page_title: American Foursquare
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: American Foursquare / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Wegeforth-Wucher house at 3004 Laurel St. in San Diego, California (zip code 92104). The house was designed and built in 1912 by architect William Henry Wheeler in the American Foursquare style for Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth (who later founded the Zoological Society of San Diego and San Diego Zoo) and his wife Rachel Granger (daughter of millionaire Ralph Granger). The couple were married in the home on November 14, 1913 and lived there for a year. The house is designated historical site no. 163 by the City of San Diego.
context_page_description: The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was plain, often incorporating handcrafted "honest" woodwork. This style incorporates elements of the Prairie School and the Craftsman styles. It is also sometimes called Transitional Period.
  The hallmarks of the style include a basically square, boxy design, two-and-one-half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor, a center dormer, and a large front porch with wide stairs. The boxy shape provides a maximum amount of interior room space, to use a small city lot to best advantage. Other common features included a hipped roof, arched entries between common rooms, built-in cabinetry, and Craftsman-style woodwork.
  A typical design would be as follows: first floor, from front to back, on one side, the living room and dining room; while on the other side, the entry room or foyer, stairway and kitchen. Sometimes a bathroom was also included.
context_section_description: The American Foursquare or "Prairie Box" was a post-Victorian style, which shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. 
  During the early 1900s and 1910s, Wright even designed his own variations on the Foursquare, including the Robert M. Lamp House, "A Fireproof House for $5000", and several two-story models for American System-Built Homes. Unlike other houses of the style, Wright's versions featured more open main floor plans achieved by removing or minimizing partitions between the entry, living room, and dining room. He in turn inspired other Prairie School architects, such as Walter Burley Griffin, to design similar Foursquares in the following decades.
  Later Foursquares often had the same type of interiors as bungalows with open floor plans, many built-ins, and fireplaces. Many examples are trimmed with tiled roofs, cornice-line brackets, or other details drawn from Craftsman, Italian Renaissance, or Mission architecture.
caption: Wegeforth-Wucher house, Burlingame, San Diego
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