Anybody who believes that the words 'stock materials' are the negation of individuality and elegance should study the house on the facing page. Its owner is Mrs. Orson Munn (she's the talented dress designer, Carrie Munn). From floor plan to last details, this four-room house in Southampton, Long Island, is completely personal, completely hers. Yet every part of it is made of standard building materials. Exterior walls are sheathed with asbestos siding and the roof is ordinary asphalt shingle. It is the color which keeps these from looking commonplace.
Mrs. Munn discovered that siding was made in carnation pink which she pointed up with flame shutters. The roof is pebbly white. The first impression as you enter the house is its feeling of space and sheen. This begins with the rugless floors which are either shiny vinyl plastic or asphalt tile. They are arranged in large checkerboard squares in living and bedrooms and smaller ones in the tiny mirrored en- trance. Living-room walls are of wallboard so smoothly fitted that they look like plaster. Like the tray ceiling which gives extra height to the 25' x 27' living room, they are painted chalk white.
Because Mrs. Munn disliked the eyebrowless effect of unadorned Venetian blinds, she framed her big living- room windows with a valance made of by-the-yard textured plywood cut into a Greek key design. Though this room has five doors, it gives no sense of being a through-way because two of them are protected by fretted white metal screens.
When Mrs. Munn wanted a free-form fireplace to carry out the lines of her mainly-French furniture, she cut out a paper pattern just as she would for a dress and had it molded out of concrete and plaster. Living-wise, the house is planned primarily for weekend use. A pretty pink kitchen is an invitation for hostess or guests to cook. With the aid of a part-time maid, Mrs. Munn gives well-organized buffet parties and large cocktail parties which start in the living room and usually spread out onto the paved back terrace.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | January 1954
It was perfectly clear to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Loeb that (1) children do more running in and out than adults, (2) the kitchen is the heart of the bustle and activity, and (3) the upstairs offers more peace and quiet than the downstairs. Therefore, they planned their two-story modern house, on a sloping bank of the Saugatuck River near Weston, Connecticut, to fit these facts of family life.
The major results of their very personal planning are two family rooms, one on the first floor, one directly above it. On the first floor it is a kitchen-dining-playroom, open to the terrace. Here Mrs. Loeb can enjoy cooking and companionship at the same time; buffet suppers can be given without effort; and the children are free to come and go, watch television, have parties. Upstairs it is a treetop living room-study with a generally quieter atmosphere; here Mr. and Mrs. Loeb and their friends like to congregate. (Note: when neither generation has guests, the rooms are used turnabout, with parents and children gathering sociably in either room.) The bedrooms are placed for privacy, and the storage space disposed at points of use; for example, on the playroom level are closets for lawn games, card tables, outdoor cooking equipment.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | January 1954
It is the variety of texture which gives this house its informal look. Outside, tawny coral rock is used in combination with plain, whitewashed concrete blocks and striated wood. Inside, there is more concrete block, this time combined with the sheerest silks of China, with gold Chinese tea paper, with the glossy sheen of Biedermeier, Chinese teak, and antique furniture of the Hawaiian monarchy which shows English influence. In keeping with the materials used in its construction, the plan of the house is also simple. It was designed with three dominant ideas in mind: easy upkeep, entertaining, and privacy. The upkeep problem has been minimized by the simple materials; entertaining is made easy by the close relationship of the kitchen, circular dining room, living room, and walled patio; privacy is achieved by the patio wall and also by placing the service rooms closest to the driveway. Intelligent use of the sloping site gives all the main rooms a view of the surrounding hills.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | Special Issue - 40 house plans, 1953
This Pasadena house is paradoxical. It has glass walls all around yet it has privacy. It has an open plan with spacious living and dining areas for entertaining friends but thoughtfully includes a sitting-bedroom wing as the owners' private retreat. It is as modern as its glass walls, steel sash, and unornamented surfaces, but it is an appropriate background for the owners' collection of Oriental antiques. Living in this house is literally like being in a castle in the air. Almost the entire front of the house is a glass wall where you look out through the treetops. The secret of its privacy lies in the fact that its designer set it high on a steep Pasadena hillside site well above ground eye view. He skillfully graded the approach with broad landings and shallow steps so that the house is well tied to its site. Then he devised a very dramatic entrance, a glass-walled bridge hung between two parts of the house. You walk under this, turn, and step up into it. Inside this glass pavilion the dining room, pantry, kitchen, and laundry are on your left. To your right is the broad living room, the two bedrooms, and their terraces. Servants' rooms are at ground level in the kitchen wing. Behind the house there is a secluded garden area and steps leading uphill to a swimming pool.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | Special Issue - 40 house plans, 1953
Here is proof that a well-designed house set on a well-chosen site can bring you a new lease on life-in-the-country every season of the year. This site consists of five wooded acres on a hillside at Croton-on-the-Hudson, New York. The owners wanted a house that would give them the feeling of being able to reach out and touch the woods from any of the rooms. They also wanted to make the most of the superb view of the Hudson River down below. To satisfy these requirements the architects gave them wide-angled windows which bring in the outdoors to every room. A butterfly roof, which is an inverted gable roof, permits these windows to be high as well as wide on both long sides of the house. On the side which gets the western sun the interior walls were extended outdoors beyond the rooms to serve as a shield.
These walls were painted white both inside and outside the house to give the interior a greater sense of un- limited space. The other exterior walls are of natural-finish cypress siding which requires minimum upkeep and blends in well with the surroundings. The plan of the house (see next page) is simple and convenient. A chimney divides the bedroom from the living room, thereby making it possible for each room to have its own fireplace. The kitchen is right next to the dining area, the screened porch, and the terrace. making it easy to serve meals in any one of these three places. In addition to this main house, there are two cottages for guests and a garage.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | Special Issue - 40 house plans, 1953
House No. 30 is an excellent example of what you can do if economy limits the size of your house. It demonstrates how you can gain numerous advantages by making full use of your space rather than dividing it up into small, cramped rooms. You save money by eliminating expensive partitions, and in addition you have a lot more freedom of design. If you have a view worth cultivating, you can turn one long wall into a wide window and have sliding doors that open onto the terrace, as in this house. By using hard-surface floorings and plaster and cork-covered walls throughout, it will be easy to keep your house in good order without outside help. The result will be like this house in Los Angeles, California. It has only 1,000 square feet (exclusive of the carport and paved terrace) yet there is nothing cramped about it. The sliding glass window walls expose the house to the sunny south. They can be left open to catch the prevailing breezes. A trellis will be added later to shade the terrace on hot days. Pins to secure it were set into the concrete when the house was under construction. Beige stucco walls are accented with black window frames.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | Special Issue - 40 house plans, 1953
