As you judge the merits of the dramatic small house shown here, consider these facts: It stands on a plot just 30' wide in the Alamitos Bay section of Long Beach, California, (pop. 325,000), only ten minutes drive from the city's center. The neighborhood was largely developed over 30 years ago, and typical of its dwellings are the two barely 6' away on either side of this house. One is a two-story apartment house; the other, a 1 1/2-story house. So artfully did the architect surmount these cramped conditions that he improved the neighbors' privacy while achieving a high degree of it for his clients, a young couple. He managed this by extending the 18' high sidewalls forward to screen much of the entrance area, the pool and terrace. Though the house has but four rooms, its spaciousness is extraordinary. Both front and rear walls, two stories high, are glass; beyond each lies an outdoor living area. For its skillful use of the site and superb design quality, this house won a Southern California A.I.A. award.
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | October 1958
A charcoal grill, skylight or window wall will give you the feeling of being out of doors while you work in your kitchen. Here and on the next two pages is a remarkable kitchen that has all three, also combines many old-fashioned ideas with fresh, forward-looking embellishments. The barbecue, besides adding pleasure and variety to cooking, offers the warmth and comfort of a fire. A skylight floods work areas with light, gives you a glimpse of the sky when you have a moment to look up. The window wall frames a view, creates the feeling of being in a garden. There is a sympathetic play of cool colors against warm that provides a quiet, neutral background for paintings and the view. Astonishingly, the kitchen plan adapts conventional ideas of 30 years ago: a serving pantry with access to the front door and dining room; a breakfast room secluded from the kitchen and furnished as a separate entity; laundry and ironing space away from the kitchen proper. The center worktable, a base cabinet with a cutting board, has knee room for sitters and electric outlets for appliances, can be shifted to where you want it. Pantries subdivide storage, are supplemented by cabinets with trays and nooks for appliances, cutlery, baking equipment.
Barbecue grill doubles as a fireplace. It is placed at the end of a counter separating dining room, left, from breakfast area, right, has a revolving baffle that opens it to either side. The tiled counter acts as a serving table. Across it is a translucent panel with a sliding section that functions as a pass-through, throws kitchen and dining areas together for informal gatherings. The panel diffuses light from 9' wide sliding glass walls in the breakfast area, right, where there is a vista of a canyon and mountains. Silver and platters are stored under the counter on shallow, sliding trays that can be reached from either side. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Harold P. Ullman, Santa Monica, Calif.; architect: Thornton M. Abell, A.I.A.; interior designer: Jane F. Ullman.
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | August 1958
Like a marquee, the solidest looking part of this house is its roof, seeming al- most airborne and making a strong case for post and beam construction. The big living-dining room-kitchen is walled in glass right to the central entryway. The break you see in the roof is over a court outside the parents' bedroom, giving them a choice of sun or shade. Open though the house is, it has a feeling of containment and of warmth so the Wilkinsons love it as much in the winter as in summer. "We even enjoy the storms," they say. Their comfort is magnified by a radiantly heated floor and seamless carpeting, which all ages like sitting on, and by the raised fireplace, which suffuses the room with geniality. Sun on the glass does the rest.
The exciting thing about this little house is its generosity. It has a big look from its gently pitched. beautifully scaled roof to its floors which refuse to stop at the walls but keep right on to form outdoor decks. In the living area there is only one interruption and this, the fireplace wall backed by the kitchen, is so serviceable that it is entirely pleasant. A lot of people can and do gather here without falling over each other. A lot of people tend to drift outdoors barely knowing they have left the house. This is no accident. It was planned that way and proves that an able architect is also something of a magician even on a budget.
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | September 1958
Today's automobiles are not only designed to be looked at but, as H&G's Living Garage proves, they are easy to live with. The 1958 Lincoln Premiere shown is one of the larger American models. Yet it takes up only a fraction of the garage space, leaving plenty of room for a buffet table. Despite the presence of the auto, the Living Garage bears not the slightest resemblance to the conventional garage. Both its materials and its colors are those you would expect to find in the house itself. The vinyl-coated nylon awning, the soft brown quarry tile flooring, the walls of glass and the Citron yellow Panelyte walls-all are combined to transform the garage into a delightful living area. Under the same roof, too, is a playroom which lies between the garage and the house. Once a little used service yard, it now is a center for children's parties, TV, informal entertaining.
