Classic Houses of the Twenties

Rating:
Summary: Fun!
Review: I've always been interested in old houses, and my recent favorite era is the '20s. This catalog-turned-book thrilled me! It was so much fun to look at the blueprints for houses that contained servants' quarters and only one bathroom and to read the silly descriptions. It was like taking a step back in time. I imagine this would be a perfect tool for someone wanting to build a modern version of a '20s-style home ... that's what I hope to do one day.

Rating:
Summary: A wealth of information
Review: The plans in this book are very similar in design to my bungalow home. From general interior layout to exterior apperance, this book has given me ideas to improve the exterior of my home! I've read this book over and over many atimes. Purchase it and use it for future referance, as I will when I build a home from one of the plans in this book!

Rating:
Summary: Another great reproduction from Dover
Review: This is a reprint of a house plan catalog from 1927. These books are actually exact reprints of original plan books from the turn of the century (1880-1925, roughly - this book is one of the latest years in the series). Dover adds little or no modern explanations, just presenting the catalog as it was. So when one looks to review these books, one isn't really judging the modern-day publisher, or editing, or writing. The only modern element is the accuracy of reproduction- in some cases, if pages in the originals that Dover found are damaged or torn, that page is reproduced in the original with the tear, smudge, blot, or hole showing. So to judge the books, one has to compare each one to others of its kind, and then to decide whether the material in it is thorough and complete according to the standards of its time. Since there are several dozen of these catalogs published by Dover, we have the basis for such a comparison.

This book originally was "Loizeaux's Plan Book No. 7" published by the J.D. Loizeaux Lumber Company. The book starts with photos of the Loizeaux business locations including their lumber plant and their builders' supply yard and dock. There are several pages showing a complete example of what blueprints one receives if one orders a plan. Then there's an article on styles of homes, which gives the modern reader a glimpse of what styles were most popular at the time.

The book continues with still more articles and advice, before getting to plans: a section on decorating, including what color schemes are advised for each room. One interesting feature to today's eyes is the recommendation of strong colors for walls - according to Loizeaux, white should be used only sparingly! There are illustrations of furnished rooms. Although black and white, each is accompanied by a description of its colors. Here's a nice tasteful bedroom: "Walls are tinted soft peach or apricot. Casement curtains are of sunfast voile or net in ecru or café au lait. Valence at top of window is of violet sateen with draperies of cretonne, chintz, or printed linen. Bed cover of violet sateen, flounce of soft jade green. Shirred over-spread of thin dotted swiss. Deep blue Wilton carpet and cushion on window seat. Slipper stool and lamp shade are in soft rose taffeta." Certainly makes your current bedroom sound pale, doesn't it?

In the illustrations of the kitchen and bathroom, we can tell that we are moving from the turn-of-the-century to the Art Deco era, because no longer are they done in gleaming "sanitary white" tile; now the tiles include colors and patterns.

The floor plans actually start on page 17. Each page contains an illustration (sometimes, but not always, a photo), upstairs and downstairs floor plans, a listing of overall dimensions, and 2 or 3 sentences about the house. Each room on the floor plan is labelled, and the various built-ins such as a telephone nook, medicine cabinet, or bookshelf, are pointed out.

Partway through the book, the plans are interrupted by more articles: one on how to heat the small home - basically, an ancestor of the infomercial, really a long advertisement for a particular brand of heater that Loizeaux sells. Likewise an article/ad for hot water heaters. Check out the article on G-E Wiring Systems on pages 70-71; the illustrations of a couple being shown a house by an agent are funny. Perhaps one of the funniest articles is the page about the "combination bath." This was supposed to be a new, modern, convenience, combining a seat, foot bath, shower, and child's bath all in one. Looking at the illustrations (including an unclothed young man in the shower- how racy!), one can see that this design is just an accident waiting to happen, which must have finally occurred to the company, too, because we certainly don't see any of these combination baths any more!

Little sketches here and there add to the charm of the book - a drawing of a child operating a garbage burner, of a furnished sun parlor, and so on.

While most of the plans are for single-family houses, there are a few for duplexes or apartment buildings. This book is also late enough into the century that we can take interior bathrooms for granted; the 1920's are quite modern compared to a 15 years earlier. Other plan books, from 1912, for example, still have half the houses without indoor baths, and many not wired for electricity. On the other hand, it's still long enough ago that there are a few houses with thatched or wooden roofs; there are not yet garages featured automatically with the houses, and the kitchen stoves still need a chimney vented to the outside. I greatly enjoy comparing books from a few years apart, to see the progress being made.

