An Ode to the A-Frames of Yore

5 (mostly) historic A-Frame builds you should see

Why hello, my DEN friends. Mike here today with a slight change of pace. At DEN, we're always looking forward; to the next design we launch, the next prefab product we bring to market, or the next completed DEN build we get to celebrate. Given that fixation on the future, I thought it might be nice to pause and reflect on the past. So today, I'll take a moment and share some old (and obscure) A-Frames I admire.

1. Banyan House

Let's start with a heavy hitter. Banyan House. What a name, what a place. Likely the most famous place on this list, Banyan house was built by Mark Mills, a famous architect in his own right, and a disciple of the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright. After working under Wright at Wright's compound in Arizona, Taliesin West, Mills struck out on his own, building a series of structures in and around Monterey, California. 

Perhaps the feature of Banyan house most attributable to Wright-ian design is the "desert masonry" (see the fireplace in the above photo) Mills used, which blended concrete with local stone from Caramel. Didn't look too shabby, huh? 

Banyan House was built in 1951, during the start of America's post war A-Frame fever. Check out the detailing of that Bonsai design on the front gate in the picture below. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. 

2. 28 Leicester Lane

 

No fancy name or vaunted architects connected to this build. 28 Leicester Lane may well be forgotten by history. Alas, it won't be forgotten by us. A house worthy of Zillow Gone Wild, 28 Leicester Lane has little historical footprint online. Who built it? Dunno. Who first owned it? Good luck trying to figure that one out. What I can tell you definitively is that it's quite the.... upside down U-Frame? A-Frame? Oh well....

These pictures look like they were taken in 1980, huh? They probably were. I can't tell if the architect here started from an A-Frame, but wanted to make things more unique, or wanted to make Barns sexy. Who's to say. All I can say is I'm jealous of that 3 story spiral staircase. 

This beauty was built in 1965, another child of the A-Frame bonanza that went down in the USA in the aftermath of WWII. 28LL, as I'll call it (full name is a mouthful) was erected in Hampton, New Jersey. At the time, Hampton was transitioning from a small agricultural town to a bedroom community for professionals commuting to Manhattan, 40 miles westwards. Come to think of it, it does sort of have a Don Draper vibe, no?

That carpeting is... something. Anywho, onwards. 

3. Sausalito A-Frame

Did someone say "windows"? No, but seriously, when does a lot of windows become too many windows? I kid, this place is gorgeous. The more astute readers of this article might notice, we're moving towards more modern builds. This place almost looks like it could be a DEN! Sort of.

Built in 1963, I have to eat my words a bit: this place might look more modern, but it's got roots in that golden era of A-Frames. The modern vibe speaks to a few things, namely the (generalized) A-Frame's timeless appeal. And that's why you should buy A-Frame plans from DEN; they'll look just as sharp in 2080 as they do today! I joke. Or do I....

What a place. 

4. AonD A-Frame

Ok, now we're going really modern. And brutalist. Really brutalist. And this one could totally be a DEN build! Located in Bentonville, Arkansas, this A-Frame even has a movie theatre. These folks pulled out all the stops. That wood interior too... whew. 

Also a first for this list, you can book this place out, if you ever find yourself in Bentonville AR. 

Moving on...

5. Atlas A-Frame

Now, those of you with a discerning eye might say “Woah, is this a DEN build? How’d this get in here?”

Ok... You caught us. We’re self promoting in an article about other people’s designs and builds. We’re shameless. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about and look at the beautiful house Ben & Ted built. 

While we provide plans and support to folks building houses, much of the actual material, sourcing and aesthetic of these builds are determined by our customers and their GCs. Every once in a while we see folks who really run with DEN's plans. Ted & Ben are those folks - this comes as close to the platonic ideal of a DEN A-Frame 2.2 build as I can imagine. This place is bangin'!

I mean, really, look at those walls. I never intended for this article to become a self-congratulatory pitch fest. It is what it is, though, and this build is worth salivating over. Remember earlier I mentioned A-Frames being built today maintaining their appeal thru 2080? This is what I meant by that. The amount of attention to detail, thoughtfulness... I'm not sure it gets better than this. 

Lucky for you, this place is also an Airbnb. You can also get some insight into the build process and aesthetic considerations that went into this build by checking out my interview with Ben & Ted, shared earlier this year. 

Alright folks, that's all I've got for you today. In summation, A-Frames are dope, have a long history in the US, and you should definitely endeavor to build an A-Frame if you have even the slightest means and impulse to do so. Downstream of that, you should definitely build your A-Frame using DEN's plans. They're pretty good, or so I hear.