Erlanger House

            Today we went on probably the most interesting trip of the semester so far. While we were walking along Indiana Avenue, continually stomping through the snow, I wondered where on earth we were headed. But we I finally caught a glimpse of the Erlanger House, I knew we were in for a treat. In a neighborhood full of your typical one family homes set along a street with a simple style that resonates throughout, there sits a brick wall. Well that’s what it looks like from across the road. However, if you follow the sidewalk to the front door (or side door however you look at it) you will see a home that is a perfect balance of minimalism and luxury.

            The Erlanger house, a real life example of what our projects could be related to, has three sections. The first is the one farthest east (where we walk in). This simple section offers the only connection between the upper and lower levels of the middle space. It also provides a threshold from the common area of the open living space to the private and comforting feeling of the bedroom and bathroom. One thing to take away from this section is that stairs made two foot wide are not meant for two way traffic.

            The next space includes the entire middle section of the house. The ground level of the middle section is really two different spaces. One offers a homey feel with a pit filling with seating right next to a fireplace, while the other offers a more professional feel with a hardwood floor to allow for Mrs. Erlanger to practice and teach dance. While these two spaces can be seen as very contradictory settings, they both center around a fireplace and chimney that offers a connection between the two. Above the before mentioned homey space is located the bedroom of the house. The bedroom is carpeted to offer a more comforting feel and oddly enough, the light switches here are found on the floor. This second level only spans half of the house as the dance area is completely open above.

            The farthest west section is home to the few utilities needed in a house. On the bottom floor you find a kitchen big enough for about 1 person and a bathroom big enough for about half a person. The idea of minimalism is definitely captured in this section. The top level of this section is the main bathroom which is also carpeted. In a place where one would want perhaps the most privacy, we still find windows and two skylights, one above the toilet and one above the shower.

            Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this house is the courtyard that sits between the first brick wall you see from the street and the glass wall of the living space. This courtyard allows for the house to seem much bigger than it actually is and it offers a very bright natural light source. This courtyard is very simple, and doesn’t even offer much space, but the idea it provides is enough to make it a very important aspect of the house.

            This tour offered new light (literally and figuratively) on the idea of minimalism and the idea of making the most with this least space. Erlanger was a very interesting house that I might use as inspiration for our next project.