March, 1919 
MAKING THE ATTIC LIVABLE 
Still Another Part of the House Is Salvaged to Meet the 
Modern Requirements of a Growing Family 
MARY H. NORTHEND 
O NE loves to dream of the old 
attic that occupied the entire 
upper story of great-grandfather’s 
weather-beaten old home. It was a 
dark, fearsome place, fascinating to 
childhood. Who has not crept slowly 
up the creaking stairs to prowl among 
the brass nailed hair trunks? Even 
today the fragrance of sweet lavender 
seemingly greets us as we recall the 
lifting of the lid. 
Modern Space Demands 
Today that is all gone. The mys¬ 
tery that lurked under the shadowy 
eaves is dispelled. For with modern 
conservation, the old-fashioned attic 
has been replaced by practical experi¬ 
ments that fit into present use in our 
homes. Additional space is an abso¬ 
lute necessity, not only with a grow¬ 
ing family, but in suburban homes, 
where week-end parties mean addi¬ 
tional room for the guests. 
Storage room, as in the olden days, 
is also a necessity, for there are trunks 
and out of season clothing to be 
housed, but this difficulty has been 
met through the designing of dust 
proof closets close under the roof. 
The gabled roof house is best 
adaptable for this usage, as the pro¬ 
jections have been broken sufficiently 
Giving father a chance means giving him a den or 
study where he can be quiet and can fuss around 
with his hobbies 
to provide interesting spaces to work 
out odd ideas. This would be impos¬ 
sible in architecture that has a strong 
Southern feeling, the low spreading 
roof line furnishing no inspiration for 
the working out of livable attic space. 
The house need not necessarily be 
English in style, but must have a well 
pitched roof, for ample ventilation is 
a necessity, and this can only be satis¬ 
factorily worked out through windows 
or ventilators so planned that they 
add to rather than detract from the 
charm of the exterior of the house. 
We have only to go back to the 
Middle Ages to realize that even in 
those days ample space was developed 
in the upper stories; particularly is it 
true in Gothic and early Renaissance 
architecture which is found not only 
in France, but in Germany and the 
Netherlands. The fact that the steep 
roofs of that period allowed for rooms 
to be designed for a variety of pur¬ 
poses, has been taken advantage of 
by the architects of today, who have 
made a careful study of every type. 
The Attic Temperature 
It has been claimed that the great 
objection to utilizing the space in the 
upper story for living purposes, is 
{’Continued on page 60) 
Provided the 
construction o f 
the house per¬ 
mits, an attic 
dance room is 
ideal. The mu¬ 
sic is placed in 
an alcove and 
there are dress¬ 
ing rooms at the 
end. F. Patter¬ 
son Smith, archi- 
