For the 1964-1965 New York's World Fair three companies built display homes. The Edward Durell Stone built an amazing MCM home, where the emphasis is on self-contained living, a necessity when building space is scarce and 50x100-foot lots are often the rule. Stone's answer to suburban overexposure is to buid in, to cloister a house around itself for that precious commodity, privacy. Like so many village houses in france and the Mediterranean countries, this one presents a closed front to the street. Its garage starts at the street line, leaving an arrival court between garage and house. Plantings are concentrated in simple, strategic units.
Because this house lives within itself, it can take full advantage of the lot. Courtyard walls extend to the edges of the lot, with covered patios at each corner of the house; rooms are clustered so they share the view of the courts. At the same time, these rooms open into a central atrium, making corridors unnecessary.
Just to the right of the front entry is one of the outdoor courts, a dramatic illustration of Stone's concept of built-in privacy. The masonry walls give it a measured scope, with the roofed-over section creating a lanai effect. The court opens from the dining room and bedroom, becoming a natural breakfast and luncheon area.
As with each of the other courts, the one shown here has a circular skylight centered in its roof and an edging of wood grillwork. Besides relieving the sharp lines of the roof, these two details help draw more light into the house itself. Only the single prestressed concrete corner post breaks the sweep of the poured aggregate patio.
With four of thse courtyards, the Stone house achieves a remarkable sense of space within a confined area. As stone sees it, this is the only practicable solution to close quarters; on a six-acre plot, of curse, the natural privacy of the land would eliminate the need for walls. But since most people build on smaller lots to be near their work, court walls are the answer for complete freedom.
The core of the Stone's house is the skylighted atrium, which gives the whole house a sense of great volume and spaciousness. In keeping with the sharp clearly defined lines of this central room, the furniture and accessories are simple, yet functional.
The deep, sculptured feeling of the circular skylight intensified by the round garden pool, the focal point for the furniture arrangement. Matched sofas face eachother across the pool, their yellow cushions repeating accents of the living room and dining room. Two pair wrought-iron side chairs, trimmed with yellow cushions complete the grouping. A Melaleuca sapling and two evergreen privet plants in tailored posts contrast with the unadorned architecture - and help screen off the adjoining rooms from the conversation area.
Muted green walls form a subtle background for the non-representational oil paintings, which lend a sense of proportion to the otherwise severe walls.
In the living room of the Stone house, elegantly detailed furnishings conform to the regular lines of the room itself. A white, deep-sculptured rug defines the rather formal seating arrangement, which faces the fireplace wall. The black surface of the sofa and the red chair fabrics dominate the color scheme; this black-and-red combination reappears often in the paintings and accessories.
Throughout the dining room, sunlight colors set the decorating pattern. Yellow on the comfortable dining chaires accentuates the crisp design; yellow in the dapery, painting and buffet magnifies the grain of the dark wall paneling.
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