A Proosed House in Watertown, Connecticut. Submitted in partial requirement for the. Degree of Bachelor of Architecture by

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1 A Proosed House n Watertown, Connectcut Report on the Thess Submtted n partal requrement for the Degree of Bachelor of Archtecture by Hazel Weld l -May 24, 1933 Massachusetts nsttute f Teehnology!t,', ;

2 Actc:. Program - A Proposed House n Watertonw, Connectcut A great many New England towns have so defnte a character that t s dffcult to conceve of a radcally modern buldng beng composed agreeably wth the surroundngs. Yet, n spte of the charmng qualtes of colonal archtecture some prospectve bulders mght lke to proft by the development n recent tmes of modern constructon and modern plannng. The problem n onrn~ p1.. renr n - lnnl± +.hl a Oh:r r, t r nt nv rn r nmlnr 4n n pleasng anht constructve way and n detal s to desgn a house n Watertown, ConnectcAt. There are other problems to be solved. n the course of the work. The house s for a famly of fve n whch the chldren are grown, spendng most of the tme away. However, at tmes there are lkely to be more that a few guests at once, so that the house must be especally planned to take care of two people and servants all the tme wth an occasonal overflow of others. Partcularly there must be a good relaton between ste, garden, and house. The ste s an old farm on the edge of a small town. t s proposed to buy ths

3 - ;. 9_.A farm wth t'wother famles. Thou;zh te other to houses, whch wll follow ths one somewhat n character, are not to be desgned at present, the grounds for the three wll be lad out together. They must be planned to gve a certan suffcent The proposed house and garage wll cost approxmately amount of open area common to all three and prvate gardens and ktchen-yard space. 25,00Q. 0531pp

4 May 24, 1933 Dear Sr, n accordance wth the requrements far graduaton n Course V, herewth submt a thess, the subject of whch s "A Proposed House n Watertown, Connectcut". Respectfully submtted, Dean Wllam Emerson Hazel Weld Department f Archtecture Massachusetts nsttute of Technology Boston, ass.

5 A Proposed House n Watertown, Connectcut Except perhaps n rare nstances an ndvdual s more nterestng than a mob. For ths reason, one l of the most engagng problems n archtecture s a house, because f t s a proper soluton t must be not only sutably arranged wth due regard to facltes for health and comfort, to prvacy, and to protecton for prvate lfe - lfe of the ndvdual and the famly anrl ther work - and for entertanng, but t must also express the owners' character, taste, and ndvdualty n such a way that n tme t wll become not a house, but a home to hm and to hs frends. Ths means the study of a human beng and hs nterests as well as the study of plans and elevatons and detals. There are so many possble good arrangements of lvng, sleepng, and servce elements n a house, that the fnal postons are usually dctated by the orentaton and contour of the ste and, more than by that, by the owners' habts and tastes. The ste for the house, whch s the subject of ths thess, s located n Watertown, Connectcut, a - town near Ltchfeld and wth the same dgnfed, yet homely atmosphere of old whte frame and brck houses,

6 vllage greens and clean, whte, steepled churches, and pcket fences. However, t s developng as a resdental suberb of Waterbury, and, though essentally New England n atmosphere, there are dssmlar elements enterng. There s the Taft School, a part that s smple and honest though old Englsh by Goodhue and a part that s the more flamboyant "collegate Gothc" by James Gamble Rogers. There s one small church by Goodhue, and another s on the way by Cram. There are some new houses treated n the Colonal manner (see the appendx, the Llly house and the Judson house, whch are good character, even thought they hark back to the past). Then there are houses lke Mr. Kllorn's whch have changed old detals nto somethng a bt odd and dsjonted and lke Mss Kllorn's house whch takes ts half- tmbered constructon and detal from another perod that has nothng to do wth the character of the town or the present tme. On the whole, however, t s a town qute eonscous of ts archtecture. The people from whom the house s planned are a master n the school and hs wfe, who have grown-up chldren away from home. They want to buy a part of a farm wth two other famles, although the others are not l thnkng -of buldng yet. The lay-out of the houses, drveways, common lawns and more prvate gardens s to be

