Print media, while not as influential as it was in decades past, remains a popular platform for the sale of house plans. When readers of Better Homes and Gardens magazine selected House Plan No. 3709-A as their favorite of those presented by the magazine in 1972, the national visibility the plan received no doubt prompted a few sales.
Recently I saw the house among selected images of “the vintage home” which were posted on flashbak.com. I recognized it immediately as I drive by an example quite regularly. The one near me has been fastidiously maintained since it was built with only a few changes. The most notable change from the following plan has been an enlargement of the garage, but the original quasi-Wrightian window detailing was carefully re-created when the garage was expanded. It’s a nice and late example of mid-century modernism… and still looks like new!
I remember this house from my childhood (well, teen) years. I saw it in the magazine and someone built one nearby (which also looks from the outside totally unchanged). I think it’s a great plan that if I were building I would consider using today. The bedrooms are nicely separated from the living areas, the service areas are grouped together, and if built into a sloping lot, the basement can (and often did) contain a “rec room” as large as the living room with a 3rd fireplace, along with the possibility of additional bedrooms. All in all it’s a very liveable and still stylish home design.
I agree… it’s a great plan! I’ve been in this house before and it, too, has a spacious recreation room in the basement. I was most impressed with the way the rooms relate to each other, with the living room being the central hub. It would definitely work well if newly-built today… the plan clearly had a lot of thought put into it.
I found this while surfing the internet. My current home is done in this style. If you need another pic I can send…
Thanks for the photo, Nick! Your house looks amazing, and I’ve added to the post above.
I grew up in this house!! Built in a suburb an hour outside Philadelphia! My mom still lives there. My parents added on a sunroom off the kitchen too.
Any idea of the architect or architectural firm that BHG hired to develop this plan?did the magazine employ its own architects?
I live in a version of this plan and I love it.
Lancaster John answered your question in the comments (below) almost four years ago.
no, not just you. with a few exceptions, residential design is off the rails and you don’t have to be FLR to know as the misalignment of design (?) is so glaringly obvious. I have been redoing the garden at one of these insults to architecture. I will send a pic next time I’m there. it meant to be a 2 story Federal like I used to live in but the roof is too steep and the 2nd story isn’t full height making the windows just plain wrong. if this wasn’t enough injury, the builder ripped a scar in the woods, dumped in truckloads of demolition debris as fill, covered the exposed parts with landscape fabric, and covered that with 3″of mulch. not even topsoil or comppost but mulch. you can imagine how hard it is to convert this to a living garden. and have to look at that “thing” while doing it.
You’ve just shattered my impression of Maine as a bucolic spot punctuated with gracefully aging vernacular architecture. Please do send a pic of the eyesore if convenient. Bonus points if it’s wrapped in toxic vinyl.
oh, better than that it’s sheathed with clapboards made of recycled pop bottles so it’s a really Catch-22 situation. it looks good until you get close and it’s better than vinyl and
………..recycling.
My father built this home in Northern VA, in the early 70’s from start to finish after work and on weekends. It took a full year, being a master tradesman and especially skilled stone mason and having only this daughter as a helper. I think he loved this design because of all the stone work challenges it presented for him. I especially loved the massive stone chimney in the family room and the full stone wall in the dining room that was the back of the living room fireplace, it was not only gorgeous, it was cool!! Not certain if that was part of the original plan or not, but no matter, he was a trail blazer and enjoyed being creative. He also installed windows in the front facade/bedrooms, to allow more light and take in the woodland views. This truly was a very livable floor plan with a modern cool vibe. This was a sweet reminder. Thank you for posting.
How fun! Nothing will bond you to a house better than building it or helping with its construction. I agree that the
fireplace wall is a gorgeous feature… I personally think it looks better when done in stone than in brick as seen in the illustration above. Glad you liked this!
Love this houseplan and may build something similar someday. Do you have a picture of your father’s house with the front windows? I would like to see how that looks.
