Design Book Details Modest Mid-Century Homes

An architecture guide from more than 50 years ago could contain some wisdom for today’s home builders.

Lloyd Alter of Tree Hugger offers a few of his favorite concepts and floorplans from the 1965 Small House Design book, which chronicled Mid-Century home design in Canada. Many of the houses in the book are split-level, a design that’s nearly extinct.

Those 1-1/2 storey plans are really interesting today for a number of reasons, particularly in this era of aging baby boomers. … These houses were small, yet flexible and could adapt to all kinds of change. They were good for kids and they will be good for seniors. We should be building more of them.

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