7 lad out now. The farm s 800 feet by 1200 feet.and s on the edge of the town. There s a long drveway on the lot now and a worthless old house and barn wth excavaton only under the barn. Snce t s away from the center of town the clents want the house freproof. They also want to consder the advantages of modern constructon and plannng, stll keepng n mnd the character of the town and of the old famly furnture they own, whch ranges from early Colonal pne and maple to smple and sold Duncan Phyfe and early Epre, wthout usng any superfluous copyng of detal. They want to have the advantages of decks and stll keep away from a flat roof constructon that mght be dsturbng f one consders the character of the town and the nearness of the ste to other houses. n other words, the masses and detals must be smple and modern, yet not stylzed, and must stll always harmonze wth the sprt of the town. The character o the town, the ste, and the characterstcs of the famly have all been taken nto account n the handlng of the problem. The better houses n the mmedate neghborhood are brck, and brck s a good facng for a freproof house, besdes havng a good homelke character for a house. t certaly tes n wth the communty better than concrete or

8 stucco would. There are ample decks, yet the mass of the house wth ts ptched roofs s not dsturbng as seen n relaton to adjacent houses. One of the advantages of archtecture of the present tme s the use of bg wndow area, whch s concentrated to glve the same usable wall space that we fnd n older buldngs. n ths partcular case, rather than use the stylzed long horzontal wndows wth great sheets of glass, rows of casement wndows have been used to keep a conservatve character and yet gve the modern area of lght. Detals have been kept as smple as possble, the general masses, the pattern of the wndows, the metal wndow slls, frames, and muntns, the brck facng, lead- coated copper roof, concrete slab cantlevers shelterng the doors, and the brck flower boxes all countng as ntegral decoraton. n the smplcty of the house, t should be n keepng wth the town, ts only dfferences beng accounted for as progressve and not as retrogressve to Colonal or Englsh style. The ste s on a hll wth a remarkable vew to the East and Southeast. The road runs from North to South, the drveway runnng West and Southwest up the hll. On ether sde of the drveway near the road are marshes whch mght be very well draned and cleaned out wen some of the excavaton for one of the houses s beng done and made nto small ponds. A. small amount of plantng of

9 rses and water lles and wllows would be done from tme to tme around the ponds. The ponds mght be very close to the drve, one dranng nto the other through a wde culvert, and ths would make the drveway wth ts nut trees and elms on ether sde an efectve spot. The felds on the sdes would be left as they are except for occasonal plantng from the ponds up to the lne of the houses. Here would be terraces, gardens, and lawns under the trees, and shrubbery about the drveways, whch go back of the three houses leavng the front open to a pleasant stretch of grass wth the vew beyond. There s a level space for a tenns court, and a feature mght be made of the excavaton under the old barn by makng t nto a sunken garden, tranng vnes and frut trees aganst the walls, and usng benches and plantng around a small pool. All ths plantng and gradng wll be dne n the sprngs and falls, buldng t up lttle by lttle. The famly has a certan nfluence on the desgn of the plan due to the fact that there are grown-up chldren who are away most of the tme. Ths means that for :the most part there are only the man and hs wfe and two servants, preferably man and wfe, and that when there are `0 guests there are a good many of them. As a soluton to ths a wng of the house upstars wth a bedroom, bath, dressng room, and sleepng porch may be completely shut

10 off from the heatng system wthout makng the house seem dull and empty. The back stars are n ths wng, out that s not dsagreeable. As much as possble, open plannng has been used for the lvng portons of the house to facltate entertanng. Perhaps the easest way to explan the house s to take t floor by floor, and by room. The entrance s on the sde the hll s on leavng the other sde free for the vew. The entrance hall has a coat closet n t,.and a lavatory s n the star hall. The latter s large and almost a part of the lvng and dnng rooms. t opens straght through the house to gve that open, country feelng of beng able to walk n and out of a house from any sde. The garden should be a part of the house and the house a part of the garden. n the east end of the hall there s a pool and a tled floor fro potted plants, makng almost a conservatory between the dnng room and the lvng room, and the nsde and the outsde. The lvng room opens to the rght of ether end of the hall wth wde, low steps down to t. Hostesses lke ths effect for entertanng, and t gves a das at one end for the pano. The mstress of the house s a muscan, and here bg pano requres the open plannng to use up ts full tone to ts capacty. The fnsh of the room would take ths nto consderaton wth a celng of some materal

