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The American Foursquare House

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 1 person)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

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Our American Foursquare House

 

I will never forget the day I told my wife we were going to buy this house and neither will she.
It was a mess, my wife deserves a medal.
The American Foursquare or "Prairie Box" was a post-Victorian style, which shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. Many Foursquares are trimmed with tiled roofs, cornice-line brackets, or other details drawn from Craftsman, Italian Renaissance, or Mission architecture. Later Foursquares often had the same type of interiors as Bungalows with open floor plans, lots of built-ins, and fireplaces.

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Our American Foursquare Before

Our American Foursquare After

American Foursquare Home 

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 (unless purchased from a mail-order catalogue). This style incorporates elements of the Prairie School and the Craftsman styles.

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. Second floor, front to back, on one side, bedroom, bathroom and bedroom; while on the other side, bedroom, stairway and bedroom. The bedrooms had a slightly longer dimension along the front and back of the house with side by side closets between the bedrooms. This gave a very efficient layout with a bedroom in each corner and a centralized bathroom and stairway. The top floor was generally just a big open space with one to four dormers. The basement generally contained a large natural convection furnace.

The 1920's Kitchen 

Simple and easy

This is the kind of kitchen I grew up in. It was the 60's. However; My Mom insisted on keeping her kitchen in the style of the 1920 house. Our floors and walls were off white, butter yellow ceramic tile, outlined in black. In the center of our kitchen was a big cooks table with butcher block and marble. Not much counter space, walk in pantry and a breakfast nook wrapped in windows. I was ashamed of our kitchen, I wish I had it now.

American Foursquare Flickr Photos 

The American Foursquare - Portland Style by Daily Bungalow

Magnificent example of the Four Square.Foursquare had a low pitched, hipped roo...

Grand American Foursquare by Wahig

Period cousin of the bungalow.

Daily Bungalow - SE Portland, Ladd's Addition Neighborhood by Daily Bungalow

Typical Foursquare with hipped dormer.

Hopping House by forficatus.books

Hopping House, 636 N. Denver, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Amercan Foursquare house. Built 1...

The Historic Kratz Manor by sarrazak6881

Kratz HouseCarriage Town Neighborhood4th AvenueFlint, MI 48503Restored by D...

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FrankChapman

About FrankChapman

I have been painting since I can remember. I graduated from The Collage of Mount Saint Vincent in NYC. It was fun perhaps not necessary. I remember My Dad thinking I would starve. That never happened. I enjoy painting portraits. I use photoshop and a Wacom pallet and brush. I print and stretch my own canvass only archival mediums. Pets are the best subjects They make people so happy. Isn't that what its about.

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