population surge, the village of Cleveland Heights became incorporated as a city on August 9, 1921, with an appointed City Manager and a Mayor elected by City Council. Frank Cain served as Mayor, a post he held from 1914 to 1945. In 1920, the city's older neighborhoods on the city's western boundaries were well established, but the area east of Taylor and north of Mayfield was sparsely settled. Three large estates stood at the intersection of Taylor and Mayfield Roads: Longwood (1911), the home of John L. Severance, now the site of Severance Town Center (see Commercial Districts); Ben Brae (1913), the home of Julia Severance Millikin, now the site of Fire Station #1 and Council Gardens; and Glen Allen (1915), the residence of Francis F. Prentiss, now the site of the new housing development called “Bluestone” (also former site of the Jewish Community Center) and Lutheran High School East. Nearby on what had been farmland were almost empty housing developments, grandly named Crestwood and Parkhill Subdivisions, Maple Villa, Noble Heights and Yellowstone Estates. During the 1920s, as public transportation and private automobiles made this northeast quadrant of Cleveland Heights accessible, this once-distant area rapidly developed. Noble Elementary School (1922) and Oxford Elementary (1927) were built to serve the growing neighborhoods. The Noble Neighborhood Library was built in 1936. The Noble Road Fire Station (now home to the Cleveland Heights Police Academy) was completed in 1929; Monticello Junior High School (now Monticello Middle School) in 1930. Neighborhood churches included Noble Road Presbyterian (1922) on Noble Road, Landmark Community of Living Hope (formerly Church of the Cross) (1925) on Caledonia Avenue, and Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church (now Mt. Olive Evangelical Lutheran Church) (1926) at Noble and Yellowstone Roads. In order to accommodate the population boom, shops, including some of the city's first chain stores, clustered along major thoroughfares. At the intersections of Mayfield, Noble and Warrensville Center Roads were three groceries - Kroger, Fisher Brothers and Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A & P); there were also two butchers, two beauty parlors, a barber shop, two banks and two auto dealers. Along Noble from Helmsdale to Warrensville Center Road were two Fisher Brothers, a Kroger and an A & P, as well as butchers, delicatessens, barber shops and bakeries. Taylor Road also boasted Kroger (at Caledonia), Fisher Brothers and A & P stores at Helmsdale Road and Nelaview Road. (Shops on the west side of Taylor were removed for the Forest Hill development.) By 1929, developers and real estate companies had built and sold hundreds of homes that reflected the period's eclectic tastes in domestic architecture. Many of these homes can be described as Colonial Revival, and there are numerous Tudor, Revival-style houses. Bungalows are also especially prevalent in the Caledonia, Oxford and Noble Neighborhoods. The majority of the homes there were constructed in the 1920s and often exhibit Craftsman-style elements, which were common in that period. In most cases, bungalows are scattered in these neighborhoods, but Lecona Drive and Middleton, Nobleshire and Selwyn Roads have rows of bungalows. The Cleveland Heights Landmark Commission has put together a self-guided walking tour of bungalows in the Noble, Oxford and Caledonia neighborhoods. The bungalows described in the brochure are only a small representation of the numerous bungalows in these Cleveland Heights neighborhoods. To obtain a copy of the bungalow walking tour, call 216-291-4878, e-mail at planning@clvhts.com, or stop by Cleveland Heights Planning Department, 40 Severance Circle. More information on Cleveland Heights' past can be found on the Cleveland Heights Historical Society web site.