Houses for a new world : builders and buyers in American suburbs, 1945-1965 / Barbara Miller Lane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lane, Barbara Miller, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Housing development--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Housing development.

Suburban homes--United States--History--20th century.

Suburban homes.

Architecture and society--United States--History--20th century.

Architecture and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (322 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2015]

Summary:

The fascinating history of the twentieth century's most successful experiment in mass housingWhile the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, and their contemporaries frequently influences our ideas about house design at the midcentury, most Americans during this period lived in homes built by little-known builders who also served as developers of the communities. Often dismissed as "little boxes, made of ticky-tacky," the tract houses of America's postwar suburbs represent the twentieth century’s most successful experiment in mass housing. Houses for a New World is the first comprehensive history of this uniquely American form of domestic architecture and urbanism.Between 1945 and 1965, more than thirteen million houses—most of them in new ranch and split-level styles—were constructed on large expanses of land outside city centers, providing homes for the country’s rapidly expanding population. Focusing on twelve developments in the suburbs of Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Barbara Miller Lane tells the story of the collaborations between builders and buyers, showing how both wanted houses and communities that espoused a modern way of life—informal, democratic, multiethnic, and devoted to improving the lives of their children. The resulting houses differed dramatically from both the European International Style and older forms of American domestic architecture.Based on a decade of original research, and accompanied by hundreds of historical images, plans, and maps, this book presents an entirely new interpretation of the American suburb. The result is a fascinating history of houses and developments that continue to shape how tens of millions of Americans live.Featured housing developments in Houses for a New World:Boston area:Governor Francis Farms (Warwick, RI)Wethersfield (Natick, MA)Brookfield (Brockton, MA)Chicago area:Greenview Estates (Arlington Heights, IL)Elk Grove VillageRolling MeadowsWeathersfield at SchaumburgLos Angeles and Orange County area:Cinderella Homes (Anaheim, CA)Panorama City (Los Angeles)Rossmoor (Los Alamitos, CA)Philadelphia area:Lawrence Park (Broomall, PA)Rose Tree Woods (Broomall, PA)

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

A Personal Note

Acknowledgments

PROLOGUE Paraphrases of Original Buyers’ Recollections

CHAPTER 1 New Houses and New Communities

CHAPTER 2 West Coast Builders

CHAPTER 3 East Coast Builders

CHAPTER 4 The Builders of Chicago’s Golden Corridor

CHAPTER 5 The Buyers, Their Backgrounds, and Their Preferences

CHAPTER 6 Conclusion

Appendix 1. Chronological List of Campanelli Developments, Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Appendix 2. Stoltzner Business History

Appendix 3. Interviews with Original Buyers or Their Children

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Illustration Credits

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [273]-294) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691246420

0691246424

OCLC:

1328138430