In 1938, LIFE magazine invited Frank Lloyd Wright to design a dream home for America. The result was the Usonian house, a prototype of reasonably-priced, reasonably-sized residential architecture. "A MODEST house, this Usonian house, a dwelling place that has no feeling at all for the 'grand'," wrote Wright. It was intended to be beautiful, functional, economical to build and to operate.
In view of the 2008 housing market collapse in the US, and the resulting devastation of the economy, one can only ask -- where did we go wrong?
The Joys of Cottage
We still have a romantic image of the small country home, white picket fenced, surrounded by roses and climbing ivy.
There is a violet flow'r that grows/Around the lowly shepherd's cot/And in the silence of the night/It gently breathes, "Forget me not."**
A cot, as in the poem above, is a small cabin or lean-to, similar to the line shack of the American west. A cottage, like an acreage, was originally a small piece of land on which the cot was built. The word for the land eventually came to represent the building itself.
What is a Cottage?
Using the word in its modern sense, how small must a dwelling be to qualify as a cottage? What are its characteristics? For the sake of definition, a cottage has these qualities:
- Relatively simple roof line
- Rectangular in shape
- Simple but attractive design
- Set in a small plot of land
- Between 700 and 900 square feet
These qualities come from an analysis of online floor plans and house building plans labeled 'cabin' or cottage'. 'Cabin' has a connotation of being simple, plain and unadorned, while 'cottage' has a connotation of attractiveness. In terms of size and function, though, the two terms are interchangeable.
Benefits of Cottage Living
There are numerous benefits of cottage living, not the least of which, as Wright observed, is affordability.
- Low construction cost
- Low property taxes
- Easy to clean, cuts down on housework, gives more leisure time.
- Easy to heat - low utility costs (add solar heat and electricity for greater benefit)
- Encourages a life of simplicity and freedom from accumulated possessions.
- Easy to maintain, less stuff to break down or wear out.
- Handy - everything is right there
- Cozy. Very cozy.
- Encourages social relationships among inhabitants.
Disadvantages of a Cottage
- Small spaces are no longer the norm.
- People feel "poor" if they do not have a gigantic house
- People have forgotten how to live together
- Small homes can now feel cramped.
"Now we are cabin'd, cribb'd, confined," to paraphrase Shakespeare (Macbeth, Act III, Scene 4)
How Big is Room Enough?
There are those who would argue that fewer people in more space means not greater freedom but increased isolation.
Perhaps it is time to move back a bit, to a time when people made do with a little less, but in many ways had a great deal more. Perhaps it's time for a little less executive living and a little more cottage life.
Note
**The author learned the poem from his mother and is unable to find a source,
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