TOMORROW'S HOUSE

George Nelson and Henry Wright

8 x 11 book with 214 pages and 232 b/w photos and illustrations of how these two self-avowed modernists would prefer to see American housing trends go after the end of World War II. A very desirable book that pinpoints the move away from the streamline and moderne styles of the thirties through the International Style onward into the future.

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. In terms of decor, there is none of that Chippendale jive here-- every residential interior is decked out in full prewar, streamlined glory.

Contents:

• The Great Tradition
• Home is Where You Hang your Architect
• How to Plan a Living-Room
• Picture Section: Living-Rooms
• Where Shall We Eat
• Lighting
• Picture Section: Dining and Entertainment
• The Work Center
• The Room Without a Name
• Heating
• Picture Section: Kitchens and Baths
• Bathrooms Are Out of Date
• Manufacturing Climate
• Sleeping
• Picture Section: Bedrooms and Closets
• Organized Storage
• Sound Conditioning
• Picture Section: Windows
• Windows
• Solar Heating
• Putting the Pieces Together
• Picture Section: Exteriors
• How to Get Your House (or Remodel the One You Have)
• Projections

Philip Johnson, Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and Henry-Russell Hitchcock codified their observations about modern architecture in the 1932 landmark Museum of Modern Art show "The International Style: Architecture Since 1922." The show was profoundly influential and is seen as the introduction of modern architecture and architects Le Corbusier, Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe to the American public. The exhibition was also notable for a controversy: architect Frank Lloyd Wright withdrew his entries in pique that he was not more prominently featured.

As critic Pater Blake has stated, the importance of this show in shaping American architecture in the century "cannot be overstated." In the book accompanying the show, coauthored with Hitchcock, Johnson argued that the new modern style maintained three formal principles: 1. an emphasis on architectural volume over mass (planes rather than solidity) 2. a rejection of symmetry and 3. rejection of applied decoration. The definition of the movement as a "style" with distinct formal characteristics has been seen by some critics as downplaying the social and political bent that many of the European practitioners shared. Nelson and Wright expand on this premise in TOMORROWS HOUSE, as well as showcasing the best examples of the Americanized International Style Residential Architecture built before 1945.

Architects and designers whose work appear in this book include Clark and Frey, J. R. Davidson, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Paul Laszlo, Richard Neutra, Ralph Soriano, George Keck, Walter Bognar, Marcel Breuer,Walter Gropius, Donald Deskey, Philip Johnson, William Lescaze, Edward Durell Stone, Frank Lloyd Wright , Hervey Parke Clark, Frederick L.R. Confer , Mario Corbett , Ernst Payer, Robert Trask Cox , Gardner A. Dailey, John Ekin Dinwiddie, Joseph Esherick, Willard Hall Francis, John Funk, Michael Goodman, Philip Joseph, George Kosmak, Clarence W.W. Mayhew, Emrich Nicholson & Douglas Maier, W.L. Pereira, George Daub, Lloyd Wright, William Wilson Wurster, Burnham Hoyt, Richard M. Bennett, Thorne Sherwood, George Howe, Robert Law Weed, James Auer, Kenneth Day, William F. Deknatel, Robert Sydney Dickens, Paul Thiry, Malcoln Graeme Duncan, Dubin & Dubin, James F. Eppenstein, G. McStay Jackson, Inc., George Fred Keck, Samual A. Marx, Arthur Purdy, Paul Schweikher, Victorine and Samuel Homsey, Samuel Glaser, Carl Koch, G. Holmes Perkins, Hugh A. Stubbins, Jr. , Royal Barry Wills, Alden B. Dow, Inc., Huson Jackson, Isador Shank, Allmon Fordyce, Kenneth Kassler, Vincent Kling, John Beck, Alan Burnham, John Callender, Robert L. Davison, Guyon C. Earle, Livingstone Elder, Alden B. Down, Inc., Philip Goodwin, Robert A. Green, Julius Gregory, Paul Grotz, William Hamby, Michael M. Hare, Albert Lee Hawes, Holden, McLaughlin & Associates, Caleb Hornbostel, S. Clements Horsley, Clement Hurd, France E. Lloyd, A Musgrave Hyde, Morris Ketchum, Bertrand Goldberg, John Manzer, Moore & Hutchins, George Nelson , Pomerance & Breines, Antonin Raymond, Jedd Stow Reisner, George Sakier, Morris B. Sanders, Walter Sanders, Willard B. Smith, Theodore Smith-Miller, Eldredge Snyder, Van der Gracht & Kilham , Paul Lester Wiener, Virginia Williams, Henry Wright, Allen J. Maxwell , John J. Rowland and H. Creston Doner.

Photographers whose work appear in this book include William H. Allen, Elmer L. Astleford, Esther Born, Chicago Architectural Photographing Company, Robert M. Damora, Fred R. Dapprich, Paul Davis, George H. Davis Studio, P.A. Dearborn, Richard T. Dooner, Philip Fein, Richard Garrison, John Gass, Samuel H. Gottscho, Gottscholl-Schleisner, Arthur C. Haskell, Hedrich-Blessing Studio, Steven Heister , C.V.D. Hubbard, Robert Humphreys, LIFE photo, Herbert Gehr, LIFE photo, William C. Shrout, F.S. Lincoln, Luckhaus Studio, Rodney McCay Morgan, P.A. Nyholm, Maynard L. Parker, Ben Schnall, Juluis Shulman, Richard Averill Smith, Ezra Stoller, Roger Sturtevant, Mary Thiry, Bennet S. Tucker, George H. Van Anda and W.P. Woodcock.

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

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