Modern Housing

by Catherine Bauer

The original guide on modern housing from the premier expert and activist in the public housing movement

Originally published in 1934, Modern Housing is widely acknowledged as one of the most important books on housing of the twentieth century, introducing the latest developments in European modernist housing to an American audience. It is also a manifesto: America needs to draw on Europe’s example to solve its housing crisis. Only when housing is transformed into a planned, public amenity will it truly be modern. 

Modern Housing’s sharp message catalyzed an intense period of housing activism in the United States, resulting in the Housing Act of 1937, which Catherine Bauer coauthored. But these reforms never went far enough: so long as housing remained the subject of capitalist speculation, Bauer knew the housing problem would remain. In light of today’s affordable housing emergency, her prescriptions for how to achieve humane and dignified modern housing remain as instructive and urgent as ever.

Genres: Urbanism, Cities, Urban Planning, Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Matthew Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern Housing is a totally fascinating read for the way it connects issues of financial speculation, housing, the possibilities of social housing and the building of mass movements. It's made all the more fascinating to see Bauer, who worked for a time for the United States Housing Authority under the Department of the Interior, openly espousing anti-capitalist positions. Granted, during the New Deal, and at the height of the Popular Front. But in comparison to the world we inhabit now, utterly shocking. It's also amusing to juxtapose her excitement over less dense housing (in comparison to 19th century slums and tenements) with contemporary views of what constitutes less dense housing.

The book has its flaws-- As an architectural critic, she holds some particularly snobbish views of 19th century art that take up more space here than they ought to, she fails to address the intersections of race and class, and her steadfast belief in the Popular Front's inevitable future defeat of incoherent real estate policies as well as the irony of her effusiveness for the gains made in housing under Stalin in the Soviet Union circa 1934 allow for some... unintended amusement for 21st century readers.

Still, beyond those flaws, this book captures a fascinating moment in time both internationally and for housing policy. Its connections to the ongoing crises in real estate, land and financial speculation are dizzying and enraging in their familiarity. It also offers a startlingly clear thread from the opportunities, complications and blindspots of the 1930s housing movement to the opportunities, complications and blindspots of today's YIMBY movement.

This is a must-read, if only to see that the crises, schemes and incoherence of contemporary housing and land policy aren't anything new.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Bauer was just 29 when this was published in 1934. Modern Housing, inspired by Bauer's travels to post-WWI Europe, was a rallying cry for government-funded housing as a more agreeable alternative to the failures of the private market to provide a basic standard of living. The book was a major success and put Bauer at the forefront of the new American public housing movement, where she was directly involved in the creation and passage of major housing legislation.

The book gives a fascinating history on housing (primarily in Europe and the US) and goes into the failures of the American system to provide safe, sanitary, affordable housing. Bauer was impressed by the clean, smartly planned, affordable post-war communities she toured in Europe- Germany in particular- and believed that there was a lot to be gained by adopting many of those communities' traits.

The book has an extended appendix filled with pictures from her travels and it's clear to see why she was so inspired by what she saw. This book might be almost 80 years old, but much of what Bauer decried in the US system of housing still stands true today.

[Clay Daneker · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I pass on the opportunity to review something only 2 other people have reviewed?

Bauer, inspired by her research across post-WW1 Europe, lays out a vision of a totally different land use and housing model than existed in the US at that time. Housing which is not a speculative investment, but largely government funded, and of a much higher quality than the slums that dominated the cities of her time, where things like electricity and running water were non-universal even in urban areas.

Pretty interesting read

[Katelin Penner · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want to be catherine bauer when I grow up