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.
Table of Contents:
Chapter | Description |
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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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