Successful Houses and How to Build Them (1912)

Charles E. White, Jr. was an architect in Chicago in the first decades of the 20th century, and served his apprenticeship in the Oak Park studio of Frank Lloyd Wright during those momentous years when Wright invented what came to be known as the Prairie House. Not only was he a part of that group which is today referred to as the Prairie School but, as a member of Wright’s office staff during those years participated first-hand in the development of those ideas and that architecture. Originally published in 1912, this book is important today for the picture it gives us of both the ideas as well as the nuts and bolts that went into these ground-breaking houses. The book is illustrated throughout with many of Wright’s houses of the day as well as houses by other members of the Prairie circle. A valuable reference not just on style, but on all aspects and details of period suburban home building. The many topics include: the horizontal line, the aesthetics of hanging window boxes incorporated into a design, decorative use of wood grain, the advantages of crank-out casement windows, use of glass, exterior staining, types and working specifications for roofing and siding shingles, gutters, recommendations for lighting fixtures, modern heating, plumbing, masonry and cement work.