Evening star., 1937-04-03
HOUSING THEME
|NTR|GUES WOMEN
Two Dwellings Completed
in Exposition Are Centers
of Attraction.

The growing interest of women in
the field of home construction is DEM
onstrated by two houses completed this
week under the roof of Grand Central
Palace, New York City, where the six
teenth annual Women's National Ex-
position of Arts and Industries is being
held.
The houses form the focal point of
the exposition, dominating the scene
as the building theme apparently
dominates women's interests today,
according to Elizabeth Gordon, who,
with Dorothy DucaS, is author of The
Stars Designed for Living column
Miss Gordon states that record crowd
of visitors is expected, with the FEM
inine gazers asking as many questions
as the men about insulation, plaster
work and boilers.
Miss Gordon continues:
For these houses, which will be
open for inspection for week, are
not cardboard construction to demon
strate theory They are real -louses,
complete in every detail except con-
nection of plumbing and heating fix
lures and erection of foundations,
practical examples of what the new
building philosophy can mean in low
cost comfort.
The walls are actual walls, the roofs
capable of keeping out weather such
as never might be expected inside a
public building. They have been built
with deliberate realism by the Com
munity Home Builders and actually
by Green Acres Estates, Inc, the con-
tractors, in order that the public might
see not miniatures or mere backdrops
for furnishing, but actual houses.
One house is small, only four rooms,
one bath and unfinished attic, which
could be built without land and with
basement for $4,000. The other has
six rooms, two baths, dressing room,
guest lavatory and attached heate ga
rage and has been built to sell for
S9,l40 with land.
Copies Of Real Homes.
Both houses are replicas of homes
which already have been built, the
small one in Bethesda, Md, under
the auspices of the National Lumber
mems Association, and the large one
at Valley Stream. L. I. They were put
up in Grand Central Palace in five
days, by men working there in eight
hour shifts "a hours day. Although
the elimination of foundations and
sewer connections cut out a great deal
of time needed to put up buildings,
this still represents something like
record.
Several shortcuts in the building
were necessary to make the plan feas-
ible. Plaster, for instance, could not
be used on the walls, for it would have
taken more than five days to dry out
properly, before paper could be hung
or it could be decorated with paint
So, in the case Of the small house,
insulating wall board was substituted,
while the large house used plaster
board. The heating equipment, which
is a pipeless coal-burning furnace in
the small house and an oil-burning
boiler in the large house, can be shown
only in separate booths, since there is
no cellar.
In the case of the Green Acres
house, which is stucco on the outside,
a composition board is used with
cement paint over it, in place of the
siding which would ordinarily be
given for the price. This is because
stucco, like plaster, needs time in which
to dry out. But it should be remem-
bered that composition board with
cement is perfectly durable material
for exterior siding, and not in any
respect fake"
Built on Floor Joists.
Both houses rest on floor joists
laid directly over the exposition halls
cement floor, but from the joists
upward they are conventionally
made. There is even an empty space
in the hallway of the little house,
where the stairway to the basement
would be, and the Green Acres house
also has a cellar door.
The $4,000 house has red cedar
shingles on the outside and the same
type of roofing material is used. The
type with some insulative value and
the inner walls are of insulating
wallboard, the joints of which have
been treated with a new process 50
that they are perfectly solid. Paper
has been put over some Of the walls
while others have been painted. There
Is no fireplace, but well-constructed
chimney to carry off the fumes Of
the furnace.
The $9,l40 house, of the French
manor house type, has a stucco ex-
terror with slate roof, while copper
hoods cover the corner windows and
the portico. The chimney is brick
and the terrace and portico floors
also. The double-hung windows are
glazed with plate glass, while metallic
insulating foil is spread between all
inner and outer walls and under the
roof. The bath rooms are tiled on
floors and walls and the kitchen
equipment included in the sales price
lists built-in wood cabinets, enameled
sinks with linoleum tops trimmed with
stainless metal. There also is lin
oleum on the kitchen floor.
The Chanin architectural and en-
gineering departments evolved
special building technique to get the
houses completed within the allotted
time. Here are few high lights:
Interior partitions were in place
and ready for painters and paper
hangers before the roof was on
Paper hangers invaded part of the
second floor before the staircase was
built.
Portions of the fireplace were done
after the living room was decorated.
The house was IS per cent finished
on the inside before the outside walls
were covered.
The interior decoration of both
houses has been planned and executed
by committee of four women men,
bers of the American Institute of