NHI HI & Son Limited Private Library Case ....(S>..C Shelf .. UBKAKS V / JVl . X- ///' FAMILY COTTAGE IN THE MOUSTAIUa PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. mts of BY CALVEET VAUX, ARCHITECT, OF NEW YORK. entirelg j^eto ISfcttion. TLLUSTKATED BY 370 ENGRAVINGS. NEW YORK : HAKPER AND BROTHERS. LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, SON, AND MARSTON, U, LUDGATE HILL, ENGLISH, AMEHICA2I, AND COLONIAL BOOKSELLERS AND PrBLl.-HKK-. 1864. WITH SINCERE RESPECT, TO CAROLINE E. DOWNING, AND TO THE MEMORY OF HER HUSBAND, ANDREW J. DOWNING, PREFACE. T? VERY American who is in the habit of traveling, -*-^ which is almost equivalent to saying every Amer- ican, must have noticed the inexhaustible demand for rural residences that is perceptible in every part of these Northern States. Nothing like it has ever yet occurred in the world's history ; and although hard times undoubtedly occur in America, as well as else- where, at occasional intervals, it would seem that the profits which are missed by one man, contrive, some- how, to slide into the pockets of other more successful operators ; for the carpenters and masons appear to be always getting a full percentage of the floating capital, and the ball is kept merrily rolling under all changes of individual circumstances. Such being the fact, whatever may be its philoso- phy, it seems evident that the season must come when the importance of the whole subject of domestic arch- itecture will be fairly and fully recognized. It can njot be possible that the energetic vitality which per- vades this branch of home manufacture will, for any great length of time, remain satisfied to expend its in- tensity on meagre, monotonous, unartistic buildings, or that it will continue to pay out millions of dol- lars every year without perceiving the propriety of get- ting, habitually, something worth having for the mon- X PREFACE. ey. In an intelligent age and country like this, ugly buildings should be the exception : not, as hitherto, the almost invariable rule. The accompanying designs have been prepared with- in the last few years to respond to the varied require- ments of different parties who have asked for them, and it is conceived, therefore, that they may possibly represent, to some useful extent, to those who are about to build in the country, the accommodations and arrangements for convenience that appertain to such buildings. They are not brought before the pub- lic as model designs, to lessen the necessity for the ex- ercise of individual taste, but, as far as possible, to in- crease its activity. Such books are needed as step- ping-stones; for no general popular progress can be made in any art without ample and cheap opportuni- ties for comparison and criticism ; and the chief value of illustrated works on such topics as domestic archi- tecture must always lie in the fact that they are calcu- lated to rouse into active life the dormant capacity for individual preference, which all possess more or less, and which is absolutely necessary for a just artistic opinion on any subject. It is for this reason, and with the hope of being more generally intelligible and pop- ularly useful, that the engravings are arranged, in the present volume, in a condensed, regular manner, so that they may be examined with little trouble and with but slight reference to the descriptions ; the eye thus being enabled to glance from one to the other briefly and easily. In this collection of studies there are many marked "D. and V." that have a special interest as the latest over which the genial influence of the lamented Down- ing was exercised. Several of the plans were in prog- PREFACE. XI ress when the tidings of his sudden and shocking death were mournfully received by his family and friends, and almost as mournfully by thousands, who, knowing him only through his books, still felt that he was to them a dear and intimate companion. Mr. Downing was on his way to Newport, to superintend the execution of Mr. Parish's villa, on the day when the loss of the Henry Clay in an instant struck out his name from the roll of living men, and thereby inflict- ed an irreparable injury on his country ; for Andrew Jackson Downing was not only one of the most ener- getic and unprejudiced artists that have yet appeared in America, but his views and aspirations were so lib- eral and pure that his artistic perceptions were chiefly valued by him as handmaids to his higher and diviner views of life and beauty. It is for this reason that his loss is so severely felt; for his character being moulded on this large scale, and~Tiis capacity to appre- ciate whatever is beautiful in nature or art being pro- portionately great, he had both the will and the power to exercise a marked influence for good over the taste of his countrymen. He readily saw that the contempt of art which the early Puritans had shown with the best intentions, and which in their age of imperfect toleration was entirely intelligible, and perhaps nec- essary, exists now only as a chronic, unmeaning prej- udice ; he also perceived that the proper time had ar- rived for the exercise of a better state of feeling, and for a general popular advance in taste, and he ad- dressed himself to the furtherance of this good work with quiet enthusiasm. He used every effort to break down the foolish barrier that ignorance had set be- tween the artist and the moralist, and strove to make manifest in all his works the glorious truth that the xii PREFACE. really "beautiful" and the really "good" are one. This conviction is indeed the key-note to all his teach- ings. "II bello e il buono," was the motto engraved on his seal and on his life ; and the everyday increasing improvement that is now visible in the popular taste, so far as regards the subjects on which he wrote, and which may be directly traced to his books, is ample evidence that his modest, earnest words must have sunk gently and convincingly into the hearts of many worthy readers. He was fortunately not a man of promise only, but of rich performance ; and although cut off in the very prime of a hearty, active, ever-ex- panding life, he had already lived and labored to such good purpose that he can scarcely be said to have left his work unfinished. He has set his mark fairly and broadly on the spirit of his age, and it is to be hoped that the love for grace and beauty that he so vigor- ously aroused in America will in future be always ad- vancing.* A few of the studies submitted have been made es- pecially for this work, to illustrate particular views ; but the greater number are reduced from working plans of designs that have been either executed or prepared for execution, and whenever practicable, the'particulars of contract or expenditure are supplied. Some of the designs, it will be observed, are marked "V. andW. ;" * Some time after the loss of the Henry Clay a private subscription was raised for the purpose of erecting, in the grounds attached to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, some fitting memorial of Mr. Downing, who was engaged hy the government, at the time of his death, in carrying into execution a comprehen- sive plan for landscape gardening that included the Smithsonian grounds, and also the whole of the public park proposed to connect the President's house with the Capitol. The design ultimately determined on for this memorial, which is now being erected at Washington, on the site appropriated for the purpose, is il- lustrated by the vignette on page xii. It is simply a large, white marble vase, carefully modeled from a chaste but highly enriched antique example, and mounted on an appropriate pedestal. PREFACE. Xlll these were prepared during my three years' partner- ship with Mr. F. C. Withers, to whom I am indebted for much valuable assistance in the preparation of this work. It is not unfrequently said that architects' designs cost, in execution, more money than their employers are led, in the first instance, to believe will be neces- sary; but these assertions are for the most part ill- grounded, and arise from there being, here as else- where, a class of employers who profess to want much less than they really require, and who positively assert that they need about half of what they are determined to have. Such persons easily find a corresponding class of designers, and, of course, are always disap- pointed, as they richly deserve to be; but reasonable men, who are prepared to bring to the subject of spend- ing their money the same good sense that has enabled them to realize it, find no difficulty in arranging their outlay in accordance with their wishes. For exam- ple, some of the houses in this volume have been very handsomely finished, and have cost not only much more than the outlay originally proposed, but much more than was necessary to complete them in a simple, rural manner. In no case, however, was the addi- tional expenditure a source of dissatisfaction to the parties interested; such designs were carried out un- der the immediate inspection of their owners, and the desire for finish and refinement in detail increasing as the work proceeded, these gentlemen were well satis- fied to enlarge, by degrees, their original intention as to cost. Some of the plans, on the other hand, have been executed for the exact sums specified in the con- tract ; in these cases the proprietor, having approved of the drawings and specifications, has entirely ceased XIV PREFACE. to interfere in the matter, except to pay the contract- or's instalments when they have become due from time to time ; and it may be stated, without any hesitation, that there are no insurmountable barriers to exacti- tude of estimate except loose instructions from the em- ployer to his architect, and indefinite arrangements between the employer and his mechanics ; both of which a proper amount of care at starting can readily prevent. THE DOWNING MEMORIAL KRECTKD AT WASHINGTON. