“For those in the rising middle-class professions, the family, not just the mother and children, was now seen as the basic domestic unit. In practical terms this meant that husbands, as well as wives and children, were expected to share common time and space. This sharing was also encouraged by physical changes in the middle-class home. Older homes had been divided by walls and doors into separate male rooms (the study) and female rooms (drawing and morning rooms)...the removal of compartmentalizing walls meant that families could now pursue individual activities in common familial space...The social rationale was that open spaces promoted familial togetherness...Better designed houses would produce healthier children and a happier more cohesive family.” (156-57)

(Palen, J. John. The Suburbs. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Print.)