Dream Home Small Home

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18 March 1953, the prefabricated ‘Shelborne’ house being erected on a suburban site; it’s from of a limited set of designs by Leichhardt Constructions, the prefabrication division of G.E. Brow. Image: Courtesy Sydney Living Museums

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<em>Australian House and Garden</em> Small Homes special edition cover. — *Australian House and Garden* Small Homes special edition cover. Image: Courtesy Sydney Living Museums

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Folded booklet of 14 home plans prepared by the Small Homes Service NSW conducted by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) in conjunction with <em>Australian Home Beautiful</em> at David Jones, Sydney. — Folded booklet of 14 home plans prepared by the Small Homes Service NSW conducted by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) in conjunction with *Australian Home Beautiful* at David Jones, Sydney. Image: Courtesy Sydney Living Museums

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Be it ever so humble – the postwar Aussie home: Photograph reproduced from a presentation album given to Hon J. McGirr, M.L.A., Minister for Housing. Image: Courtesy Sydney Living Museums

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House of the future article from The <em>Australian Women’s Weekly</em>, 5 May 1954. — House of the future article from The *Australian Women’s Weekly*, 5 May 1954.

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Dream Home, Small Home opens at the Museum of Sydney on Saturday 23 August 2014. This exhibition tells the story of Sydney’s postwar small home boom. “The late 1940s and 50s was a time when for many new home builders, ‘do-it-yourself’ construction was the only way to achieve the dream of owning a home,” says Mark Goggin, director of Sydney Living Museums.

Home decorating magazines published architects’ plans for well-designed homes, as did department stores, daily newspapers and the Small Homes Service of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects to meet the post-war housing demand.

The postwar shortage of building materials and rising costs made building a home problematic for many, but the answer came in the form of factory-made prefabricated houses. The smaller ‘ready-cut’ homes could be assembled by an amateur builder, although some were constructed by larger construction companies. Under these conditions, a style of ‘austerity modernism’ developed, where modernist principles were applied in a frugal way – unlike today’s market where expensive finishes and over-scaled spaces are what many aspire to.

Dream Home, Small Home features original home floor-plans and elevations, vintage home magazines and previously unseen historic photographs. The exhibition is a highlight of the Sydney Living Museums Home & Architecture program.

23 August – 23 November 2014
Museum of SydneyCorner Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney