Small Houses

Small Houses Built with Brick and Stucco 1916

REASONABLENESS and imagination, recognized by the Mediaeval builders as the underlying principles of all great architecture should be as inseparably united in the small home of today us they were in the great cathedrals of old.

For the little house is an expression of thought, though a very different kind of a one, as well us a cathedral. It is also an expression of art—if beauty be combined with usefulness. Art was born as has often been pointed out, when useful things were accurately and beautifully made were formed with vision. A square box strengthened with iron bands was a useful thing. When the bands were made in graceful forms and the box carved, then it became beautiful—a work of art. When a jar formed of earth to hold water was made in a graceful shape, then it became a work of art, A house staunchly made to defy enemies and shut out the rains was a satisfactory shelter, but it came not under the head of architecture until it was made shapely as well as stout, when doors and windows were set in symmetrical relation and the roof pitched to a pleasing angle. Common sense must go hand in hand with beauty, or as Michaelangelo says it: "Beauty must rest on necessities. The line of beauty is the result of perfect economy."

Beauty must he organic, said the old architects. Outside embellishment can easily become a deformity unless introduced in the most sympathetic of ways. This truth seems especially obvious in the small house. Large houses carry adornment better than the small ones, but even they reach to highest dignity when left free from what is generally termed ornament. The very word ornament, Pater points out, indicates that it is non-essential. The small house depends almost entirely upon structural symmetry for its beauty. A little home built upon a common sense floor plan with a simple exterior in which a delicate imagination and sense of proportion is expressed, is one of the pleasantest objects to be seen in the whole world.

There are hundreds of thousands of little homes in America, yet a well balanced, attractive, common-sense one is almost an exception. Poorly formed houses, erratic roof lines, porch pillars heavy enough to do duty as bridge piers, yet upholding nothing but a light support for vines, chimneys of brick laid in a crazy bed-quilt pattern, painted in the most startlingly contrasting colors, make our towns and country-sides ludicrous rather than lovely.

Under the head of "reasonableness" comes an important question —that of the building material. Much has been written upon the economy of permanent construction (though apparently more costly), of the advantages of houses of brick, stone and cement over those of wood. There will always be people who prefer wood above all other house building material. They like its color, its sentiment, its historical association, like the texture of hand-split shingles or the effect of wide clapboards; and there will always be those who like houses of brick, of stone, of concrete, those materials which incorporate the promise of long life. which seem impregnable fortresses against the attacks of the destroyers fire, age and the elements. It is for the benefit of the latter host of home builders that we are presenting an important group of small house plans, plans such as the majority of people are looking for, plans which are not at all expensive, that are practical and convenient within and lovely and charming to look at.

One group of these houses is of that most historic and excellent material—brick. They are unusually good examples of the beauty and practicality of permanent, fireproof, small houses. Brick has been in favor with builders from time immemorial. The Romans as far back as the sixth century used brick resembling a tile somewhat as far as its thinness was concerned. English houses of brick built in twelve hundred and sixty are still standing, testifying to the Roman influence. But they were used even before that date, for in the first part of Stephen's reign, eleven hundred and thirty-five, the leading citizens of London advocated the covering of houses by brick to lessen the risk of loss by fire, to prevent any more of the disastrous conflagrations that periodically swept London, fed by wooden houses thatched with straw.

Brick in addition to its fire-resisting character has the quality of pleasing color. This twofold advantage puts it high in favor with home builders. Besides its good color it has interesting texture and can be laid in many decorative ways. The crudity of the early hand-made unpainted brick gave to them a varied richness of color modulation and surface texture that was so much more pleasing than those one-toned ones smoothly painted in bright red, neatly striped with white, that modern makers have happily taken to imitating those varying tones of color that time and weather give. These modern brick are made in every possible modulation of reds, browns, tans, terra cottas and grays, and in varying degrees of rough and smooth texture so that the builder of the tiniest of little homes or the tallest of skyscrapers can select a tone and a quality embodying his ideal. These modern quality-brick are especially charming for the small house, for they save it from the raw newness that offends the eye, giving it instead the time mellowed air that puts it in sympathy with Nature.

For those who prefer the smooth surfaced concrete or stucco house, we are showing another group equally well designed, equally pleasing in silhouette, in floor plan and in "homey" atmosphere. Though lacking space to publish the floor plans of these attractive brick and concrete homes, we will be glad to send them to any of our readers who are interested enough to ask for them. The usual procedure in home designing—that of making a practical, convenient, common sense floor plan first and developing the exterior upon it has been adhered to in these little homes. The result is all that can he hoped for in the minds of those people who would rather have a cozy, wee house in the midst of a garden plot, than a fine large suite of rooms in a great city apartment house.

These groups of houses are of fireproof construction and could be built for between three and four thousand dollars. The brick houses are prize designs selected from a large number submitted in response to requests for small fireproof house plans. The specifications upon which the contractor's price was based include cleaning and grading of site, excavation for basement, paper hanging, interior, painting. plumbing, hardware, electric wiring and fixtures, screens, window shades, hardwood floors, roofs covered with asbestos shingles, all exterior woodwork given three coats of the best paint. In fact, the house must stand complete in every detail, ready for the owners to arrange their furniture, and though varying in different localities, are all well within the four thousand dollar limit.

The pen and ink sketches are of a group of stucco houses that could be erected at a cost of about three thousand dollars. Of course, these same designs could be carried out in either hollow tile, concrete or brick as preferred. The stucco upon tile or metal lath, while not quite as expensive nevertheless belongs under the fire-resisting material class. The lines are extremely attractive, the smooth, simple surface is capable of being tinted in various pleasing tones. There is not a superfluous or a useless ornament in one of them. Windows are placed where they will give cross drafts in the rooms are made large as is consistent with their relation to the beauty of the house body. Windows if too large make the house look petty, if too small they make it look cheap. So much of the exterior beauty of a house depends upon the good judgment of size and position of windows. The pen and ink drawings show a nice balance of windows and house walls. Each house is different in style, but quite equal as to size and excellence of plan.

While all the designs of the stucco houses merit consideration, the last one shown with this article deserves special comment, not because its exterior is the most attractive, but because of the floor plan which includes an unusually interesting feature in the combination living and dining room. Though these two rooms are often combined in small houses, in this case exceptional privacy was given the dining room by making it an "L" of the living room instead of its being practically but, a large table at one end of the main room, as is so often the custom. In this ease the living room occupies the entire front of the house and includes the large bay window in the drawing.

The back half of the house is given over to the hall, kitchen and dining room. The hall and kitchen, of course, are separated from the main room by a partition. The dining room is left open to form the "L." This gives the living room an exceptional feeling of spaciousness. This arrangement simplifies housework, saves expense of construction, and creates a chance for pleasant grouping of furniture. There are three bedrooms and a bath upstairs opening from a small hall. Because the cost of this design was limited to three thousand dollars, the windows had to be cut into the roof; but if the price could be increased a trifle, then the second story could be built about two feet higher, materially increasing the size of the bedrooms and giving better balance to the exterior of the house. A number of the more successful designs in this Cleveland Building Show Competition have been gathered together in book form under the title of "The Average Man's Home," an account of which may be found among the book reviews in this same number.