James Muslow House

• Designed by: Samuel G. Wiener Sr. and William B. Wiener Sr.
• Design year: 1954 (pool house designed by William B. Wiener Sr. in 1956)

The James Muslow house was designed by Samuel G. Wiener Sr. and William B. Wiener Sr. in 1954 and is the most celebrated of the post-World War II residences designed by either brother. The Muslow house was published in the inaugural edition of Architectural Record’s Mid-May issue featuring twenty Record Houses of 1956.  In addition to the Wieners, the magazine featured a number of notable architects including: Richard Neutra, Curtis and Davis, William Wurster, Smith and Williams, and Paul Rudolph among others.

The Muslow house design is a theme and variation of the Marcel Breuer-inspired binuclear “T” plan which resulted in a cruciform shape. The house proper runs east-west which easily accommodates north and south facing glazing. As with most Wiener-designed “T” plans, the head of the “T” has the private areas of bedrooms and bathrooms on one side and the public areas of living, dining, kitchen and breakfast rooms on the other side. The private and public areas are separated by a third zone that contains a family room, service porch, and a mechanical room which aligns with the carport and exterior storage to the north and a pergola and swimming pool to the south, forming a balanced cruciform composition.

The Muslow house is organized using a number of planar fin walls built of random ashlar limestone which mostly face west to block solar radiation.  Randomly-laid slate flagstone flooring is used in the public areas of living room, dining room, and foyer, as well as exterior terraces. The stonework is complemented by vertical wood siding occurring on both the interior and exterior. The roof is gabled with a ridge running east/west and mildly sloped at approximately 1 on 12. Most interior ceilings follow the exterior slope of the roof.