The American Craftsman style—also known as the American Arts and Crafts movement—is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied and decorative arts style, and lifestyle philosophy that began in the late years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art movement, it remained popular into the 1930s. However, in decorative arts and architectural design it has continued with numerous revivals and restoration projects through present times.
The style developed out of the British Arts and Crafts movement that had been going on since the 1860s. Many of the typical architectural features in a Craftsman home are low pitched roof lines, often gabled or hipped roofs, deep overhanging eaves, exposed rafters or decorative brackets under the eaves, a front porch beneath an extension of the main roof with tapered, square columns supporting the roof, double-hung windows, hand-crafted stone or woodwork, and mixed materials throughout the structure.
This style has many influences from styles such as the bungalow and American Foursquare styles. This style refuted the ornate and elaborate for strong construction and beauty through simplicity. The home and interior design were accomplished through subtlety and dignity of style. Today, these homes continue to be popular because they are low cost without lacking exceptional high quality.
"The Craftsman" designs are meant to be site related or augmented to an individual site. The house is built with materials found in the local region, and the architecture designed to enhance natural features outside through ample use of recessed porches, terraces, pergolas, and entrance ways. While space is utilized as economically as possible, the basic function becomes essential to the interior design.
Structural elements are often exposed for decorative detail and local materials (perhaps a stone fireplace in Connecticut) were enhanced by slight changes to the basic design. This, of course, means that these Craftsman Homes were all customized by local builders to meet local resources and individual needs.