11 especally prepared to help the acoustcs, and polshed wood, brck, plaster, and heavy curtans to vary the qualty of the nstrument. There wll be smple bult-n woodwork - mantels, shelves, wndow seats:-, all smple, squared wood, wthout moldngs, modern, and yet old furnture wll harmonze wth t and stand out aganst t. The room has large wndows to the vew on the South and East and a wndow for the pleasant lght from the West. The wndows on the East open as French wndows on a terrace whch runs around the southern sde wth a shelter over t there, where t wll not obstruct the vew. A study opens on the left of the hall wht West lght for sun n the afternoon and North lght at the left of a bult-n desk and shelves. As far as possble proper orentaton has been used to make pleasant rooms. n the study there wll also be ether bult-n shelves, gun cases, and trophy cases all around the walls, makng t a lvable place for a man. The dnng room s on the left wth lght from the South, East and North wth a lttle dnng terrace on the North where t may be served from the pantry. There are bult-n servng tables and plate shelves wth glass screens on ether sde to gve the hall lght and set back n such a way as to make room for a telephone stand whch s out of' the way. The servce on that floor ncludes a pantry,

12 ktchen planned wth proper crculaton of food and cross ventlaton, a store room, broom closet, laundry chute, servants' lvng and dnng room, bedroom, and bath for two servants. For the ktchen and pantry walls and celngs s recommended panels of enameled metal and cupboard unts of the same materals such as are used n bg restaurants now. They can be arranged n any way that the owner lkes and are much easer to clean than anythng else. The floors should be lnoleum set n a cement base aganst a coved baseboard to facltate cleanng. On the second floor the star hall makes a sort of upstars sttng room and opens out on a deck around the master's bedroom so that breakfast may be served there. That bedroom wth a dressng room and bath s over part of the lvng room, wth a deck over the rest, and has east and south lght and the best vew. There s another bedroom over the dnng room and pantry whch has a deck of ts own. Ths bedroom could be used for a sewng room, for the bath room for t s nearer the bedroom over the study. There are also ample lnen closets and a laundry chute. n the wng over the servce there s a bedroom, and a dressng room-sleepng porch combnaton, whch makes a sort of dormtory for guests, and one bath room e....= for the wng. Ths means that ordnarly only three bed

13 rooms and two bth-t lts vwould be open, naln a usabl sall house for two people and +th-r servants. n the basement there s a game room under the lvng room, wth stars from the front hall, a closet for sks, sleds, toboggans, a trunk room, a store room, wne cellar, and wood room, the last three convenent to the back stars, and a laundry room and boler room wth the garage under the end of the wng,. The laundry opens drectly out nto a yard at the same level, whch opens off the drveway and acts as a servce yard to the basement and has outsde stars runnng up to the back hall. An attempt was made to keep the servce as concentrated as possble. The attc under the two lower roofs s dead space for nsulaton. Under the hgher roof there s some room for storage. The constructon s hollow tle, brck, and steel, the steel supports beng spaced evenly on a schedule where possble. The floors are lghtweght battle deck constructon, and the basement concrete. The wndows are as far as possble stock sze n frames, r-- t fl 1, although the muntns are changed. The heatng recommended s a forced hot ar system and humdfyng system n combnaton wth an ol. furnace, the ol tank beng n the drveway. The heatng unts would be placed n the

14 R :.. : wals, and a thermostatc control system would make good use of the sun throu! h the large wndows. There are wsater r.s n the road, but no gas or sewa-e ppoes have run out that far. Stoves would have to be electrc, and the sewa,e would be taken care of by a septc tank.. As far as can be ascertaned, the present cost would be about $.45 per cubc foot, makng the house cost about $ 25,000. a.! --!!, -2 --

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