Snaps to Sarah for spotting this 1960s catalog of vacation houses promoting the use of Douglas Fir Plywood. It includes some pretty snappy — and in their way, hilarious — designs. “Novelty” vacation home ideas — my favorite is the Japanese tea house… but the Homarina, set right over the water… Home + Marina, get it?… is pretty great, too. Did anyone really build these, I wonder?
Here’s another vacation home for boaters — designed for the Johnson Motors Family Boating Bureau.” It has only 275 s.f. of livable space. This makes me remember growing up in Southern California in the 1960s. My dad loved to fish, and took us fishing up at Big Bear Lake quite often. Our pickup truck had a camper shell. I think that was much more part of the lifestyle — cheap, cheerful, outdoor vacations were much more the norm. I haven’t been seriously camping in 20 years, alas. I really used to like it…
The two images above are both from the “tea house”. The interior is so modern, all George Nelson-like. Inside, almost all these designs have Malm style fireplaces.
The two photos above: The awesome “Ranch Rambler” — with its row of small sleeping nooks all in a row, separated from the main living area by a deck. What a great concept — when you are on vacation at the lake, you don’t need big bedrooms… yet, it’s nice for everyone to have their own space. Alas, where is the kitchen?
Notice the inside/outside fireplace. These cowboy/cowgirl images seem kind of silly… archaic today… But I guess back in the day, out west was still, well, *Western.*
Simple yet stylish.
You get your A-Frame cottages, of course. Did anyone ever have one of these? They seem pretty practical to me.
This A-frame cabin is pretty snappy, too.
And this is terrific — a design for a cabin that you can expand over time. It starts as a “luxury campsite” and as you can afford it, you can expand it to include livable indoor space that ultimately presents like this:
So clever, those designers in the 1950s and 1960s. There is so much media these days about stylish “modern” small houses — the designs have been here for us all along!
See all 18 designs in the 1960 brochure at archive.org. Thanks, Sarah!
So bright colourful and carefree makes me wish I was on vacation. Reminds me of a book in my collection “Cabana” (Modern concepts of the vacation home) by Gerald McNertney a U.S.A book produced in 1965 with architectural sketches even including letterboxes and barbecues it is way out there and recommended if you come across the book.
My folks had a cabin on the Oregon coast and there were quite a few A-frames in out little community. Most had cone fireplaces but there tends to be a lot of wasted space in the design. They were cute and cheap so they were popular. Ahh, fun times.
Those are amazing–thank you for sharing.
What great brochures! (The illustrations remind me of the covers of the Trixie Belden books I loved as a kid.) I really like how the homes are unique, while still modest and (mostly) practical.
I’ve never had such a strong desire to jump into the pages of a catalog before.
How similar some of these are to Rocio Romero’s LV designs?
I want one!!
I live in a subdivision that was set up back in the late 60′s as a summer vacation “Resort” as it were and there were MANY funky little cottages like this built all over the place. Most of them being cheaply and poorly built were torn down over the years to make way for real homes.
When folks started to retire to the homes here in the mid 80′s a lot more of them were expanded/updated as the 60′s cottage style was cute, for a weekend house, but to live there on a daily basis was near impossible due to lack of space and storage.
There are still quite a few that have been closed up for many years and are up for sale or under foreclosure.
Please tell me where you live! Sounds like a dream to me…
I LOVE that ranch rambler! Years ago, I stayed at a house (well, more like a luxury compound) a friend was working on outside of Telluride, Colorado that had a row of sleeping cabins like that; it was designed to look like a train car. I just loved having my own cozy little “room” so I can only imagine how much kids would love that concept. Maybe the kitchen is meant to be in a separate building … like the place I stayed in!
And boy, this post only reinforces how badly I need a vacation.
Can I have one?!
“Alas, where is the kitchen?” — it is your vacation and you are supposed to barbecue over the outdoor firepit. Of course! Actually this could work, though rainy days might not be so fun. I think the idea is that it never rains — indeed, life is never unpleasant in any way — in the lands covered by Sunset magazine.
I’ve done yurt “camping” and the setup is similar. For anyone who tries this, let me just say an electric teakettle makes life much, much easier. Starting a fire to cook breakfast is more fun if you can have your coffee first.
But… there’s a bathroom….?
Oh…yeah….rain. Did these folks know how plywood smells in the rain? I bet not many of these cute little cottages survived very long, either. Plywood warps, too.
They sure are cute, though. I would love to have one built out of better materials, and maybe insulated or something to be warm in cool weather.
What a fun vacation cottage.
Love this brochure! I have seen a very home very similar to the A-frames pictured here off to the east of I-29, in the hills in Iowa. I lived in KC and traveled back and forth to Homaha quite a bit and I always looked for that funky little A frame with the multi-colorerd panels in the front as a sort of mile marker. Wish I had a pic to share because these pictures really remind me of it.
This is awesome. So glad you posted this. What great architecture. I can’t decide which one is my favorite.
how wonderful, I just love the art style of all those brocures from then. Wonder what construction cost would be in modern dollars. Too bad I can’t afford lake land
I love the tea house. The interior is so cool!
There are still places here in the west that are ‘western’, but yes, those pictures do seem dated. lol And A frames, you can still come across those now and again. There’s actually one not too far from where I live. We almost bought it a few years ago.
Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), as some people move away from McMansion style homes and the excess of modern living, these types of styles are making a comeback in some areas.
Great Pam! Thanks again for more great things to look through.
I want one!
Oh! These are fabulous! I want to make a mini version and turn it into a playhouse/storage shed in our backyard!
I have quite a few similar brochures from my time as publications manager for Western Wood Products Association. These 50s and 60s brochures promoted wood in all kinds of uses and are wonderful to look at now. When we were paring down the archives, I scarfed up all I could find! Maybe I should scan and send you some images, Pam.
yeah baby!
This is FAB! You have no idea what chord this strikes with me on two levels.
1/ I love MCM and get all nostalgic when I see drawings such as these
2/ I play Sims2. MCM fans build homes like this for our games all the time!
Wonderful find! Thank you Pam!
Oh, these are fabulous. My dad built a family lakeside cabin with his own hands in the 70s. Very Grizzly Adams of him. It’s still standing, though only a few steps up from camping, we all still love the place. Not quite as cool design-wise as these places, but still cool.
Reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonia houses “for the masses”. (PAM…Hint: maybe a future article?)
People don’t build cottages anymore. They build tremendous second homes that require landscaping and an interior designer. That’s not getting away from it all, but rather making life even more complicated! I love these simple and small designs. Comfortable, but not detracting from the real star of your vacation – the great outdoors!
Yes, DH and I have been *talking* about getting a snowbird place when we retire. It will be a CONDO. I do not want to have to take care of two houses.
At an estate sale I saw a fun book “How to Build Your Cabin or Modern Vacation Home” by Harry Walton. It was published in the 1960s and showed all kinds of fun illustrations of houses, floorplans and went through coming up with designing your own home. Too bad the photos of this book weren’t in color like these ads. They are so fun to look at!