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Your Guide to

the House of Good Taste

All Building Construction by D. Fortunata, Inc.

 

Your Guide to the House of Good Taste   This booklet has been specifically designed for your own use to -   Tell you all about the three beautiful homes you are about to see and to identify all of the outstanding products that make them possible.   Serve as a shopping guide for those products that interest you when you return home.   Our hostesses will be glad to answer your questions.   Facilities for obtaining additional information on products exhibited are available near the exit of the Hidden Assets Pavilion.

 

A distinguished and beautiful exhibit   New York World's Fair 1964-1965   How America lives is a chief source of our national pride. The ever increasing concern of the American people with "the best" in architecture, furniture, appliances and all the appurtenances of good American living presents an opportunity to put our American "best foot forward" to the world at the New York World's Fair. This has been our goal in creating The House of Good Taste. This exhibit is a group of three American houses, complete in every furnishing, construction and design detail, embodying the highest standards of beauty and comfort consistent with practical budgets. To suit a cross-section of tastes, they have been designed and furnished in three different styles and atmospheres. Three outstanding American architects have designed these three homes which will be a credit to our nation. Edward Durell Stone has created the modern house in his own famous style; Merton S. Barrows of Royal Barry Wills Associates has designed the traditional house; and Jack Pickens Coble has designed the contemporary house particularly aimed at the needs of the young married family. The House of Good Taste Exhibit presents three lovely private homes, with every aspect down to the last carefully considered detail as perfect as our distinguished architects and interior designers can make them. To achieve these ideal homes and to produce an atmosphere of unusual charm to each visitor, The House of Good Taste has drawn on the time, imagination and gifts of an exceptionally distinguished nationwide group of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, museum curators, artists and experts in many fields, who have pooled their efforts on behalf of The House of Good Taste to make it an exhibit of great beauty and significance. We feel that each of these three houses is a "living house" illustrating the wonderful combination of tradition, fine architecture and furnishings, coupled with the achievements of modern science and industry in appliances, construction and equipment that make the American home famous around the world.

This house has been designed to meet the needs and aspirations of the average family which comprises the larger segment of the home building public. Although traditionally conceived, we feel that it satisfies the ever increasing desire of people to open certain living areas to the outdoors, making for flexible and gracious living in all seasons of the year. Above all, it has the warmth and charm in all areas so necessary to make a house a living expression of our way of life.

The plan is arranged with the living, dining and family rooms grouped around the kitchen, all opening directly onto a living terrace and swimming pool area through sliding glass panels. The bedrooms are separated from the living area and are accessible without passing through any other room, thus affording privacy and quiet from the center of activity. The family room is placed on one side of the kitchen with easy access to the refrigerator by the young fry without disturbing the parents who may be entertaining in the living room.

The interiors are simple yet varied in design and texture. New and interesting wood paneled walls have been blended with old timber trusses and a large fireplace in the family room. Other combinations of wood paneled walls and applied moldings are seen in the living room and study in a happy marriage of traditional forms and modern materials.

In keeping with the original theme of this exhibit of The House of Good Taste, "conceived to demonstrate the highest standards of taste and utility in American products," we hope that a very large segment of those visiting the Fair will be rewarded and satisfied with what they see.

This house has been designed as a "Private Compound for Contemporary Living". Flanking the four corners of its dominant central pavilion, the areas of activity are architecturally expressed in mass and placement. It is a twentieth century adaptation of the concept of a communal compound common to an earlier age. It provides a private self-sufficient home, sheltered from the distractions and intrusions of the surrounding environment. The exposed perimeter walls admit light and air, to the exclusions of undesirable noise and confusion of the surroundings. Yet, the inside of the house has freedom and expansiveness, with large glass areas forming much of the interior perimeter walls. This open communication between inside and outside areas of activity prevents any sense of confinement, and enjoyment of the out-of-doors becomes all the more exhilarating because it is enclosed and secluded. The effective inter-relation of interior and exterior space is further enhanced by the provocative use of water and spanning bridges. The result of this design is to give an inner openness and outer protectiveness which permit the admirable idea of the compound to serve private dwelling. This house surrounds the out-doors; it provides an opportunity for the activities and interests of the family to be where they rightly belong -- in the home.

 

 

For this exciting modern home we have chosen contemporary furniture of simple direct design - large comfortable chairs and sofas. Beautiful fabrics lend a luxurious note, and all accessories are designed by living artisans. Since the huge central atrium with its dramatic planting of trees and shrubs is the focal point of the house, we have repeated tones of green in the fabrics and rugs. Light filters down from the dome above, and brilliant flower tones key the accent colors. Everyone should love to live in this exciting house.

Sarah Hunter Kelly

Esther Willcox

 

 

The interior design of this traditional house expresses a return to charm and livability. We believe that the individuals living in a house are of much greater importance than the surrounding background. Accordingly we have chosen a subdued monotone color scheme, subordinating the basic decor to its occupants. Accessories in the house provide a lived-in look., as though they have been acquired over a period of years. Each room is designed to fulfill the individual requirements of each ember of the family, providing areas of their entertaining as well as their privacy.

Ellen Lehman McCluskey, FAID

Everett Brown, FAID

C. Eugene Stephenson, FAID

 

 

Our design concept has been concentrated on creating a tangible reflection of the finest ideals and aspirations inherent in our American culture. Easily maintained for easy comfortable living, this house provides a background of gracious and worth-while home living where each member can enjoy the advantages of family life without sacrificing the individual's need for privacy. By providing an abundance of space for books, music, art, hobbies and entertainment, as well as space for quiet meditation, the family who lives here is invited to express its varying ways of enjoying life.

Dede Draper, NSID

Dora Brahms, NSID

Michael Greer, NSID

Arturo Pini di San Miniato, NSID

 

Hidden Assets

Building

Alexander Smith Carpets

...New York, N.Y

Arcadia Architectural Products

Northrop Architectural Systems

...Los Angeles, Calif.

Arrow-Hart & Hegeman Electric Co.

...Hartford, Conn.

Bird & Son, Inc.

...East Walpole, Mass.

Chadbourn Gotham, Inc.

...New York, N.Y.

Delco Appliance Division

General Motors Corporation

...Rochester, N.Y.

Georgia Pacific Corporation

...Portland, Oregon

B.F. Goodrich Chemical Co.

...Cleveland, Ohio

Gregg & Son, Inc.

...Nashua, New Hampshire

Honeywell Company

...Minneapolis, Minn.

Independent Lock Company

...Fitchburg, Mass.

I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company

...Philadelphia, Pa.

Kwikset Division

The American Hardware Corp.

...Anaheim, Calif.

Lennox Industries

...Marshalltown, Iowa

Lindsay Company

...St. Paul, Minn.

P.R. Mallory & Co. Inc.

...Indianapolis, Ind.

National Gypsm Company

...Buffalo, N.Y.

Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation

...New York, N.Y.

Overhead Door Corporation

...Hatford City, Indiana

Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation

...Toledo, Ohio

Portland Cement Association

...Chicago, Ill.

Powers Regulator Co.

...Skokie, Ill.

The Stanley Works

Stanley Hardware Division

...New Britain, Conn.

The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co.

...White Plains, N.Y.

Telsco Industries

...Dallas, Texas

Weyerhauser company

...Tacoma, Wash.