It’s back to school, boys and girls. Today’s lesson: Royal Barry Wills. I’ve written about him before, but also recently found a short video in which Bob Vila interviews Richard Wills, Royal’s son, who has continued the legacy of the firm. Why do I love Royal Barry wills so much? 

Well, while midcentury modern architects get lots of attention, I believe that Royal was actually much more influential in terms of the millions and millions of middle-class homes built all across America. And — he really cared about these people, adapting the colonial Cape Cod design to comfortably and affordably house the masses. He was also a preservationist – using salvaged items to add character to his designs. And he was a funny, funny guy. You know how they ask, “Of any person in history, who would you like to have dinner with?” Well, Royal is my man – no question!

Take a look at the video here. Do note, that the house shown is quite large. Royals designs for the masses were much smaller, of course — remember, 1,000 s.f. was “big” in the late 40s and well into the ’50s!

Related posts:

1. The Royal Barry Wills Cape Home Guest post today from Dave Stuhlsatz, architect with Royal...
2. Choosing Paint Colors for Traditional Homes — From the Office of Royal Barry Wills Guest post today from Richard Wills and Dave Stuhlsatz,...
3. Mid-century “Early American” street sign You know I do love my Royal Barry Wills’ houses....

A new reader – another Pam – wrote recently to tell me about her Royal Barry Wills home north of Boston and to ask me some kitchen questions. Meanwhile, she has turned me on to this amazing designer – whose Cape Cods and colonials were just as important and influential in postwar design history as any modernists. For today’s Sunday reading, here’s a essay by Richard Guy Wilson, which I’ve continued via a link to the Royal Barry Wills design firm, which still operates today:

The most popular architect among the American middle class after World War II employed three names —and it was not Frank Lloyd Wright but Royal Barry Wills. Life magazine in 1946 anointed Wills as creating “the kind of house most Americans want,” because his books sold more than 520,000 copies, and he had designed some 1,100 houses. Earlier, in 1938, Wills had dueled with Wright in a Life magazine contest over houses for the middle class. Wright entered one of his Usonian designs and Wills showed a Cape Cod house. Although the family initially favored Wright, they selected Wills in the end and built his Cape Cod design.12

Houses designed or influenced by Royal Barry Wills were ubiquitous, as Americans devoured his books, discovered his designs in homemaker and housebuilding magazines and newspapers, and either bought his plans or contacted him for a custom design. By the time of his death, in 1962, Wills and his firm were responsible for more than 2,500 houses. Wills was so popular that a writer for the Saturday Evening Post in 1958 observed: “Many a would-be home owner, surveying the infinite variations of Mr. Wills’s Cape Codders in plan books and magazines has concluded that he is the man who somehow-invented-the-design.

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Related posts:

1. Royal Barry Wills: My favorite midcentury architect Royal Barry Wills was one of midcentury America's most influential...
2. The Royal Barry Wills Cape Home Guest post today from Dave Stuhlsatz, architect with Royal...
3. Choosing Paint Colors for Traditional Homes — From the Office of Royal Barry Wills Guest post today from Richard Wills and Dave Stuhlsatz,...