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. A new edition of this volume being called for at the "f^ present time, the opportunity has been taken to make some slight changes and omissions, and to intro- duce a few additional illustrations, with the descriptive text necessary to make them intelligible ; but it has not been thought advisable to attempt any thing be- yond this, as the work is essentially of a fragmentary and transitional character, and it would be impossible, with any amount of labor in revision that the author could now bestow, to give it a more satisfactory or per- manent form. A thoroughly comprehensive text-book on the sub- ject of Rural Art^ conceived and executed in the true spirit, would be a valuable addition to American liter- ature ; but some tune must, in all probability, elapse before such a work can be successfully attempted, and, in the interim, its place must be, to a slight extent, supplied by works like the present, that merely seek to embody, in a shape fit for general reference, the thoughts and experiences for the time being of indi- vidual architects. The six years that have passed away since this work was first published have not been of a character to suggest any rapid advance in popular taste with regard to the fine arts, and yet, even during this short period, marked at its commencement by wide-spread XVI PREFACE. financial embarrassment, and closing in the midst of a terrible and exhausting civil war, some advance in the right direction seems to have been made. There is an increase in the demand for works of art of a superior class, and an important social idea has been developed in the "Artists' Receptions 1 ' that have now become so popular. Large public pleasure-grounds, such as the Central Park and the Baltimore Park, have been suc- cessfully established, an American Institute of Archi- tects has been formally organized, and art papers of some special interest, such as the "Greek Lines," have found their way into the current popular literature. There is, on the other hand, so far as Architecture is concerned, much cause for discouragement, and im- mense sums continue to be lavished with careless in- difference on ugly, ill-planned buildings in every part of the country. In the course of the next decade, however, some more decided progress may be looked for; and among the refreshing signs of the present time is the fact that an association of young men has, during the past winter, been formed for the advance- ment of "Truth in Art." The members hold that "all great art results from an earnest love of the beauty and perfectness of God's creation, and is the attempt to tell the truth about it." They also believe that, in all times of great art, there has been a close connection between Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting ; that Sculpture and Painting, having been first called into being for the decoration of buildings, have found their highest perfection when habitually associated with Architect- ure ; that Architecture derives its greatest glory from such association ; therefore that this union of the arts is necessary for the full development of each. And this brief extract from their articles of organization in- PREFACE. XVli dicates the spirit in which these artists expect to work, and is sufficient to show that much good may result from their earnest efforts in behalf of the good cause they advocate. " We stride the river daily at its spring, Nor in oar childish thoughtlessness, foresee What myriad vassal streams shall tribute bring, How like an equal it shall greet the sea. "Oh, small beginnings, ye are great and strong, Based on a faithful heart and weariless brain ! Ye build the future fair, ye conquer wrong, Ye earn the crown, and wear it not in vain." NEW YORK, March 23d, 1863. B 8TUDT FOR niON TERMINAL, CENTRAL PAEK, !f.T. CONTENTS. PREFACE. Remarks on the Employment of Architects ix VIGNETTE. Design for the Downing Memorial at Washington xiv PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. On the Design, Construction, and Detail of Country Houses 25 VIGNETTE. Design for a Village School-house 25 VIGNETTE. Design for a Country Church 1 18 DESIGN No. 1. (V. & W.) A simple Suburban Cottage STUDY 120 VIGNETTE. Design for a Log-house STUDY 128 DESIGN No. 2. : . ..!;,.,/ A small rural Double Cottage STUDY 130 VIGNETTE. Design for a Hooded Door STUDY 132 DESIGN No. 3. A Suburban Cottage STUDY 134 VIGNETTE. Design for a partially inclosed Veranda NEWBUKGH, N. Y 138 DESIGN No. 4. A Rural Cottage FISHKILL, N. Y 140 VIGNETTE. Design for a Rustic Outbuilding NEWBURGH, N. Y 144 XX CONTENTS. DESIGN No. 5. (V. & W.) PAaB A Suburban House NEWBDBGH, N. Y 14G VIGNETTE. Design for a Double Suburban House STUDY 150 DESIGN No. 6. A Model Cottage STUDY 152 VIGNETTE. Design for a Farm-house STUDY 158 DESIGN No. 7. A Cottage Residence GOSHEN, N. Y 160 VIGNETTE. Design for an Artist's Studio ROSDOUT, N. Y 168 DESIGN No. 8. A small Country House with Kitchen Wing NEWBURGH, N.Y 170 VIGNETTE. Design for a Garden Outbuilding STUDY 174 DESIGN No. 9. An Irregular Brick Country House YONKERS, N.Y 176 VIGNETTE. (V. & W.) Boat Landing in the Central Park NEW YORK CITY 178 DESIGN No. 10. (V. & W.) A Suburban House with Attics NEWBURGH, N.Y 180 VIGNETTE. (V. G DESIGN No. 23. A simple Picturesque Country House MOODSA, N. Y 258 VIGNETTE.-^-(v. & W.) Design for a small Rural Cottage NEW WINDSOR, N. Y 2C8 DESIGN No. 24. (V. & W.) An Irregular Brick Villa STCDT 270 VIGNETTE. Design for a Chimney with Ventilating Flues STAATSBURG, N. Y 274 DESIGN No. 25. (V. & W.) A Suburban House with Curvilinear Roof. STUDY 276 VIGNETTE. (V. & W.) Design for a Square House STUDY 280 DESIGN No. 26. A Wooden Villa with Tower and Attics STUDY 282 VIGNETTE. Design for an Entrance-gate and Piers NEWBURGH,N. Y 286 DESIGN No. 27. Family Cottage in the Mountains STUDY Frontispiece. VIGNETTE. Rustic Bridge CENTRAL PARK, N. Y 288 DESIGN No. 28. (F. C. W.) Stone Country House with Brick Dressings CLISTOX POINT, N. Y 291 VIGNETTE. Shaded Seats CKXTRAL PARK,N.Y 292 CONTENTS. XXili DESIGN No. 29. Wooden Villa with Curved Roof GREENWICH, Conn 294 VIGNETTE. Square Villa with Curved Roof STAATSBUEG, N. Y 296 DESIGN No. 30. (D. & V.) A Villa of Brick and Stone STUDY 298 VIGNETTE. Designs for Window-hoods STUDY 30'J DESIGN No. 31. Picturesque Stone Country House STAATSBDEG, N. Y 304 VIGNETTE. Design for a Farm Cottage STAATSBURG, N. Y 310 DESIGN No. 32. An Irregular Villa without Wing STUDY 312 VIGNETTE. Design for a Boat-house STUDY 316 DESIGN No. 33. (V. & W.) A Picturesque Villa with Wing and Attics STUDY 318 VIGNETTE. (V. j I tical arch at the side, is shown =^ 1=== atK. Porches may be fitted up with permanent or movable seats ; s^j 1 u.m.L- but these should be of wood in preference to iron, as the latter is a very cold, unyielding, and unsatisfactory material for such a purpose. They may be floored with wood, or paved with stone or marble, in two tints, or with a simple pattern of ornamental tiles. The latter are not expensive, and have as cheerful and pleasant an ap- pearance as any thing that can be used ; but they need, in laying, much more care than is usually bestowed by country masons, as they are liable to get loose and crack with changes of temperature, if the surface is at all irregular or uneven. The pattern should be very VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 87 simple, as, otherwise, an expectation of richness and elaboration in detail may be raised on the threshold, to which the interior of the house may fail to respond, and a disagreeable inconsistency will thus be apparent, which the remembered beauty of the paving will in no degree help to reduce. Entrance-doors may be divided into three principal varieties : the single door, shown at A, which may be either solid or glazed, with an iron grating the double door, B, and the door with side-lights, C. When the door is glazed the lights may, if pre- ferred, be hung on hinges from a centre rail, so as to let air into the hall without opening the door. The side-lights should always be hung as sashes. In some cases a sliding or folding inner solid door is construct- ed for protection, but the iron grat- ing answers all the purpose, and the glass may be ornamental, so as to give the light required without ex- posing any view into the hall from the porch ; and it is always worth remembering that a glazed door il- luminated from the inside has at night a much more agreeable and sociable appearance to any one approach- ing than a solid hall-door. The porch leads into the principal hall, which should connect easily, and, to some extent, symmetrically, with the rooms. It materially lowers the character of a hall, especially of a large one, if the positions of the various openings, etc., are unstudied and irregular; two doors, perhaps, clustering together at one spot, while a third lonely one is penned up tight in a corner, with insuf- 88 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. ficient room for the casing round it. The result in such cases is an appearance of carelessness, not of free- dom, in design. A shows a sketch for the end of a hall of but moderate dimen- sions, in which are many doors. By this plan two __ doors are grouped togeth- A er, with a panel and solid bracketed shelf between them, thus avoiding the mo- notonous effect of a series of doors of the same height, the sides being treated in a sim- ilar manner, and filled in with pic- tures in the pan- els. B shows the side of a larger hall, in which the blank space that would otherwise occur between the two doors is fitted with an arched recess and seat on one side, and with console-table, looking-glass, hat-pegs, and clock on the other. C illustrates an open hall, with a staircase be- yond. In this plan the upper flight of the prin- cipal stairs is supported on the arcade, and the two halls being thus connected together, a light, airy effect is pro- duced, that is free from any practical objection, VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 89 if a servants 1 staircase is also provided for on the plan. D illustrates a method of getting over the dif- ficulty of an opening at the extreme end of the side of a halL A light screen marks the passage- way, and gives regularity and some individuality to the design without mak- t - 4 \l 1 ing it less light or airy. The plan of a hall in which this arrangement is introduced may be seen on the princi- pal floor of Design No. 12. E is a similar example, but of a less expensive and more open character. From the hall we may proceed to the library, which is an apartment in very general demand in most country houses. It need not be of large dimensions under any circumstances, but should be so arranged that, even when occupied by only one or two persons, it may have a cheerful, do- mestic look. It may be adapted to its special pur- pose in various ways. The simplest mode is, per- _ haps, to recess book-cases, as shown at O, on each side of a door, fitting each with a dwarf closet for papers or magazines, and these recesses should be prepared for while the house is being constructed. 90 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. P shows another somewhat similar arrangement, but with glazed doors and without the dwarf closets underneath. In a library the book-cases fill it up considerably, and some- times a door of commu- nication is needed where it will occupy valuable space and be unsightly. This difficulty may be overcome by having one of the book-cases hung on hinges, and made to answer the purpose of a door ; or an imitation book-case, with book- backs corresponding with the other umes, may be used. Q illustrates an ex- ample that has been used in a small, sym- metrically-planned li- brary, the only visible approach to which is from the principal hall by sliding-doors ; but two of the book-cases are hung and fitted with an inconspicu- ous catch, so as to swing when needed, books and all, and a private communication is thus afforded with a boudoir on one side, and with the staircase-hall on the other. In a really large library the books should occupy the whole wall space, except a range of wide, inclosed shelves all round for unbound books, etc. If an ex- tensive library is needed to a house of but moderate dimensions, it seems desirable to divide it by projec- tions into compartments, so that its height may not VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 91 appear out of proportion to its length and width. Such an arrangement is shown at plan H. The library proper is thus di- vided, so far as its ap- pearance to the eye is con- cerned, into four separate parts ; but it is neverthe- less, to all intents and pur- ^ poses, practically one large room. Plan S shows the design of the ornamental, ribbed ceil- ing, which is so arranged that there are many transverse lines, and but few in the direction of the length of the room, the eye being thus drawn to the separate compart- ments as much as possible. T shows an elevation of the end of this room, which has lately been erected, in con- nection with other improvements, for Judge Kent, at Fishkill Landing, and now contains his valuable library of eleven or twelve thou- sand volumes. The gen- eral appearance of the exterior of this library, with the rooms over it, 1 as finished, is shown at U.