Big House Plan for Two Families

¶ A big craftsman city house plan designed to accommodate two families.

¶ 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 furnishings, but would accommodate two families who desired to live independently of one another, as they would in separate houses.

Craftsman City House.
View of front and side, indicating the similarity in arrangement of upper and lower floors.

¶ It had often been brought to our attention by people living in cities that most of our plans were for detached homes in the country or the suburbs, where the houses could 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 houses 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 house was fixed at twenty-five feet, with a depth of sixty-eight feet, including a front porch nine feet in width. The first story is occupied by a tenant, the owner reserving the second floor for himself and his family.

¶ It will be noticed by looking carefully at the floor plans that only the front porch, the vestibule and the rear entrance can be used in common by both families. There is no connection between the two apartments. One door from the vestibule opens to the stairway which leads to the second story and the other opens into the hall of the first story. Both stories are the same in arrangement and are planned to secure the greatest possible openness and freedom of space in the living rooms. The large bedrooms at the back of the house open upon rear porches, which are glassed in for the winter and screened in summer to serve as outdoor sleeping rooms.

¶ The floor plans themselves give the best idea of the arrangement of space in the apartments. Both kitchens are provided with gas stoves and individual boilers for hot water. A dumbwaiter runs from the cellar to the attic for the convenience of the upper apartment. The cellar contains individual store rooms and coal bins, and a big laundry with a set of three tubs and a stove was installed, together with a hot water heating system for the entire house. The attic is divided in a way that provides two rooms in the dormer for the servants of both apartments, as well as a large room facing the front that can be used as a dry room in inclement weather or as a playroom for children. The cellar walls are of concrete faced with split field stone.

First Floor

Second Floor