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A CRAFTSMAN CITY HOUSE DESIGNED TO ACCOMMODATE TWO FAMILIES
Published in The Craftsman, October, 1907.
VIEW OF FRONT AND SIDE, INDICATING THE SIMILARITY IN ARRANGEMENT OF UPPER AND LOWER FLOORS.
SOME little time ago a problem was brought to us which proved interesting, not only in itself but on account of its application to a condition which in city life is almost universal. It was this: A man living in Brooklyn, who owned a lot thirty feet wide by a hundred feet deep, desired to build within this space a Craftsman house which should not only show a departure from the usual design of the city house in such matters as economy of space, arrangement of rooms, and interesting structural features that would serve as a basis for interior decorations and furnishing, but would accommodate two families who desired to live independently of one another, as they would in separate houses.
It had often been brought to our attention by people living in cities that most of our plans were for detached dwellings in the country or the suburbs, where the housescould have the environment of ample grounds and be given all the room necessary to carry out any idea of arrangement that might seem desirable. This method of living in the open with plenty of room and green growing things all around has always been so much more in accordance with the Craftsman idea of a home environment than any house cramped to fit the dimensions of a city lot, that our suggestions for house building have as a rule naturally taken the form of dwellings best fitted for the country. The number and frequency, however, of the requests which have come to us from time to time for city houses made the problem shown here one that we took much interest in working out.
As the owner desired a detached house with a walk on either side it was necessary to bring the dimensions of our plan within a very narrow space. Accordingly the width of the