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Introduction to the Early Twentieth Century Home

STANDARDS:

The material in this unit may be used to address the following Social Studies Standards:

H-1A-M4
H-1B-H11
H-1B-M15

BACKGROUND:

Responding to the ideologies of the various reform groups, early twentieth century homeowners wanted their residences to:

  • make possible a simple life style.
  • have simple exteriors and floor plans.
  • be cozy, comfortable, functional, small and affordable. The public was willing to exchange extra space for efficiency and technology.

Bowing to the wishes of housing reformers and middle class homeowners, architects and builders:

  • reduced the size of the middle class home.
  • included new and improved technologies whenever possible.
  • reduced the amount of ornament found on the home's exterior and interior surfaces; even the mansions of the wealthy had less ornament than in the past.

EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY STYLES:

Simplicity did not mean lack of style.

During this period (and especially after World War I), the public's imagination was captured by the idea of the "long ago and far away." Architects and builders responded to this interest by developing a series of romantic and picturesque stylistic interpretations based upon the historic buildings of Europe and North America.

Those popular in Louisiana included the:

  • Colonial Revival
  • Tudor Revival
  • Spanish Colonial Revival

The bungalow, another style immensely popular at this time, was a practical middle class home which met many of the reformers' demands. However, it was also somewhat romantic in its derivation, since its emphasis upon woodwork reflected the influence of woodworking traditions in Switzerland and Japan.

Because they were well educated and well-traveled (had observed and/or studied historic architecture throughout the western world), most architects were able to design competently in all of the popular early twentieth century styles.

CHANGES TO THE HOME'S INTERIOR:

In addition to benefiting from new stylistic treatments, the early twentieth century American home experienced interior changes, many of which resulted from the teachings of reformers. These included:

The provision of several ways to enter and exit the house, which made the outdoors more accessible.

The reduction of the number of single purpose rooms. For example:

the front porch replaced the entrance hall (until the front porch also fell out of fashion).

the stuffy, little-used, formal parlor was replaced by the living room, a multi-purpose space which functioned as entrance hall, parlor, library, and entertainment and recreation area.

the dining room became a multi-purpose space as meals became simpler, shorter and more informal. This allowed the dining table to be used for projects requiring space and the opening up of the wall between the living and dining rooms.

The reduction or removal of Victorian Era clutter, and the use of light weight furniture to allow the easy rearrangement of spaces for multiple purposes.

The presence of built-in features such as bookcases, buffets and cabinets; inglenooks; fold-down tables, benches and ironing boards; and closets. Many of these were designed to facilitate the use of rooms for different functions.

Loss of the rear staircase as the number of available household servants fell.

THE FOURSQUARE:

Foursquares are not seen very much in Louisiana, other than in Shreveport, where they are particularly numerous in the Fairfield and Highland historic districts. For this reason, only a brief definition of the foursquare will be provided here.

The foursquare is a square shaped, two story house (2nd View) with four almost equal sized rooms (basically one in each corner) on each floor. It features a hipped roof with front dormer, a large front porch and large windows, often occurring in threes It was built between 1890 and 1930 and was popularized by pattern books and mail-order companies. Any of the domestic decorative styles popular in the early twentieth century could be adapted for its exterior, but the Colonial Revival (2nd View) and Bungalow (2nd View) were the most commonly used.

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