* * This study may also serve as a further illustration of the remarks made with reference to alterations and additions in describing Design 17. The house, as purchased, was a fairly-proportioned, square country residence, with a kitch- en wing so injudiciously arranged that it obscured the most attractive view from the windows of the principal rooms. The existing wing building was, therefore, taken down entirely, and the new library was designed in its place, 92 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. V illustrates a design, made for my own use, for a small book-case that can be screwed to the side of a room. The doors are glazed, and the whole affair takes up but little space, and is suited to a small li- brary or study, as it allows of a table to v - be set against the wall beneath it. Such a book-case, made of black walnut at a cost of holds about eighty or ninety ordinary volumes. W shows a sketch of a some- what larger movable book-case, planned by Mr. Withers, for a recess beside his fire-place. The upper central space is uninclosed, and filled with shelves for the reception of small objects of inter- "est. The compartments on each side are glazed for books. The central com- "^ w partment below is for bound volumes of journals. The side spaces are fitted up with shelves and doors as lock-up closets for papers, etc. This book-case is made of oak, with the introduction of black walnut so that a wide veranda now commands the extensive prospect that before was lost, and the kitchen offices were rebuilt to the north of the library, so as to shield as much as possible this unusually large room from the winter storm. The staircase was planned anew, and an inclosed veranda (so arranged as to protect the otherwise exposed northwest corner of the library from the cold) supplied large pantries and other useful accessories on the principal floor. In other respects the old house was left intact, except that a bath-room and water- closet were provided for in the chamber plan, and proper provision was made for warming and ventilating. In the new building several other bedrooms were provided over the library, and the house, at an additional cost of about $11,000, was made as complete in every way as the circumstances of the case admitted. The result, I am led to think, was satisfactory, as Judge Kent, in a note of the 12th January, 1855, in which he speaks of the great advantage derived by his servants in extremely cold weather from boarding up temporarily the veranda to the north of the kitchen wing, adds, " I beg to say that, on my part, I am much pleased with the result of your labors. My house is very much to my taste. The exterior is, I believe, generally admired, and the interior arrange- ments make it the most comfortable house I ever lived in." VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 93 for the mouldings, and cost $55. X is a little sketch for a hanging book-shelf, suited to a bed- room or small study. Such designs, how- ever, come, perhaps, more under the head of furniture than architectural arrange- ment. In the dining-room several useful feat- ures may be architecturally managed. The side-board, for example, may be arranged in a recess, as shown at A, with a door to a private closet on one side, and a pan- try, or service-room, on the other. This idea admits of num- berless modifications, and has always a rich effect if well managed. At B is illustrated the end of a dining-room opening on to a plant cabinet, or small conservatory. The glass doors of com- munication are fitted with slightly - orna - mented glass, so as to decrease the monot- ony of effect that would otherwise oc- while enough cur, clear glass is left to give a good view of the flowers, etc., when the sliding- doors are closed. And it may be worth while to re- mark here, that such a conservatory should be ar- ranged for the display of flowers rather than for their VILLAS AND COTTAGES. cultivation, which may be more conveniently attended to elsewhere. C is an elevation of the side of a din- ing-room designed and executed for Mr. H. W. Sar- gent. The three woods, black wal- nut, oak, and yel- low pine, are used in combination, and the result, in execution, shows how valuable these woods are for internal decoration when used in their pristine simplicity and merely oiled. This effect of color, which is a principal part of the design, is not, of course, to be understood from the annexed sketch, which is a mere indication of the general idea. In this room the left hand panel slides up easily, and discloses a large dumb waiter, or lift, communicating at once with the cooking kitchen. On the opposite corner of the room is a self-balanced trap-door in the floor, which supplies, by an easy staircase, the only means of access to a small, private brick cellar, prop- erly ventilated. This door can be lifted up, by a lit- tle key fitting into a patent lock, at any time, the car- pet being suitably arranged, and the cellar is conse- quently under complete and convenient control by the master of the house at any moment. The butler's pantry is close to the dining-room, but a passage in- tervenes, which connects with a lavatory and water- closet, and also with a garden and conservatory en- trance. These latter are all close to the dining-room, without connecting directly with it. The wall panels are filled in with a richly-embroidered material, and VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 95 the ceiling is paneled in plaster, and tinted, to har- monize with the rest of the design. Permanent side- boards, introducing the three woods, and suitable in style to the room, are put up ; and the chimney-piece has also been specially designed for this apartment. It is illustrated as a vignette to Design No. 19. The pleasant and harmonious result that may always be obtained by a judicious treatment of unpainted ma- terials in the interior of a house is well deserving of consideration. Ceilings and floors may be decorated in this manner as well as side-walls ; and D may serve as a hint for a simple floor in two tints, adapted to an entrance-hall or small study. The drawing-room, or best parlor, next suggests it- self to our notice. This room, although intended to be a strong point in every American house, is often made its least satisfactory feature. I have noticed one style, for example, which, in all probability, most of my readers have also seen. The walls are hard-fin- ished white, the wood-work is white, and a white mar- ble mantle-piece is fitted over a fire-place which is never used, as there is a stove in the room or a furnace in the house. The floor is covered with a carpet of ex- cellent quality, and of a large and decidedly sprawling pattern, made up of scrolls and flowers in gay and vivid colors. A round table with a cloth on it, and a 96 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. thin layer of books, in smart bindings, occupies the centre of the room, and furnishes about accommoda- tion enough for one rather small person to sit and write a note at. A gilt mirror finds a place between the windows. A sofa, by courtesy so called, occupies irrevocably a well-defined space against the wall, but it is just too short to lie down on, and too high and slippery, with its spring, convex seat, to sit on with any comfort. It is also cleverly managed that points or knobs (of course ornamental and French polished) shall occur at all those places toward which a weary head would naturally tend, if leaning back to snatch a few moments' 1 repose from fatigue. The sofa is, in- deed, the " representative" man of the room, and con- centrates in itself the whole spirit of discomfort that reigns unmolested in every square foot of the apart- ment. There is, also, a row of black walnut chairs, with horse-hair seats, all ranged against the white wall. A console table, too, under the mirror, if I re- member rightly, with a white marble top and thin gilt brackets. I think there is a piano. There is, cer- tainly, a triangular stand for knicknacks, china, etc., and this, with some chimney ornaments, completes the furniture, which is all arranged according to stiff, im- mutable law. The windows and Venetian blinds are tightly closed, the door is tightly shut, and the best room, that I am now thinking of, is, in consequence, always ready for what? for daily use? Oh, no; it is in every way too good for that. For weekly use? No, not even for that but for company use ; and thus the choice room, with the pretty view, is sacrificed, to keep up a conventional show of finery that pleases no one, and is a great, though unacknowledged, bore to the proprietors. Such is one style of best parlor to be VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 97 found in America ; and though it is by no means uni- versal, it is far too general for comfort. A drawing- room like this becomes a sort of quarantine in which to put each plague of a visitor that calls ; and one al- most expects to see the lady of the house walk in with a bottle of camphor in her hand, to prevent infection, she seems to have such a fear that any one should step within the bounds of her real every-day home life. All this is absurd. No room in any house, except, perhaps, in a very large mansion, ought to be set apart for company use only. If a reception-room for strangers is needed, it should be a small, unpretending room, certainly not the most agreeably situated apart- ment in the house, which should be enjoyed daily, for it is not the having any good thing, but the using it, that gives it its value. A friend of mine, when mak- ing arrangements to rent a small suburban house, hap- pened to remark that he should occupy the back par- lor as a dining-room, and the landlady seemed really quite overwhelmed with the idea, which she evidently thought an unwarrantable innovation. "All the best families," she said, "lived in the basement. Why use such a beautiful parlor merely for an eating room?" as if eating was a degrading occupation. Let us return, however, to our drawing-room. A best parlor ought to express, in its proportions, colors, and arrangement of furniture, an agreeable, hearty, social welcome. The lady who studied her room when her guests had de- parted, after a lengthened and agreeable visit, so as to learn how the furniture had accommodated itself, as it were, to suit the social convenience of her friends, and who then modified her previous ideas accordingly, had the true artistic eye for beauty of arrangement, and certainly deserved to have a pleasant circle of acquaint- G 98 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. ance. There are but few strictly architectural features in a drawing-room that call for illustration. Good pro- portions can be supplied ; but the lady of the house is the most important archi- tect here. A bay-window is a very desirable addition to such a room, as it breaks up the monotony of outline, and gives a more free and open effect. Studies for inte- rior arches to such windows are shown at A, B, C, and D. As we have now passed through the principal rooms, we may proceed to take a glance at the chamber plan. The staircase is a very char- acteristic feature in a house, and a convenient adapta- tion of the height of risers, ^ breadth of treads, height of railings, plan of landings, and finish of newel posts, adds more than would, at first sight, be supposed, to the general comfort of the house ; for this part of the ^ design is common to all of the residents, and is, more- over, sure to be in constant use. A simple and econom- ical arrangement is to have a plain turned newel post ^ and turned baluster. This VILLAS ANT) COTTAGES. 