PRACTICAL HOUSES FOR CONTEMPORARY LIVING
Jean and Don Graf
Jean and Don Graf: PRACTICAL HOUSES FOR CONTEMPORARY LIVING. New York: FW Dodge, 1953. First edition. Quarto. Gray cloth titled in black. Photo illustrated dust jacket. 174 pp. 329 black and white photographs, floorplans, and illustrations. Illustrated profiles of 42 residences. Former owners bookplate to front pastedown. Jacket lightly rubbed and chipped. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. A very good copy in a very good dust jacket.
9 x 11.5 hardcover book with 174 pages and 329 photographs, floorplans, and illustrations. 42 postwar residences are extensively profiled in this excellent vintage volume. This book is a veritable rosetta stone for people interested in postwar modernism that was produced under (often severe) budget constraints. No Kaufmann Houses here -- just thoughtfully planned and brilliantly executed modern housing.
This book spotlights some of the more buget-conscious, lesser-known structures of the period, thus supplying a more unique perspective than similar volumes that tend to showcase the iconic residences.
Excellent vintage contemporary interior photography by Bill Hedrich-Blessing, Joseph Molitor, Arthur Siegel (!) and others. Contents:
- Forward
- Introduction
- Houses for One
- Good Small Houses
- Planned for Children -- and Adults
- Houses for Limited Lot Lines
- Houses for Irregular Land
- The Knew What They Wanted
- Concordance
- Index to Owners, Architects, and Photographers
Architects whose residential designs are featured in this volume include: George Fred Keck And William Keck, L. Morgan Yost, William Wiener, Wurster, Bernardi And Emmons, Walter Gropius With The Architects Collaborative, Royal Barry Wills, Harris Armstrong, Hamilton Brown, James Chiarelli, Gardner Dailey, George Daub, Blaine Drake, William Freeman, Roger Gotteland, Fred Guirey, Ambrose Higgins, Victor Hornbein, E. H. Hunter, Robert Woods Kennedy, Dan Kiley, Paul Hayden Kirk, Fred Langhorst, Roger Lee, William Lescaze, George Matsumoto, Thmpson Mccleary, Max Mercer, Walter Prokosch, Joseph Stein, Mike Stousland, Hugh Stubbins Jr., William And Loris Suite, Edward Varney and others.