what is the difference between a "cottage" and a "bungalow"?

Question

I'm looking for the current, popular meanings of the words as they are used in North America, Great Britain, and in the Repuplic of Ireland. In architecture and in realestate there seems to be some distinction. For examples: an architecural photographer has two seperate books; 500 Cottages , and 500 Bungalows; and IOL realestate has "cottages" and "bungalows" under seperate listings. What is a modest one family home... a cottage, a bungalow or something different ....???
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Answer 1

North American perspective:
There is a good degree of overlap but some distinctions. A bungalow is usually from the 1870-1930 period. It would have a general horizontal feeling to it, would almost always have a covered porch and overhanging roof as a major design element. It would feature natural, native, low-tech material choices.
A cottage I think of perhaps as a bit smaller, perhaps part of an older tradition for its location. Example: a rural 16th century small house in England or Ireland could be a cottage but never a bungalow. A cottage could be in the 1950s modernist style, for example but a bungalow could not. Any home built in the 30 years could not be a bungalow, unless it strongly referenced the architecture of the pre-1930 period. Bacically: Bungalow is a style, Cottage is a detached smaller home of many, if not any, styles.
Note: in 19th and early 20th century usage, "cottage" was often used as a synonym for "rental house" or a smaller house on the same grounds as a larger one (example: guest house) of any size.

Answer 2

I live in a cottage now and it's only big enough for one person, or possibly two people that can stand being near each other all day. A cottage, as I see it, is something of an addition to a house but it's detached. A bungalow is simply a one-story house, usually without a basement.

Answer 3

A cottage refers to a small house, usually with a porch. A bungalow is also small but usually refers to a house with a four-sided roof. These are not hard and fast rules.