No Place Like Home - Ada Louise Huxtable's Ranch House as Her Housing Ideal

Salem, MA - Ada Louise Huxtable had outlined and completed research for a book entitled Ranch House before her passing in January 2013. While not a common scholarly topic or one that fits the template of her incisive architectural critiques, the ranch house may be considered not only an extension of the themes in her 2004 book Frank Lloyd Wright but also the subject of her Marblehead home, where she lived part of each year for three decades. What began as an ordinary and commonplace residence became an example of the adaptability of this truly American style with emphasis on its indoor-outdoor relationship.

Local architect Edward Nilsson will give a lecture on Huxtable’s views of the ranch house as her housing ideal at the Salem Athenaeum on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The lecture is $15 for nonmembers and $10 for members and begins at 7 p.m. The Salem Athenaeum is located at 337 Essex Street.

Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic, Huxtable, wrote articles in the 1960s and ‘70s about historic preservation that had a major impact on Salem’s development in the 20th century. She also served as an adviser on the renovations of the Peabody Essex Museum in 2003.

Architect Edward Nilsson shows how the modifications in Huxtable’s own modest ranch house reflected what she valued in architecture and in this common vernacular form. His lecture is based on the paper he presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians in Austin, Texas.

Edward Nilsson, principal at the local firm Nilsson+Siden Architects, has extensive experience in new construction, historic restoration and adaptive reuse. Prior to founding his own firm in 1981, he was Project Architect for Constitution Quarters at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, a rehabilitation of the historic former machine shop/forge complex. His clients have included Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Tufts University, M.I.T-Bates Linear Accelerator Center, Weston School of Theology, Salem State College, Massachusetts Bay Community College, North Shore Community Health Center, and Crosby’s Marketplace. He serves on the Board of Directors for Historic Salem Inc., the Arts Federation, the Board of Trustees for the Episcopal Divinity School, and the Marblehead Planning Board.

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