PURPOSE.

The purpose of the Architectural Division was to prepare standard plans and standard details for all houses to be constructed by the Housing Bureau, to draw up requirements to be followed by all architects employed on housing projects, and to see that such requirements were followed.

ORGANIZATION.

The original organization comprised architects and draftsmen who drew up standard plans and details and received drawings of the project architects and checked them in all their details. It later proved necessary, however, to add to this staff specialists on plumbing, heating, electric wiring, and specifications, and to assign special responsible architectural examiners for each of the several projects. These examiners checked the general plans and details of the houses and other buildings and were responsible for seeing that the specialists checked the plans with reference to their specialties. Prior to the armistice there were five such architectural examiners, each in charge of several projects. The architectural examiners made a close study of the reports of the preliminary investigation and of the second investigating committee (committee on design), and were responsible for making the plans conform to their recommendations and to those of the staff and to the manual for designers. When the architectural examiner had finished his review of the plans and had secured the criticisms of the specialists, they were submitted to the manager or assistant manager of the division, who returned the plans to the architects. On every project the plans were submitted to the division at least twice before the final drawings were

accepted. Thereafter drawings came in for contract. and were turned over by the architect simultaneously, to the Requirements Division for an estimate, and to the Construction Division for construction.

POLICY.

-Certain matters of basic policy were determined for the Architectural Division by the executive departments of the bureau, for example, the use of temporary versus permanent construction. (See Vol. I, p. 16.) The main policy of this division may be stated to have been the promotion of the utmost amount of standardization of working details and plans, in so far as such standardization could be made consistent with economy, with quantity production, with speed of operation and with the welfare of the ultimate tenant.

STANDARDIZATION OF PLANS.

Standard house types were devised by this division as well as standard plans for dormitories, schools, stores, and community buildings. The use of only four or five standard types was permitted for each project. Though the local architects generally submitted plans for many times that number of house types, these plans were always reduced in number. In the smaller projects, as, for example, Aberdeen, the number of types of plans was reduced to two, and at Quincy, with approximately 400 families, only five types were used.

Variety was secured, however, by using these plans with modifications, such as placing the porch at the front on some and at the sides on others, by using the plans sometimes for detached houses, at other times for semidetached houses; by reversing the plans; by using pitch roofs on some and gambrel roofs on others; by varying the exterior through using shingles, clapboards, and stucco. In this way all of the economies in cost and labor of large-scale reproduction of a very small number of house types was secured, while the communities built were spared the disadvantage of monotony. Reproduction throughout the village of the same type of house without variation would make the community cheerless and unattractive to the in

coming laborer, which would be reflected in the labor turnover, and would also materially reduce the ultimate sales value of the property. But by the methods above described communities of quite varied external appearance were made possible, while the economies of standardization were secured.

STANDARDIZATION OF DETAILS.

A careful study was made of each of the details of the house plan and equipment in order to practice every possible economy consistent with speed of production, welfare of tenants, and salability of the property. Thus stud lengths and joist dimensions were closely studied, so that standard studs and joists could be used with as little waste as possible and with a minimum of additional cutting. Existing stock fixtures were studied in order that the most economical of the satisfactory samples could be used. It was found, for example, that Philadelphia used one standard window and door frame, in New Hampshire another was used, in New York still another, in Boston another, and in the West another. Most of these local types involved a waste of material if used on a national scale. The Housing Corporation, therefore, adopted one standard for the entire country, which was accepted by the Housing Division of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Its standards were later adopted by the War Industries Board, with minor changes to meet their requirements, and through them by other Government departments.

Similarly, all interior trim, door and window trim, baseboards, sash, etc., were subject to careful study, and the Housing Corporation limited itself to three or four standard sizes out of perhaps an available 40, so that the manufacturer could with safety produce such sizes in quantity with a certain market. By the time of the armistice numerous copies of the standardized details prepared by the Housing Corporation were in the hands of the manufacturers of hardware, electric fixtures, and millwork throughout the country. When the War Industries Board adopted these standards these manufacturers were able to take labor away from the production of other types of fixtures and to concentrate upon the production of materials according to these Federal standards, thus unquestionably reducing the amount of labor which had to be expended upon the production of building materials, and thereby releasing labor for the draft or for other war purposes.

ADAPTATION OF HOUSE PLANS TO LOCAL CONDITIONS.

The standard plans in some cases had to be adapted to meet peculiar local conditions. Room heights which were adequate in the North were insufficient for the South. Houses constructed in the colder

climates had to be provided with vestibules. The houses planned for Dayton, Ohio, had to be provided with cisterns, because the city water was so hard that it could not be used for washing clothes. Following the local custom in the West, houses were provided with dining alcoves in the kitchens; in the South houses had to be provided with summer kitchens. Hot-air heating was customary in some localities, but in communities where all other builders of this class of houses were using steam or hot water the Housing Corporation had to do the same until the war need for metal forced the use of hot-air furnaces everywhere except in those cities in the South which used natural gas for heat.

