The people's choice

Abstract

Reported in 1946, the results of a limited survey of "typical" New Zealanders on the house they preferred from a series of photographs of architect designed houses from Home and Building, scored as top Bernard Johns' own house in Lowry Bay (Stewart "The man in the street chooses a home" pp 24-32). During the war in the UK, and especially towards the end, there were a number of surveys canvassing opinions on the house people wanted after the war. These suggested a high proportion in favour of the conventional house in its garden. This paper explores the difference between the surveys in the UK, with their emphasis on the type of house and its facilities, and the New Zealand example where, because the majority of dwellings already satisfied the need for the house in the garden, what the architecture of the house looked like might be more important. The comparison reveals that the garden and open space are more important than the architecture of the house.