Wilson House Highlights
50s Vernacular - The Origin of the Everyday
The Ralph Sr. and Sunny Wilson house appears to be a hybrid of a
ranch and modern-style home architecture. The open interiors and
U-shaped plan reflect the influence of the California Case Study
Houses -- a series of architectural experiments from the early 1940s
and 1950s that were offered as better solutions for residential
living.
The interiors of the Wilson house feature extensive use of decorative
plastic laminates in innovative applications, most of which had
not been seen before. The kitchen countertops reveal some of the
earliest work in post-forming, a process where laminate is bent
to form continuous curves from the top to the side edge of the counter.
Other applications include laminate clad built-in cabinetry in the
kitchen, laundry and bathrooms, even in the shower! While installations
such as these that are common today, they were unheard of in the
late 1950s.
Perhaps most unusual, unlike other structures of the period, the
Wilson house was constructed with very little dry-wall. Instead
most of the walls were made by applying panels of special-grade
laminates directly onto the two-by-fours.
For further experimentation, Ralph Wilson covered the walls of the
garage in various grades of wood-grained laminates. The living room
is decorated with a geometric pattern of custom laminates that covers
one entire wall. Even the colors of laminate used throughout the
house are reflective of popular 1950s period fashion, such as lemon
yellow, pumpkin, aqua and bright pink.
The Wilson house was featured in Ralph Wilson Plastics Company advertisements
as well as in the editorial pages of the nation's top trade magazines.
It represented an ideal design for affordable and fashionable residential
housing and had a profound influence on the future uses of laminate.
Today, the house stands as one of the best residential examples
of the mid-century modern style in the state of Texas.