Reflecting the benefits of modern production methods, volume purchasing, and the most comprehensive engineering employed by its producer, Scholz Homes, Inc., the world's largest organization devoted to the quality home concept, it will provide a superior home at less cost than by any other building method.

The famed Don Scholz designs are world renowned and have been featured in every national home magazine for their unusual and outstanding character. These designs have been assembled in the "Famed Scholz Design Collection."

 A young couple's first house, like their first year of marriage, is rarely completed without compromise. Building a house is a tug of war between the budget and construction costs and in the process some dreams have to yield to a lack of dollars. Fortunately, this setback need not be fatal. The couple whose hearts are young and gay may also have heads that are wise and wary. They will discover that some things are essential in a house and some are not. In the interests of cutting costs, complicated design and construction are expendable and so are fancy features and gadgetry. What should not be yielded is good design and adequate space, wisely planned.

This small house in the Pacific Northwest illustrates the point precisely. In designing a house for his young wife, his baby daughter and himself, James Jacobs faced the same difficulties most young married couples encounter today. His budget was minimum and building costs were high. Desirable sites were scarce and land was expensive. The size of his house and number of the rooms had to meet typical mortgage requirements for houses in the $15,000 to $20,000 category. And resale value and building code restrictions had to be considered in the design.

Working within these formidable limitations, he created a house which is surprisingly spacious. It stands on a typical 80-foot by 100-foot lot sloping downhill. To avoid the expense of tailoring the house to the slope, it is raised above ground and is built in an economical form: a wood post-and-beam framework enclosed by plywood walls and a flat roof. This solution also makes possible a carport and 16-foot by 16-foot studio-workshop under the house. Quiet and privacy from street and neighbors are assured by a window-less front wall and by side walls that have only two high bedroom windows. But the interior is cheerful because a center court, right, skylights in the kitchen and bathrooms, and a glass wall facing south flood the rooms with light.

The plan also gives the Jacobses privacy that is rare in a small house. The living-dining room, left, is at the back of the house so it is not exposed to view when the front door is opened. The baby's room near the front is a hall's length from the living room so adult activities and entertaining won't disturb her. The glass enclosed center court serves as a buffer, too, but its great value is in the spaciousness it creates: it extends and enlarges the living room, the hall and the Jacobses' own bedroom, right, because it is joined to each of them with ceiling-high glass walls. A garden room enjoyable all year, the court lights and enlivens the center of the house.

Another device that makes this small house spacious is unity of structure, materials and decoration. All the flooring is cork; all walls are white; all ceilings are hemlock boarding; all wood posts, beams and trim are fir, stained black. Color accents forestall monotony. In the living room, the armchairs are orange, the sofa, curtains and rug blue, and the cabinets blue and orange. The bedrooms have bright bedspreads and curtains, painted doors and cabinets.

The feeling of spaciousness is also enhanced by the rear glass wall of the living-dining room. It opens to a wood deck which is fine for family lounging and barbecues and enlarges the indoor rooms when the Jacobses entertain. The galley kitchen, below, partly open, partly screened from the dining room, below right, is a particular asset during parties; guests are in and out of it all evening, helping with food and tending bar. The Jacobses have found their house pleasant to live in, easy to take care of and to pay for. Minimum in cost, it is notable for good design.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
source: House and Garden Magazine | May 1960

 

In suburban houses built thirty or forty years ago front porches and first floor windows faced the street because the outlook was pleasant, cars and passersby were few. Today, these houses (and some new ones, alas) need a screen to give them privacy from constant traffic. A fine solution, if your building code allows it, is a front wall and gate. They will shield the front door and windows and the land between can be a delightful entrance court, an area serving as a buffer to the street. These are what architects Harold Levitt and Ernest Le Duc added to the Martin Horrells' Los Angeles house, and they are wholly congenial to the style of the house.

The search for extra space is the compelling factor behind most remodeling. Yet in many houses space in the basement goes begging because there is a bugaboo that basements are damp, dark and undesirable. Today, however, an air conditioner, a fan and dehumidifier can cope with moisture and mustiness. And good lighting, new wall and floor surfacing materials, built-ins and a free hand with bright paint can create a basement room that is ideal for romping youngsters or teenagers. In Mr. and Mrs. Frank Taylor's big 1887 house in Greenwich, Connecticut, architect Spencer Johnson applied some of these devices in a playroom for four young boys. From what had once been a basement kitchen, then a dingy, pipe-festooned cellar, he fashioned a gay room that is fun for the children and saves wear and tear on the living rooms upstairs.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
source: House and Garden Magazine | April 1960

 

