THE Alden answers the need today for a low-cost home readily adaptable to a growing family. Built as pictured on these pages, it's an attractive modern bungalow for a small family. But with two second-floor rooms added in the large expansion attic, it suddenly becomes a "large" house with four double bedrooms-enough sleeping space for a double-sized family.
The Alden keeps the roof pitch of its architectural ancestor, the popular old Cape Cod cottage, but is entirely modern in its honest use of both materials and equipment. In a clever transitional design for this Modern Cape Cod, old and new elements have been carefully blended. Automatic, thermostatic-controlled heating systems are now so efficient that you can use whole walls of glass without fear of extravagant heat losses.
The Alden's oil-fired panel heating system operates economically enough to make the large panoramic window-wall a practical, as well as a charming, feature of the living room. Since the house is built on a concrete slab instead of a basement foundation, the central heating plant goes literally in the center of the home in the space back of the stairway to the big 44-foot expansion attic. Other modern attractions neatly integrated into the Cape Cod's familiar basic architecture include the popular L-shaped arrangement of the equipment in the kitchen and sliding doors on each closet in the two bedrooms.
Opening the front door with the distinctive triple-squared paneling, you step into a wide living room. The 6 x 12-foot panorama window allows a variety of smart furniture arrangements in this living space.
An archway at the left of the living room's rear wall leads to a central passageway. At the right of this foyer is the staircase up to the attic. Just beyond the stairway is the entrance to the kitchen. Modern in every detail, the kitchen has its sink, dishwasher and refrigerator under the large double window at the rear of the house. At right angles to this equipment along the interior wall next to the bath- room are the washing machine, cabinet and range-all built to the same level to provide additional counter space. Overhead is a row of six metal cupboards. A ventilating fan near the window draws out unpleasant cooking odors and makes sum- mer cooking a cooler task. There's ample open space in this efficiently streamlined kitchen for a complete dinette set.
A door in the kitchen's sidewall leads to a back porch, which may be used as an outside dining room or sun parlor. A utility room opens into the kitchen from the wall opposite the window.
Like the kitchen and all the other rooms in the house, the bathroom also opens off the central hall. To save expenses by shortening plumbing lines and insulation costs, the bathroom has been lined up next to the kitchen in The Alden's plan.
The sleeping area, occupying the left side of the floor plan, has the advantage of double exposure and cross-ventilation for both bedrooms. In addition to the five- foot-wide closet in each bedroom, two smaller closets are located in the adjoining foyer.
As the family increases, two more large. bedrooms and a bath can be completed in the space occupied by the expansion attic. The Alden's exterior is carefully de- signed to harmonize perfectly with the size of the house. The outside walls can be brick, clapboard, asbestos, shingles or a combination of any two of these materials. The roofing finish is asphalt shingle.
At $8,000, plus the cost of the land, The Alden offers an attractive combination of old-cottage charm and modern practicality for anyone who wants his home to "grow up" with his growing family.
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