The materials utilized were affected by the locality. In order to avoid unnecessary burdening of the transportation facilities, the most available local materials were used for construction. Thus in Pennsylvania, houses were provided with slate roofs because slate was right at hand; in Bethlehem houses were planned of brick because lumber was scarce. In the East cypress or pine were used for exterior finish, but on the Pacific coast redwood or fir were used, and in the South hard pine. At Erie terra cotta was used because locally available.

ECONOMIES THROUGH STANDARDIZATION.

The major economies were accomplished by the use of a few standard plans, by using standard materials and equipment, and by elimination of unnecessary fixtures. It was possible to keep rooms small by careful placing of doors and windows and still to provide for all necessary furniture. An immense amount was saved by this device alone. Of the plans submitted by local architects more than one-half were discarded because of the insistence upon reducing the number of types to four or five. It was generally possible to eliminate several doors or windows from most house plans submitted, it being deemed that two windows were enough for a bedroom if properly placed for cross ventilation. As the elimination of a door or window saved $15 per house, if only two were eliminated from each house out of the 25,000 planned for there would be a saving of $750,000, or sufficient capital to construct nearly 200 houses on basis of $4,000 per house, not taking into consideration labor and time saved. By cutting 1 inch off a base board there would be a saving of approximately $3 per house, or on a program of 25,000 houses a saving of enough capital to construct 19 houses. By reducing the width of the architraves, doors, and windows there would be an estimated saving of the cost of 25 complete houses. By eliminating an average of one electric switch per house there would be an estimated saving of 25 houses; by eliminating back

venting for plumbing at a saving of $20 per house there would be an estimated saving of the cost of about 125 houses.

Conductors were generally eliminated by the Housing Corporation, and subsequently both gutters and conductors were ordered to be left off by the War Industries Board as a means of saving metal. Though the elimination of gutters was probably undesirable as an ultimate policy, it is estimated that the saving accomplished by this rule amounted to $1,250,000 for the houses planned by the Housing Corporation. Similarly, the elimination of blinds as ordered by the War Industries Board probably saved an immediate expense of $1 per pair, or of approximately $25 per house, representing, therefore, a saving of the cost of 156 houses in the Housing Corporation program. This was probably not wise economy from the point of view of the ultimate sales value of the house, but was a possible means of saving labor and materials during the war period.

The houses constructed by the Housing Corporation have been criticised because of the lack of blinds, gutters, conductors, and metal flashings, and because of the use of asphalt shingles and of wood register faces for cold-air intakes. In many cases the Housing Corporation was not responsible, as it was forced to follow the rulings of the War Industries Board, which was compelled by war necessities to cut down the use of these materials. For the same reason the corporation was often forced to make use of inferior materials which were in stock, instead of securing more satisfactory materials by order.

In some instances the Housing Corporation, in its zeal for economy, probably went too far and reduced the utility and thereby the salability of the houses. In the earlier house plans, for example, only one wash tray was provided in the kitchen. It was shown later that this was a serious mistake, and in the later designs two wash trays were planned for. In order to save materials, sizes of rooms were kept down, but in many of the houses constructed the

rooms were too small for comfort. Porches were also sometimes too small to meet the requirements of family use.

ACTIVITIES SINCE THE ARMISTICE.

Since the signing of the armistice the activities of this division have lessened. The work, in general, has been of a character similar to that previous to the signing of the armistice, but has consisted in working toward the completion of projects under way. Most building operations not well started were abandoned. This did not lessen the work of this division, however, as, in general, the architects were still working on drawings which they have since finished and sent in to this division to be approved and accepted.

In the spring of 1919 the working drawings of a schoolhouse at the Cradock development, Portsmouth, Va., were completed, as well as the plans for a fire station and group of stores and apartments. A schoolhouse has been designed for the Truxtun development, Portsmouth, Va., and drawings have been completed for a school at Quincy, Mass.

This division has also prepared the perspective drawings and plans of buildings erected by the corporation, which are published in Volume II of this report.

The personnel of this division was materially reduced since November, at which time there was a chief architect, a chief draftsman, a specification examiner, 4 heating supervisors, 2 plumbing supervisors, 2 stenographers, 5 architectural examiners, and 14 draftsmen. On May 19 the division consisted of a chief architect, a stenographer, and 6 draftsmen. On June 15 the division was closed.

JOHN W. CROSS,

Chief Architect, April 1, 1918, to December 7, 1918. MICHAEL A. DYER, Chief Architect, December 7, 1918, to May 15, 1919. G. F. TEMPLE,

Chief Architect, May 15, 1919, to June 15, 1919.