This portable house serves as a permanent home 
AMERICAN HOMES AND 
GARDENS 
June, 1912 
Portable Houses for the Long Vacation 
By Robert Leonard Ames 
VACATION of more than a few weeks in 
the hills, woods or at the seashore, off the 
beaten track, should hardly be planned with- 
out carefully looking into the matter of the 
portable house as a possibility of a vacation 
home. Let us imagine a tiny cottage 
planned with especial reference to the requirements of those 
who are to dwell in it, built upon the spot, whether in the 
mountains, the woods, or by lake or ocean, which seems 
most attractive. ‘Then let us picture 
the interior arranged with the house- 
hold fittings and personal belongings 
hoes 
solid and substantial so that the house may remain perma- 
nently in one place. The other variety is so planned and 
constructed that it may easily and quickly be erected and 
quite as easily taken apart for removal to another site, and 
these removals may be as frequent as desired. 
Portable houses of any kind were but little known or 
used prior to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago 
in 1893. The Exposition, it will be remembered, was some 
distance from the civic center and living quarters of any 
kind in the vicinity were difficult to 
obtain and were held at a high pre- 
mium. ‘This resulted in the use of a 
which one finds most necessary, and 
a veranda spread with rugs and 
having a hammock, cushions and 
wicker chairs and tables where the 
vacation days may be enjoyed. 
When all of these alluring possibili- ‘s 
ties have been grasped let us imagine 
the same house with every detail of 
furnishings placed in another wholly 
different setting, where a new phase * 
of Nature’s wonders seeks acquaint- 
ance, for all of these opportunities 
Living Room 
great number of portable buildings 
of both types, most of which were 
used as homes, although many were 
placed within the grounds, where they 
were utilized, for the most part, as 
minor service buildings. Since that 
time the designing as well as the 
construction of portable houses has 
been vastly improved and developed 
and these changes have resulted in 
the serviceable and often really 
beautiful portable buildings which 
J6'x 16° 
are within reach of the man or 
woman who makes use of the qvon- 
derful contrivance known as 
the portable house. 
The term has two separate 
and distinct meanings, or 
possibly it would be more ac- 
curate to say that there are 
two classes of portable build- 
ings, each of which has its 
own place and use. One of 
these is the house which is 
designed and made in a fac- 
tory, usually -from stock 
plans, shipped to the locality 
where it is to be used and set 
into place upon foundation 
or underpinning more or less 
Floor plan of portable bungalow illustrated below 
A five-room portable bungalow, 20x36 feet, which is suitable’ for a 
permanent location 
are obtainable to-day. 
One will readily realize the value 
of the house which may be 
easily moved, to a family 
planning a vacation of con- 
siderable length, for it offers 
comfort and convenience at 
small cost and with com- 
plete independence of board- 
ing houses or hotels. The 
houses are made in a consid- 
erable variety of style and 
material and in a wide range 
of sizes, so that a vacation. 
home may be either a single 
room or a house of five or 
six rooms or even more, and 
provided with a veranda and 
