The American foursquare — a house type named for its characteristic boxy shape and four-room floor plan — was hugely popular from around 1900 into the early 1920s. Planbooks from that era, like those of Sears, Radford’s, and Aladdin, published page after page of variations on the theme to suit every budget. Although foursquares were built across the country, the compact design was especially popular on tight urban lots, often with a single-stall garage off an adjacent alley. The basic design is straightforward, but two key elements add visual interest: First, the foursquare has an appealing purity of form. It’s assembled from cubes, rectangles, and triangles, giving it the clarity of a child’s drawing, accentuated by punched windows on
