House Trailers: Innovation and Accommodation in Vernacular Living

Allan Wallis

Who is Allan

Teaches at School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver.

Education

1989 Kennedy School of Government MPA Public Administration

1981 Ph.D. CUNY Environmental Psychology

1969 B. Architecture Cooper Union

What are the domains of design

• Automobile• House

How to view the house-trailer

• "what made the trailer new was not its individual parts, or even its form as a whole, but the purpose to which it was put… as a hybrid of the vehicle and the house, this new object was associated with ideals both about the home and about mobility, ideals that were often in conflict."

Lines of Development

1) the most dominant, an automobile accessory to be used as an alternative to motels, hotels, etc. for vacations and

2) An alternative form of year round housing.

Phases of Development

• Period 1 (late 1920s - 1930s) the travel trailer.

• Period 2 ( 1940s) war workers, changed to house trailers.

• Period 3 The postwar period, focus more on the home, changed the name to the mobile homes.

• Period 4 (late 1970s) manufactured housing.

Site built modifications

• Single wide• Double wide• Compound