99 plan also admits of much ornamentation, and an en- riched specimen is shown at L. M illustrates an oc- tagonal newel post. N shows a staircase of higher character for a large hall, with continuous string and newel post at each landing ; and such a staircase has a fine effect when well constructed of hard wood, par- ticularly if it is fitted with a skirting, or dado, and half hand-rail against the wall, following the rise of the stairs on the same line as the main hand-rail. O shows a design of still higher pretension, in which the balusters are dispensed with, and the space filled with open tra- cery. In this idea of a design all the forms are made to adapt them- selves to the general upward line of the staircase, and a more easy and graceful effect can be arrived at in this way than in any other. It involves, however, like most superior arrangements, an increase in cost, and can, therefore, only be adopted occasionally in large houses. On arriving at the chamber floor we naturally ex- pect to find a bath-room and water-closet. Some per- sons have a prejudice against planning these two con- veniences in the same apartment; but my own expe- rience is in favor of placing them together in a house 100 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. of moderate size, as the advantages of saving of space, free ventilation, and plenty of room to move about in, more than compensate, in practice, for the slight in- convenience that must certainly occur now and then, if both bath and closet happen to be required for use by different members of the family at the same time. It may be well here to advise any one who fits up a water-closet inside a house, to ventilate the basin with a half-inch pipe carried behind the furring into a flue, as well as -to ventilate the room by a register near the ceiling. A house-maid's sink saves a good deal of trouble if properly managed ; but it should not be in the bath-room, but near the attic stairs, or wherever it can be most privately located, so as to be well light- ed and available for constant use. A speaking-tube, with whistle attached, should be fitted to connect this floor with the kitchen department; and a dust-shaft, if well placed and judiciously planned, is a labor-sav- ing addition to the accessories, as is also a lift for coal- hods, or to send down clothes for the wash, if it can be cleverly managed so as not to waste valuable space. A linen-press is a universal requirement ; but, with the exception of a roomy closet for towels, etc., this convenience, in a moderately-sized house, may just as well be provided for in the attic, where there is likely to be more room to spare. Any superior room or press for woolens or linens should be supplied with cedar shelves. We have now fairly arrived at the bedrooms. A bedroom for a lady's use, to be complete, should have two windows on one side, so that a looking-glass and dressing-table may be placed between the two lights, and, if possible, a window on one of the other sides, so as to obtain a thorough draught through the room VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 101 whenever it may be required. Each bedroom should have a ventilator in it, and one or two closets. These may be arranged in connec- tion with the windows on the sides or ends of the room, if preferred, so as to improve the appearance of the apartment, and give a recessed bay and seat. Q and R show two studies for this sort of arrangement, which, as will be seen in the designs to be hereafter described, I take every fair opportunity of introducing. Attic bedrooms may be so planned as to afford a valuable addition to the accommodation of a country house. A more extended view is generally to be ob- tained from these rooms than from the rest of the house, and as they may be made quite as comfortable, though not, of course, so symmetrical, as the second floor chambers, they deserve a fair share of considera- tion ; and the economical advantages they offer have frequently led me, in practice, to advise the use of a high-pitched roof, with a flat on the top. The acute angle of the roof precludes the possibility of any large surface being exposed to the vertical rays of the sun, and the flat on the top, being furred down some three or four feet, supplies an air-chamber above the attic 102 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. c. ceiling that acts as a satisfactory shield from the heat. This space can be floored and fitted with a staircase, and used as a lumber garret, if thought worth while. This plan of ar- ranging the roofs, so as to increase the value of the attic rooms without loss of exterior effect, has been so generally ap- proved, that I can, with confidence, rec- ommend it to the examination of all who intend to build coun- try houses of moderate size. The flat is not noticeable from below, as the ridge lines alone are ap- parent ; and many to whom I have explained the principle of arrangement by an actual visit to executed houses, have expressed their surprise at finding a large, near- ly level space, on the top of a house that showed no sign of any thing of the sort to a passer-by. Some further remarks are maoTe on this subject in describing Design No. 7. Studies for arranging attic windows and closets are shown at G and H. The roofs and gables of a country house may be de- signed in many different ways, and some of their prin- cipal varieties may be seen on reference to the accom- panying little sketches. Fig. 1 is a high-pitched gable, with verge-board. Fig. 2 shows a similar gable hipped VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 103 back, which entirely alters its character. The eaves may be curved, as here shown, if preferred. Fig. 3 shows a gable of flatter pitch, with cantilevers. Fig. 4, a corresponding gable, with pendant finish. Fig. 5, a FIG 6. curved gable, with pendant finish. Fig. 6, a roof with a single convex curve. Fig. 7, a concave curve. Fig. Fie 7, FIG 8. 8, an ogee curve ; and Fig. 9 another form of ogee curve. Each of these forms is available in one situa- tion or another, and I believe all are introduced in the accompanying designs. Dormer-windows are of several sorts, according to the style of the house. They are often made too small, and considerable comfort and effect is thereby lost, for a small one costs very nearly as much as a large one, and is not half so available. A dormer is a capital feature in a country house, and never need 104 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. be ashamed of itself, or try to shrink out of sight. A shows a study for a single large window. B, another one, hipped back, with curved eaves. C, a study for a dormer with double win- dow; and D a picturesque arrange- %._ ment for bringing a dormer forward, and making it a more important part of the design. The perspective effect of this latter arrangement may be seen in Designs No. 4 and 31. A dormer in a different style is shown as a vig- nette to Design No. 22. Verge-boards and finials admit of endless variety of design, and some studies for these details are shown at E and F, and in the vignette to Design No. 21. Rain-water pipes, as generally planned, are most unsightly accessories to a country house. They need VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 105 never be so. On the contrary, they may often be made valuable helps in design, as they can be used to mark a vertical line in the composition where there is no projection in the plan. Instead of being circular, as generally made, they should be semi-circular, so that they may rest flat against the wall surface ; and they should also be fitted with heads, and the pipe that conveys the water from the roof should be car- ried into them with a curved line from the level of the gutter, instead of being cut through the cornice in the common, slovenly, broken-backed way that disfig- ures nineteen out of twenty country houses in Amer- ica. G and H are illustrations showing the foot of verge-board and construction of gutter in a roof with curved eaves. The mode of continuing the gutter to the rain-water head applies also to any roof in which the gutter is cut out of the rafters. Some designs for heads are shown at I and K. Chimneys are the very first things that catch the eye, and the last to escape from observation. They should, therefore, be well studied, and have a substantial, hos- pitable look. All clay pots, pretty or ugly, should be FLAN. 106 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. faithfully eschewed, for they are the most mean, shab- by, dwarfish features that can be added to a house. A plain brick shaft, without any relief whatever, is to be preferred to the most fanciful pot that money can pur- chase. But there is no need to make the brick chim- ney so very plain ; the flues may be grouped together in many different ways, and set-offs may easily be made in the brick-work. A shows a stack of six flues, sim- ply finished with a blue stone on the top. Chimneys should always seem to stride the ridge, and never appear to sit on it side-saddle fashion, for a very "\ disagreeable monotony of line will be the result if this point is not attended to. Where a case of this sort occurs, it is best to work out to a square or cross before leaving the roof, such as B. A plan is shown as a vignette to Design 24, in which, as there are many flues intro- duced, the ventilating openings are arranged at a low- er level, to reduce the heaviness of effect that would otherwise ensue. A stone and brick chimney-stack is shown at C, and an elabo- rate stone shaft at D. As a general rule, it is prefer- able to plan the interior of a house so that the chim- neys may start from the ridge, as it saves heat and prevents any chance of the chimneys smoking. But circumstances alter cases, and it is now and then al- most necessary to plan them in the outer walls. A VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 107 few specimens of this style of chimney may be seen in the perspective views hereafter submitted, such as in Designs No. 3 and 37. Ventilators are often useful both for convenience and artistic effect. Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 show some of their varieties of design that have occurred to me in practice. They can conceal an Emerson's venti- lator, if preferred ; but if the air-pipes are brought to- gether at this point near the ridge of the roof, the simple outlet will, in most situations, be found suffi- cient. They need to be planned with a proper escape for the water that will find its way into them in rainy weather, or the practical result will be unsatisfactory. Hoods to windows in American country houses are features that seem to spring naturally from the pecul- iarities of the climate, and the needs they give rise to. The upper sashes of windows with hoods can always be left a little open without any chance of the rain beating in ; and even when of small size they protect the glass from the direct vertical rays of the summer sun, and receive the first blows from the winter storm. They also add much to the artistic effect of a rural building, and deserve, I think, a more full apprecia- 108 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. tion of their merits than has hitherto been accorded them. A few examples are shown at A and B, and as vignettes to De- sign No. 30. It is to be observed that, in summer, a small window is in one respect most comfortable, as a wall is a better pro- tection from heat than glass or Venetian blinds, and most of the Italian and Eastern villas are planned with small openings. But, on the other hand, large windows are desirable to throw open for the summer evening breeze, and to let in plenty of cheerful light during dull winter and spring days. The hood, in a measure, connects these two opposite needs. A ve- randa all round a house is delightful for a month or two in the heat of summer; but most healthily-con- stituted persons like to have the opportunity to admit a stream of glorious, warm, genial sunlight into their rooms whenever they feel inclined to enjoy it, and this can not be obtained if the veranda entirely encircles the living apartments. The hood, on the other hand, defends the window from the powerful rays of the mid-day sun without shutting it out entirely. The balcony is a feature that can now and then be introduced to advantage ; and a specimen that tells the whole story, and scarcely needs any further de- tail, is shown in the illustration to Design No. 24. The bay-window is the peculiar feature next to the veranda that an American rural home loves to indulge in. There can, indeed, scarcely be too many for the comfort of the house, or too few for the comfort of the purse, for I regret to add that they are expensive features. The simplest form is a plain semi-octagon. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 109 with simple shed-roof, shown at L. This sort of bay is very commonly finished with a roof running up to a point against the wall; but the effect thus produced is always mean and disagreeable, and a straight line for some distance, as shown on the sketch, gives the appearance of the win- dows belonging to the house much more than the other mode. M shows a plain bay with a balcony over, so that the oc- cupant of the room above may be able to step out and see the view, or attend to a few choice plants. The square bay shown at N gives much more additional room than the octagon, and if connected with a continuous balcony and arch beneath, as there shown, has a handsome architectural effect; but the other form is generally to be preferred. Circular bays are effective, but more expensive than any others. In the design of a bay-window a great deal will always depend on the arrangements made for the shutters or blinds. A want of forethought often leads to the al- lotment of so scanty a space for the piers at the an- gles, that the shutters are found to be in the way, ex- cept when closed, which is, of course, annoying. A 110 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. large bay window, with smaller bay above, is shown at O ; and P shows a bay with a covered balcony over O "'"" PISKNEY SC. it ; and the effect of this combination, which admits of much variety of design, is, in execution, very airy and elegant, if properly designed and solidly con- structed. Recessed arches and arcades will always produce a capital contrast of light and shade if introduced with any judgment, and deserve, I think, more attention than they seem to receive. They differ materially, both in accommodation and artistic effect, from ve- randas. The arcade being inclosed on three sides, affords much more shelter from the weather, throws a deeper shadow, and is more secluded from observa- tion; while the piazza, which is always exposed on two sides, and generally on three, is more open to the cool breezes in hot weather. Arcades should, therefore, be introduced in connection with, and not VILLAS AND COTTAGES. Ill instead of verandas. R and S show two varieties, which, however, can scarcely be judged of in mere outline. De- sign No. 35 may serve to give the perspec- ^C tive idea more justly. These sketches show merely the geometrical design. It is a good plan so to arrange an arcade that it may be inclosed during the winter with glazed frames. This will make the house very much warmer during the cold months, and will help materially to protect the work from decay. The veranda is perhaps the most specially Ameri- can feature in a country house, and nothing can com- pensate for its absence. It may be constructed of lattice in the common way, or with a little more elabora- tion, as shown at A. A handsome veranda may always be made by using posts seven or eight inches in diame- ter, and fitting between them brack- f 112 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. ets, or arches ; and specimens of this style are shown at B and C. Another example, somewhat more elab- ffl D orate, is shown at D. The veranda may, if preferred, be of more solid construction, an instance of which is sketched at E. An agreeable effect can be produced by turning the columns of some suit- L able pattern, and perhaps enriching them with a little carving. A very simple study for a veranda of this sort, lately designed for execution, is drawn at F. Wooden balustrades are of several sorts, as may be seen on the drawings of verandas just described. They may be constructed with turned balusters, or composed of a flat surface, pierced with a pattern. A third method that may be adopted is somewhat of a combination of the other two. Its ef- fect is produced by using flat balusters, =t as shown on parapet to C. Another 77 sort is shown on the parapet to porch G, described already a few pages back, and endless opportunities for variety in = design ccur in treating this part of a i country house. Windows are either single, double, VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 113 or single with side-lights. They may be fitted with outside shutter-blinds, which is the plan commonly adopted, as the cheapest and least liable to get out of order ; or with inside Venetian blinds, or inside shut- ters, partly solid and partly filled in with slats, which is a very good way, or with altogether solid shutters. Inside shutters may be arranged either to slide or to shut up in boxes, as may be thought most expedient. French casements are troublesome if they have to open outward, and inconvenient, as far as curtains are concerned, if they open inward ; but they have a pleasant effect in warm weather. In a room eleven feet high and over, almost the same advantage may be gained by sliding the lower sash up to the meeting rail, and inclosing it with a rough box and follower above, for the available height for exit will be five feet ten inches. The most perfect^ and, of course, the most expensive arrangement, is to prepare a case in the wall sufficiently large to contain the sash, the Ve- netian blind, and the solid shutter, and then to slide each of these into this recess. All such work requires, however, to be very nicely fitted, and the blinds must be so planned that the slats will never be in the way. But these are matters of construction that it is scarce- ly worth while to go into very minutely here. A few sketches of tin ventilators for bedrooms are drawn at M, N, O, and P. These are one tenth the price of registers, answer all the purpose (for a venti- lator should never be closed), and look as welL H 114 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. Some studies for ornamental plaster ceilings, that may be carried into execution by clever mechanics without much trouble or expense, are added at R, S, and T, and with these I con- clude the illustrations and explan- atory remarks that belong to this section of the work. A point that requires much attention in the study of details is, to make the ornament secondary to the construction, and not the construction secondary to the ornament. This is the fatal rock on which so many a good conception for a house has been split. An inexperienced man, for example, may conclude to have an ornamental plaster-ceiling in his parlor, and in his desire to have it good of its sort, he may so load it down with decoration that it will be much more disagreeable to look at than the plain ceiling was before it was touched. And so it is throughout the whole subject of domestic architecture : it is al- ways a-s easy to spoil a house by overdoing it as by un- derdoing it. Having thus taken a passing glance at the most prominent points of detail that are likely to occur in the building of a country house, we may proceed to VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 115 explain the various designs. But before doing so it is proper to remark, as so many different circumstances are likely to affect the arrangement of actual designs for country houses, that it would be useless for any architect to publish plans with the idea that they could be completely followed on any other site than the one for which they are specially designed. But this is not the object proposed to be gained. The principles they involve, and the individual peculiar- ities they possess can be combined, modified, and im- proved in many different ways. They are to be con- sidered merely as hints or suggestions. The vignette at page 25 illustrates a design for a village school-house, of which the plan is here sub- mitted. It is not requisite that it should be of any particular dimen- sions, provided that the proportion shown between the different parts is duly observed. The outline of its plan is a simple parallelogram RECITATION I ROOM r-s L HHOOLMM J covered by one roof. The accommodation embraces a veranda porch, a lobby for hats and coats, a school- room, a recitation-room, a necessary, a loft overhead for storage of benches, etc., and a partially-excavated basement for a stove or furnace. A ventilator is pro- posed to be constructed on the ridge of the roof com- municating with the school-room. The recitation-room would be ventilated by a spare flue alongside of the furnace smoke-flue. Such a building ought to be con- structed of brick or rough stone, for it seems a pity to erect a school-house of wood, particularly in a coun- try where whittling is almost an institution. Still, the design could be easily constructed of wood if it were thought advisable. A school-house of this sort 116 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. could be erected for from $500 upward, according to size and finish required. The vignette that closes this chapter shows a gener- al view of a study made for the Associate Reformed Church proposed to be erected in Newburgh. This design is adapted for execution in brick and dressed brown stone, or the wall surface may be built with small, neatly-pointed, rough stones, and the window- dressings, angles, etc., may be of hard Jersey stone, fairly worked. The spire is proposed to be construct- ed of wood, above the octagonal portion of the tower. A more varied outline is thus obtainable ; and as the main building is to have