In summary: the extensive number of articles/ads in the plan book make it a valuable addition to a collection, because they provide so much information about what daily life and average tastes of the time were like, not just what architectural styles were popular. Fun reading, fun to browse, and also a valuable reference for anyone who is studying old houses and neighborhoods.

Rating:
Summary: Another great reproduction from Dover
Review: This is a reprint of a house plan catalog from 1927. These books are actually exact reprints of original plan books from the turn of the century (1880-1925, roughly - this book is one of the latest years in the series). Dover adds little or no modern explanations, just presenting the catalog as it was. So when one looks to review these books, one isn't really judging the modern-day publisher, or editing, or writing. The only modern element is the accuracy of reproduction- in some cases, if pages in the originals that Dover found are damaged or torn, that page is reproduced in the original with the tear, smudge, blot, or hole showing. So to judge the books, one has to compare each one to others of its kind, and then to decide whether the material in it is thorough and complete according to the standards of its time. Since there are several dozen of these catalogs published by Dover, we have the basis for such a comparison.

This book originally was "Loizeaux's Plan Book No. 7" published by the J.D. Loizeaux Lumber Company. The book starts with photos of the Loizeaux business locations including their lumber plant and their builders' supply yard and dock. There are several pages showing a complete example of what blueprints one receives if one orders a plan. Then there's an article on styles of homes, which gives the modern reader a glimpse of what styles were most popular at the time.

The book continues with still more articles and advice, before getting to plans: a section on decorating, including what color schemes are advised for each room. One interesting feature to today's eyes is the recommendation of strong colors for walls - according to Loizeaux, white should be used only sparingly! There are illustrations of furnished rooms. Although black and white, each is accompanied by a description of its colors. Here's a nice tasteful bedroom: "Walls are tinted soft peach or apricot. Casement curtains are of sunfast voile or net in ecru or café au lait. Valence at top of window is of violet sateen with draperies of cretonne, chintz, or printed linen. Bed cover of violet sateen, flounce of soft jade green. Shirred over-spread of thin dotted swiss. Deep blue Wilton carpet and cushion on window seat. Slipper stool and lamp shade are in soft rose taffeta." Certainly makes your current bedroom sound pale, doesn't it?

In the illustrations of the kitchen and bathroom, we can tell that we are moving from the turn-of-the-century to the Art Deco era, because no longer are they done in gleaming "sanitary white" tile; now the tiles include colors and patterns.

The floor plans actually start on page 17. Each page contains an illustration (sometimes, but not always, a photo), upstairs and downstairs floor plans, a listing of overall dimensions, and 2 or 3 sentences about the house. Each room on the floor plan is labelled, and the various built-ins such as a telephone nook, medicine cabinet, or bookshelf, are pointed out.

Partway through the book, the plans are interrupted by more articles: one on how to heat the small home - basically, an ancestor of the infomercial, really a long advertisement for a particular brand of heater that Loizeaux sells. Likewise an article/ad for hot water heaters. Check out the article on G-E Wiring Systems on pages 70-71; the illustrations of a couple being shown a house by an agent are funny. Perhaps one of the funniest articles is the page about the "combination bath." This was supposed to be a new, modern, convenience, combining a seat, foot bath, shower, and child's bath all in one. Looking at the illustrations (including an unclothed young man in the shower- how racy!), one can see that this design is just an accident waiting to happen, which must have finally occurred to the company, too, because we certainly don't see any of these combination baths any more!

Little sketches here and there add to the charm of the book - a drawing of a child operating a garbage burner, of a furnished sun parlor, and so on.

While most of the plans are for single-family houses, there are a few for duplexes or apartment buildings. This book is also late enough into the century that we can take interior bathrooms for granted; the 1920's are quite modern compared to a 15 years earlier. Other plan books, from 1912, for example, still have half the houses without indoor baths, and many not wired for electricity. On the other hand, it's still long enough ago that there are a few houses with thatched or wooden roofs; there are not yet garages featured automatically with the houses, and the kitchen stoves still need a chimney vented to the outside. I greatly enjoy comparing books from a few years apart, to see the progress being made.

In summary: the extensive number of articles/ads in the plan book make it a valuable addition to a collection, because they provide so much information about what daily life and average tastes of the time were like, not just what architectural styles were popular. Fun reading, fun to browse, and also a valuable reference for anyone who is studying old houses and neighborhoods.