By the end of World War II (WWII), major changes occurred in the American homebuilding industry with the introduction of Modern architecture, the development of industrial materials, and fast-assembly building methods.
Construction of new homes increased due to the federal government’s new housing policies: the GI Bill with provisions of low interest and zero down-payment mortgages offered to veterans, and the federal income tax system allowing mortgage interest payments and local taxes deductible to new homeowners.1
Energized by a new “American Dream” and a strong national economy, coupled with a major baby-boom, an unprecedented demand for family housing was set into motion by a new middleclass society.
In Seattle, postwar housing development took place in the suburbs, while also expanding beyond the city core into neighborhoods such as View Ridge, West Seattle and Magnolia.2 One type of midcentury *home emerging in Magnolia in the early 1950s, was a one-story house built of Roman brick. Thinner and longer than the traditional brick, Roman brick was a signature design feature popular in midcentury houses for its distinct linear texture that would heighten a new modern residential style.
Roman brick was originally used in ancient Roman construction. The Romans perfected the techniques of fired clay brickmaking and used it in a variety of buildings across their Empire. A prefabricated modern Roman brick was first introduced to the United States by the New York architectural firm of McKim Mead & White, the most prestigious architectural firm in the early 20th century.3 It became associated with Modern architecture once Frank Lloyd Wright used it as the main feature of the Robie House (1910, Chicago) to emphasize the horizontal effect to his Prairie style work.
The Roman brick used on houses in Magnolia came from (?), and varied in …colors and textures. The Roman brick trend in Magnolia was used not only in residences, but in many commercial buildings on West McGraw Street in the Village, such as the original Le Roux Men & Boys Wear (#3220; 1948), the Magnolia Post Office (#3211; 1954) and the retail building (#3407; 1948), to name a few. It was also used in large-scale buildings such as Briarcliff School (1949 – 1952; demolished) on West Dravus Street and Magnolia Court Apartments Building (1948) located next to Albertsons grocery store.
Roman brick houses were built on many streets throughout this neighborhood from the late 1940s to the end of the 1950s. But beyond the new brick feature lays a well-defined new house type with a distinctive architectural style that marked the period of postwar housing in Magnolia.
Magnolia’s Postwar Housing Development: A Quick Overview
With the Garfield and Dravus Street bridges set in place by the 1930s4, the development of Magnolia as an urban residential district slowly started to take shape.5 The cluster of shops on West McGraw Street expanded in the 1940s and would become the commercial heart of Magnolia—the Village.6 By the end of WWII, servicemen and their families drove demand for affordable houses. New homes were developed around the Village and eventually in
un-built pockets of Carleton Park, Southeast Magnolia and along the back of the Briarcliff area. From a count of 1,960 homes on the peninsula in 1935, the total jumped to 4,500 by the end of the ‘40s. The ‘50s added another 2,000.7 Magnolia’s population boom was so great that two new schools—Briarcliff School (1949 – 1952) and Catherine Blaine Junior High (1952)—were quickly built in order to absorb the increase in new students.8 Churches were also being planned to better serve the expanding community.
Postwar Early Years
Built for returning GI’s, the first postwar houses were small, single-family homes based on the Cape Cod style. Soon afterwards, WWII-era cottages*9 were erected by the hundreds by small-scale speculative homebuilding companies on Magnolia like Modern Home Builders Inc.10 They were purchased by families who took advantage of a variety of government incentive programs offered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).11 The FHA not only provided insurance that covered bank mortgage loans, it also issued strict design guidelines that stipulated the size of new homes, limited building materials and set the maximum price on construction in order to offer affordable homeownership to a broad market.
The architectural design of these modest tract homes of wood siding, standard brick facing, and gable roofs were widely available to homebuilders through house plan booklets from companies promoting new construction products or construction services, such as Weyerhaeuser. Slowly assimilating modern features, these modern-colonial rambler houses were of simple shapes with an overall traditional appearance. The low-cost house type could be easily mass-produced in order to meet the new family housing demand. Examples of theses types of development can be found in small pockets around the Village, and along 34th and 35th Avenues between West McGraw Street and West Barrett Street.