a roof and external cornice of wood, a similar principle of construction is thus carried out in the tower also. In the interior, which is designed without columns or galleries, a collar-beam roof is proposed to span the whole width of the build- ing, and to show its construction in the arrangement of the panels of the plaster ceiling, each principal raft- er being stiffened by a semicircular moulded arch springing on each side from a projecting stone corbel, prepared to receive it when carrying up the walls, which are intended to be strengthened at these points by buttresses, as shown on the sketch. The want of taste that has been exhibited in the majority of designs for country churches in America has had a very prejudicial effect on the general ap- pearance of villages and provincial towns ; and many years must elapse, even under the most favorable cir- cumstances, before a material change for the better can take place, for these structures are, in most cases, strongly built, and have cost much money. A wood- en caricature of a Grecian temple has been the most popular form adopted, and this is repeated in a thou- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 117 sand meaningless, ugly ways all over the country. Here and there some slight appreciation of the beau- ty and appropriateness of the spire has been shown, but the examples are few and far between, and, when they do occur, are generally painted a glaring white from roof to base-board. It is the soaring, heaven- ward-pointing spire, bold in outline and quiet in col- or, that is the true architectural type of the spiritual Christian worship. This is the feature that should be- long specially to the religious edifice, and thereby dis- tinguish it at once from the secular buildings in its neighborhood. Its value and beauty, in connection with natural landscape, is, perhaps, unexplainable ; but it is none the less real because we may be unable to trace in words the delicate process by which the mind perceives the propriety of its expression. Since the first edition of this volume was prepared for publication, at Newburgh, on the Hudson, a church of considerable size, and with a lofty spire, has been built on one of the principal streets from the designs of my friend Mr. F. C. Withers ; the whole exterior of the church, including the spire, is built of stone, and the general effect is shown in the vignette introduced at the end of the Table of Contents of the present edi- tion. The body of the work is constructed of a gray- ish bluestone, the dressings and the spire are of a light olive freestone, and the roof is covered with two tints of slate ; the color is thus diversified,, although the con- trasts are not so marked as to interfere with the gen- eral impression, which should always depend more on picturesqueness of line, and depth of light and shade, than on variety of local color in the materials used. The question of an alteration in the appearance of country churches generally, is one in which we are all 118 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. personally interested, exclusive of sect or denomina- tion ; for we are compelled to look at their outsides, although we are perfectly free to attend or stay away from the services that are held within them. And it is to be earnestly desired that the improving taste for good proportion and color that is perceptible in Amer- ican villa and cottage architecture may soon reach this subject of country churches in the rural districts ; for the building which we set apart for the service of re- ligion, and in which we dedicate our best hours to the praise and worship of the good God who has created and preserved us, should surely be the purest, the no- blest, and the best architectural work our minds can conceive and our hands execute. A CIICECI1. DESIGN No. 1. (V. &W.) PERSPECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF PBJNCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF CHAMBERS. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 121 DESIGN No. 1. (V. &W.) A SIMPLE SUBURBAN COTTAGE. No. 1 illustrates a design for a simple rectangular cottage intended to be built on a twenty-five feet lot by Mr. Ryan, plumber, of Newburgh. This house is proposed to be constructed of wood filled in with brick, and to cost about $1500 or $1600, according to the amount of interior finish that may be decided on. It will be perceived by the plan that the house is ap- proached by a veranda-porch, the principal floor being occupied by an airy parlor fitted with recessed book- cases in the walls on the side of the fire-place ; a small living or dining room, and a kitchen communi- cating with a back porch, in which is a sink. The chimney-stack being designed in * the centre of the building, all the heat from the fire-places will be saved to the house in winter. By this arrangement that ob- jectionable feature of any plan for a house a base- ment dining-room is avoided, and the lowest floor is used for cellarage only, and not finished off. It would probably be convenient in the summer, however, to use a portion as a wash-room, and if so, a stove could easily be fitted up temporarily for the purpose. ' The chamber plan shows three bedrooms and a large linen- closet with a window in it. This, if preferred, could be used as a bath-room or a child's bedroom, and then it would probably be desirable to connect it by a door with the principal bedroom. The gable introduced at the side is for the specific purpose of getting a proper headway to the attic staircase. 122 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. It is not proposed, at present, to finish off the attic chambers ; but the roof is of such a pitch that two light, airy bedrooms could at any time be obtained at a little additional cost, and without occupying the whole of the garret space. The house, having a twen- ty feet front, allows of two feet for projection of roof on one side of the lot, and of a three feet passage-way on the other. Another side-entrance at the head of the cellar stairs could be arranged, if thought worth while, for this three feet passage-way, but it is not in the present instance thought necessary. In fitting up the parlor of such a cottage as this, good taste would seem to indicate that the carpet should be of small pattern, and rather quiet in color, so as to give an air of repose to the whole room. The wood-work might be either stained and varnished, or painted in light, cheerful tints. The walls should be covered with a pretty, fanciful paper, harmonizing with the wood- work, and not large in pattern, or it would appear to decrease the size of the apartment. The mantle-piece may be of wood, of some simple, tasteful design, corre- sponding with the rest of the room, and yet look far better than a cold, costly white marble affair, that will run away with much money to no purpose. The cen- tre-table should be a sensible, substantial piece of fur- niture, at which three or four people will be able to sit and read comfortably. A well-made chintz-covered lounge, although a much more economical, and a far more comfortable piece of furniture than a modern rose-wood sofa, will be found to have an equally agree- able effect in the room. Two or three tables of fanci- ful design and trifling expense, that can be moved wherever they may be wanted at a moment's notice, will give life and animation to such a parlor ; and an VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 123 easy-chair or two for tired visitors, besides the regu- lar half dozen, will be found very acceptable. Some pretty, simple engravings on the wall in neat frames, and an oil-painting or two, can be obtained at a very moderate cost. Pretty casts for the mantle-piece, or to be placed on brackets here and there on the walls, may be obtained for a mere trifle. . I purchased one, for example, the other day, in New York, for twenty- five cents, full of grace, beauty, and artistic thought. A bird-cage, or a basin of gold-fish, or a hanging-bask- et for flowers, if there are any young girls in the fam- ily, will also help to give an air of vitality to the whole room, which should be the central point of attraction for all the inmates. It is possible, however, if we lay much stress on these minor accessories, that some Mr. Blank may say, "This will never do. We can't have our girls fussing around with flowers, and birds, and gold-fish. They have their duties to perform, and their studies to attend to." We will, therefore, stop here, merely venturing to remark, with all due deference, that although duties must, of course, be performed, yet innocent pleasures ought also to be encouraged, and that no study will insure so rich a reward to all concerned as the study of simple, quiet, domestic grace and elegance. The vignette is intended to show a simple method of obtaining, in a new clearing, a comparatively com- fortable and somewhat homelike family residence with- out much trouble or expense. This design does not illustrate a log-cabin, or single room, in which a fam- ily of men, women, and children eat, drink, sleep, wash, 124 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. dress, and undress all together. It is a plan for a very simple house for a well-to-do settler and his fam- ily. The principal apartment, 16x20, is proposed to communicate at once with the open air through a door under a veranda-porch in the summer, and to be ap- proached through a small wash-room at the side in the winter, the veranda being then used for storing a supply of wood under cover. In the wash-room is a flight of ladder steps leading to the loft. The family- room has two windows in it, and is connected with two small bedrooms and a store-room, each supplied with one window. The house is intended to be con- structed in the ordinary manner with rough logs ; but as much neatness as is compatible with proper econ- omy is supposed to be exercised in the selection of the material and in the execution of the work. It is the common practice to cut downfall the trees near the site of a log-cabin ; but this custom is far more hon- ored in the breach than in the observance, and a little judicious forethought will certainly preserve a few fine specimens round the family home for shade and enjoy- ment. This study has been made on a small, simple scale, so as to be more generally available, but the mode of construction proposed to be adopted admits of considerable artistic treatment in a rural way ; and if a log-house were required on a more extensive plan altogether, the style might be raised in character ac- cordingly, without sacrificing in any way its primitive expression. Log-houses are frequently occupied, for years together, by well-educated, active, energetic men, who are the pioneers of civilization in the thinly-in- habited districts in which they take up their abode ; and much good would result if such men would set the example of devoting some thought to the beauty, VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 125 as well as to the utility of the homes they erect for themselves and their families. We are all aware that a decided distinction is com- monly drawn between the two words I have just used, viz., beauty and utility; and yet every useful object should be beautiful, and every beautiful object must be useful, or its alleged beauty is hollow and unreal The misconception arises from the shallow