For some time now I’ve intended to explain the title of my blog… “View from the Prairie Box.” So here goes.
Our home was built in 1915 and is called an American Foursquare. It looks like a huge place, but really, what you see is exactly what you get… A square box with a basic four room layout. We fell in love with the wide front porch, lovely oak woodwork and yellow pine floors, and special touches like our built-in linen closet upstairs. Apparently homes like ours were built from a Sears catalog floor plan in the early 1900’s. Another name for the American Foursquare is, you guessed it, the Prairie Box. Someday I will research the history of our home and hopefully I can find pictures of this portion of Lincoln around 1915. By that time Zion Church and the larger homes on our block had been built. I imagine the homeowners of the day could sit on their wide front steps and watch the trains roll by, puffing out clouds of black smoke just a few short blocks away. Now we have lots of trees and a great green park, not to mention multitudes of houses, between us and the railroad tracks. But what what was it like in 1920 during the Prohibition? or in the ’30s under the strains of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl? or in the 40’s while World War II raged on in Europe (and Germans in Nebraska were under much suspicion)? or in the rock ‘n roll days of the 50’s? the racial tensions of the 60’s? the Vietnam, hippie 70’s? I just can’t help but wonder… What has the Prairie Box seen?
7 Comments
dena Jul 5, 2004 12:23 PM
Speaking with a tiny bit of authority on american houses, I believe the Four-Square has the best floor plan of all- it’s open and inviting, and provides a cozy home without being cramped. And there is nothing to beat a four-square’s spacious front porch. The Sear’s catalog of homes really kicked off the american housing industry… which has it’s good and evil sides… and despite the four square’s simplicity and seemingly plain-ness, there is nothing built today that even compares. I love your house. Thanks for talking about it :)
rebecca Jul 5, 2004 2:35 PM
thanks dena! i think i’ll come to cherish the “cozy home without being cramped” aspect when we have multiple kids. houses these days tend to be really spread out and families almost have too much space (kids never really play in their own rooms anyway). i remember my entire family crowding on my parents’ bed to watch tv… it was special to always be so close to one another.
of course, i say all this with the hope that we can refinish the basement as a family room by the time livia can really “play.”
charity Jul 6, 2004 12:01 PM
wait a minute. is that your house or mine. :)
rebecca Jul 6, 2004 10:18 PM
it actually looks more like yours than mine, huh?!
Jeremy Jul 7, 2004 11:34 AM
With the exception of the wooden pillars, I wouldn’t say it looks more or less like either ours or theirs.
rebecca Jul 7, 2004 11:42 AM
right. the pillars are basically what i was referring to… beautiful twin prairie boxes of the shire!
lindsay Jul 8, 2004 11:45 AM
i live in a four-square house, too, but our floor plan is a bit different than your houses. when were both of your houses built? mine was in 1896.