425 Elm Street ~ The Arts & Crafts Bungalow ~ NEW LISTING MLS 52109

During the 1920's and 30's, the Bungalow was America's favorite house. In many areas of the country, entire neighborhoods were created with Bungalow designs. At the turn of the 20th century, Bungalows became associated with the Arts & Crafts Movement. It was an idea that centered on the idea of preserving traditions of handcraftsmanship.

The 425 Elm Street Arts & Crafts bungalow is in the heart of the highly desirable Fulton Heights neighborhood in Salisbury NC with easy access to Interstate-85 with multiple choices for shopping, restaurants, employment centers and excellent schools at a great price!! Located in a historic district just minutes from downtown amenities, 425 Elm Street offers unique Arts & Crafts movement designs with a downstairs master bedroom, a large “rocking chair deep” front porch, and more.

This 1917 Arts & Crafts style Bungalow offers the features you'd expect from the time period. This 3-bedroom, 1,787 square-foot, American Craftsman bungalow typifies the common styles of the American Arts and Crafts movement, with common features to include low-pitch roof lines on a gabled or hipped roof; deeply overhanging eaves; exposed rafters or decorative brackets under the eaves; and a front porch beneath an extension of the main roof.

The Front Porch: 425 Elm Street’s most exciting feature, common to the architectural style, is the front porch beneath an extension of the main roof. Note that no matter the style of bungalow, they have one important feature in common - the bungalow porch. Bungalows have great porches. Because of the nature of design, the bungalow porch creates a sense of community. Homeowners would sit on the porch after a hard day’s work to rest and talk with neighbors and friends. There's nothing quite like sitting on a bungalow porch and watching the world go by. This 10x21 foot front porch is ideal for relaxing & entertaining.

The Butler’s Pantry with Built-in China Closet: Built-in furnishings have been a part of domestic architecture for centuries, but built-ins reached their full potential during the Arts & Crafts movement. Built-ins are much of the reason that bungalows can be compact and still "live large." These fittings are common to Craftsman houses and 425 Elm Street is no exception with its fine built-in china closet in the butler’s pantry.

Many built-ins, such as benches, bookcases, and china cabinets, were assembled in place by carpenters. (To determine if a built-in was constructed in place, check the back—a cabinet with a plaster back wall was likely built in place.) There were many options for design including art glass doors, window sashes, moldings, and the rest of a house's millwork to match. When the builder started working on the house next door, he could choose completely different built-ins and put them all into a bungalow that was otherwise identical to the neighboring one, giving it a completely different look and level of customization. This is how many bungalow neighborhoods developed; enough choices existed to make each bungalow unique.

425 Elm Street features transoms in the Living Room & Master Bedroom, and beautiful French doors leading from the Living Room to the Dining Room. There are hard wood floors throughout – the Living Room and Dining Room LR & DR have oak strip flooring. The Dining Room has unique windows for placing buffet or sideboard underneath. The bungalow’s kitchen is complete with new counter tops and cabinets in addition to the original built china closet. Special and very popular features of the large bathroom is the claw-foot tub & plenty of closet space. A large unfinished walk out basement leads to wonderful fenced back yard. The current owners did all the hard work so this charming Arts & Crafts bungalow is ready and waiting for your finishing touches.

The restoration movement over the past two decades has embraced all styles of older homes. The Bungalow, however is considered by national housing experts as the most treasured of all older homes, primarily because of its charm and unique features. To see this beautiful and affordable specimen of fine American architecture in an ideal neighborhood, contact Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846. Wallace Realty, MLS 52109

Arts & Crafts Homes in Salisbury North Carolina

Homes in Salisbury, North Carolina are rich in the Arts & Crafts period style of architecture. From the turn of the 20th century to World War II was the unique period in American architectural history where ordinary people could afford finely crafted detail such as rich wood trim, art glass, and colorful mosaics in their homes. The Arts & Crafts movement made rich detailing a mainstay of home design. The Arts & Crafts architectural styles — Prairie, Craftsman, Mission, Four Square — are purely American styles. Unlike previous house styles that designers adopted from European models, American Arts & Crafts homes are homegrown. No other nation, with the exception of Canada, has anything like them.

Owners of Arts & Crafts homes possess a true gem — an American original — full of handcrafted details that are rarely seen in modern housing. Newly built homes are full of 1/2" gypsum board walls, painted MDF moldings, and carpeting over OSB subflooring. The Arts & Crafts home is full of thick, plaster walls, varnished quarter-sawn oak moldings with oak strip flooring over a thick pine subfloor - a work of art.

The Arts & Crafts movement began as a rebellion against the heady excesses of the late Victorian age. Victorian architecture, also prevalent in Salisbury NC, celebrated the abundance made possible by mass production and industrialization. Inexpensive trim and moldings could suddenly be made by machines, could be easily shipped anywhere in the U.S. on our newly built railroad system, and were used with elaboration to embellish Victorian architecture. By the end of the 19th century, ornamentation had reached its zenith, but by the 1890s many had had enough of industrialization. A widespread rebellion against mass mechanization and a longing for simpler times fostered the Arts & Crafts style. The thought prevailed that the former days of villages, craft shops, and artisans were healthier and more humanizing than assembly-line work in factory towns shrouded in smoke and dust.

Before finally dying out around 1910, the Arts & Crafts Movement in America spawned a stunning revolution in architecture and design that largely dominated the 20th century until the 1940s. The Arts & Crafts home styles are generously represented in Salisbury’s older and established urban neighbor¬hoods. The architecture lasted just 50 years, then, with the end of the 2nd World War, Arts & Crafts styles quietly died. Challenged to build unheard of numbers of houses to meet the ravenous postwar appetite for new housing, homebuilders quickly abandoned the leisurely, handcrafted detailing of the Arts & Crafts period. While it was sad to see such wonderful artisanship go by the wayside, it was a new era. America had changed, and so had its housing needs.

The legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement is still alive in Salisbury, North Carolina in the form of hundreds of Arts & Crafts houses throughout the area. Salisbury is a town of just over 30,000, conveniently centered between Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, NC - about 45 minutes from each. It is close to major shopping and sporting or arts events. Its housing prices are very attractive when compared to the rest of the country, and it offers a moderate climate. It has a historic downtown mere blocks away, and ten Historic Districts. To see an Arts & Crafts listing in Salisbury, or to list your gem with a Realtor, contact Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846 today.