material tests with which we are apt to content ourselves. A glorious sunset, for example, has nothing whatever to do with eating, drinking, sleeping, or locomotion, and it may, therefore, be said by some to be an entirely useless aifair ; but the fact is, that, if we are wise enough to appreciate it, the beautiful sunset is of great use to our higher, although it is of no use to our lower capacities of conception. A horse may be made to lead a life of hard work, and may enjoy his warm coat, his victuals and drink, and his sound sleep, as well as a man ; and a human being who de- votes his life solely to obtaining these acknowledged necessaries of his existence, will never be any thing better than a rather superior specimen of a beast of burden. But no beast of burden has yet evinced any special partiality for sunsets, or has shown any natu- ral craving for beauty for its own sake. Here, in fact, we arrive at one of the main characteristics that especially distinguishes the man from the brute. Up to this point, all the enjoyments his five senses are ca- pable of he shares with the inferior animals. But the capacity to see and fully appreciate the beautiful, and to discover the charm and wonderful excellence of loveliness, is restricted to the human race. Man alone, of all living beings on the earth, has been made in the image of his Maker, and man alone can experience the 126 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. delightful sensation of sympathy with the divine attri- butes of grace and beauty. How debasing, then, must be that leveling, rational, utilitarian spirit, that seeks to cut out from the desires and aims of men all that is useful to them as beings who are pronounced by their Creator only a little lower than the angels, while it insists on an almost sleepless attention to those ma- terial cravings that are useful to them, simply because they are active, energetic animals. All this eating, drinking, sleeping, and working for means of subsist- ence is not "life," although it is a needful prepara- tory step to it, and may be made an enjoyable part of it. It is to life what the foundation is to the build- ing: it may be excellent in itself, and deserves, un- doubtedly, the most careful attention, because a flaw in this part is fatal to all that may be done afterward. But what opinion should we form of that man who spent all his time and money in building foundations? The true way to live, says the prudent economist, is to pay as we go : and this rule is of thousand-fold ap- plication. If we wish to realize our existence, we must pay as we go, not only our debts to the body, but what we owe to our higher, purer, better, and more ideal nature, or we accumulate a heavy debt that drags us down in after life. Some people form a no- tion that they can devote five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years to the accumulation of means to purchase enjoy- ment, and can then sit down comfortably and enjoy it. But the order of nature is entirely averse to any such investment of time. She permits nothing of the sort. Pay as you go, says Nature ; . clear up accounts every day with your good genius, and cheerfully subscribe something to your ideal life, to your taste for the beautiful, to your domestic happiness, or, when the VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 127 ten years are passed, you may find yourself with a large account at the bank, but with very little capac- ity to enjoy any thing that your money can purchase. And it is not for ourselves alone, but for the sake of our children, that we should love to build our homes, whether they be villas, cottages, or log-houses, beauti- fully and well. Men and women can go abroad and take their pleasure elsewhere. They can gratify their desire for variety and excitement in a hundred differ- ent ways ; but the young people are mostly at home ; it is their storehouse for amusement, their opportu- nity for relaxation, their main resource ; and thus they are exposed to its influence for good or evil unceasing- ly; their pliable, susceptible minds take in its whole expression with the fullest possible force, and with unerring accuracy. They soon learn thoroughly to enjoy every possibility of enjoyment it. possesses, and their unspoiled instincts for the good and true are perpetually seeking in it for a gratification of then 1 nascent perceptions of the beautiful. It is only by degrees that the young, hungry soul, born and bred in a hard, unlovely home, accepts the coarse fate to which, not the poverty, but the indifference of its pa- rents condemns it. It is many, many years before the irrepressible longing becomes utterly hopeless ; per- haps it is never crushed out entirely ; but it is so stu- pefied by slow degrees into despairing stagnation, if a perpetually recurring blank surround it, that it often seems to die, and to make no sign ; the meagre, joy- less, torpid home atmosphere in which it is forced to vegetate absolutely starves it out ; and thus the good intention that the all-wise Creator had in view, when instilling a desire for the beautiful into the life of the infant, is painfully frustrated. It is frequently from 128 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. this cause, and from this alone, that an impulsive, high-spirited, light-hearted boy will dwindle by de- grees into a sharp, shrewd, narrow-minded, and self- ish youth ; from thence again into a prudent, hard, and horny manhood, and at last into a covetous, un- loving, and unloved old age. The single explanation is all sufficient : he never had a pleasant home. DESIGN FOB A LOG-HOUSE. DESIGN No. 2. m COACHMAN'S ._^ ' _ r 2 n KITCHEN B "^ . _ i ' i i J,_.. EE j|| COACHMAN'S UIVIN& R. /6-ox /4-o HALL 1 PORCH PLAN OF LL, I PRINCIPAL FLOOR VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 131 DESIGN No. 2. A SMALL EUKAL DOUBLE COTTAGE. No. 2 is a design for a cottage for two small fam- ilies. Under the fanner's living-room is a basement- kitchen, with the windows considerably out of ground, and under the coachman's kitchen is a cellar : the en- trances are, as will be perceived, quite distinct. Up stab's the farmer has three bedrooms ; the coachman but one, according to instructions. Such a cottage would cost about $1800, neatly finished. Such a plan would not be unsuitable for a lodge, in which the families of a gardener and gate-keeper could live, or it might be fitted up a little more com- pletely, and offer convenient accommodation to two friends who felt inclined to build it on some agreea- ble rural lot for a few months' quiet residence in the summer. It seems strange that this idea should not be more frequently acted on than is the case at present. Far away from the fashionable watering-places, but easily accessible from the cities in the heart of Vermont, for instance may be found bold, beautiful scenery, pure air, and a pleasant neighborhood. Land is cheap, timber cheap, living cheap, and all of the best. These are the spots that should attract the attention of heads of families who wish to give their young people the benefit of country life in the summer. A long trip of three months may, in this way, be taken at a less cost than will be incurred for a brief, glitter- ing three weeks at Saratoga or Newport, and with 132 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. real, instead of nominal, advantage to the health of the juniors who join in it. This cottage is proposed to be constructed of wood, filled in with brick, and covered with clap-boards. The upper view shows n rear addition to the coachman's part of the house, which is not indicated on the plan, and which might be included in the design, if thought worth while, although the house is complete without it. The verge-boards and porch are proposed to be slightly ornamented, and a hooded door, adapted to the arrangement shown on the ground plan, is illus- trated in the vignette below. DE8IGN FOB A HOODED DOOB. DESIGN No. 3. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. PRINCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF CHAMBERS. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 135 DESIGN No. 3. A SUBURBAN COTTAGE. This design for a suburban cottage on a small scale was prepared for a situation on a street lot, in which the house would have been generally seen among trees, and in connection with the other houses adjoin- ing. The proportions were, therefore, made some- what higher than would have been thought desirable if the site had been larger and more open. This point of relative proportion is worth much consider- ation in suburban houses, for it may easily happen that a particular design shall have a decidedly dwarf- ish appearance if built in one situation, a high, stilted effect in another, and be quite satisfactory in a third the result on the eye being dependent as much on the objects immediately surrounding the house as on the house itself. The force of this remark may be tested BASEMENT. convincingly in any large city by an examination of the architecture of its shops and warehouses. It fre- quently happens that a block of stores, which for years 136 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. has presented a tall, massive, dignified appearance, sud- denly shrinks into stunted, second-rate insignificance, simply because other buildings two or three stories higher are erected on each side of it. In accordance with instructions the dining-room was planned in the basement. It connects with the kitch- en through a pantry that is arranged under a balcony on the principal floor, and is supplied with a large china-closet. A sink-room is attached to the kitchen, and the remainder of the basement is occupied with cellars and store-room. The principal floor shows a veranda-porch commu- nicating with a hall, in which is a cloak-closet and door to back veranda. The stairs are in a side hall, in which is an entrance to a bedroom of moderate size; and a parlor, connected with a general living- room, and opening on to a balcony, completes the ac- commodation on this floor. The chamber plan shows three bedrooms fitted up with closets, etc., and a lin- en-press in the hall. If preferred, the other end of the open hall could be inclosed and fitted up as a bath-room, for there would still be sufficient light for the hall and staircase. The attic provides two bed- rooms and store-closet, and an open garret. The rain- water cistern, it will be observed, is so placed that it may be sunk in the upper part of the linen-press, which is not available for its special purpose more than six or seven feet high. By this means the water is received from the eaves, and pumping from below is saved. In this plan, as it interfered with convenience to arrange the chimneys in the body of the house, they are placed in the outside walls, and are intended to improve the appearance of the design, although per- fectly simple in execution. The chimney is a most VILLAS AND COTTAGES. . 