3(J-CapI(aI Journal Building Section, Friday. March 10, 1950
TURNING HOUSE AROUND
Planning a modern home toV
exploit the seclusion of a rear
garden involves much more
than turning the house around.
Obviously it you place the
kitchen, laundry, utility room,
bath and garage on the street
side, you should be able to have
a living room and dining area
with views of the' garden.
But there won't be much gar
den to view if your house is not
planned carefully for its lot.
In most residential communi
ties, houses must be built back
from the front of the property.
This set back creates the pleas
ant tree-lined streets that beau
tify American towns. The build
ing line may range from 20 to
50 feet or more from the curb
line.
At this point it is natural to
start planning the garage, be
cause a garage at the front of
a house has many advantages:
1. It shortens the driveway, sav
ing several hundred dollars. 2.
It minimizes snow shoveling. 3.
It can permit a larger rear gar
den. 4. It is safer for children
by keeping cars away from play
yajrds. 5. It makes it possible to
pw.ee more rooms on the gar
den side of the house. 6. It is
easy to have a direct garage-to-house
entrance.
But a front garage can have
its disadvantages, too. It pre
sents an architectural problem
in design of the facade. Too oft
en it takes the form of a wing
extending out from the front of
the house, blocking the view and
obstructing breezes or sunlight.
Architect Jule Robert von
Sternberg, specialist in small
home design at Hempstead,
Long Island, points out that the
most serious disadvantage of
this type of garage wing is that
in spite of it being in front of
the house it still may rob your
rear yard of several times the
amount of space it occupies.
This happens because a front
garage wing can push an entire
house back on its lot.
Supposing you have a lot that
is 100 feet deep and local or
dinances require a set-back of
20 feet. From that point your
garage wing will extend back
another 20 feet. Your house it
self may be 30 feet deep, so
that you have used up 70 feet of
the depth of the lot and have
only 30 feet of back yard re
maining. .
"With more and more of our
family living taking place in
the garden, this seems a high
price to pay for the advantage
of a shorter driveway," von
Sternberg observes.
"On the other hand," he adds,
"if you can tuck the garage into
the mass of the house, so that
the garage doors are virtually
on a line with the front wall of
the house, you can add 20 feet
to the depth of your rear gar
den. This type of built-in rather
than attached garage can yield
various other advantages. It al
lows direct entry to front hall
or kitchen. It also can serve as a
barrier in separating sleeping
quarters from the living area
of the house.
To demonstrate the features
available in planning house and
garden together, the architect
designed the house shown here.
Wide roof overhangs form hoods
to shelter visitors from the rain,
protect the garage doors and to
help to obscure them from the
street with deep shadow.
The service entry is placed a I
the opposite end of the house
from the garage to discourage
the use of the driveway by
service trucks. "Trucks should
park in the road," this architect
says. "They can be a hazard to
children playing on the side
walk when they back out of
driveways." So he planned the
service path at the drying-yard
end of the property. The family,
however, can make its own
cash-and-carry deliveries direct
ly to the kitchen from the gar
age or driveway In this plan.
A&fiS&Stj. . J "
Turnaround House planned
to save a maximum of rear
garden space. Rear view of
house is shown. Upstairs pro
vides for two more bedrooms.
This plan, by J. R. Von Stern
berg, 144 Washington St.,
Hempstead, N.Y., covers 1,650
square feet.
The kitchen is near the front
door convenient to a small
powder room lavatory adjoining
the front hall. A pass-bar is pro
vided between kitchen and liv
ing room for entertaining. The
laundry is planned at the far
end of the kitchen, where it has
direct access to drying-yard via
ramp, instead of stairs,
through the service entry.
A solid wall conceals the dry
ing yard from dining room
view and another solid wall pro
vides privacy for the bedrooms
by obstructing view from the
terrace. Dining room, living
room and bedrooms have garden
outlooks and access to the ter
race the bedrooms via a hall.
A huge sliding glass wall per
mits the dining room to be open
ed to the outdoors in summer.
Another sliding wall makes it
possible to close the dining
room from living room view.
or when opened to merge the
two rooms in one spacious sweep
on the garden side. The living
room fireplace is located off
center to create intimate conver
sational grouping in this 23-foot
room.
Television, radio, record play
er, desk, games locker and book
shelves are built into a storage
wall at one end of the living
room. Chests of drawers, ward
robes and vanities also are
built into bedrooms.
"This house is designed for
a typical family of four to six
persons," von Sternberg ex
plains. "Two bedrooms in the
attic space occupy very cheap
cubage. When the children go
away to school, or marry, the
parents can confine themselves
to the two downstairs bedrooms
a master chamber and a guest
room. Thus the house can
grow or shrink with the fam
ily." Check Framing,
Foundation, Roof
When Remodeling
The foundation, the framing
and the roof are the three prin
cipal parts of a house which de
serve close attention when struc
tural remodeling is being plan
ned.
Check drainage of water from
the ground close to the founda
tion. If water accumulates, it
can gradually undermine foun
dation walls.
Framing should be :nspected to
learn whether it needs to be re
alinged and braced. When a wall
of a house is torn open, hidden
weaknesses often can be noted
before they become serious
enough to cause damage.
Look for small leaks in the
roof. If the roof is old, reroof-
ing is recommended. Asphalt
roofing is the material most
widely used for this purpose. In
choosing the roofing material,
take advantage of the numerous
colors in which it is available.
