We have dealt with various forms, styles, and ideals in modernist architecture in Parts 1, 2 and 3. We have yet to deal with a purely American Style that is spread all across the USA and especially represented in Sun Belt states that experienced a huge migration of people and industry from the east. Large housing and commercial development resulted from this shift of the American population to the south and southwest. Presently, 7 of 10 of the largest cities in the US are in what is called the Sun Belt. Therefore, more new housing construction was needed and modernism was to follow this tide.

American modernist houses during the mid-century can not actually be cleanly categorized, but a large body of houses have a look that particularly rejects the strictures of Internationalism. Residential modernist houses with an American style still have the feature of large areas of glass, but prefers natural materials instead of exposed metal frames. Most have gabled roofs with exposed wooden beams and use stone, sculptural cement block, brick or natural materials for exterior decoration. The house’s front aspect is usually never symmetrical, and frequently has a recessed entrance. Even with gabled roofs, windows reach to the roof line.

This picture is an excellent example of the American Mid Century Modern house and certainly fits the above description very well. Since this sort of house does not require any unusual materials or special techniques to build, these types of houses worked well for large housing developments and found more appeal than residences designed with the perceived austerity of the International Style.

A good place to start in terms of a developer is the well-known Joseph Eichler. Although his houses were built-in California, he has become widely known throughout the US. Sometimes called “California Modern”, Eichler homes had airy, open floor plans, large expanses of glass usually on the faces of the house not exposed to the access road, post and beam construction rather than dimensional framing, A-framed roofs, and a unembellished exterior. Eichler favored the notion of bringing the outdoors inside and the inside out. His houses included patios, atriums, gardens, pools and floor to ceiling windows.

Foster Residence, Granada Hills, Los Angeles

Steve Jobs of Apple fame childhood home was “Eichleresque”.

All the above images are homes developed by Joseph Eichler, but they are representative of many other homes built elsewhere in the US. Many of these houses look quite familiar to those in my home city of Phoenix, Arizona and without a doubt appear that way to many Americans. Critics will some time say that houses of similar designs do not have the quality of Eichler homes. However, not all developers could be categorized that way. Indeed, some used traditional building methods, but that certainly doesn’t preclude them from the definition of quality construction and exemplary design. Here are some examples of American Style modernist homes in Phoenix that one could find anywhere in the country:

The Phoenix houses shown here are not altogether unusual. Within a good walk of my house, there is 3 or 4 dozen houses with similar designs dating from the period of 1950 to 1965. In fact, my own house dates from 1950. As with California and the Eichler homes, Arizona affords the opportunity of enjoying the concept of sharing the outdoors and indoors, especially during the fall, winter and spring when the weather is usually mild and sunny. So modern houses with atriums, patios and outdoor areas are well represented here. I would suspect that a great abundance of these sorts of houses also exist in many areas of the country, but especially in the Sun Belt.

 

In the next part, Brutalism will be discussed. I have on Mid Century Modern Groovy touched on Brutalism in an article on Louis Kahn and on the new Whitney Museum replacing the one designed by Marcel Breuer. Except for an addendum noting a list of famous American Style architects, this will complete the series: Modern Architectural Forms of the Mid Century. Individual architects, of course, will still be of interest. And unusual or amusing American commercial architecture such as McDonald’s or Sambo’s will also draw our attention.

 

HBosler