An interesting split level house created by architect Olindo Grossi for his own family

A family of five needs plenty of living, dining, sleeping, and storage space. If you were to put that space all on one level and build a Ranch house around it, the house would have to curl in on itself to keep from rambling off a 50- or even a 60-foot lot.

If you decided on a typical one-and-a-half-story or two-story house, you would have to pay for at least 40 square feet of space for stairs. Reduce those 40 square feet, and you'll gain more closet space. Then, too, the wider you build, the more your building budget spreads. A four-level house lends itself best to a sloping site, but even if your lot is flat, you can have four levels if you excavate and set your lowest level's windows high. So why not think in terms of levels-four levels rather than in terms of stories? You will gain:

More than adequate space within an economical rectangle. Fewer stairs to climb, and more space (left over from shorter stairwells) to use elsewhere. A house that is only a little higher than a ground-hugging single story on one side, yet one that has all the advantages of a two-story house on the opposite side. A well-lighted basement with full-size windows.