1950s
Around 1950, the small WWII-era cottage was quickly replaced by the ranch-style house*.12 Postwar prosperity meant that larger homes could be built and financed, and the
ranch-style house was a perfect fit for the taste of a new decade. 13 Builders across the nation actively lobbied for higher loan limits and FHA guidelines were revised upward.14 In it’s early version, the ranch-style house’s exterior appearance resembled that of the WWII-era cottage, only bigger and less boxy, with large window openings and a floor layout that offered more than the basic four-room house.
The Roman Brick House
The 1950s was a decade of conformity, stability and conservatism. After the tumult of the Depression era and WWII, peace and a sense of normalcy were all that everybody wanted. As the economy grew and brought millions of Americans into the middle class, the home construction industry boomed to meet the continuing demand for single-family houses.
In Magnolia, the Roman brick ranch-style house is a perfect example of this period, combining its familiar home design styles from the past with new modern ideas. During the Great Depression, California architect Cliff May combined Arts and Crafts styling with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie architecture to design what later became known as the Ranch style. By the end of WWII, real estate developers seized on the idea to build a flurry of simple, affordable homes that could be quickly constructed throughout America.15
The quintessential Roman brick house style is at once understated and modern. While its scale and masonry cladding quietly blends into the fabric of this neighborhood, it is also characterized by a series of strong architectural components, set together to create a cohesive modern composition. Working as a whole, the different components offered much flexibility. They could be arranged in multiple ways and could be easily adapted to Magnolia’s different lot conditions in flat or sloped areas. Therefore, there exist a number of variations of this house style, some more unique than others and some strikingly modern for their times.
Architectural Components
The most common Roman brick house type is a compact square shape, developed for narrow lots. It is outlined by a wide one-story house structure composed of two blocks that interlock together. One block contains the living spaces, the other bedrooms and a bathroom. On long shallow lots, an adapted rectangular version also exists. The roofing is a low, simple cross-hipped roof…* with moderate-to-wide overhangs and usually covered in cedar shingles. Except for the chimney, all protruding architectural elements are set and unified under the wide roof.
The integral chimney and fireplace is an important part of the building itself, conveying in a solid sense the heart of the home. In many houses, a single broad Roman brick chimney rises vertically from an end wall or central roof area, grouping all the fireplace and furnace chimneys into one.
Instead of being a strong feature visible from the street, the front entry of the Roman brick house is most often a discreet one, recessed deep inside the building or set off-centered. In some cases, the front entry is set to the side of the house, in the L nook where the hip roof crosses. Front porches are always contained under the main roof of the house, making them relatively inconspicuous. In certain homes, the roof is projected outward above stairs or porches, supported at its corner by a post or a trellis made of wrought iron in a wide variety of designs, from simple modern forms to traditional patterns such as vine and leaf motifs. The front door is usually a simple solid wood flat panel, in place of the traditional frame-and-panel type.
In lieu of conventional window openings punched into walls, large glass wall facades and wide corner windows gave these houses their predominantly modern look. Picture windows could capture the incredible views from Magnolia and would flood interiors with sunlight. A variety of sizes and types of pre-manufactured windows were available to builders during this era. Steel windows were still used after WWII, but aluminum windows gained widespread use in the construction industry due to their lower price and non-corroding properties.16 To achieve a modern look, the combination of thin metal window frames set in masonry walls eliminated traditional painted wood windows and decorative trims, resulting with an exterior window detail that was minimal. Additionally, by boxing the roof overhang eaves* and setting the window head at it’s top, it gave the distinct modern feature of continuous glass running up to the roofline.
Corner windows were popular in the early Roman brick houses, usually requiring thin corner support or steel beams to create an uninterrupted opening. Glass blocks* of different textures were also used as front door sidelights, in privacy areas, and in some instances for decorative effects.
Equally important was the integrated garage set inside the house instead of an attached or a detached structure. As the car was becoming the symbol of postwar middle-class life, the integrated garage was proudly set at the front of the house, often located at the basement level, connecting the garage to the interior of the house with a direct access door.
