two-family suburban cottage
Design of the two-family house followed design developments in cottages. The suburban two-family cottage employed large-scale geometric elements, such as a broad gable roof and a two-story, three-sided bay window that was answered by the formal porches. The facade divided into two “columns,” the bay and the porches, topped by a pediment. Subsequent breakdowns of the large forms included five vertical bays-—three in the bay window and two in the porch section—and a pair of centered windows in the gable that divided on center, making each side a mirror image of the other. Horizontal divisions were at the water table, the floor line between stories, and the cornice that closed the gable. The windows were placed at the same distance from the floor and ceiling on both levels, so that they looked like a band of evenly spaced windows. The massing of elements on the facade relied on the push-pull balance between the projecting bay window and the recessed porches. The porches were detailed with columns and open rails that helped activate the surface and provided opportunity for the