At MIT they had been influenced by the ideas of William Wurster, Lawrence Anderson, and the houses built in the area around the same time by Carl Koch.

[3] As explained by Pierce in a 2011 interview, there was an interest in whether through standardization, homes could be built based on contemporary principles at a price young homeowners could afford.

[5] The newly formed Compton & Pierce firm purchased 42 acres (17 ha) of land that had been a dairy farm in the 19th century, as a place to try out their ideas.

[3] Compton & Pierce designed a single-story house with a raised basement, low-pitch roof, and vertical cedar siding that was available in several sizes.

The land formed a natural bowl, shielded from the north by the hill and sloping down to the south and southeast, nice attributes in this northern latitude.