Historic Plans: Eleanor Raymond Cottage for a Forty Foot Lot

Eleanor Raymond began her career in the 1920s and practiced until the 1980s. She is known for home designs that reflected early American architecture styles. She designed both traditional and cutting edge houses. The Sun House, designed in 1948, was the first successful solar-heated building in the Northeast.

Here is a house designed in the manner of the really old Cape Cod cottages, with a long ell at the back. Long and narrow, it will fit a 40 or 50 foot lot comfortably. A convenient breakfast nook permits converting the dining room into an additional bedroom. The front hall stairs lead to a third bedroom and bath upstairs which may be finished now or later. The downstairs bedrooms are well isolated from the living room and kitchen. Eight closets provide adequate storage space.

Designed by Eleanor Raymond – Architect

Eleanor Raymond also promoted the Settlement Movement that tried to have rich and poor live more closely together. Settlement Houses were built in poor urban areas. Volunteer middle-class women lived in the houses to provide assistance like daycare and healthcare. The volunteers would learn more about the lives of the poor while trying to improve their lives.