INSIDE THE SMALL HOUSE:
THE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN LEGACY OF WILLIAM W. WURSTER
R. Thomas Hille
R. Thomas Hille: INSIDE THE SMALL HOUSE: THE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN LEGACY OF WILLIAM W. WURSTER. NYC: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994. First paperback edition. A near fine softcover with minor shelfwear and two bumps/small tears along the spine. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.
11.75 x 11.75 softcover book with 92 pages and 134 black and white illustrations. Inside the Large Small House presents thirteen of Wurster's best projects in a large-format monograph lushly illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs and beautifully redrawn plans, sections, and details. It also contains essays by Don Emmons, Lawrence B. Anderson, and Joseph Esherick placing Wurster's architecture in the context of twentieth-century American architecture.
From the publisher “Architect William Wurster (1895–1973) spent most of his career practicing in the San Francisco Bay area. Primarily known for his residential projects, Wurster developed a unique strain of American modernism filtered through concerns of context and livability. Wurster's most innovative design work was carried out during the late thirties and early forties, a period in which his office produced over two hundred houses. “
- Acknowledgements
- Inside the Large Small House: The Residential Design Legacy of William W. Wurster
- A Unique Architectural Practice by Donn Emmons
- William W. Wurster by Lawrence B. Anderson
- Bill Wurster by Joseph Esherick
- Suburban Houses: Le Hane House, Corbus House, Chickering House, Pope House, Jensen House.
- Urban Houses: Grover House, Stevens House, Doble House, Sibbett House.
- Vacation Houses: McIntosh House, Dondo House, Clark House.
William Wilson Wurster (1895-1973) has been widely recognized as the foremost proponent of a distinctive Bay Area architectural style. But his ideas extended far beyond California: In private practice and as head of architecture schools at the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wurster shaped an entire generation of architects and city planners.
Along with his wife, city planner Catherine Bauer, and landscape architect Thomas Church, Wurster was intimately involved in the rise of modern city planning and landscape design in the United States. In keeping with the social and economic conditions of the late 1930s, Wurster encouraged the development of small houses that offered the livability of those of greater scale, and he influenced the building of affordable mass-produced housing. His designs embodied principles of simplicity and economy, yet incorporated complex human needs. Wurster's legacy is especially relevant today, as uncertain economic conditions and social dislocations affect housing for Americans at every level.