Because the Living Garage is designed to be inviting, convenient and durable, it is the perfect place for informal entertaining. In the playroom, floored in ceramic tile of several beige shades, a bar-soda fountain serves the children and adults equally well. It is finished in flame-colored Panelyte, and has a Whirlpool built-in ice cube maker. Up four steps in the garage proper, buffets can be arranged for almost any number of guests. And they can be prepared without running back and forth to the kitchen, thanks to an ingenious mobile cooking cart built to H&G's specifications by General Electric. Both doors and top open on piano hinges to form a handsome and efficient work center. The unit, in Citron and Dove Gray, stores 8 G.E. appliances which can be plugged into outlets on a control panel.
With so much newly created space (1350 sq. ft.) the owners of the H&G-designed Living Garage enjoy facilities that would be impractical, if not impossible, inside the house. Along one wall, for instance, there is a plant shelf with a long tray 6" deep built into the countertop. Here, plants can be potted and seedlings started. Below the countertop is a generous row of cupboards for storing such gardening needs as plant foods, pots and hand implements. Cut flowers can be arranged and watered at a built-in sink. The same wall also includes a cupboard section in which the owners keep auto cleaning materials, tools and, delectable contrast, a selection of General Foods' Gourmet Foods. Sound planning incorporated these utilitarian cup- boards as well as a tool room nearby without detracting from the interior good looks.
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | April 1958
An artful entrance is achieved through the architect's arrangement of a simple, uncluttered series of planes and restrained use of ornament. Projecting canopy not only shelters callers but also forms handsome visual link between exterior and interior. On either side of entrance, exposed to sunlight, is space for planting. Taking advantage of the prominent position of the fireplace, the architect has shaped it into an impressive outdoor sculpture. He has similarly enhanced a utilitarian roof scupper with a decorative sheet metal shield, at the same time eliminating cost of downspouts. Exterior trim is used sparingly, painted black.
Without the planning skills and constant attention of an accomplished architect, this distinctive California house very likely could never have been built at any price. The problems were formidable. To begin with, only a fraction of the hillside property could be regarded as buildable, and even this small patch required many truckloads of fill and concrete piling to support the house. Such a site invariably means special difficulties and extra costs. But despite these handicaps, the house was constructed for less money than many conventional tract houses in the area. Its design is simple, partly to keep costs down but mainly because the owner, Mrs. Margaret Divizia, prefers simplicity. Solid, sand-colored plaster walls screen the front rooms from the nearby street. And on the opposite, or view, side there is an abundance of glass walls, as well as a sun deck extended over a canyon. The plan, long and narrow, was largely dictated by the nature of the site. To the right of the entrance hall lies the living-dining-kitchen section, and to the left the two bedrooms and baths. Since Mrs. Divizia has lived in the house, she has reached a significant conclusion regarding residential architecture. "Lots of people of varying economic and social backgrounds have come to see my totally modern house," she says, "and almost without exception they have been enthusiastic. This leads me to believe that builders often are not at the pres- ent time completely aware of what people really want in a house."
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | June 1958
As a ranching family, the Days have naturally sought to express their attachment to the West in both the architecture of the house and its decoration. The colorful fresco by Seattle artist Jean Beall along the entrance wall, left, is a lively scene of animals and horsemen. On the opposite side of the entrance is a loggia. It gives the family a sunny but protected area opening to the outdoor terrace, swimming pool and tree-covered mountainside. The colors and textures of the region are almost literally duplicated in the loggia, where pine poles span the beams overhead, native cedar boards and many-hued stones form wall surfaces. Irregular slate slabs of floor are carried across gallery separating loggia and terrace and on to the broad pool and terrace.
Because the planning of this house was meticulous, a clear purpose can be found behind every detail. The plan consists essentially of three distinct zones a service-dining wing, a master bedroom and an office where Mr. Day carries on ranch business, and a living room-guest wing- virtually a separate structure joined to the house by a gallery. In addition, there is an apartment for the Days' son below the master bedroom area. The three main zones are divided not only by the horizontal plan but also by steps leading from entrance level down to living area, up to master bedroom. Swimming pool is conveniently reached through sliding glass walls of three areas master bedroom, gallery and living room. Upper pool terrace is planned as "island" with steps descending into the water.
_______________________
source: House and Garden Magazine | April 1958
