A custom-built cooking island stands at one end of living-dining room. The owner planned the details of the island and the cleanup area (where food is stored and dishes washed behind concealing doors). "I used lessons I learned from time and motion studies to save work." he says. "You don't have to move a step to talk to anyone and everything is at hand."
Detachable hood is hung over grill before broiling steaks. It fastens to stain- less steel vent above cooking island which expels smoke and odors from both the grill and countertop burners through floor duct.
Built-in stove unit supplements the charcoal grill in food preparation. In the fore- ground is a part of the chopping block. The entire unit is planned for serving either a swimming party lunch or elaborate dinner.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | February 1956
Miami motorists passing the Albree E. Miller home on Palm Island almost invariably slow down for a second, searching look. A good many even make their way to the house and request a tour of inspection or an explanation. The explanation is simple.
The Miller house, 2,460 sq. ft. in size, is essentially two layers of open living space suspended between concrete floors and roof. Supporting the second floor and roof are fourteen poured concrete columns arranged in two rows of seven each. Although this building method has been used for many years in industrial construction, its application in home design is rare. The advantages, however, are impressive. Because no supporting walls are needed, the architect may open up outside walls as he chooses, may place indoor partitions wherever he wishes, or he may leave them out altogether.
On the second floor of the Miller house partitions separate three bedroom-bath areas. But on the main floor only a single partition stands, separating living room and kitchen from the carport. Aside from the construction method itself, the most re- markable feature of the house is its cooking center. An integral part of the living room, it is an elaborate steel cooking island. A restaurant executive and amateur chef, Mr. Miller designed the island so that he could prepare meals without leaving his guests.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | February 1956
When Mrs. Jackson Burke decided to build a house, she wrote her architect a letter expressing in general terms her conception of what a house should be. She was emphatic in her preference for contemporary design. "I choose to live in a modern house," she wrote, "because I want to live in the present. I want to take advan- tage of new techniques and ways through which one can express beauty and attain comfort." But she had qualifications. Her house, said Mrs. Burke, must not possess "an impersonal, antiseptic, institutional quality." The result of Mrs. Burke's views and her architect's interpretation is the house shown here. Built on Center Island overlooking New York's Long Island Sound, it embodies both the beauty and the comfort its owner sought. It is large, open and spacious, three stories high at the back, with a guest wing which is almost a separate unit.
In the house, privacy may be easily found. The living room, for instance, is two stories high, with a wall of glass panels on one side and a great upper window on the other. But at one end of the room is a fireplace cove which provides a snug contrast to the openness. Although the house was designed to accommodate a busy social life, it also includes an "escape" area the master bedroom-sitting room suite, which is the only living space on the third floor. Two large sun decks and promenade decks running around most of the main floor offer many beautiful vistas.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | February 1956
This conversion from a fifty-year-old white elephant to a modern home points up the temptations of re- modeling: once started, it may be hard to stop. But it also shows that tearing down and building anew, using old foundations and flooring is justified: in this case because of the fine property in the rolling Connecticut countryside, the exceptional landscaping, a neighborhood of good friends, and the lower main- tenance costs and easier upkeep of a new house. The story begins with an uncomfortable, nondescript house. As an experiment, the owners added a modern living room wing, linked to the old house by a corridor that doubles as a sun room. This first step was a prophetic one. The owners so enjoyed their modern living room (glass walls on three sides, a great fieldstone fireplace, a fine feeling of light and air and uncluttered space) that they soon decided to tear down the old house and build a one-story house with the modern wing as its nucleus. Result: a handsome new home on a familiar and long cherished site.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | January 1956
A view can make a house. Sometimes the natural setting is so superb that a floorplan to take advantage of the view becomes the most important architectural consideration. This small house (2,056 square feet) on a hilltop overlooking Bellevue, Washington, is an example. Window walls, a balcony and a courtyard open it on three sides to Northwestern mountain splendor but not at the sacrifice of two other requirements of the owners: an unusually large space for entertaining and arrangements for the seclusion essential to mature. people. The owners' special interests-painting and horticulture-are reflected in the studio with large window on the north side of the house and the garden room with skylight off the entrance hall. The studio, of course, could be a third bedroom. Both rooms add spaciousness to the house and provide additional views of the countryside. But, while the view was of prime im- portance, privacy was a consideration, too. The courtyard and garden wall (including strategically placed fencing) were planned to ensure seclusion.
The house and garage form a U around a courtyard planned for outdoor living. It is sheltered from the north wind, open to a view of Mt. Rainier to the south. The entrance hall garden room, which has one wall of glass and a skylight, has a plant bed that helps to re- late the indoors and the outdoors to each other. The large (19' x 36') living-dining room, with a balcony at one corner, offers a choice of panoramic view or cozy sense of shelter. You can look out to the Olympic Mountains, Lake Washington and the city of Seattle to the west, and Mt. Baker to the north; or you can turn your thoughts inward in the fireplace's warmth. In this part of the house, rooms are linked to each other and to the outdoors for easy entertaining (as many as 30 guests for buffet suppers). In summer, guests move about from terrace to living room to balcony; in winter, the studio. and the kitchen are inviting. In the bedroom wing, privacy was the main consideration. For example, the master bedroom is divided by wardrobe closets; the owners can read in bed, get up at any time without disturbing each other. The plan was drawn to suit two adults with individual ideas of what they wanted but is adaptable and illustrative of how a house can be designed to enjoy its view.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | November 1955
This well-designed suburban house turns an inviting face to the road but is planned so that all main rooms open to the rear for privacy. Across the front of the house there are no living rooms, only one small bedroom and two bathrooms. The upfront garage forms an L with the house, makes a more interesting facade than a rectangle, and the short driveway cuts paving and maintenance costs. The front door is sheltered by roof overhang. Across the rear. floor-to-ceiling window walls face lawn and garden. Tall trees shade the house, landscaping frames it.
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source: House and Garden Magazine | September 1955
