Royal Barry Wills (1895-1962) was a preeminent Boston architect and author. He was the master of the Cape Cod style house, in its Colonial Revival incarnation (1930s to 1950s). The "cape" house is ubiquitous in New England and elsewhere, due in part to its simplicity which sometimes simply means "inexpensive" but also allows for versions that are pure elegance due to their distilled, crystalline nature as a perfectly refined product. Will's unmatched talent was that of bringing a level of refinement to every level of planning and detail for the cape model. In 1938 Life magazine selected four modern architects and four traditional architects and had them prepare home designs for families in four income categories. In the category for people with $5,000 to $6,000 incomes, the modern design was by Frank Lloyd Wright and the traditional one by Royal Barry Wills. The family chose the Wills house over the Wright design, and the home was built in Edina, Minnesota. Houses built to his designs still fetch a premium in the Northeast.
External links
- Royal Barry Wills Architects - official site