I live in this house in Illinois, I love it, lives well, lots of style.
This plan seems to me like it will prove to be timeless; it’s style is still appealing after nearly half a century. I’m torn as to my favorite features… the sunken living room, the vaulted ceiling, the massive fireplace wall or the garage windows. I’m glad you appreciate its character!
My family built this home in 1978-1979. We only sub-contracted out a few things like electric, plumbing, roofing. We did the rest. It was a gorgeous home and served us well. It is between Charlotte and Huntersville, NC.
We also live in this house in a suburb of Kansas City. When we bought it in 1996 we had to undo a lot of unfortunate changes. Previous owners tried to make it look more country. Yikes! When we walked in my husband said, “this house needs us”. The good thing they did is add sliding doors in the living room and bedroom so the patio we added is our biggest room. When people come in they are surprised at how spacious it feels. It looks much smaller from the outside I guess.Still here and still love the floor plan.
Just found some more background on this home plan. This link has some great pictures to several examples built around the country. https://www.usmodernist.org/norris.htm
Wow. Thank you for the link, John! It’s great to not only learn who designed this house (Henry D. Norris), but to see so many variations of his design! I can’t help but wonder how many of these were eventually built; it was obviously and justifiably quite popular.
Where can someone interested in building this house get the blueprints??
We live in this design now in Tennessee and love it! We had to look past all the original shag carpet, panelling and florescent lights to visualize what a gem it could be.
Hi – I just found this article and wanted to say that my husband and I are living in this house in Texas! Ours was slightly updated over the years, but not well maintained at all, and we’re in the process of removing the old paneling and updating a lot of things. However, even though our house sadly hadn’t been well taken care of when we bought it two years ago, it’s still solid as a rock! We have all the original blueprints, complete with the original owner’s handwritten notes on the modifications he made to it. We love this house!
Hi Kimberly!
We have this plan in Tennessee, too, in Franklin. What city is yours in? Do you happen to have photos of what the original paneling and shag carpet looked like? I’m so curious! When we bought ours, all those details had already been updated and removed!
Hello! We just bought this house and would love it if anyone has photos of the living room in its original form to share. Ours has had some remodeling to the living room with the step down from the front door. I want to bring it back to its original look! Looks like in the magazine ad for it there was some sort of room divider between the living room and the entry. Also, our entry has hardwoods rather than the original flagstone, and I would love to see what it would’ve looked like! Also, if anyone has photos of the original kitchen layout, I would like to see it! Thanks!
We have a slight variant of this design in Vermont…fundamental floor plan is the same…but just a bit different. The LR/DR is a single large room in our design, with a large fireplace wall on the rear wall, shared by the whole space, and flanked by large windows. The kitchen has a larger family room adjoining. And the house was designed for aging in place, so no sunken living room, and washer dryer moves to a mud room between kitchen and garage. The mud room a vital feature for Vermont…we really like the flow, and a feeling of spaciousness for a house with 1714 sq ft…a good deal smaller than the BHG design (which I think came in over 2200 sq, ft.)
I saw a slightly different version of this house in Maryland.
Slightly different in a good way… that’s really fun!
Hi there.. this is Nick..from Barrington (home pictured) above. I have re-done the siding and have new pictures of the home much more modern and updated. would love to maybe swap out the pic that you have? Also can send some of the back as well if you would like. Just let me know.
Thanks!
Nick
I’d be happy to swap out your earlier photo with any new ones you might want to share. I’ll email you with info.
When I was 17, my parents built this home in Wisconsin. My wife and I moved back seven years ago and live in the house. We routinely comment to each other about the marvelous design. I would build it again.
John
My in-laws live in this home in Southern Illinois. It hasn’t had any structural changes since being built in 1978/79. I would love to see some of your interior pictures. Theirs does have a half wall with wooden slates on the upper half, dividing the entryway from the living room. The living room does not have the sunken floor or vaulted ceiling.