Village and Farm Cottages.
house plans.
THE REQUIREMENTS OF
AMERICAN VILLAGE HOMES
CONSIDERED AND SUGGESTED;
WITH DESIGNS FOR SUCH HOUSES
OF MODERATE COST.

BY HENRY W. CLEAVELAND, WILLIAM BACKUS, AND SAMUEL D. BACKUS.

Originally published in 1856 by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
New Printing 2001, by Merrymeeting Archives, LLC.
189 pages, 5½"x8½" spiral-bound book;
illustrated with 100 figures, including 46 floor plans.

house plans.

Table of Contents:

ChapterDescription
THE HOUSE CONSIDERED IN ITS INFLUENCE ON THE OCCUPANTS.The Architecture of Instinct and Reason - Influences of the dwelling on human character - Motives for the improvement of domestic architecture - Considerations for the young.
THE VALUE OF A PERMANENT HOME.Ownership desirable - Evils of tenant life - The true remedy for exorbitant rents - Owner and tenant contrasted - Salutary memories.
HOME IN THE COUNTRY.A permanent home attainable - It should be in the country - It can be there - The loss - The gain in comfort, economy, health, happiness, and virtue - In the country only is Nature seen and felt - Such a life favors individuality and independence - Mistaken notions in regard to it.
THE VILLAGE.VILLAGES OF NATURAL GROWTH - Their origin and character - Suggestions concerning streets, grading, public grounds, and buildings - The village farm-house. MANUFACTURING VILLAGES - Good opportunities for improving village architecture - Inducements thereto - Double houses - Location. SUBURBAN VILLAGES - Of recent origin and great importance - Principles which should govern in the selection of sites - A thought for the philanthropic capitalist - The bequest of Abbot Lawrence - Objections to rectangular plans - Imitative tendencies - Inappropriate models - The country village should be consistent - It is a distinct form of social life - Its true relations and real advantages.
THE CHOICE OF A LOT.The first question to be settled - Considerations of business, neighborhood, church, school, social enjoyment, etc. - Cost and prospective value - Adaptedness to building purposes - Healthfulness, water, soil, exposure, dimensions - Relations of the building to the ground, and to the scenery - The prospect.
THE ADOPTION OF A PLAN.A will considered plan as important for the small house as the large - Its requirements and benefits - The special wants of the family to be first considered - To adapt a building to its purposes should be the primary and main object in architecture - Truthfulness - Utility before show - Essential requisites - Arrangement of rooms - The house a teacher - Mistaken notions of architectural beauty - The effect on market value, of judicious restrictions and improvements - The moral power of neatness and beauty - President Dwight - Consistency - Economy, not always secured by cheap building - How a plan may be procured - The empirical house-builder - "Practical men" - Professional aid no less useful for small houses than for large - Professional responsibility - Pattern houses - Published designs - Danger of attempting alterations.
PRINCIPLES AS APPLIED TO DETAILS.Important preliminary - Unwise frugality - How to lessen expense - Economy not a thing to be ashamed of, nor inconsistent with beauty and convenience. MATERIALS - Stone, bricks, wood - A plea for wood - Concrete walls not advisable - Dishonest imitations - Objections to stucco. STYLE - Should be regulated by right principles of design - Wrong notions in regard to ornament - The Greek and the Gothic - Objections to the former - Domestic architecture should lead the way in improvement - Absurdities of imitation - The passion for novelty - The tastes and habits of the occupant not to be disregarded - Style as modified by material, scenery, position, and climate.
COTTAGES OF ONE STORY.The choice of such structures often compulsory - Their advantages - Precaution against damp and impure air. DESIGN I - Description - Entrance halls - Cost $575 - Note on estimates. DESIGN II - Described - Site and object suggested - Cost $625 - Note on Landscape and foliage accompaniments. DESIGN III - An irregular house - Supposed history - Cost $650. DESIGN IV - The Description - Cost $1,000 - Enclosed spaces.
COTTAGES OF ONE STORY AND ATTIC.Their faults, as usually built, may be avoided. DESIGN V - Description - Points of difference - Cost $820. DESIGN VI - Description - Section - Cost $900. DESIGN VII - Described - Cost $1,000. DESIGN VIII - Description - Symmetry with variety - Cost $950. DESIGN IX - Description - Plans that may be reversed - Cost $1,075. DESIGN X - Characteristics - Description - Appropriate position - Cost $1,100. DESIGN XI - Description - Cost $1,500. DESIGN XII - Character and arrangement - Suitable position - The plan easily spoiled - Cost $1,625.
HILL-SIDE COTTAGES.Peculiarities and merits of hill-side positions - The house should conform to the site - Practical advantages - Subterrene basements condemned - Precautionary directions DESIGN XIII - Position, arrangements, characteristics, material, and construction - The roof - General remarks - Ruskin - Cost $1,300. DESIGN XIV - Position and form - Description - The stairs - Comparative merits of vertical boarding and clapboards - Cost $1,375.
HOUSES OF TWO STORIES.Diversities of taste - Proportion - Finish. DESIGN XV - Village imitation of city houses - This design is a modification - Kitchen above ground - Chimneys central - Bay window - General remarks - Balcony - Cornice - Cost $1,250. DESIGN XVI - More original - Proper position - Cost $1,200. DESIGN XVII - Not properly a cottage - Its purpose - Arrangement - Chimneys - Windows - Cost $1,875.
FARM-HOUSES.The village farm-house. DESIGN XVIII - Importance of the Kitchen - Rooms for farm work - Rear building - Parlor for use - Second floor - Walls - Expression - Cost $1,900. DESIGN XIX - More of elegance - Regularity - Conveniences - Second floor - Ornamental details - Cost $2,700. DESIGN XX - Subdued expression - Material and finish - Interior - One story extension - Cost $2,450.
DOUBLE COTTAGES.The advantage, in certain cases, of double tenements, in regard to appearance and economy - Division of the grounds. DESIGN XXI - Arrangement and expression - Cost $2,150. DESIGN XXII - Cost $1,950. DESIGN XXIII - Described - The verge-board - Machine-made ornament - Cost $3,000. DESIGN XXIV - An objection obviated - Description - Recesses - Suited to a large village - Cost $3,000.
INTERIORS.WALLS - Plastering - Papering - Hints. STAIRS - Their greatest and most common fault. MOULDINGS - PAINTING - The merits of graining examined - Use of woods in their native colors - Variegated floors. WINDOWS - Window-seats, blinds, shades, curtains. KITCHENS - FIREPLACES - DOOR-BELL - ICE - FURNITURE - Should be appropriate to the rooms - Fashion an unsafe guide - Cheap mock-fashionable furniture neither comfortable, tasteful, nor durable - Home-made furniture recommended.
HINTS ON CONSTRUCTION.Needful precautions - Working plans for the mechanics, and full descriptions and specifications - Nothing gained by hard bargains - The plan should be well considered, and closely adhered to - Importance of providing seasoned stuff - Foundations - Cellars, how secured against water, heat, frost, and rats - How to retain heat - Double walls, partitions, windows - Plan for double windows with single sash - The open fireplace - Stoves inevitable - The cooking stove - The open stove - Chimneys placed centrally - Cheap way of warming chambers - Ventilation and ventilators - A simple and economic method - Ventilation and sleeping rooms - Use of air-space under roofs - Section - Both window-sashes should be movable - Hipped roofs, how to be shingled - Roof valleys and chimney joinings, how made tight - Water-closets - Health, comfort, and decency demand that they should be within - How they may be made and dept inoffensive - The proper size and shape of flooring timbers - Cross-braces - Deafened floors - Outside timbers - Studding, furring, and lathing - Shingled roofs should not be painted - Outside walls require it - Choice of colors - Cautions against disorder and nuisances while building - A common misapprehension.
THE IMPROVEMENTS OF GROUNDS.The home not complete if the grounds are neglected. GRADING - Ease of access important. DRAINING - Form of surface - Terrace objectionable as ornaments - Artificial improvements should harmonize with natural features - Two common errors - Trees, rocks, brooks. DISPOSITION OF THE GROUND - Not a few attempt too much - Convenience and looks alike to be considered - Place for fruit-trees, flower-beds, etc. - Grass commended for front plots - The lawns of England - How to make and keep a beautiful lawn - Tree-planting, often excessive and injudicious - How to shut out the sun - Hints - Work for children - A place for play. PATHS - When they should be straight, and when winding. FENCES - Should conform to the house in general style - The high, close fence, where proper - where not - the wire fence - The live hedge - Wood fences - Posts - Gates - Design for high picket fence - Improved fence of common fencing lath - Plan and section - Two designs for baluster fence. DRAINAGE - Essential to health and comfort - Suggestions - Kitchen-drain, how to be guarded - Fatal consequences of neglect - The stench-trap - Section. CISTERNS - Rain - Its abundance - Its purity - How we let it run away, and then work hard to get it back - Filtering processes - Filtering vessels - The filtering cistern - Section - Improvements on this - How to construct a cistern - Vast importance of this topic. HOUSE PLOT - An illustration rather than pattern - Description - References. THE STREET - What interest and duty dictate in regard to it - Side-walks, gutters, banks - Trees - Hitching-post - Teaching by example.
THE GARDEN.Gardening neglected by the majority - The cause - The pleasures and benefits of the pursuit - How and why it grows in the love of its votaries - Ignorance and inexperience need not prevent a beginning - Many set out too largely - Only the best plants should be cultivated - Hints preliminary and precautionary - Obligations to Mr. Mead - Preparation of the soil - Trenching - Making paths - Geometric design for flower-bed - Directions for planting it - Another design - Fruit and vegetable garden, how to be laid out and planted - Grapes, how to be planted, trained, and pruned - The planting and pruning of fruit trees - Currants - Gooseberries - Raspberries - Asparagus - Strawberries - Ornamental shrubs and vines - Bird-houses - Lists of pears, apples, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, quince, gooseberries, blackberries, currants, raspberries - Deciduous and evergreen shrubs - Herbaceous plants - Climbers - Climbing roses - Hardy perpetual roses.

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