THE simple, dignified lines of this ranch-type house give it an air of refinement not usually associated with this basically informal style of architecture. The brick walls are ornamented only with the stone trim around the doorway and the built-in brick planting box.
The front door is sheltered and opens into a small entry which diverts traffic to the various parts of the house. The spacious living-dining room is at the rear of the house and has two window walls overlooking the garden. In addition to the dining area, there is a handy breakfast room.
The large L-shaped kitchen — which is conveniently located midway between the front and back doors — opens into a good-sized utility room, which in turn opens into the double garage and onto the back porch.
Note the spaciousness of the bedrooms. One of these rooms has two exposures, the other three. Both have plenty of wall space for good furniture arrangement.
Storage space is ample. Notice the twin sliding-door closets in the bedrooms, the linen closet in the bathroom, the large closet in the hall for miscellaneous storage, the coat closet near the entry, and the tool closet in the garage.
The house is centrally heated, but there is also a handsome fireplace in the living room.
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source: The Progressive Farmer – Distinctive Southern Homes | 1950
Gemini AI Rendering
EFFICIENT allocation of space and excellent relationship of service, general living and sleeping areas are matters worthy of note in this streamlined house. This plan may be built with or without a basement; the stairway is placed so any future addition in the basement involves a minimum of disturbance to the basic structure.
The use of a glass panel opposite the front door separates the family bedrooms from view of the living and dining rooms. The living room has many interesting features such as the large picture window, good cross ventilation, a large built-in bookcase and a combination fireplace and cabinet with a wood storage bin. The dining room is well lighted by the large windows on two walls.
The economically designed car port is partly open to give additional light and ventilation to the interior and follows the modern trend of using one space for several activities. This makes an excellent place for car storage, children’s playroom, or sitting porch, and offers a direct entrance to either the service or front door. This feature is cleverly connected to the porch roof, and with the other two features—the chimney and the picture window—adds considerably to the attractive exterior design.
The kitchen is well arranged for preparation and service of meals either in the dining room or breakfast room. The hall has plenty of storage space for clothes or linens. The front bedroom may be used for guests, or to meet family needs. The other two bedrooms with their large closets are more private and, in addition, are connected to a screened porch leading to the outside play areas.
Special attention has been placed on the use of modern materials and methods of construction allowing for the use of plastics and prefabricated units.
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source: The Progressive Farmer – Distinctive Southern Homes | 1950
Gemini AI Rendering
THIS highly efficient plan is distinguished by its unusual window treatment and its well-defined living, working and sleeping areas. Designed in the economical rectangular shape, the house fits easily on a 60-foot lot. It is planned for a north front, but reversing the plan makes it equally suitable for a west front.
The huge chimney is an important element of the exterior design of the house—and it’s doubly attractive when you consider that it serves three fireplaces and the central heating unit with the expense of only one chimney. Another practical feature of the plan is the sliding wall in the den.
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source: The Progressive Farmer – Distinctive Southern Homes | 1950
Gemini AI Rendering
CHANCES are, if television isn’t already a part of your plan for family entertainment, it will be sooner or later. Too often, though, when television comes into the home, it becomes a problem as well as a pleasure because there is no room in which the set can be placed without playing havoc with the furniture arrangement or interfering with other family activities. In this plan, however, television has been given careful consideration; the family can enjoy it to the utmost and still carry on their usual activities.
But a television room is only one of the many good features of this plan. The living-dining area is unusually spacious (over 45 feet long) and has an expanse of windows overlooking the garden. The convenient U-shaped kitchen has a cheerful spot for a breakfast table. There are two large bedrooms and the den, with its sliding door, can serve as a guest room.
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source: The Progressive Farmer – Distinctive Southern Homes | 1950
Gemini AI Rendering
Scale model of the house indicates its adaptability to any site, any orientation. Irregularities of terrain can be ignored because concrete piers of different heights raise house clear of ground. This technique eliminates much bulldozing, and so helps to preserve trees and other distinctive features of the site. As a result of the options offered by the system of open or closed bays, the rooms can easily be located to take advantage of the best views; terraces can be placed to enjoy the most desirable exposures, and other outdoor areas can be made an integrated part of the over-all design and landscaping of house.
ARCHITECT: Robert Damora
DEVELOPERS: Emil Hanslin Associates
LANDSCAPE DESIGNER: Suzanne Sisson
DECORATOR: Melanie Kahane
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Sepp Firnkas
LOCATION: Mashpee, Mass.
SIZE: 1,480 square feet of enclosed space
1,184 square feet of terrace
This house—known as the Robert Damora "Prototype" House (or the New Seabury Pilot House) located in Mashpee (New Seabury), Massachusetts—is likely no longer standing in its original form, or has been significantly altered.
The house was a "pilot version" built in 1961–1962 as part of a program called "Better Houses At Lower Cost". It was commissioned as a prototype for mass-producible, affordable modernist housing using prefabricated post-tensioned concrete components.
It won the Architectural Record "House of the Year" in 1962 and received an AIA Honor Award in 1965.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | February 1963

If some people find serenity in an easy, informal flow of space, others derive calmness of spirit from the measured cadences of spaces precisely drawn and clearly organized. Among the partisans of the second point of view are Mr. and Mrs. John Winterbotham of Houston, Tex., whose Palladian-like villa of glass, steel and Mexican brick shows how pleasantly relaxing formal order can be. The plan is an extension of Mrs. Winterbotham’s theory that the only way to run a household is for everyone to have a specific territory. This is yet another example of the multiple house. Moreover, every room has a clearly defined function and is, in a sense, a place apart. But the delights of the house go deeper than the smooth organization of daily living—there is a sense of satisfaction and completeness in the whole concept of its design. At the front of the house, tall gates, stretched between two projecting wings, convey a sense of well-ordered, highly civilized composure. But at the back, the elegant geometry of tiers of glass contrasts unabashedly with the luxuriance of a landscape dense with live oaks and dreamy Spanish moss. Paradoxically, this very failure to meet nature halfway via natural materials and rustic informality only goes to emphasize the untrammeled naturalness of the surroundings and the sense of closeness to the outdoors.





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source: House and Garden Magazine | November 1962