The name ‘Craftsman’ was appropriated from furniture maker Gustav Ctickley, whose magazine ‘The Craftsman’ was first published in 1901. The style of home was widely used in the first three decades of the 20th Century in all size houses all over Southern California. These houses and apartment houses range from the tiny Bungalows found in Old Torrance and other areas that are only 500 square feet to the California Craftsman Mansions found in Pasadena.

The Craftsman style was the American version of the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement that began in Great Britain in the 1860’s. This movement was in response to the opinion of some that the Victorian style of homes were not practical with there seemingly small rooms that were different shapes and hard to furnish. Also Victorian homes were considered by the early 20th Century to be over-decorated.

One of the truly modern elements of the Craftsman homes and bungalows that dot the landscape of Southern California and many other parts of America was their mass production. Where ordering homes through a mail order Catalog such as the Sears Catalog was available in the 1890’s, it was not widespread until the early 20th Century. While there are lots of areas such as Old Torrance where streets such as Andreo Ave. and Gramercy Ave. (originally called Susana before being changed since Gramercy Ave. was already a north-south street starting in Los Angeles), there are plenty of examples of ‘Kit Homes’ all over Old Torrance and Southern California.

By the 1930’s the Craftsman homes lost popularity to the more California Colonial Spanish and Mid-Century Modern. Since the 1990’s the style has regained popularity as builders and individuals built new Craftsman Style homes. Finding an original home built from 1901 through 1935 that has not remodeled or modified is rare.