Of course, some changes were made to accommodate home sizes, individual lot topography, climate, and any local requirements, but in general, they were so similar that many of the same pictures were used in the company’s newspaper ads across the country. (Find out more about the Scholz homes here.)
If potential buyers in 1960 liked what they saw in the model, they could order one of these houses for their very own, and receive components made by Scholz and assembled by local builders.
In addition to benefitting from a streamlined design and construction process, it also allowed the company to launch a nationwide ad campaign — and they even got one of the industry’s leading consumer home magazines, House & Garden, to run an extensive photo feature on the houses.
Below, through photos and floorplans, you can take a tour of two of the Scholz Mark 60 homes — one as Scholz promoted the model, and the other how H&G decorated it — which together offer almost everything you’d expect from a marvelously modern home built in the early ’60s.
About the Scholz Mark 60
Reflecting the benefits of modern production methods, volume purchasing, and the most comprehensive engineering employed by its producer, Scholz Homes, Inc., the world’s largest organization devoted to the quality home concept, it will provide a superior home at less cost than by any other building method.
The famed Don Scholz designs are world-renowned and have been featured in every national home magazine for their unusual and outstanding character. These designs have been assembled in the “Famed Scholz Design Collection.”
For a complete tour of the Mark ’60 house and its many-faceted rooms, see below.
MORE: A mid-century modern show home: See H&G’s Hallmark house for 1963
Scholz Mark 60 prefab home: A happy house for a family’s best years
H&G decorated the Mark ’60 house in Boca Raton, Florida, for a typical active family with two teenage children. The house will be built nationally by the builder-dealers of Scholz Homes, Inc., for about $39,000 to $45,000 without land or landscaping.
The peak years of family life really demand two houses in one. Children need teenage territory where their crowd can have fun without fear of scuffing floors, spilling Cokes or making too much noise. Parents want attractive surroundings where they can relax easily and entertain with grace.
In many older houses with conventional, box-like interiors, these requirements conflict because the two generations are always in each other’s laps.
In contrast, the house [below] appealed to House & Garden as one that faces realistically the informality of present-day living.
So when we accepted an invitation to furnish and decorate the model built at the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., we visualized a flourishing family with teenagers as its future occupants.
The house was planned and produced by Scholz Homes, Inc., a national manufacturer of houses with considerable knowledge of the needs of most homeowners. And replicas will be built for sale by the company’s builder-dealers throughout the country.
The plan makes handsome provision for both parents and children. One-story high, it spreads out in an L shape and wraps around a wonderful poolside terrace.
The L-shaped plan is divided into three parts: the living room corner; the family room-kitchen-dining room area; and the bedroom wing. Glass walls open the back of the house to the poolside terrace, a private world for family fun.
Every room has ready access to outdoors, so children can come and go without traipsing through the living room which is an independent area with its own patio — not too formal for everyday living, and at the same time, excellent for grown-up parties or the hospital drive tea. And at the other end of the entrance foyer is a separate dining room.
For teenage parties and pursuits and for more casual family meals, there is a big family room in the center of the house, which opens directly to terrace and pool on one side and joins the kitchen on the other.
This room has a built-in barbecue, a snack bar and an adjoining lavatory that doubles as a bath house for the pool. The sleeping wing includes three bedrooms, a dressing room-bath and patio for the parents, another bath for the children, and 40 feet of window wall overlooking the pool and terrace.
ALSO SEE: See 125 vintage 60s home plans used to design & build millions of mid-century houses across America
Such luxury would have been found a few years ago only in a house custom-built at a top price. Today it is available in this ready-built house because major parts of the house are factory-made just as clothes and furniture usually are.
Thus quantity production has brought the advantages of expert planning, built-in conveniences, fine equipment and materials within reach of a much wider public, at a much lower price tag.
The front street view of the Scholz Mark 60 house
FRONT OF THE HOUSE is designed to preserve the privacy of the interiors: Only the entrance hall and the dining room to its right have windows facing the street.
But the entrance is not slighted in dignity or importance. The gable above it and the large class windows and stone wall flanking the double doors are large in scale and create an approach which is both impressive and inviting.
