Fawcett Homes: The Brookville | architect Eglis Hermanovski | photos Grayson Tewksburry

IF YOU HAVE A LARGE LOT and a low budget, and want to make your modest- cost house look a great deal more expensive, here is a lesson from Designer Hermanovski on how to do it. He has made the Brookville half again as large simply by adding a low-cost breezeway and by turning the garage around on its side. Not only is the over-all effect more attractive (the yawning emptiness of the garage can't be seen from the street when the door is up and the cars are out) but the house looks immense.

Inside and out, the Brookville is completely modern. It has the features that many alert home-buyers look for: a kitchen-laundry-den arrangement that enables a housewife to do eighty percent of her household chores without taking more than a few steps; cathedral-type ceilings and exposed floors which show off the woods used in the basic construction to their natural advantage; and electrical wiring that is more than adequate to meet all the present and future needs that may be placed upon it.

Take the kitchen layout first. According to authorities, housewives spend up to eighty percent of their time preparing food, working in their laundry, and supervising their children at play. Their dream is to have a layout that enables them to perform all those tasks from one central location-an area which has been called "the woman's workshop." According to these experts, the ideal location for the laundry is a light, ground-level spot next to the kitchen, close to the outdoors so that it is easy to reach, yet keeping the kitchen clear for food preparation and informal eating. The family room or den also should be near the kitchen, yet separated from it so that the youngsters are not in Mother's way while she prepares a meal or cleans up after it. Note how the Brookville's ingenious all-in-a-line arrangement meets these requirements. The den, kitchen and laundry are only a few steps from each other, yet are separate. As a further aid to home-making efficiency, the full dining room is but a few feet from the food preparation center.

A "cathedral ceiling" is one with a slant -the kind you usually find in churches. When using this kind of ceiling, many modern architects prefer to construct the roof of heavy rafters which are spaced wider apart than those ordinarily used. These beams are generally left exposed, stained or varnished to accentuate their natural beauty. Such slanted ceilings are fully in keeping with the Brookville's overall modernity.

Persons who have built from this plan have often followed another trend-that of displaying more of the wood floor area. We are beginning to recognize that oak floors, properly maintained, have a natural beauty all their own.

You expect the Brookville to be equipped with all the latest in electrical appliances -built-in ranges and ovens, dishwashers, washers and dryers, freezer, etc. It is. That takes a lot of electrical power-and to supply it, there must be a heavy service entrance carrying juice to the house from the utility company's lines, plus enough branch circuits inside to serve all the equipment and lights.