Three homes that are true embodiments of the American way of life #1: Brentwood, California

WE PRESENT this group of today's American homes-homes our fighting men and women so valiantly defended-with feelings of anticipation and pride. Anticipation -because we feel that somehow these homes represent the end of another epoch in our country's history. Another war is over. Wars always bring changes. What direction these changes will take is anyone's guess-yours or mine. Perhaps the houses reproduced here will offer a key to the enigma.

Our armed forces fought over the face of the globe they strove to preserve a special way of life precious to them and to us. This way of life, of individual freedom, is nowhere better symbolized than in our homes.

America is not a static nation. We cannot stand still. Often, though our progress has been swift, it has not always been wise. Many's the time we've forgotten many of the fundamental truths that were a vital part of our heritage. A nation's home should be a true reflection of its civilization. Our early settlers, hacking their way through the wilderness, building their houses from the green timber about them, realized this. Crudely built though they were, these houses were true expressions of their builders. They were logically planned for protection, their windows small in order to keep the chill wintry winds from penetrating, their chimneys large and centrally located in order that all rooms might receive their share of heat. In all ways, they were the true embodiment of those hardy, pioneering days of our forefathers.

However, as our nation grew and prospered, we became a bit uncertain. The simplicity of the pioneer seemed a bit incongruous to a newly rich country. We hesitated and looked to other lands for the answer. So began the process of gilding the lily. We traveled, searching through countries from which our founders had fled, hoping to acquire "culture" by contact. Our home became bigger and bigger. Ornament, borrowed from other worlds, was hung on every available exposed area. We just couldn't get enough of it. The logical planning of a house meant very little in this scheme of things. We must look genteel at whatever cost. Sad copies of chateaux and castles, manor houses and hunting boxes sprouted up all over the land. We became sorry reflections of the very life our forefathers had suffered to escape.

Fortunately for us, powers were at work which finally brought us out of this false existence and into our proper senses. The de- pression of the nineteen thirties was instrumental to a large degree. It awakened us once more to the value of money. Every dollar must now count. Inefficiency in business is fatal. We began to realize that this can be equally true in the home. We once more turned to our early buildings for guidance. At the same time science was entering the home field, teaching us that no home should become a scene of drudgery. In fact, homes could be made to work for us. Out of this rebirth of native spirit came a new form of house. Fitting as truly into our background as its earlier ancestors, it combined the comforts and pleasure which scientists were able to bring to it. This is the home we bring to you on these pages, a home truly unlike any other to be found on the face of the earth -the modern American home! Because of the vast area covered by this nation, it's always a challenge to answer the question, "What should a real American home look like?" In most cases, the first thing that pops into mind is the early architecture of New England, called either Colonial or Cape Cod. This is logical when one considers that this granddaddy of American houses has spread its progeny o'er the length and breadth of the land. It would be most unfair to assume that this is the only truly American house. Study the ranch houses of Wyoming and our great West, the comfortable brick homes of Virginia, the stone buildings of our Pennsylvania Dutch or even the adobe dwellings of New Mexico. Are they not truly native to this soil? Surely they've played their parts in making up the vast panorama called America. Variety is part of our charm. To be truly American a house should have logic-it should fit into the environment as naturally as the trees and stones about it; its use of native materials should bring out all of their intrinsic beauty -it should not be guilty of borrowed finery.. Plan and appearance of exterior should be in harmony, its mechanics should make household drudgery a forgotten thing. In other words, it must make sense.

Informality is part of our present make-up. Parents are no longer held in awe by growing off- spring. Family responsibilities are now shared by all, giving a greater sense of belonging. Because a nation is the banding together of thousands of homes, ours with its great sense of family unity, is well on its way to greater strength and happiness.