S T R E E
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GARAGE I E5- 3 II
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Wrought Hardware Marks
The Quality of a House
Hardware is much more important to your house than buttons
and fasteners are to your clothes,
locks and all the details that make up the hardware for a house
must be expected to work unfailingly and to last for the lifetime
of the house.
For this reason, solid brass
and bronze always have been
the favorite metals in quality
construction.
Since the war the production
of solid brass and bronze has
increased greatly and the Na
tional Contract Hardware Asso
ciation reports that home buy
ers are noticeably more wary of
plated substitutes. The price dif
ferential between plated steel
and solid non-ferrous materials
?o is being steadily shaved
down.
Builders' hardware of non
ferrous metals is made both in
cast and wrought methods.
Wrought escutcheons and knobs
are now stamped out of heavy
gauge material and have all tho
appearance of the more expen
sive items. In fact, some loetc
manufacturers are featuring
wrought solid brass knobs and
roses over cast products.
Plated steel hardware often is
purchased without the realiza
tion that the material will rust
within a very short time. Hard
ware is difficult to replace be
cause of the various mortising
and cuttings in doors and
frames. A good way for the am
ateur to identify solid brass
from plated steel is to carry a
small magnet, which will ad
here to steel, but not to solid
brass.
John R. Schroemer, manag
inj director of the National Con
tract Hardware Association,
points out that the new types
of tubular and unit locks now on
the market allow for a wide use
of wrought solid brass and
bronze.
"I believe that it is only a
question of time," Schoemer
says, before all of these tubu
lar locks will be sold mainly of
the wrought material."
Electric heating cables and
thermostats may be obtained to
turn cold-frames into electric
hot-beds. The current con
sumed costs little, and the even
heat gives better results than
the old-fashioned hot bed could
equal.
T
P R O N T
for the hinges, latches, knobs,
HAND FORGED hardware.
Hinges, which can be primed
and painted, and are obscured
from view, can be of steel, but
if the budget allows for brass
or bronze, so much the better.
Modern hardware is available
in virtually any style desired
from smartly sophisticated de
signs to faithful reproductions
of period types. Quaint strap
hinges of wrought black iron
look as if they were taken from
doors of the time of Shakes
peare. H and L hinges that
graced early American homes
are reproduced in exact detail.
There are firms that specialize
in hand forged period hardware
Greaseproof Tile
For Kitchen Floors
One of the most serviceable
and colorful floor coverings for
kitchens is asphalt tile, since it
is a greaseproof material.
It can be used in virtually
any design such as contrasting
stripes, squares or rectangles, in
grays, tans, greens or mahogany
marbelized tiles with a cream
strip border contrasting with
bright walls.
It is a long-wearing material
since the colors extend all the
way through.
For proper draft, the top of
1 . 31 ifefelit i
a chimney should extend at
least two feet higher than the
highest ridge of the roof.
.
Hobbyists
Want Space
In the Home
By SYD KRONISH
If one could peek inside alt
the homes in America today lis
would find approximately 19,
000,000 people engaged in some
form of indoor hobby.
Most of these people are col
lectors of stamps, hand made
American glassware, auto
graphs, dolls, coins, miniatures
and other objects. Others are
creative hobbyists working at
handicrafts such as wood work
ing, metal-working model-mak
ing, painting, needlework and
photography.
In even the smallest home it
is always possible to set aside
hobby space. The creative hob
byist often needs special facil
ities. The woodworker and mod
el builder need work bench and
tools. The artist requires elbow
room and north light. The nee
dleworker finds even greater
pleasure when there is a well
defined and organized place for
fabrics, patterns and other sew
ing equipment.
Collectors need cabinets for
storage. The collector of Amer
ican glassware, whose hobby
ranks second in popularity to
stamp collecting, loves to show
off the varied patterns, colors
and shapes of his prizes. Shelves
are the answer. Concealed fluor
escent lighting will heighten the
decorative effect.
Indoor gardening is often
combined with glass collecting
by interspersing growing potted
plants with the glassware on
window shelves.
Shadow boxes, mirror-door
cabinets and wall shelves can oe
used to advantage by the collec
tor of miniatures. These fragile
possessions must be guarded
anist loss and breakage.
Collectors of stamps, coins or
autographs need a desk or w'ork
table brilliantly lighted by
glare-free illumination. Cabin
ets with shallow' shelves where
albums can be locked also are
needed. Whatever room is used
by this collector whether it oe
a special room or a bedroom
it should be furnished with liv
ing room atmosphere as a place
to entertain fellow hobbyists.
The amateur artist needs ade
quate lighting. If the home has
an attic, this space can be fin
ished into an ideal studio. North
light can be provided by a sky
light or huge window in ths
north gable.
Since woodworkers, metal
workers and model-makers are
basically mechanics, they prefer
space outside the family living
quarters. All possible efforts
should be made to sound-deaden
the home workshop. All power
tools should be mounted on ruo
ber. The ceiling and walls
should be covered with acoustic
material to absorb noise. If a
basement is unavailable, ths
garage may be a good location
for a home workshop.
For the amateur photograph
er a darkroom is a must. But the
darkroom is useless without a
spring lock to prevent some
one entering when plates or
films are being developed.
Equally as important to the pho
tographer is a sink with running
water. Therefore the basement
is an ideal location.
If the home has a recreation
room, the family hobbyist can
be well satisfied. In planning
the home, the family can hand
tailor it to their specific needs.
Architects design today's homes
to fit the requirements of the
family and every home should
include a well-planned hobby
center.
Because leaf lettuce is de
manded by hotels and restau
rants for fine salads, it is grown
extensively all winter. Home
gardeners may enjoy it all sum
mer at small expense.