Comment: The Frank Wilson Barteau House is one of my favorite homes along Beaver Dam Rd. This simple "bungalow-cottage" set on a large lot with many flowering shrubs draws one into its invitingly cool-looking front porch and welcoming front door.

In the history of the American house form, the term "cottage" covered much of what was built in the nineteenth century, and the term "bungalow" covered a good deal of what was built in the first half of the twentieth. It is not surprising that, in time, builders and designers also generated a building that combined attributes of both styles.

The integration of both styles can be seen in this house. The façade–with exception of the central dormer–has bungalow traits. On most buildings of the combined styles, the main roof covers the porch (as it does here), which is wide and uses wide bungalow style piers (although the porch arch and narrow piers on either side of the central stairs is somewhat unique here.) The roof line, the porch, and the first-floor wall are close to the ground. Overall, this bungalow-cottage enhances the fluidity of horizontal movement in the layered gables of the bungalow with a compact form of simple and direct geometry. The form is lively, owing to the mix of motifs, yet the structure is solid, even reserved. While probably built in the 1920-1930 decade by a chauffeur and automobile mechanic, to me, it is one of the most historically and architecturally interesting houses in the Hamlet.

Archtectural information from: Herbert Gottfried and Jan Jennings. 'American Vernacular Design, 1870-1940.'

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