Working as an extension of the architectural style, the front gardens of Roman brick houses were displayed in midcentury landscaping design, inspired by Japanese gardens of simple lines and geometry. They featured large boulders, mature red Japanese maples, pruned junipers and pines. Low integrated planters built of Roman brick were favorite elaborations and could be small and located near the entry, or horizontal and stretched along the front facade of the house.
Finally, the use of Roman brick as the predominant exterior cladding material would unify the body of the house, giving it a subtle modern elegance, fit for the era.
Midcentury Domesticity
The economic and global instability of WWII gave rise to the need for a closely defined family structure based around a secure and contained domestic life. The midcentury home would offer a casual family-lifestyle and material comfort, as promoted in articles and advertising on taste-making and domestic lives in popular magazines such as Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Sunset and Better Homes and Gardens.17
Walls separating the living, dining and kitchen spaces were slowly eliminated, creating the ‘open plan layout. The compact four-room house layout would transition with the Ranch-style house into a gracious floor arrangement where living and sleeping would be set in distinct parts of the house, linked by a small hallway that would led to a bathroom and two or three bedrooms. Instead of commonly having the front door open directly into the living room, these homes had an entry foyer with a coat closet, which opened into a comfortable living/dining space… adorned with a fireplace -– perfect for home entertainment. In addition, the open house plan meant wider ‘picture windows, bringing abundant natural light into the interiors.
Kitchens in the early 50’s were still basic old-fashion kitchens, reserved strictly for cooking and featuring a small eating area. They were equipped with tiled countertops, porcelain sinks, linoleum flooring, wood or sheet metal cabinets in white, and slightly streamlined appliances also in white. In those days, the kitchen functioned as a separate room, soon to evolve in the mid-50s as an open ‘living concept with modern amenities and integrated appliances.
Bathrooms were more fashionable. While ‘hygienic’ white square tile dominated the 40’s, the midcentury bathroom showcased the era of pastel colors with pink, mint, and baby blue square tiles, encasing tubs and running floor to ceiling instead of being applied as wainscot around walls.18 Bathrooms where equipped with the latest plumbing fixtures manufactured by American Standard, Crane or Kohler.
The ‘newest’ room in the house was the ‘family room’ or ‘recreational room’, located in the basement and usually finished in knotty pine board panels.19 Inexpensive and durable, the popular knotty pine was commonly used in midcentury homes. With its wood paneling, its brick fireplace and comfortable furniture, usually in Colonial Revival style, the family room exuded coziness.
Other modern amenities would include ‘iconic’ midcentury house products such as entry doorway hardware from the Schlage Manufacturing Company (1920, San Francisco), the round plastic Honeywell wall-mounted thermostat designed by the famous American industrial designer Henry Dreyffus in 1953, and in the mid-50’s the introduction of plastic laminate countertops from Formica or Wilsonart that would replace tiled countertops.
As leisure time grew in the postwar period, the introduction of television inside homes would have the biggest impact on domestic life. By 1949, the television set would become a basic household item as prices would go down and be affordable to all. The black and white entertainment world of television would crystallize the casual family-lifestyle of the 50s. The TV dinner appeared in 1954 and the living-room furniture would be rearranged as families gathered in front of television sets to watch I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners.
Local Homebuilders
With postwar demand for housing high, home construction practices in Seattle and Magnolia changed. Homebuilders had to transform their business model, so that housing development and marketing skills were as important as craftsmanship qualities alone.20
Modern house building in Magnolia was planned and developed in different ways. Some homebuilders purchased large or small tracts of undeveloped land with streets and other infrastructure already in place, while others acquired a series of moderately priced lots. When lots were close enough to each other it was cost effective to develop them all at once, sometimes using a single house model with minor changes to create some variation on a street or within a certain area.
Aside from a few custom-built homes designed by upcoming Seattle Modernist architects such as Paul Thiry, Robert Dietz and Ira Cummings, local homebuilders, some of them of Nordic descent, developed and built many midcentury homes in Magnolia.
