A second image from my collection of 1950 National Plan Service homes courtesy the Indiana Coal and Lumber Company. This little series of homes — just about perfection.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
So cute! Isn’t it funny how in the post-war era of prosperity, the majority of new houses being built were well-designed, but small? Everything was supposed to be efficient and useful, none of the over-the-top excess we see in 90’s-2000’s houses (where it would be torture to have less than 4 bathrooms)! Hmmmm, living within your means… now there’s an idea!
Hey Pam and others,
See those white wrought-iron looking pillars above? Do they have a name? I have some of that curly iron-work on my brick ‘59 house. I refer to it as “Metal Gingerbread” but there’s likely a name for it.
Now that we know that the metal ring surrounding an old sink is called a “Hootie Ring” – I expect everything has a name!
All the best,
Dana in Chicagoland
Hey, that’s my house! (though we have wood siding rather than brick)
Check out http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/
Scroll down on the left for several house plan sections from the 1950s, including National Plan Service, Aladdin, and others.
DanaMc, we have the same wrought iron porch support on our ‘56 ranch, but I don’t have a name for you. I wonder where the trend inspiration came from: it seems so different from the rest of the design sensibility of ranches, yet so common. Could it be a leftover from colonial revival?
Elvis and Dana – I have many many references to what I believe is called simply, ‘ornamental ironwork’ on mid century homes. I’m not academically sure of its design evolution – but will be on the lookout and plan for some authoritative posts in the future.
In terms of an educated guess, though: I tend to think that this ornamental ironwork was just a decorative effect to spice up otherwise boxy, similar ranches…another example of variation added to subdivision homes that would otherwise have been quite cookie cutter. The ironwork also provided posts for a relatively inexpensive and cheery front porch or door entryway also. Metal would have been plentiful post war – so this was a good way to integrate it. Finally – I think this will also turn out to be a mass-produced, great grandchild of Victorian ironwork.