Pattern books?

clydethecat · Post by **clydethecat** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 10:13 am

Did any of the Prairie School architects ever allow their work to appear in pattern books?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 10:59 am

Good question. One might have to prowl the dusty stacks of a large and unculled city library collection to find the pattern books that would answer that one . . .

One finds this sort of thing online, now:

http://www.classicist.org/workspace/pdf ... ecture.pdf

http://www.prairietrailankeny.com/wp-co ... uction.pdf

http://www.prairietrailankeny.com/wp-co ... tterns.pdf

Insipid, characterless, "safe" recipes for replication of past residential styles -- in the service of a New Suburbanism ? The last one above cites "painted brick" as one of the ingredients of the Craftsman style . . .

Not !

SDR

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 12:42 pm

Hermann Valentin Von Holst wrote "Country and Suburban Homes of the Pairie School Period" in 1913. Not exactly a pattern book, it's more of a history of the style. The only FLW houses included (on one page) are one image each of Hickox, Ch. E. Brown, Isabel Roberts and Willits, plus the Tallmadge & Watson Elias V. Day House in River Forest which FLW remodeled for a subsequent owner after a fire. There are also some WBG and T&W houses represented, as well a church by MMG and a house by himself.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 1:07 pm

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/country ... 0486158549

I've enjoyed my copy. Spencer & Powers, Henry K Holsman, Tallmadge & Watson, Charles E White, Jr, Lawrence Buck, early California bungalows, and even some garages including a couple that could be the work of the brothers Greene. Lots of line drawings: elevations, sections, plans.

SDR

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 1:31 pm

The librarian at the Oak Park Home & Studio might be able to help you. wrightplus.org.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 2:39 pm

A favorite image from von Holst's book . . .

clydethecat · Post by **clydethecat** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 4:01 pm

I have the von Holst book on the Dover imprint.

It's not really a pattern book as such, more like a compendium of articles from home magazines.

I was just wondering if there was a known source for the sorts of Prairie, prairie-lite, and prairie-ish homes you sometimes see in A&C neighborhoods outside the areas where the main Prairie School architects worked. Since most of the bungalows and foursquares in these kinds of neighborhoods either came from pattern books or kits, I figured there must have been some published Prairie designs too?

That Cooper house is an attractive little bungalow.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 4:31 pm

How about the pre-cut homes that Sears Roebuck sold for years ? I would expect to find all popular American styles represented . . .

SDR

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 4:55 pm

Hmm . . . also Aladdin Houses ("Sold by the Golden Rule"). Plenty of Craftsman; no Prairie. Sears No. 181, from the 1913 catalog, is the only near miss, with its slightly greater roof overhang and cladding change at the second-floor sill line. But the detailing is generic American, with turned porch posts, etc . . .

You might need this. http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01943-3.html

$89.57 at Amazon.

SDR

clydethecat · Post by **clydethecat** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 9:07 am

Gordon Van Tine had this Model 2617:

And here's a house near me in Hillcrest, Little Rock, AR, which looks like a Prairie plan that the builder tried to disguise as a Mission:

(I couldn't get a better angle from Google Maps Street View due to the trees.)

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 10:31 am

Weird -- I couldn't duplicate your first Google shot, but was able to get this:

Note the discrepancy of addresses . . . !

Where did the Model 2617 show up ? Did it have a manufacturer ?

SDR

clydethecat · Post by **clydethecat** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 10:43 am

SDR wrote:

Where did the Model 2617 show up ? Did it have a manufacturer ?

It's from Gordon Van Tine, they were a supplier of kit houses.

http://www.gordonvantine.com/

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:00 am

Thanks. The site says the 2617 was offered "briefly" in 1917-18 . . .

The catalog cover graphics from the 'teens and 'twenties show the influence on commercial illustrators of the fine art of the previous decades (see Japanese prints threads).

SDR

clydethecat · Post by **clydethecat** » Sat Nov 29, 2014 1:53 pm

SDR wrote:Thanks. The site says the 2617 was offered "briefly" in 1917-18 . . .

It seems to be a pretty direct crib of the Walser/Barton plan.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:35 am

and also DeRhodes...
http://transformationsandwhispers.blogs ... go-to.html