We found a copy of the September 1957 Better Homes & Gardens magazine that features our new home (the earlier photos were from a copy the listing agent had). Actually, now that we have the magazine in hand, we can see how the BH&G Idea House concept worked. In 1957 at the behest of BH&G the architecture firm Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons drew up the plans for a swank pad-"a gathering together of all that's good in today's building ideas". Then 77 builders across the U.S. and in Canada built it. Local department stores provided the furnishings, and thousands of folks like you and me flocked to see it...
Now I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty cool. I don't know of anything like this today. Many of the shelter and regional lifestyle magazines are still doing idea homes (Sunset, Coastal Living, Southern Living), and there are the local home tours (Preservation Dallas, White Rock Modern Home Tour...), but the scale of this was pretty amazing. Between 1953-1956 over 8 Million people visited the 324 Idea Homes built as part of the BH&G program.
In the magazine, there is a list of all 77 of the 1957 Idea Homes built, with addresses. I am not going to type them all up, but I will scan the whole article and post it soon.
I would love to connect with the current owners of some of these places and see some photos and hear the stories of these homes... If you are one, or know one, please leave a comment!!!
