Floor plans of southern houses: the subject of the new book
The Southern Architecture Foundation has published an important new book of southern house plans. Illustrated Southern Architecture (ISBN: 0-932958-23-0) is a compendium of more than two hundred and fifty photographs illustrating more than one hundred residential designs and forty-two floor plans. This invaluable design volume was originally published by Harman Publishing Company of Atlanta in 1931. The original had a foreword by Lewis Crook, AIA of Atlanta; and had an introduction written by Dwight Baum, AIA of New York City. The selection of plans and illustrations of outstanding suburban and country homes in the American South was made by a committee of prominent local architects. The new publication in a case from the Fundación de Arquitectura del Sur of this historical work is the second publication of the SAF, the first being The Architecture of James Means – Georgia Classicistwhich aired in the fall of 2001. Illustrated Southern Architecture presents a heady look at a nearly forgotten pre-Depression world. This southern coastal vernacular house plan architecture includes some of the most luxurious early 20th century cottage and suburban homes in the South. What makes the presentation so particularly attractive are the included floor plans, and also the dark, picturesque, green sepia-type photographs with their chiaroscuro quality.
Although porticoes abound, however, most of the plans represented are of modern-style homes -new and at the same time classic- with the particular taste of the South in the old; in fine fabrics, prints and paintings; in a beautiful setting with all southern hospitality in mind, waiting for the elegant party guests to arrive. These plans featured living rooms, sleeping porches, and parlors decorated by exclusive firms such as Porter and Porter – Interiors – of Peachtree Street in Atlanta; and James Blauvelt of New York City.
The genesis of Illustrated Southern Architecture lies in a magazine called Southern Architecture & Construction News, which originated in a different format in 1882 and then began regular publication in 1889 in Atlanta under the distinguished architect Thomas Morgan (1857-1940) of Atlanta. Harman Publishing Company took over publication of the magazine in 1910, and Henry Harman (1856 – 1926) became the magazine’s publisher. The original edition of Illustrated Southern Architecture it is dedicated to Henry Harman. His son Harry Jr. became the magazine’s business manager. Later, Ernest Denmark (1899-1980), who started as an employee of this publishing company when he was still twenty years old, became the last editor of the magazine until he finished. It was Denmark who edited Illustrated Southern Architecture although his name does not appear in the book. Harman Publishing Company defined “The South” to include the former Confederacy of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; as well as the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Oklahoma and the District of Columbia. Thirty-eight of the illustrated houses are in Georgia; another sixteen are in Tennessee; there are seven each from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Missouri; there are six from Alabama, Texas and Virginia; three are from Florida; two are from Oklahoma; and there is one from the rest of the states and DC
On page 276 of Illustrated Southern Architecture an advertisement appeared for Southern Architecture & Construction News in which it was stated that it had been in continuous publication since 1882, and that it had the modest general circulation in the seventeen southern states. Original copies can be viewed at Emory University, the Charlotte Public Library, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Atlanta History Center. Originals of the magazine, which originally cost fifty cents each, now routinely sell for between ten and twenty dollars. The original print run was 5,000 copies. Illustrated Southern Architecture it cost five dollars when it was first published in 1931. It was to be part of a planned series of similar books. However, the Depression ended the company and the magazine in 1932. Now a clean copy of Illustrated Southern Architecture it sells for more than five hundred dollars. The current run of 1,000 copies has its own slipcase, faithfully reflecting the style of the original green cloth cover that was embossed in gold.
