A Colonial Revival Gambrel Roof Home of the 1920s
The celebrations around the 1876 Centennial jump started an interest in all things Early American, architecture chief among them. This Colonial Revival reached its peak in the first decades of the 20th century, gracing our country with homes built along practical, simple lines, in a unified but infinitely varied style based on Palladian and Classical precedents.
In the last 3 blog posts we looked at 2 original Colonial and Early American examples of the gambrel or Dutch roof home, ranging from a
cottage just one room deep, to a rambling
farmhouse with plenty of space in its wide attic.
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Dover Publications reprint of some of the plans made by ASHSB |
In this post we'll see the gambrel roof used in a Colonial Revival home of the 1920s, from a pattern book of the time.
The Architects' Small House Service Bureau (ASHSB) started in 1919 as a joint effort among a group of architects to design and publish practical small home designs. Their work helped to spread good quality home design across the country at a time when there was major growth in home construction. The results of their efforts are visible in the pleasure people today have for the homes of the early 20th century.
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Design 5-B-10 of the ASHSB |
The plan comfortably accommodates a spacious living room, separate dining room, and a built-in kitchen containing all the conveniences that were to become the norm in the 20th century. It also had a dining porch to one side.
The upper level, in the expanded attic space enabled by the gambrel, contained a full bath and 2 bedrooms that were comfortably large for the period.
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Floor Plans |
The use of shed dormers to expand the attic space results in a design that is effectively almost a full 2 stories, while maintaining the lower lines and proportion of a single story home. The lovely ink rendering of the exterior shows it sensitively integrated into its surroundings with landscaping that softens edges and provides a seamless transition from street to home.
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Exterior Perspective |
Very little would need to be done to adapt a design such as this to modern day requirements. The design shows a stair descending to a basement. If this house were built without a basement the space under the stairs could serve as a powder room off the back entry. Enclosing the porch in glass might be desirable in many parts of the country where weather does not permit for outdoor living during much of the year.