The Swanee

 

IN designing The Swanee, three requisites were kept in mind. First, the plan must be modern, practical and economical. Second, the home must be designed to give it at once an air of individuality and distinction. Third, to consider persons of moderate income, the plan must be arranged to fit comfortably on a 50 foot lot. The Swanee happily solves all three problems.

For those who prefer individuality in their home, this Southern cottage offers an interesting contrast to English and American Colonial types. Like many of its predecessors, it has walls of stucco and a roof of cement tile. But, with such a wide range of exterior finishing materials that can be adapted to this design, it is ideally suited to any part of our country. The exterior is made graceful by the low eaves, fine proportions generally and by the manner in which the porte-cochere or car port fits so well with the main mass of the home. The gentle sweep of the front permits this home to be placed with as much ease on hilly ground as on a level plot.

From the protected porch next to the porte-cochere, you step directly into a living room cheerfully lighted by a large casement picture window. The squarish shape of the room and the broad sections of unbroken wall allow you to freely work out a novel plan for your furniture.

An archway in the side wall joins the living room to the cypress-paneled dinette. A pleasing feature of the dinette is the large picture window that gives a full view of the side and back yard. A glass jalousie door in this room admits to the backyard.

A breakfast bar separates the dining section from the modern, efficiently designed kitchen of The Swanee. The working area in the kitchen is confined to the wall directly beneath the window. The range and refrigerator are located on the opposite wall. Storage cabinets located on both walls of the kitchen give adequate food and utility storage room.

The sleeping quarters in The Swanee are located on the right side of the house. A second archway from the living room gives access to a central hall leading to both bedrooms, bath and a deep linen closet.

Both bedrooms enjoy double exposure and cross ventilation. Also both have one large closet.

The porte-cochere will save you the expense of building a garage and provide an outdoor play spot for your children on rainy days.

Although no heating system is shown on the plan there is plenty of room in the utility or storage closet off the dinette for an oil-fired radiant heating plant. In this system, the heating panels are imbedded in the concrete floor. Although this is relatively new when compared with older systems, it is ideal for small home design. Among its advantages are that it conserves space; the heat is uniform with no hot spots or cold corners; and it is clean, leaving streak-free walls and no dust-collecting corners.

A new method of heating the home is panel heating by radiant glass. Electricity is converted into infrred radiant heat. The heat is transmitted by specially designed, electrified panels of tempered glass with a chemical heating element permanently fused into it. You can use these panels to heat your entire home or simply as an auxiliary heat source wherever you want extra heat.

This method of heating has several advantages. It is installed cheaply because no furnace, piping, radiators, registers or fuel storage space is required. The only case in which this type of installation would not be recommended is when the house is not adequately insulated.

You have a quick, constant source of heat with panel heating. Just turn on the switch. The supply of electricity doesn't run out.