LHJ Articles
1935
Ladies' Home Journal House Plans
One
of the major influences in all things home and design oriented were the
ladies' magazines. Advertisements for essential products and ideas for personal
care, dressing, rearing children, food, and decorating all made their way
into middle-class households by way of Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal,
and House Beautiful.
We may have more choices but women of 1910, 1925, or 1940 were no less informed or passionate about caring for their homes.
Decorating was a topic that was constantly considered. What was good decorating? What were good products and ideas?
It's a world very much like today in more ways than not. We may no longer wear Warner's Rust Proof Corsets, but we continue to search out articles like "How I built this house for $700." Okay, so it's now, $170,000.
Ladies' Home Journal was instrumental in popularizing some of the notable trends of the day ... like Prairie School design homes. Architects, like Frank Lloyd Wright, published their ideas in LHJ to get the traction they needed to build their careers. (See his 1907 Fireproof House plan.)
1935 Journal House Pattern Cataloque
The 1935 catalog is a series of cut sheets with a line drawing (some are wood cuts) and floor plan in popular designs. The plans shown are small houses, vacation cabins, and even a few roadside stands which were available for $1.
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