architectural history sources yet is visible in virtually any urban neighborhood developed
during the period 1900–40. Despite its lack of official approval, this hardy survivor was
far and away the dwelling of choice for generations of people with modest means
constructing or purchasing homes. The design was eminently practical: it was spacious, it
was passably attractive, and it was cheap.
Variously called “Builder’s Houses,” “American Basic,” “Square Houses,” “Box
Houses,” “double-deckers,” “double cubes,” “American Farm Houses” (something of a
misnomer, since the vast majority of these homes were built in cities and suburbs), or,
because of their sheer numbers across the land, “National Houses,” the houses themselves
remain clearly boxlike in their design.
The foursquare design is often not truly square. In its rectilinear proportions, lowhipped
roof, square plan, and simple facades, the foursquare resembles early prairie
houses of the Midwest made popular by the Prairie School architects. As American cities
grew, land values soared. Urban blocks were jammed with narrow lots, usually rectangles
with the short side abutting the street. Thus, the foursquare could often be somewhat
narrower in front and back and have longer sides to accommodate the site. As cities
expanded, urban—and finally suburban—growth allowed greater flexibility in building.
The foursquare house, once removed from the strictures of cramped, rectangular lots,
usually grew in size and, in the process, frequently became more ornamented. As a rule,
box houses located closer to traditional “downtowns” tend to be smaller and less ornate
than those found in outlying neighborhoods and suburbs.
The essentially cubelike shape is the initial indicator of the type. The American
foursquare is an efficient, self-contained box. No matter how many bays, wings, porches,
or other appendages the house might offer, the basic shape of the building should be
apparent. In addition, broad, overhanging eaves follow the upper perimeter of the
building, providing shade for the second story and the bedrooms therein and a settled
Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture 78
look for the house as a whole. The rooflines growing from these extended eaves are
usually pyramidal. Unlike more expensive homes, chimneys are seldom of any great
aesthetic importance and are often made of concrete or brick. A large front dormer,
usually hipped like the roof, serves as a trademark and helps provide light and air to the
attic sections.
Windows are simple in both arrangement and presentation, usually standard, massproduced,
double-hung models that can be opened for maximum ventilation. As a rule, the lower half is a sheet of plain glass; the
upper portion usually consists of smaller panes grouped in one frame and divided by thin
muntins. In some of the more unadorned box houses, even the upper half of the window
is a single glass pane, further reducing costs. Because these homes were designed more
for utility than for architectural or stylistic purity, the windows are often irregularly
spaced, thereby serving the interior of the house in the allimportant admission of light
and air in the most efficient way.
Virtually every foursquare has a porch across its front. Decorative style for this
appendage varies, from a simple raised floor with an equally simple roof over it to
elaborate classical columns and railings that support an ornamented roof complete with
garlands, friezes, and fancy shingles.
A major selling point of the box house was its interior arrangement. Because these
homes are normally two-story structures, the first floor contains a spacious living room, a
formal dining area, a den, and an airy, well-equipped kitchen with pantry. The second
floor commonly consists of four large bedrooms, each with its own closet. Finishing off
this emphasis on livable space is an attic that offers either storage or the potential of still
Entries A–F 79
more rooms. A full basement—or “cellar,” as they were usually called at the time, a
dank, dark hole beneath the dwelling with a bare earth floor and no living amenities
whatsoever—typically houses the furnace and accompanying coal bin and little else.
As this immensely popular residential style gained momentum with buyers, it moved
from its initial simplicity to ever-more applied decoration. Plain clapboard or stucco
walls evolved into brick or shingle facades, and vestigial turrets, towers, and bays
sprouted out of the basic cube. The hipped roof might feature a widow’s walk at its apex,
or a balustrade might appear above the broad overhanging eaves.
Catalogs of simple plans—usually done by draftsmen, not architects—flooded the
market, offering, in essence, a massproduced house to anyone. Sears and Roebuck,
Montgomery Ward, Aladdin, Gordon Van Tine, and a host of other merchandisers had
long offered dwellings in kit form, and their box-style houses promptly became some of
their most popular models.
Following World War II, the style was completely eclipsed by innumerable tract
subdivisions that seemingly sprang up everywhere. The box house never achieved a
comeback, but in its brief 40-year history it has left its mark nonetheless. How many
thousands and thousands of box houses were built will never be known, but their legacy
endures in myriad ways. In many eastern American cities, the foursquare house—in sheer
numbers of extant structures—remains the dominant residential design.
Historians have at times attempted to link the origins of the box house to Federal-style
townhouses and to aspects of Italianate design and have even suggested that the
foursquare is really a reborn Georgian mansion, one more suited to the tastes and means
of the middle class. Although each of these theories contains an element of truth, each
also tends to overlook the pragmatism of the basic box house. The foursquare house, as
found in most of the nation’s cities, stands as the triumph of vernacular design on a
massive scale.
The foursquare house might find little space in the annals of American residential
design, but it has had a lasting impact on perceptions of what constitutes adequate
housing. In the early 20th century, middle-class Americans wanted more spacious homes
and larger lots. The box-type house satisfied both desires: substantially larger than most
other dwellings then available, the foursquare in turn required more land. More than has
been realized, the foursquare helped define both urban and suburban housing needs
throughout the country.