Nordic communities were well-established in the Seattle area, and kept on growing after WWII with an immigration influx21. In the Northwest, jobs were plentiful, especially in the building and construction trades were homes were needed. Whether in the fields of shipbuilding, aircraft engineering, architecture and building construction, the story of the Nordic community in Seattle is one of” “”””’’’“””builders“””, and many of them ran successful construction businesses after the war. Among them, the names of August Lillquist and Bernard T. Dahl often come up in Magnolias neighborhood history.22
August Lillquist was born in Finland in 1888, immigrating to Seattle around 1908. From the early 1930’’s, he was building traditional brick houses on West Lynn Street in Magnolia, then evolved into the popular Roman brick ranch-style and later the Wilkeson sandstone* trend. He purchased a parcel of land north of West Armor Street and developed West Armor Place and part of Bishop Place West, developing midcentury houses in that area in the mid-1950. He lived in one of his own home designs until his death in 1965, a Ranch-style house of Wilkeson sandstone built in 1948, located at 1546 Magnolia Boulevard West.
Bernard T. Dahl was born in 1913 in Norway. He was actively involved with the home building industry, acting as the president of the Seattle Builders & Contractors (part of the Seattle Master Builders Association) in 1941 and again in 1949. In that same year, he purchased and developed a small plat subdivision in Magnolia that bares his name –- Dahl Terrace – –along West Barrett Street between West Viewmont Way West & 39th Avenue West (set behind the former Briarcliff School) where he built large houses on big lots, some in the Roman brick style.
Lillquist was much involved in the local Finnish and Swedish communities, being the director of a dancing group called the Swede Finns. Both men participated in their respective communities in social, cultural and sporting events through churches, associations and clubs. It is likely that business was frequently conducted during those events where they could mingle with prospective clients recently established in Seattle.
Other important Magnolian builders from the postwar era included: Mildred White, her son James Paul Jones (Jimmy), an architect-developer who started work in 1950, and Walter Miner who came from a family tradition of builders.23
In With the New..….
By the mid-1950’s, the understated Roman brick ranch-style house was losing its appeal in favor of bolder home styles such as the midcentury post and beam* and the split-level*. With the 60’s on the horizon, the appeal for technology and science would be center stage in promoting futuristic visions for living, as showcased in Walt Disney Monsanto House of the Future (1957-1967) and in the House of Tomorrow featured at the Seattle’ Worlds’ Fair of 1962.
For a brief period, Magnolia’s midcentury Roman brick houses encapsulated the early postwar boom of this neighborhood and the aspiration of its residents. Built on many streets, the scale, style and craftsmanship of these homes are still to this day a strong part of the housing fabric of this neighborhood, displaying Magnolia’s early midcentury architectural heritage.
Glossary
- Modern design: from the early to the mid-twentieth century, informed by Scandinavian design and German Bauhaus design school, came a distinct design style based on simplicity, rationality and functionality.
- Midcentury: Modern design from the 50’’s and 60’s.
- WWII-Era cottage: modest postwar tract-houses that were simple and quick to build in order to meet the immediate housing during and right after World War II.
- Ranch-style house: most enduring house type since the late 40’’s with many stylistic variations. It’ is noted for its long, close-to-the-ground profile and wide-open floor layout to create a casual living style. The house style fused Modern ideas with informal living inspired by California and the American West.
- Midcentury Post-and-Beam house: mid 50’s & 60’”s house type characterized by …post-and-beam lumber construction method…. High-grade timber beams and fewer supports allowed for expansive interiors with floor to ceiling openings.
- Split-level house: house in which floor levels are staggered, typically with two short sets of stairs, with one running upward to the bedroom level and one going downwards towards a basement area.
- Wilkeson sandstone: local sandstone from Wilkeson quarry in Pierce County.
- Cross-hipped roof: popular variation of a hip roof, which gently slopes on all four sides. For a cross, the two hip roofs are laid out in an ‘L’” installed perpendicular to each other.
- Overhang boxed eaves: edges of the roof that overhangs the face of the wall and project beyond the side of a building. The eaves can be boxed or open in many design forms.
- Glass blocks: an architectural element made from glass that provides visual obscuration while admitting light; dating from the 1900 and popular in Art Deco architecture & design.
