Ultimate bungalow is a term most commonly used to describe very large and detailed Craftsman

American Craftsman

The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...

 style homes, taking the bungalow

Bungalow

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

 style and interpreting it on a large scale. The style is associated with such California architects as Greene and Greene

Greene and Greene

Greene and Greene was an architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene , influential early 20th Century American architects...

, Bernard Maybeck

Bernard Maybeck

Bernard Ralph Maybeck was a architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was a professor at University of California, Berkeley...

 and Julia Morgan

Julia Morgan

Julia Morgan was an American architect. The architect of over 700 buildings in California, she is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California...

. Some of the hallmarks of Greene and Greene's ultimate bungalows include the use of rich tropical woods such as mahogany, ebony and teak, and generous use of inlays of wood, metal and mother-of-pearl. As in their other major projects, Charles and Henry Greene - and to a lesser extent Bernard Maybeck and a few other Craftsman-era architects who built such homes - sometimes designed the majority of furniture, textiles, fixtures and other interior details of these homes specifically for their location both in the house and in the larger landscape.

The term Ultimate bungalow was popularized by its use as a chapter title in the 1977 book "Greene & Greene, Architecture as a Fine Art" by Randall Makinson. The houses discussed in the chapter were the Greene's Robert Blacker, David Gamble, Charles Pratt, Freeman Ford, William Thorsen, Earle C. Anthony, Dr. Crow, Willam Spinks, and William Lawless residences.

The ultimate bungalows include:

• Gamble House in Pasadena, California
  Pasadena, California
  Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
  
  
• William R. Thorsen House
  Thorsen House
  The William R. Thorsen House, often referred to as the Thorsen House, was built in 1909 in Berkeley, California by William Randolph and Caroline Canfield Thorsen. Designed by Henry and Charles Greene, of the renowned Pasadena firm of Greene & Greene, in the American Craftsman style of the Arts and...
  
   in Berkeley, California
  Berkeley, California
  Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
  
  
• Robert R. Blacker House
  Robert R. Blacker House
  Not to be confused with the house that is part of the House System at the California Institute of TechnologyThe Robert Roe Blacker House, often referred to as the Blacker House or Robert R. Blacker House, is a residence in Pasadena, California, which is now on the U.S. National Register of Historic...
  
   in Pasadena, California
  Pasadena, California
  Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
  
  
• Madison House in Pasadena, California
  Pasadena, California
  Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
  
   (now headquarters of Pasadena Heritage)
• Charles M. Pratt House in Ojai, California
  Ojai, California
  Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...
  
  
• John T. Greene Residence in Sacramento, California
  Sacramento, California
  Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...