1954 H&G "House of Ideas", Seminole Circle, Green Manor Estates, West Hartford, Connecticut

Once a year HOUSE & GARDEN devotes the greater part of an issue to a "model house" that solves the kind of living problems everyone has to face these days. This year, we have what we consider the best small house of the year. After studying it, you will come away with a good deal more knowledge of how to get what you want and need in a house: the most living space for your money; a dining area and kitchen that simplify meals; a convenient laundry; a bedroom wing that has privacy; year-round comfort with air conditioning; the very best equipment and newest materials.

This House of Ideas was built on a typical flat lot in the suburban community of West Hartford, Connecticut, but it's a house you could build anywhere in the U.S.A. You can't call it a one-story or a two-story house, nor classify it as modern or traditional. It combines the best of both. Painted a cheerful citron yellow, it is ringed by five outdoor living areas. Inside, it is a house with an ingenious, three-level floor plan. You go up six steps to the living room, down seven steps to the play- room; you cross a glass-walled gallery to a secluded bedroom wing. There is a separate dining room, kitchen-utility room, even a "mud- room" where the children can wash up after play. The house cost $14.04 per square foot. It has 2,208 square feet of space including 368 square feet of basement area. Total construction cost was $31,000 without the land, architect's and broker's fees and builder's profit. That's why it is the best small house of the year, the most house for your money.

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Architect - Philip Ives

Builder - Green Manor Estates Inc.. Neil H. Ellis, President

Decorated by House & Garden in cooperation with G. Fox & Co.

Landscaped by The Peter Cascio Nursery

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source: House and Garden Magazine | july 1954