The Row House Revival Is GoingTo Town-Not to Mention Country

By Wolf Von Eckardt

Cityscape

The Row House Revival Is GoingTo Town-Not to Mention Country

By Wolf Von Eckards

DOING Shakespeare's roseone better, that which weused to call a tsh-h-h!) 'rowhouse" sells far more sweetlyunder another- name-townhouse.'You may smile at the guile

of the crafty promoters. Thissimple change in nomencla-ture has already saved us un-told square miles of preciousopen country. It gives untoldfamilies m&-e usable greenspace and shared recreation.And it has, by and large, giv-en us a far more handsomearchitecture than most de-tached suburban houses of-fer.Some outstanding exam-

ples of "The Row House Re-vival" will be on view in aphotographic exhibition atthe National Housing Centerbeginning Tuesday. The exhi-bit was created by the Ar-chitectural League of NewYork and is being circulatedabout the country by theAmerican Federation of Arts.Row houses are of course,

among the oldest housingtypes in civilization. In for-mer times the houses of com-mon people huddled togethermainly for mutual protection,not only against outside ene-mies but also in the Mediter-ranean cultures, against thehot sun. Then arrow streetsbetween the rows providedshade. And the atrium withinthe houses provided far more

privacy than most of ourpresent-day suburban back-yard patios.AS THE ELEGANT houses

at Pompeii prove, living inrows could be a most elegantaffair. And it was soon dis-covered that beyond the ne-cessities of common defense,there was great conveniencein living close together be-cause it enabled one to shareclose-by facilities and ameni-ties.The most charming row

houses in modern times werebuilt on this idea as specula-tive developments in Bath, asmall town in England. Here,in the mid-lath century, afather and son team (JohnWood the elder and JohnWood the younger) createdthe Royal Crescent and otherrows of houses that faced nottheir counterparts across th3.Street, but open, park ,Blecountry and elegant squares.A lot of people could thusenjoy fine views. And bybuilding a whole block ofhouses all run together andtreated as an architecturalwhole, comparatively smallhouses could be given all thedignity of a palace. RoyalCrescent is one of the mostelegant examples oaf Geor-gian architecture.

The English still call suchrow hous e developments"terraces" Town houses inthose day were the In townpalaces of the wealthy whoseprimary seat of splendor wasthe country manor.

And that, of course, iswhat the growing Americanmiddle-class aspired to whenIt moved out to suburbia. Wewanted our own little manorson our own little estates,though Mother has to runthe place without servants,Father has to keep it upwithout handymen and John-ny and Jane have no place toplay once they have out-grown the postage stamp-Size yard.Besides, the front lawn and

narrow side yards of theseminiature manor estates arepretty useless. And all thethousands of other, oftenidentical suburban housescreate ever-lengthening dis-tances to most of the otherthings you want to dobesides sleep, watch TV androast hot dogs.SO IN THE PAST few

years the row house cameback and all was forgiven, ornearly all. The name "townhouse," of course, is notquite accurate because

-the

majority of them are builtout In the country. Theyhave the advantage of savl,ngland and travel distances.They do away with the use-less front lawns and sideyards and put this saving inopen space so trees, brooksand ponds can be preserved.Here the kids can reallyroam and the managementworries about the upkeep.Planned development per-

mits screened parking, swim-ming pools and community

centers. Town houses, fur-tlierrrinre, can be built moreeconomically because theyhave common foundations,walls and roofs, as well asheating and cooling. They