The white brick wall at the left, which extends beyond the house to screen the living room patio, succeeds in making the whole front seem larger than it is.
You enter the Mark ’60 house through hospitable double doors that open to a large, gay and airy foyer. H&G’s aim in decorating the house was to provide a congenial background for a family that enjoys sociability, but also puts a high premium on privacy.
We used materials that present an elegant appearance yet are so easy to maintain that they would not interfere with the most active indoor-outdoor living. Many are in H&G colors.
ALSO SEE: Mid-century modern door hardware from the 1950s & 1960s – plus other popular vintage designs
The entryway in the Scholz Mark 60 house
THE ENTRANCE FOYER is a vivid introduction to the rooms beyond.
At the left of the front door is a lush and colorful plant bed, a preview of the close alliance with nature in the decorating scheme throughout the house.
The foyer’s high gabled ceiling, exposed beams and brick wall anticipate the architectural feeling of the living room and family room. The mosaic-patterned vinyl floor tile, like all floor tile in the house, is made by Armstrong.
H&G decor for the front entryway hall
Against the wall facing the door is a sideboard from a brand new collection of Directoire-inspired furniture called “Triune,” made by Drexel. The designs include some, like the sideboard, with painted finishes and others in satin-finished mahogany.
For other rooms in the house, we chose furniture from Drexel’s “Declaration” and “Touraine” groups.
The dining area in the Scholz Mark 60 house
The dining room to the right of the foyer was furnished in a formal manner for party dining and dress-up family meals. The round pedestal table, which has leaves to seat additional guests, keeps the room from being overcrowded.
Its apparent size is increased by the black vinyl floor tile which H&G ordered with an inlaid white tracery to outline the brilliant Delphinium octagonal rug, one of several designs by Wunda Weve used throughout the house.
Sliding window panels extend the dining room’s visual boundaries to the lush planting at the front of the house.
To set the table, opposite page, we used Wallace’s “Discovery” sterling, a pattern congenial to both traditional and contemporary design; Royal China’s “Viking” dinnerware to pick up the predominant colors of the room.
A folding screen papered in a hold grille motif serves as buffer between the dining table and the kitchen door.
Dining and living rooms bright with color play their traditional roles in this many-sided household, and do not double for any other purposes.
The living room in the Scholz Mark 60 house
The LIVING ROOM is at the left of the entrance foyer and has no access from any other room, a location which gives it the time-honored status of a parlor.
Its cool spacious atmosphere owes much to the dramatic use of glass that spans one entire wall and soars up to the ridge pole embracing in its 24-foot spread a full view of the secluded patio outside.
To give this room a traditional feeling — in contrast to the informality of the family room — H&G adopted a formal furniture arrangement.
We used two big sofas to divide the room into three areas:
= A library with a trio of bookcases at one end; a conversation area in the center; a game corner at the other end, right, opposite the doorway. The teak-toned vinyl cork flooring inlaid with while strips provided a grid within which we organized the furnishings.
= The color scheme was drawn from the gay cotton print that curtain — the window. We chose the deepest color, Bronze Green, to upholster sofas, and softer tones like Cerulean Blue for the high-backed armchairs.
= White accents in the form of little pillows. Coffee table top and rug give the medium-to-dark palette a contemporary feeling.
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The living room, secluded from the hustle-bustle of the family room and terrace, is a preserve of comfortable formality. The glass gabled wall opens onto a private patio.
The original Scholz living room decor
Scholz Mark 60 house design concept
THE SIMPLE SEPARATION OF THE HOUSE into three major areas makes it possible for parents and children to enjoy independence and each other in equal measure.
Living room is set apart from the main stream of household traffic, and can be enlarged by its own separate patio. In this room the whole family can entertain, and adults can find quiet there when teen-agers are whooping it up in the family room.
The family room, in the center of the house, is a wonderful room for everyday use or informal entertaining. At one side of it is the kitchen.
Next to that is a separate dining room (a rare bird in new houses today), which could easily be converted to a study-guest room, since it has an adjoining lavatory.
The third area, the bedroom wing, gives each member of the family a private retreat. The long glass walls that open the bedroom wing and family room to the rear terrace, above, and the terrace itself are essential elements in the success of the plan.
