Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-02
BY CHARLES M. GOODMAN


BY CHARLES M. GOODMAN
1t should be fairly obvious to
any educated observer Of the
home building scene that:
/. The public-and especially
the women-want something
different from and better than
the houses they are now offered
2. The home builders have
no research program to show
them what people really want.
and they have no steadily pro-
gressive design program TO Sc
duce the elusive buyer, so
3. The home builders have
resigned themselves to going
backwards to traditional houses
in the hope of picking up sales.
But this does not mean that
the public has really developed
q sudden craving for tradi-
tional architecture.
The average American doesn't
know what Colonial is. or what
French Provincial is. or what
English Half Timber is, and he
cares less. All he cares about
is the good life that other in
dustries competing for his dol
lar are offering him and max
ing it possible for him to enjoy.
regardless of his income.
And my answer to those who
say. Sure. but look how far
in debt the American gets him
self" is so what?" Is there
something wrong with men
having so much faith in the
future Of our system that they
are willing to borrow on their
future earnings to have the
good life now, not when they
are too old to enjoy it?
Demand Abundance"
Fortune magazine puts it
simply and well: American
consumers are no longer con-
tent with minimum standards
but demand the abundance,
quality and style that used to
differentiate the good life
from ordinary Huino." The
italics are mine.
The average Americans idea
of a home for the good life
calls for romance, informality.
gadgets that save human labor
while titillating the ego. GER
tainly decoration, certainly as
much privacy as his building
dollar will buy. certainly the
barbecue with all it connotes.
and certainly a house with
enough personality to make
him feel like an individual in
q world of machinery.
And I don't think he could
care less about all the details
If the end product has a healthy
mixture of undiluted sex APP
peal. He is sick and tired of
the plainneSs, sameness, and
RECOMMENDATION of size, shape.
and arrangement in most of
the houses he is offered. He
leans to the Cinderella type
house because he wants sex.
His attitude toward built-ins.
houses facing away from
streets, bigger windows, floor
to-ceiling windows, indoor
outdoor living. and all the rest
is summed up in simple Eng
lish by: Good. If all these
things combine to give me and
my family the good life, that's
for me-"
Wants Home to Look Big
He wants his house to look
big. just as he wants his car
to look big, but If builders think |
they are contributing to the
long term solid growth and
stature of an industry as i'm
portant as home building by
using such a transparent device
as higher roof pitch to create I
the illusion OF bigness. they
have not understood what has
happened in other segments of
our economy and has not yet
happened in home building.
And any builder who thinks
he can stick a so-called picture
window in an otherwise dreary
package of house and land or |
tuck a built-in somewhere or
tack a patio on. or roll out the
wall-to-wall carpeting. or tack
on a few pieces of natural wood
inside-and think he is salts
flying the yearning of the
American consumer-couldn't
be farther from home plate.
l sometimes think builders
should give their minds a
strong cathartic from time to
time to clean out the incredibly
cluttered collections of I'M
related ideas they assemble and {
foist on the home buying pub I
lie. If there is one ingredient {
that is sorely needed in the
home building industry in
America today it is taste-good /
taste.
1t is the package, the whole |
package OF house and land. that J
provides the good life-and not
any of the parts alone. And
In my book the present builder /,
package leaves much to be de-
sired that cannot be satisfied
by reverting to the past.