Property of Mr. and Mrs. George Davis, Tacoma, Washington | architect: Mary Lund Davis

12/12/2025 06:55:00 PM

Every house reflects the values of the family who live in it—but none more clearly than a house built for a young family on a young, i.e., limited, budget. Since they can't have everything, everything they put their money into is the result of a considered choice, and the sum of these choices both mirrors and molds their style of living. A shining example is the George Davises' house in Tacoma, Washington. In many ways, the Davises are typical of hundreds of today's young families: Mr. Davis commutes to his business downtown; Mrs. Davis works, too, but part-time and at home; they have two little girls—Kit, $4\frac{1}{2}$ and Gail, 2. Untypical, however, is the fact that Mrs. Davis, who is an architect, designed their house and was thereby able to incorporate her requirements as wife and mother directly into the blueprints with no need to confer with anyone but herself.

The Davises' building budget was $25,000 (which did not cover cost of land and landscaping nor, naturally, include an architect's fee). This money they turned into space (3,238 square feet of it) plus privacy (none of the main rooms face the street) and plenty of places to put things (thirteen storage walls) in preference to a showy array of built-in gadgets and fancy finishes. By using simple materials and the simplest type of construction (post and beam) and capitalizing on the economies of a two-story plan, Mrs. Davis produced a four-bedroom house with space bonuses you rarely expect to achieve on a limited budget: a playroom, a home office and two full dressing rooms. The main floor is divided into three zones: the general living area (A on plan) that embraces dining area and kitchen; the office (B) which is near enough to the living area to double as extra party space; and the bedroom zone (C). The lower floor, which includes the playroom, two bedrooms and a bath will become a separate private domain for Kit and Gail when they are older. But the real key to the house is storage, for it is the storage walls that divide the space in what is otherwise a long, open shell. "Storage" says Mrs. Davis, "is the basic element of design. Its relationship to the family pattern of living determines the plan."