The interior seems infinitely larger because the terrace extends it to the outdoors (this is space gained at low cost), and the bountiful light, views of planting and pool and easy access to outdoor living are advantages any growing family would appreciate most of the year.
ALSO SEE: 47 vintage backyard ideas you’ll want to re-create for a relaxing sixties-style outdoor vibe
Here is a house that would be at home in any community because it has individuality and avoids a “peas-in-a-pod” look. Yet it was fabricated in a plant of Scholz Homes Inc., shipped as a “package” and assembled on the site.
The package included the walls (factory-made panels consisting of framing, Johns-Manville sheathing and siding, door and window frames) and pre-cut framing for the roof.
The package also included Owens-Corning Fiberglas insulation, the wood doors and window sash, Arcadia aluminum sliding doors, National Gypsum Co. wallboard for interior finish, Sargent hardware, Virden lighting fixture and quality kitchen and bathroom equipment.
All of these elements were put together on the site by the builder. He also constructed and installed the elements which were not part of the package: the foundations, brick and stone walls, chimney, terrace and patio, flooring, wiring, heating and plumbing equipment.
But the approximate price of $39,000 in low-cost building areas to $45,000 in high-cost areas is for the complete house except for terrace, patio, landscaping and lot itself. The Universal pool, installed with filler system, costs from $2,817 for the model below to $4,720, depending on the size chosen.
The original Scholz model home’s kitchen decor & layout
DON’T MISS: 22 great vintage kitchen design ideas you don’t see much anymore
H&G’s kitchen & family room decorating makeover
The family room which you also see in color on our cover is, like its country cousin the farmhouse kitchen, the heart of the house. This is the place for family meals, informal family entertaining and teenagers’ own parties.
MIDWAY BETWEEN the bedroom wing and the more formal rooms at the front of the house, the family room serves as a center for household activities. Its facilities are also convenient to the pool terrace just outside the glass doors.
H&G furnished this 23-foot by 13-foot space to function as three overlapping areas: a kitchen, a family dining area, and a home office.
The fun-to-cook-in kitchen, for the woman who likes to be in the thick of things while she works, is installed within the boundaries of a U-shaped counter.
Equipment includes generous cabinets fronted with pale Philippine mahogany, a sparkling new Tappan electric range and a built-in freezer-refrigerator by Revco (behind counter).
The family room in the Scholz Mark 60 house
The most cherished room in the house to many a family in its blossoming years is an all-round room where children who are almost grown (and parents who are still young) can work and play together.
As a gay and practical background for such activities, House & Garden decorated this family room in the Mark ’60 house, built by Scholz Homes, Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida. The room embraces a compact kitchen, a family dining area and a household office.
Among the casual and deceptively rugged furnishings and materials we chose are a table and vinyl-upholstered chairs from Drexel’s “Declaration” group, white Formica countertops and Armstrong’s vinyl cork floor tiles.
For the dining area, we chose walnut furniture from the “Declaration” group, including a round table that is a comfortable, informal 3″ lower than normal dining height.
The family room has built-in bonuses in an electric charcoal grill by Majestic and a bar enclosed by double doors. The other side of the bar opens to the living room, so it also serves as a pass-through for party hors d’oeuvres and such.
The household office consists of a drop-front desk contained in a storage wall for table linens, games and hi-fi components.
We decided to keep the floor free of rugs, but covered it with vinyl-coated cork tiles that absorb sound and show few scratches. Lighting over the kitchen area is supplied by a dropped ceiling of luminous panels.
The bathrooms are flooded with light from luminous ceilings. Walls and counters are covered with sleek, bright, washable plastic laminates.
Master bathroom, in original Scholz decor styles
MORE: 60 vintage ’60s bathrooms: Retro home decorating ideas
The H&G decor for the master bathroom & dressing room
THE MASTER-BATH-DRESSING ROOM, a generous space 13’6″ by 14′, affords luxurious privacy.
Accessible only through the bedroom, this bath has its own outdoor patio for sunbathing and breakfasting, completely screened by a ventilated fence.
Warm morning sunlight pours into the room through the sliding glass doors which can be left open in season to the waft of summer breezes.
