Great room
– Description:
– Concept inspired by medieval great halls and chambers
– Designed to combine traditional living and family room functions
– Typically features raised ceilings, often cathedral ceilings
– Can incorporate reading areas or dining room functions
– Often found on lower levels of multi-story American homes
– History:
– Traces back to Joseph Eichler’s modernist homes in the 1950s
– Popularized in high-end houses in the 1970s and 1980s
– Became a common feature in suburban homes in the 1990s and 2000s
– Initially seen as a symbol of wealth and luxury
– Declined in popularity due to high maintenance costs and space inefficiency
– Criticisms and Trends:
– Homeowners started preferring increased floor space and more rooms
– Retrofitting great rooms became popular to add new spaces
– Expenditures on interior restructuring increased while new-room additions decreased
– Municipal regulations often discourage expanding home footprints
– Great rooms were considered a costly fad by 2007 due to maintenance issues
– References:
– Max Jacobson, Murray Silverstein, Barbara Winslow’s “Patterns of Home”
– Goodwin B. Steinberg, Susan Wolfe’s “From the Ground Up: Building Silicon Valley”
– Keates, Nancy’s article on ceilings in the Wall Street Journal
– Pasanella, Marco’s piece on home improvements in Money magazine
– Conclusion:
– Great rooms have a rich historical background
– They evolved from a symbol of luxury to a practical living space
– Homeowners’ preferences shifted towards more functional spaces
– Retrofitting great rooms became a cost-effective trend
– Municipal regulations and maintenance costs influenced the decline in popularity.
A great room is a room inside a house that combines the roles of several more traditional rooms such as the family room, living room, and study into one space. Great rooms typically have raised ceilings and are usually placed at or near the center of the home. Great rooms have been common in American homes since the early 1990s.
