Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-02-06

"These new department store
houses are going up on every tract
Of land I've sold this year." con-
tinued the agent. There are hun
dreds of them under way or COM
pleted on Long Island and in West
chester county. They're just as at
tractive and comfortable as those
that are built slowly by hand, and
they are, 1 believe, the greatest rem
edy that has yet been found for the
housing problem"
Statistics indicate that there are
today in this country 7,000,000 fam
lilies who hope to own their own
homes as soon as building conditions
permit. This is the large surplus OF
would-be home-owners created by
the war when private building OPP
erationS were entirely at a stand
still. To this may be added a nor
nal shortage of 1900, 600 houses, as
well as the annual demands of our
multitude of newly-weds, who now
average 1000, 600 couples a year. 1t
is a situation that clamors for speed
in the production of houses, and the
readymade house appears to have
arrived just at the right moment.
THE building of houses" says a
ANtW Iolh CIlSAllCCly 10 Nv VI tAS
last things to be industrialized, and
it should have been one of the first.
Home-building today-especially the
building of small homes-is aston
ishingly wasteful. We are still using
the same methods employed in the
time of Marcus Aurelius or of AL
fred the Great. 1t is less expert
than the making of pins.
Quantity Production Aim Now
Before the introduction of ma
chinery, a single workman, unaided,
could make only a few pins q day,
while now the daily product of a
workman, assisted by modern ma
chinery, is Is, 900 pins, complete
and stuck in paper. The same thing
can be done in regard to houses. 1t
is being done. From TO- IN, people
can buy their houses in the same
department stores where they buy
pins"
This is not quite the case as yet,
even in New York where the demand
for the readymade house is sc. Wig
orous, but you can choose your home
by mail through the aid of a cata-
logue. Most of the real estate agents
have these new house catalogues,
and the New York Public Library
did have u large collection which
has almost disappeared owing to
frequent thefts. The prices OF the
house range usually from $500 up,
according to the number of rooms
and the elaboration of detail. In the
light, so-called portable" type there
a be obtained anything from q
two-room-shack to a large Sunday
school building or a garage.
The portable structures are par
ticularly desirable for use on prop
erty which is tied up by litigation
Placed on untransferable lots, they
can be rented at a good profit and
as soon as the property is free, they
can be taken apart and easily re-
moved to another location.
One of the most interesting OF the
| new types OF factory houses is a sole
! poured concrete house, made on The
unit plan, and delivered complete lC
the purchaser by mean of a huge
| ten-wheel truck which carries The
house on a structural, steel cradle
and is equipped with hoists and Other
machinery for lifting it gently or
and off. 1t is said that two mer
can load, deliver and set up such
house complete within a radius o.
so miles of the factory in n day
One-Piece Concrete Houses
The architectural features of the
house are even more amazing. Tht
o%ne-unit, which is the smallest type
for instance, is described as posses
| sing a front door (which opens into
a little vestibule, with a coat-closst
The center of the house is occu'
pied by a combined dining and liv'
| ing room, although ordinarily there
is no hint that it is used for meals
A large mirror on the wall, wher
swung down and rested on two fold
ing legs, becomes the d~ining-rcon
table. This discloses, behind tn,
mirror, a revolving server which
communicates with the kitchen
When the meal is finished, the dish
es are piled on the server and wheI
this is revolved they r transferred
to the kitchen at the sink. The kit
chen contains. besides the sink, ;
four-burner gas stove and ven re
frigerator and electric washer. OPP
posite the kitchen door is the bat
fully equipped.
eat one end of the house, off tn
living room, is a small sun room
with a built-in window seat. Com
municating with this is a small
dressing room. AT the other n 0
the house Is a den, with idsntica