Within the dressing room, two washbasins are sunk into a single long countertop of Macassar-ebony pattern Formica with a kneehole space below for sit-down primping. More than 10 feet of closet space is concealed behind mirrored sliding doors, below.
The nature colors outdoors are so much a part of the room that H&G decided to use colors sparingly indoors: Geranium and Olive Green towels, a Geranium slipcover for the little Directoire bench, Bronze Green wall-to-wall carpeting like that in the bedroom.
The main bathroom in the Scholz Mark 60 house
THE LAVATORY and adjoining laundry are readily accessible from family room, terrace, garage, dining room — a wonderful convenience in a busy household.
The lavatory makes a fine dressing room for swimmers since it has a generous spread of a Formica covered counter and also includes a shower.
H&G covered the walls with random widths of blue and white Formica to echo the color scheme of the dining room.
In the laundry beyond, all equipment is installed against one wall, leaving plenty of space for shedding wet bathing suits and storing pool and patio accessories. We added the plug-in pole for towels.
The children’s bath is an inside room, but it basks in the solar glow of its luminous ceiling which is made of Fiberglas polarizing light panels like those in the other bathrooms. To boost the brightness, we chose sunny yellow fixtures, teak-pattern Formica panels for the countertops and walls, and towels of Hyacinth and brilliant orange.
Plastic tiles of Formica, 10″ x 10″, were used for the walls of the children’s bathroom. H&G chose a pattern simulating teakwood. and the squares, applied with adhesive, were set with the grain alternating. The teak pattern in sheet form covers the lavatory counter.
The home’s laundry room
The master bedroom in the Scholz Mark 60 house
THE MASTER BEDROOM is truly its owners’ castle, where privacy and an atmosphere of relaxation are effectively guarded.
This room is separated by a long hall from the noise and sociability of the family room, and has access to its own garden (see the sun-trapping patio that adjoins the glass-walled dressing room. Still, it is only a few feet away from the children’s bedrooms.
All the bedrooms share a separate wing away from the buzz of family life so that everyone is free to enjoy peace, quiet and privacy.
Three walls of the room were painted Crystal Pink; a fourth is papered in a pink and red check, an effective foil for the classically simple double bed and its polka-dotted coverlet.
To achieve a feeling of lightness and delicacy within this “garden apartment” H&G chose small-scale furniture from the “Triune” collection and combined it with a few designs in rattan and a carpet of shaggy Bronze Green.”
On the rattan bedside tables, we placed unmatched white lamps to contrast with the precision of three “Triune” chests along one wall.
The linen closet in this midcentury modern home
H&G’S OWN LINEN CLOSET was built into the bedroom hall, next to the children’s bath, and stocked with Fieldcrest sheets and towels.
Since you first saw this cupboard in March 1959, it has been duplicated in homes all over the country from instructions prepared by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
The interior is precisely planned to hold all the linens and other supplies needed for all bedrooms and baths in the house, yet the whole unit is only 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 8-1/2 feet tall.
The daughter’s bedroom in the Scholz Mark 60 house
DAUGHTERS ROOM, though not large, has ample space for a tester bed from the “Declaration” group.
To ensure a light look, we chose a fringe topping, rather than a canopy, and a bedspread of hyacinth, pale blue and white.
For color accent, we introduced Carnation and Geranium in an upholstered slipper chair and stool. Delicately-scaled secretary from the “Touraine” group, painted white and gold, might hold a young girls’ keepsakes.
Teen son’s bedroom in the Scholz Mark 60 house
BACHELOR QUARTERS for the young man of the family is a small outpost of rugged individualism, decorated in a palette of browns and blue, with just a touch of red.
Furniture with an Early American flavor from the “Declaration” collection includes a bed with a catkin headboard and a three-drawer secretary with both open shelves and a tambour-door cupboard.
In front of the windows. H&G set up ceiling-high 2″ by 6″ uprights of wormy chestnut, connected them with a wood rod for the denim curtains.
The backyard, swimming pool & patio
The Scholz Mark 60 house, side view
Scholz Mark 60 – Version from North Dakota
Scholz Mark 60 – Version from Marion, Ohio