P save the government moneybecause municipal servicesare closer together, thestreet area Is reduced andthe postman doesn't have towalk so far.People obviously like them

and more and more buildersare therefore converted tothe idea. We could have farmore suburban town housedevelopments if only ourconfused and reactionary lo-cal governments wouldchange their zoning laws topermit them. But most of thegreat statesmen on our coun-ty councils saw their coun-ties get rich and fat on con-ventional subdivisions andhaven't discovered yet thatthese have long ago startedto make us poor. We pay forthem not only with tax mon-ey but also with "deproved"schools, services and qualityof life.The one thing we wouldn't

forgive the old row housewas its drab, monotonouslook. No one since the RoyalCrescent has treated it quitelike a palace. But even ifsome architect had, we don'treally want to live in palacesany more but feel entitled tothe individuality of kingsand noblemen in our ownright, though we seldom getit.But when the row house

became a town house, a num-ber of creative, modern ar-chitects came to the rescueThey have contributed littleto our suburban housint,partly because it doesn't pnvthem and partly because t'builders feel they canalong without them, But for

the town house the buildershave sought professionalhelp. And as the exhibitionat the Housing Center shows,the results are very en-couraging.

A FEW OF the arehitci isIn the show, to be sure, teensmore interested in arelislee-ture than in people. An ex-ample is Mies van der Roho,whose Lafayette Park in De-troit creates a most ho sit-some environment. But thismodern Versailles shoc a to-tIe respect for the individur:-ity of the town house owner.You don't really live in ahouse. You live behind aseemingly endless glass fa-cade. i\lies just sliced UP Iiapartment house boxes andstrung each story along tl,~street. The apartment boxhas an elevator. Along thestreet you must walk.Chloethiel Woodard Smith,

in contrast, managed at Capi-tol Park In Washington'sSouthwest to give her townhouses remarkable Individualvariety within a wonderfulunity of composition. Charleshi. Goodman's houses atRiver Park, in the same tar-ban renewal area, are moreuniform. But his is a uniform.ity rich with almost playfuldelight.There are twenty town

house designs by almost asmany architects and from allparts of the country In theexhibition. AM It is amazinghow varied and inventivethey are both In appearanceand interior layout. There is,in fact, as much variety hereas in contemporary detachedhouses. The quality of designis, however, immeasurablysuperior.Some of the best new tosn

houses I have seen however,are not Included in this exhi-bition, presumably becausethey were not completed atthe time It was assembled.They are the clusters byChloethiel VT. Smith and IAWhittlesey & Conklin thatare mirrored in Lake Ann atReston, Va., America's new

1. Townhouses at Reston designedby Whittlesey & Conklin

2. Townhouses designedfor Reslonby Louis Sauer

3. Reston townhouses designed b\Chloethiel W. Smith

4. Chloethiel Woodward Smithtownhouses at Reston

5. Oneofthe Charles fri. Goodmuntownhouses at Reston

est New Town. While theSmith cluster nostalgicallyechoes the soft charm of Por-tofino, Conklin's has much ofthe urbane elegance of bath,In both there is, If that'swhat you want, far more ofWestern man's cultural tradi-tion in every single brickthan In a whole Levittown ofphoney Colonial houses.Though, perhaps just a lit-

tle less familiar at firstglance, the same Is true ofReston's latest architecturalfeat, the new town houses byLouis S aue r, overlookingReston's golf course.

IT HAS BEEN a long timesince the architecture of ourday has accomplished asmuch for human livability.You'll find here not just ex-citing and dramatic shapes toserve the noble art of ar-chitecture, but shapes thatserve the joys of being athome.Huge windows bring In

views and heighten a senseof spaciousness. Both indoorsand out, there are ell defined spaces for family"togetherness," what will,sun decks, balconies and awell secluded patio. The Ar-rangement of these spaces isso commodious and cleverthat family members willhardly get into each other'sway.Most of all, however,

Sauer's splendid design, atrelatively moderate prices,should remove the last rea-sonable objections to the rowhouse idea. The houses ap-pear wide on the inside, rath-er than narrow and vertical.And each has an unrnistak.ably individual entrance, notjust a kind of apartmentdoor out on the street. I amalmost tenanted to call theSauer town houses a newbreakthrough in town housedesign.At any event, the new

name has already consid.erably changed and Im-proved the monotonous,drab, old-shucks, let's noteven mention the word anymore,

THE WASHINGTON POST Sunday, July 24. 1966