Some houses express the spirit of tradition in a host of small details. Others, like this Massachusetts house, declare their affiliation with the past in bold terms. Beyond question, this is a New England house in character as well as in location. Its three distinct wings, with pitched roofs, tile-shingled, are tied together in the manner of an Early American "set of buildings." The narrow clapboards and the three tall, strong-scaled chimneys of old brick are hallmarks of the region's farmhouse style. None of these features could be called superficial, but do they necessarily stamp the house as traditional? Neither the architect nor the owners think so—and with good reason. Even a quick glance at the plan, opposite page, will tell you the house is designed for contemporary family living. Each of the three wings is a well conceived separate zone. In the left wing are the spacious kitchen, breakfast alcove and dining room. The center wing houses the living room, a study with a fine music wall, the entrance hall, powder room and stairs to playroom. In the third wing, at a right angle to others, are three bedrooms off an airy gallery floored with slate and walled with glass. Storage provisions throughout house are up-to-the-minute; so is the well planned kitchen.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
source: House and Garden Magazine | March 1960

 

Nearly everything about the Minnesota country house reflects the warm glow of tradition: the handhewn cedar shakes of the roof, the board-and-batten gables, the doweled joinery of wood trim, the whitewashed brick, the hand-carved interior cabinetry and wall paneling. Yet in an important sense, this isn't a traditional house at all. A better word would be original. The architect has copied no particular style; but his feeling for the varied forms, textures and crafted details of the past has guided him in creating a house with the kind of timeless charm that is still treasured in venerable examples of Early American and French farmhouse design. Also to its credit, this house provides spacious rooms that are closely related to gardens and command a vista of a nearby lake, a master bedroom suite with elaborately planned bath and dressing room and a shaded dining terrace and barbecue. Endearing old charms find fresh expression in the doorway, opposite, of the wing that includes kitchen, pantry and flower room. Old French lanterns hang beside the Dutch door which is painted blue. Above it, a plaque with hand-carved floral motif is pegged to weathered, silvery siding. The brick paths bisect a small begonia garden.

SPECIALLY DESIGNED WOODWORK of entrance door and dormers is meticulously joined with dowels. Blue-stone terrace, four steps above drive, has painted brick wall.

T-SHAPED PLAN is divided by hallway that runs from the entrance door to living room. In addition to master bedroom, bath, dressing room and study in left wing, there are four bedrooms upstairs.

 

A kitchen is as good as its plan, whether the space you have to work with is large or small. But when your space is large, careful planning is particularly important because it can spare you unnecessary legwork. If you have a large old-fashioned kitchen, space can sometimes be too much of a good thing; thoughtful remodeling is often the key to efficiency. The kitchen of the Harold Florsheims in Highland Park, Illinois, is an outstanding case in point. Its precise plan turns what was an outmoded kitchen and butler's pantry into three smooth-working parts. No walls were altered; all changes were brought about with new lighting and equipment, carefully chosen and organized. The strategic placement of cooking appliances, storage and clean-up facilities divides the kitchen into: a central work unit where one person can easily turn out a meal without having to take more than a step or two; a center for preparing and storing food; and a party preparation center. These divisions are perfectly geared to the entertaining pattern of the Florsheims—they like to give informal parties where they concoct and serve the food themselves, and large parties where caterers are called in. The kitchen was designed by Bertrand Goldberg. 

CENTRAL WORK UNIT

The central work unit is really a kitchen within a kitchen. It houses all the equipment needed to prepare a meal and is arranged in a U-shape so that Mrs. Florsheim can cook an entire meal alone without having to walk a mile back and forth. Often pressed into service for the informal suppers the Florsheims make themselves is the built-in charcoal grill—one of three cooking methods in this central work unit. The other cooking facilities are built-in surface burners—both gas and electric—and ovens, both electric and electronic. In addition, the central work unit boasts a refrigerator, a mixing center, and a stainless steel sink with a special tap which delivers boiling water for tea or coffee. In back of the gas burners specially designed steel cabinets for dry food storage are built into the wall with teak wall cabinets above them for additional cooking utensil storage.

PARTY CENTER

The main purpose of the party preparation center is to keep the many non-cooking activities that go on in a kitchen out of the cooking area. Drink mixing, flower arranging and table setting preliminaries can be dispatched with ease in the party center, which is built into what was formerly the butler's pantry. One wall is a solid bank of teak cabinets for silver, china and crystal. The other wall consists of the bar equipment as well as a food warmer (compartments to keep some foods warm and moist, some warm and crisp) and dishwasher needed for meal service and clean-up. This means that drink mixing or table setting can proceed without recourse to the kitchen proper. If hot hors d'oeuvre are served with cocktails, they can be made well in advance and put in the warmer, so that the slightest disturbance to the cook is side-stepped.

FOOD PREPARATION CENTER

The center for preparing and storing food is near the delivery entrance where groceries are received. Every appliance is placed with admirable logic to save time and motion. Fresh fruits and vegetables can be scrubbed at the sink, chopped on the built-in cutting board if ready for use, or dispatched to storage bins and refrigerators. Paper towels for drying vegetables, foil to wrap them in are in a wall receptacle handy to the sink. Canned goods go into the storage cabinets, to be opened when needed with the built-in electric can opener next to the towel-foil holder. Foods can be temperature-controlled in two freezers, two refrigerators. Food taken out of freezers or refrigerators for a meal is put on the nearby peninsula of the central work unit. When several people are working in the kitchen the food preparation and storage center is more than a convenience—it's a real necessity.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
source: House and Garden Magazine | January 1960