Notes
Introduction
1. “See “G.I. BILL”, Wikipedia, 22 November 2018, and also The Congressional Research Service (2004), A Chronology of Housing Legislation and Selected Executive Actions, 1892-2003, U.S. Government Printing Office.
2. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed., “Introduction: A Historical Overview of Architecture in Seattle”, Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Historical Guide to the Architects, (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1994): XXXII.
3. Vincent Joseph Scully, The Shingle Style and the Stick Style: Architectural Theory and Design From Downing to the Origins of Wright, (Yale University Press, 1971): 149.
Magnolia’s’ Postwar Housing Development
4. HistoryLink.org, Essay 3415, 6/30/2001, “Louise Fiset, “Seattle Neighborhoods: Magnolia – Thumbnail History. On Dravus Street Bridge see Seattle Municipal Archives and Joy Carpine, Critical Connection: Bridge to the Bluff, Magnolia Memories & Milestones, (Seattle, Magnolia Community Club, 2000): 205.
5. HistoryLink.org, Essay 3415, Ibid. See also, Greg Shaw & Monica Wooton, Magnolia Historical Society.org, 5/11/2016, “Snapshot in Time: Magnolia Outpost to Out-of-sight Properties.
6. Joan Santucci, The Village, Magnolia Memories & Milestones, (Seattle, Magnolia Community Club, 2000): 174-182.
7. See Mrs. Henry M. De Coss, Grown and Development of Magnolia Community, Magnolia News, August 25 1955, and also Aleua L. Frare, ed., Land to Build Houses on: Magnolia – Yesterday and Today, (Seattle, Magnolia Community Club, 1975): 25.
8. Mrs. Henry M. De Coss, Ibid.
9. Michael Houser, “WWII Era Cottage 1935-1950”, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Washington State, (Olympia WA DAHP), June 2014.
10. Aleua L. Frare, Ibid and Greg Shaw & Monica Wooton, Ibid.
11. L. Beth Yockey Jones, Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, (Seattle, Abecedary Press, 2009): 63, 64.
12. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, Ibid: XXXII.
13. Virginia Savage McAlester, Modern Houses -– Ranch, A Field Guide to American Houses, (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2013): 603.
14. Virginia Savage McAlester, Ibid: 603.
The Roman Brick House
15. Per a detailed study of the Ranch see Virginia Savage McAlester, Ranch ca. 1935-1975, Ibid: 596-603.
16. Kaaren R. Staveteig, Maintenance and Repair of Historic Aluminum Windows, Windows #22, Preservation Tech Notes, National Park Service, May 2008.
Midcentury Domesticity
17. Virginia Savage McAlester, Ibid: 603.
18. Barbara Rhines, www.oldhouseonline.com, Guide to 20th-Century Bathroom Tile, August 11, 2014.
19. Thomas Hine, Populuxe (New York, MJF Books, 1986): 55.
Local Homebuilders
20. L. Beth Yockey Jones, Ibid: 69-71.
21. On Nordic immigrants to Seattle: Paul Norlen, Swedish Seattle (Seattle, Arcadia Publishing, 2007), Kristine Leander, Norwegian Seattle (Seattle, Arcadia Publishing, 2008).
22. Main sources on Lillquist & Dahl:
- Interviews with Dale Hogle and Carol Batchelder… about homebuilders Lillquist & Dahl (September 2018).
- Kroll’s Atlas of Seattle, Washington (Seattle: Kroll Map Company, Inc.), 1950, Vol. 1.
- Seattle City Directories
- L. Beth Yockey Jones, Ibid: 45, 71, 102, 283.
- Paul Norlen, Ibid: 104.
- Seattle Daily Times, August Lillquist, Builder, December 31, 1965: 28.
- Seattle Daily Times, Obituary, January 4, 1966: 40.
- Seattle Daily Times, Lillquist Estate EstimatedAt $250,000, January 6, 1966: 13.
23. Aleua L. Frare, Magnolia Stretches and Grows, Magnolia – Yesterday and Today, (Seattle, Magnolia Community Club, 1975): 25.
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