Evening star., 1926-04-03
INDIVIDUAL DESIGN
FOR ROW HOUSES
Broken Building Lines and
Garages on Side Give
Air of Distinction.

In the ideal homes demonstration
sponsored by The Star is the row
house group to be erected by Morris
Cafritz on Decatur between Fourth
and Fifth streets These houses were
designed by Louis Justement.
There has been considerable discus
sion of late in regard to this type of
dwelling and the various views in re
gard to them have been extensively
aired at practically every meeting of
the Zoning Commission during the
past few years
AS 1t is generally accepted that by
far the majority of houses being CON
structed In Washington at this time
are row houses, The Star undertook
to make this type of residence one
Of the nine models it desired to demon,
strate. An effort will he made TO show
that row houses need not he un-
slightly. as claimed by some. but that
with proper planning and cooperation
between the architect they may be-
come decided factor of beauty in
those parts Of the city where row
houses are in demand and best serve
the requirements of the public.
MOnOtOny Is Eliminated.
In the accompanying plans it has
been attempted TO demonstrate
proper arrangements of the houses
The most striking feature Of THIS
propect is the placement of all gar
ages on one side of the alley simplify
ing the block interior and making the
rear yards more attractive for use
and endowment Design has elimi
mated any monotony from the row
house group and every effort has
been made TO give each house an in
dividuality There will be IA houses
in this demonstration.
The grouping of houses has been
studied with relation to the entire
row and will eventually present A
symmetrical composition. Two de-
partures have been made from the
usual method of building houses in
rows: In the first place the houses
have been arranged in groups of twos,
threes and fours and the monotony of
a continuous facade avoided by set
ting alternate groups back about 2
feet from the established building
line. In addition. instead of changing
the floor level for each individual
house to conform with the grade,
changes in floor levels have been
made to correspond with the group
ing. The proper grouping of houses
and the adaptation of the design to
existing grades is one of the most i'm
portant, if not the most important
factor in row-house design.
Back Yards Larger.
A modification of the usual ar
rangements for garages has been in
troduced in this plan. Instead of
having garages on both sides of the
alley. and having miscellaneous
assortment of tin garages, destroying
the use of hack yards on both sides.
the alley has been shifted so that it
is not quite in the center of the
square and a continuous brick wall
has been. designed 10 feet back of the
alley, leaving the opposite back yards
OF equal depth. Between the brick
wall and the alley line, individual
sheet metal garages will be built. two
garages TO each house width, one gar
age belonging to a house on Decatur
street and the other to a house on
Delaf1eld place. Not only has this ar
rangement added 10 feet to the effec-
tive depth of the hack yards on each
side of the alley, but viii result in an
attractive brick wall at the end of
the rear garden of the Decatur street
houses in place of the unsightly tin
garages ordinarily provided. Access
TO the alley can be had through the
garage.
The accompa nying drawings illus
trate three types of plan: No. /, the
corner house: No. ?. the usual type of
row house which is used in of the
~ houses. and No. 3. a slightly diff
ferent type, used in OF the houses
in this row.
In type No. more space is secured
L. srs In
living room Is provided. This Is &C
complished by a change in the en-
trance hall which will give privacy
in reaching the second floor but will
make it necessary to go through the
living room to reach the front door
from the kitchen. This objection.
however, is not believed to be as seri-
Gus as that OF the smaller living room
OF plan No. 2.
Eliminates Projecting Closet.
A further advantage of pls n No 3
Is that it makes it possible to remove
the projecting closet in bedroom No.
T. which is main objection to the
second floor plan of that design. The
closet to bedroom No. ? and the bath
room in plan No. are both slightly
larger. SO that the second floor pla n
of this type of house is decidedly bet.
ter than that of plan No. 2. The use
OF winding stairs has been avoided in
all houses.
The accompanying sketch-drawing
Of these houses shows only II houses
of the total number. as houses IL. 13
and IA are repetitions of Z, and 9.
respectively. The design for these
houses is adapted from English prece-
dents, which allow a considerable de-
nf franHnno IN ho
materials win be as follows: Sand
finish colonial red brick, laid in ce-
ment mortar, with fooled joints: green
or notified slate: belt courses, quoins
and sills of limestone; half-timber and
porch posts of cypress. stained; rail
Ings to be of wrought iron. Some of
the houses have no covered front
porches.
AS has been pointed out in previous
articles, the use Of the front porch
L. not so much in demand, since the
advent of the automobile has made
possible more satisfactory ways of
Many modern homes are being built
without front porches. because of the
lack Of privacy of the front porch,
and use is being made of the rear
ga rden or rear porch q 8 the most
satisfactory place for outdoor living.
providing, as they do. much greater
privacy. The only objection to this
has been the unsightliness Of our
hack yards. With the elimination of
the tin garage or the concrete drive
ways 90 a built-in basement garage,
which this plan provides, the rear
yard can and should be transformed
into q garden and made a livable
extension to the house rather than
90 many square feet of taxable real
estate wasted.
The elimination of covered front
porches on some of the houses helps
the design in two ways: 1t avoids
monot0nN which ineXita blX results