Tag: “Paul R. WIlliams”

Here is a 1938 book I dug up on Archive. org

The 1938 Book of Small Houses is a selection of the best residential work of American architects.

Published during the Great Depression, when there was a dire lack of housing, the book showcases how innovative, cost-conscious and community oriented architects built on a budget.

I selected some houses that were built in Southern California, one also in San Mateo, CA.

There are a few by Schindler, Neutra and Paul R. Williams. Many are by lesser known names.

These are 84 years old.

An astonishing amount of time has passed, nearly a century, and these houses still retain a hold on our hearts.

Constructed in a variety of styles, from modern to Georgian to Colonial Revival, they evince a time when architecture tended to understatement, modesty, and proportionality.

Unlike today, nothing is painful to look at. There are no obese styles with garish ornamentation, or massive oversized windows, three story tall entrances, round driveways with 10 vehicles parked in front.

If classical columns appear, they follow the classical proportions. Laid out in a rule book thousands of years old. And when new styles are worked out, they too have geometric logic.

Nobody trusted a fool with a pickup truck to build their castle.

Modern was not a synonym for arrogance.

Nobody winced when they saw the final 1938 product.

In 2022, millions is expended and achieves so little attractiveness.

Most of these old houses cost between $4,000-$10,000.

$6,000 in 1938 is about $115,000 today.

We are so used to ugliness all around us, so narcotized to the malformed and monstrous new palaces that pockmark Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills and Calabasas, that we cannot imagine that once upon a time architects and builders and homeowners aspired to build quiet, well-behaved, lovely houses to beautify a neighborhood.

And provide a restful, relaxed, joyous home for their owners.