A 1920's house I lived in once had a similar setup--two rooms connected by french doors, with a clearly designated dining room off the main living room. The second room could be used as a bedroom or a "front parlor" for important guests, depending on the family's needs.

As the house was in Boston, it really was called a parlor. Excuse me, "parluh." Unless the family called it the front room.

I had a 1929 Tudor bungalow with a similar layout. LR, DR and kitchen down one side with "den", bedroom and bedroom down the other side, the two sides separated by a hall, with the bath at the end of the hall. Virtually identical to yours, swapping laundry for a BR and eliminating the stairs (I had laundry in the basement). Mine had an arched opening between the LR and den, but a cased opening and a door onto the hall. I used the den for my TV room and had a nicer set-up in the living room with the fireplace.

Depending on where you're located, they still could have very much been building the same type of bungalow in 1940.

Lots and lots of possibilities.

LOTS.

If there are a lot of windows, it could be a "sun room" or a sleeping porch, which were very, very common.

Bungalows became HUGELY popular (early 1910s) in direct response to the Germ Theory. Suddenly, we KNEW what was killing off our children: An invisible enemy that could be defeated with proper cleaning. The Victorian was too hard to keep "sterile" so the Bungalow Craze took off.

Sun rooms and sleeping porches were very popular in early 20th Century homes for the same reason.

Some rooms were also dedicated "radio rooms." No kidding.

And first-floor front bedrooms were also very popular.

My guess is that it was just a regular bedroom. As you see from the images below, it was not unusual for bedrooms to open right off the living room.

The "Oxford" (Aladdin Kit Homes) had a dedicated radio room!

The Bandon (Sears Kit House) had a "Dining Porch" just off the living room.

This house (American Homebuilders catalog) had a bedroom just off the living room, and I think that's what YOUR front room is.

Here's another house (from Aladdin) with two bedrooms just off the living room, and the different floorplans have the doors opening off the living room, or a small hallway. In a smaller house, having a bedroom open off the living room saves the space of another hallway.

In conclusion, I'm pretty confident that your front room was a "chamber" or a bedroom - even in 1940.

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: Bungalows and the Germ Theory

My Noni had a similar room in Western NY. I was told it was a convertible room. Used as a multi purpose space that could be converted to a bedroom temporarily for someone in poor health that couldn't negotiate the stairs to the upper bedrooms, it would have been easier for a caregiver as well.

It could be used as a guest room as well as it had a built in Murphy bed.

Yes..........that was often the case, sort of like what we call a bonus room today. It was also a carryover from older designs, like one sees in Victorian or Federal houses. The second parlour or sitting room, often with pocket doors but most always at least an arch between them. I've had the 'second' living room in many of my old homes and we often used it for informal family use and saved the main one for formal entertaining.

My grandmother's friend had a similar set up in a slightly larger home. It was the office for the owner, who sometimes worked at home (even back then). It was a cute little room and even had a little fireplace.

Without knowing what what's going on in your second floor/attic, I would wager a very large bet that the ? room was originally a bedroom. Most bungalows of that size with only an original unfinished attic had 2 bedrooms on the first floor.

Yay, thanks for all the ideas and thoughts!!! I loved all the bungalow floor plans, rosemary--thanks!! Are you the lady with the awesome sears catalog house blog? i love that thing!!

I don't think it was a bedroom, as the house has three upstairs bedrooms that I think were original (all three once had fireplaces and the walls are all plaster). I suppose it's possible, though. Also, the opening between the two rooms is pretty huge. I'm planning to use the room as an office/studio type of space, so it's good to know that's not far off one of the reasonably possible original uses.

Just two more weeks, if everything goes as planned. Can't wait!!

"courting" parlor. with French doors, parents could chaperone young couple yet not eavesdrop. Daddy's house had one. Then when my children were born, we took out the wall for a giant family room!