Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-01
PREDICTS RADICAL
CHANGES IN HOUSES
Real Estate Official Describes
Trends Toward Healthier
Homes of Future.

Single family houses in this country
will undergo radical changes in the next
10 years. says Herbert U. Nelson, execu-
tive secretary of the National Associa-
ton of Real Estate Boards.
Interested in housing on behalf of
the thousands of association members
who handle homes or home sites, Mr..
Nelson, writing on the home of the
future, sees more and more attention
paid to giving the home dweller better
light and air.
The houses that will dot the land
scape a decade from now, he believes,
will have fiat roofs that can be utilized
for outdoor living rooms. They will
have opaque windows as wide as store
show windows, providing an abundance
Of air and light without loss of privacy
because, though the sunshine can get
in, the public gaze cannot he thinks.
with physicians continually stresSing
the importance of adequate air and
light, future generations are going to
demand even more provision for these
important elements, yet the growing
congestion of our cities makes it difficult
to get either" he writes. THE home
of the future, therefore, will be so con-
structed that it will receive two or
three times the amount of air and light
secured by the homes Of today.
Foresees Opaque Windows.
81 believe we will come to use opaque
windows, such as those used in fac
tories at present. The glass admits light
but cannot be seen through. These
will be as large as some preSent-day
store windows, which will give houses
the pleasing appearance Of sun parlors,
Several of these giant windows will be
placed in each side wall, with the center
one Of transparent glass.
THE basement will be eliminated
entirely. 1t is costly, inefficient and
serves few useful purposes to the mod
ern family expect as storage place
for the heating system. Heating sys-
TENS will be in the garages, which Will
be attached to the houses.
Building lots will change in size,
because of the advent of the attached
garage. Sites will be wider and short
er to accommodate the attached garage
on the side. This tendency is so strong
that it may affect architectural styles
in that such designs will have to con-
form to the wider lots. The attached
garage is, Of course, space saver.
Living Rooms to Be in Rear.
"Floor plans will be shifted so that
the living rooms will appear at the
back of the houses and the kitchen and
service rooms on the street side. Liv-
ing rooms were originally placed along
the street because the street was
thought Of as parkway, lined with
trees and gently traversed by carriages.
Then 1t was pleasant to sit on the front
porch or to linger in the front room
windows.
"Then, too, front yards were used as
play places for the children and mothers
sat on the verandas with their sewing
and watched their offspring romp close
to the old-fashioned curb. Now, in
our cities, the front yard is the very
last place in which mothers want their
children to be, and even suburban
parents are fearful Of passing automo-
biles.
Fewer houses have porches, and no
one In cur cities wants to sit on them
anyway. The dust, dirt and noise from
the street, the automobile racing by,
the thud of heavy trucks, makes the
front Of the house @ far from pleasant
place In which to linger. Thus, there
Is o tendency already to turn houses
around on their lots and place the
living rooms at the back and the kitch-
ems on the street. The living room
then can open on to the back yard,
which can be made attractive with
flowers and landscaping, and a far
greater degree Of quiet can be enjoyed
by the home dweller.
walls and partitions will be thinner
and thinner without destroying the
durability of the house. Centuries ago
when q man built house he usually
built It Of stone, with walls o foot and
o half thick. He did this to keep his
house as warm and dry as possible dur
ing bad weather and such construction
kept his house cool in Summer.