137 expressive feature, and deserves to be brought prom- inently into notice in domestic architecture. As a general rule, it is desirable in this climate to build the chimneys in the body of the house, and not in the outside walls. But exceptions often occur in large houses, and sometimes in small ones, where the gain in so doing is greater than the loss, and in such cases the opportunity to give a definite character to the chimney-stacks should be taken advantage of. This design has not been executed. It was estimated by Newburgh mechanics at over $4000, in 1852 ; but as it is not nearly so large a house as Design No. 7, which was built, to the satisfaction of the proprietor, for $4200, complete, about twenty miles from the site on which this design was proposed to be erected, it is presumed that, under favorable circumstances, the es- timate would be within that amount. It was proposed to be built of brick, furred off on the inside, and paint- ed a soft cream color externally, the verandas and trimmings being finished a rich brown. In arranging the tints for the exterior of a coun- try house it is better to make them a little warmer than will be entirely satisfactory at first, because the pigments must certainly fade more or less in a few months, and the permanent effect is what should be most thought of at starting. The vignette shows a design for partially inclosing a veranda which was made for J. J. Monell, Esq. The country house to which it belongs is planned on a side-hill overlooking a picturesque glen ; and the kitchen in the basement being, in consequence, entire- 138 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. ly out of ground in the rear facing the garden, these offices were somewhat too freely exposed to view from the ornamental grounds in the vicinity of the house. The simple plan here sketched was therefore made and carried out ; and as the vines, already grown over the old supporting-posts, were trained to the new trellis- work, and showed to even better advantage than be- fore, no harm was done in this respect, while a great- er degree of privacy was certainly arrived at with but little sacrifice of light. The sketch is introduced as similar cases often occur, and a little ingenuity can readily arrange new varieties of pattern to embody the same general idea. DESIGN FOR PARTIALLY INCLOSED VEKANDA. DESIGN No. 4. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 141 DESIGN No. 4. RURAL COTTAGE. This design, erected by Dr. de la Montagnie, of Fishkill Landing, is situated amidst quiet, agreeable home scenery, and commands several beautiful views, both of the Hudson and of the noble hills that rise up at this point from its eastern shore. The approach road near it is picturesquely wooded on both sides, so as to seem more like a wide lane than a common high- road ; and all the circumstances suggested an unpre- tending, but really rural house. As the accommodation required was not extensive, there was no necessity for attic bedrooms, and the cot- tage is, therefore, planned a story and a half high, as it is called, the roof coming down a foot or two below the ceiling line, not, however, so as to interfere with the occupation of the rooms in any way. Although, by this arrangement, the ceilings of the bedrooms are less elegant than they would be if finished off square, as usual, there is one decided advantage attending it, which was fairly illustrated in the case under consid- eration. The ground in the immediate vicinity of the building site was, as is often the case, somewhat bare 142 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. of trees, and the proprietor, with great care and pains, moved a number of healthy specimens, of larger size than usual, from the neighboring woods. Fortunate- ly these have thriven well for the most part, and the consequence is, that although they are small, and have had only a year or two's growth in their present situ- ation, they have quite an important effect in connec- tion with the house, because it is kept low, and with overhanging eaves that still further take away the ef- fect of height. This design was built in a hollow, but the earth taken out for foundations was so arranged that the house, as now finished, stands on a gentle eminence, and the natural impression of a stranger to the facts would be that Nature kindly provided a little bluff for the specific purpose of building the doctor's cot- tage on. The general effect was materially assisted by sodding the surface in the vicinity of the house, in- stead of trusting to grass seed. This process is, of course, the more expensive of the two, but if well done, it yields, what is really of importance in a new house, an immediate reward. The entrance is through a wooden porch, that serves for a veranda on that side. The hall is of liberal size, and is almost as useful as another room, having a win- dow in it commanding a pretty view. The parlor and dining-room communicate with the veranda. A roomy pantry and lock-up closet are pro- vided in connection with the dining-room, and a lobby is shut off at the head of the basement stairs : in this is a wash-stand, etc. Up stairs are four bedrooms. There is a large garret of good height overhead. The kitchen accommodation, etc., is in the basement. In the arrangement of the chamber plan it will be VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 143 seen that a projecting dormer-window is introduced in the upper hall at the head of the stairs. This sup- plies a pleasant recess for a chair and table at a win- dow that looks out on a cheerful view ; and as it stands out from the main hall some little distance, being supported on heavy brackets, as may be seen on the upper illustration, it casts a deep shadow, even when the sun is high, and gives some- additional indi- viduality to the design. The house is constructed of wood, filled in with brick, and the carpenter's and mason's contracts were taken at $2900 ; the architect's commission for draw- ings and details, without superintendence, being 3 per cent, on that amount, viz., $101 50. One advantage that is offered by wooden construc- tion is, that picturesque breaks in the plan may be made for less money than they will cost in brick- work, because it requires considerable time and care to make a brick corner plumb and true, while a wood- en angle can be easily worked. The exterior is painted in quiet, neutral tints, the main body of the work being of a rather warm gray, while the corner-boards, verge-boards, window-dress- ings, veranda, and porch are also of a grayish tint, but considerably darker than the other, and with some brown added to it for the sake of contrast. The stiles of the Venetian blinds are rather lighter than the win- dow-dressings, while the slats and the panels of the verge-boards are of a cool dark brown. The chimney is painted in two tints, to correspond; and as the house is covered with shingles, which soon become soft and pleasant to the eye, the whole effect is free from either startling contrast or wearisome monotony. In painting a country house the aim should be to 144 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. give it a cool effect in summer, and a warm effect in winter ; and this is not so difficult as might at first be supposed, because all combinations of colors are mutually dependent on each other, and the marked contrast in the appearance of the surface of the soil, the trees, and the sky, at different periods of the year, gives an opportunity, when choosing the tints for a house, to select- a happy medium that shall be suited to more seasons than one. The vignette shows a sketch for a rustic outbuilding proposed to be constructed with a rough frame covered with bark, and with a shingle roof. STUDY FOR AN OUTBUILDING 3 I I TOOL SHED DESIGN No. 5. (V. & W.) 1>EB8PE*;T1VE VIEW. PRINCIPAL FLOO.l PLAN OF CHAMBERS. VILLAS AXD COTTAGES. 14' DESIGN No. 5. (V. & W.) SUBURBAN HOUSE. This is a design for a suburban residence for Rev. E. J. O'Reilly, of Newburgh. It seeks to supply the accommodation of an ordinary three-story brick house in a form that shall have a less high-shouldered and stilted appearance than usually distinguishes buildings of this class. In the plan a recessed lobby is arranged, with outer door for shelter, instead of a projecting porch. The principal floor shows two parlors and a small study; or, if another arrangement is preferred, a parlor, a li- brary, and a spare bedroom, the back rooms opening on to a veranda. In the basement is the dining-room, kitchen, coal-cellar, and pantries, with a side entrance communicating with the same. This arrangement is to be preferred to the more common plan of putting the kitchen door under the area steps, as it gives more privacy, and uses up less space in the basement for pas- sage-ways. The bedroom plan supplies two large and two small bedrooms, one of which may be fitted up as a bath-room. The arrangement of the attics is some- what similar to the chamber plan, two roomy bed- rooms being supplied over the principal apartments, and garret and store-rooms over the remainder. These latter are lighted by small windows under the eaves, the other two by the windows in the gables. The- reof projects two feet six inches all round, and is fin- ished with a simple eaves moulding and brackets. The pitch of the roof is so high that there is a consid- 148 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. erable space between the ceiling of the attic rooms and the flat overhead, and thus these rooms are not open to the objections that often apply to attic rooms in the hot summer weather. The front is paneled in brick, the panels being painted of a tint some shades darker than the rest of the house, to avoid monotony, and to give value to the brick projections. This house was built in a substantial manner, the carpenter's and mason's contracts being taken at $3000, including two coats of paint, but exclusive of plumbing and mantles. The vignette shows plans and a view of a double cottage proposed to be erected on a fifty feet lot. No advantage whatever results from building two small detached cottages, with the same amount of accommo- dation in each, on two twenty-five feet lots; and by building them back to back one wall is saved, and both houses are rendered much drier and warmer. The roof is simpler, and offers better attic rooms. The passage-ways at the side of each house are wider, and the whole effect is more dignified and agreeable. The plans are so drawn on the illustration that the entire accommodation is set forth, the principal and chamber floor being of one house, and the attic and basement of the other. This will require a little care in examination, to be thoroughly intelligible. Each house corresponds exactly with the other, except that the plans are reversed. The accommodation provided may be thus described : A recessed porch, covered with a hood, leads to a hall, in which a staircase to the upper rooms is planned in the usual way. The parlor, which faces the front gar- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 149 den, is lighted by a bay-window, and communicates with the dining-room, which has windows to the floor opening on to a veranda. In this room a recess is prepared for a deep side-board, and a door at the far- ther end connects with a pantry. This is shut off from the main hall by a lobby at the head of the base- ment stairs, and is fitted up with closets, in connection with which a lift may be contrived, if required. Some few steps down this inclosed staircase is a landing, from which a door opens from the passage-way at the side of the house, thus securing a separate kitchen- entrance, and a convenient side access to the premises, without any sacrifice of space in the passage-way, and, at the same time, avoiding a servants 1 entrance down area steps, which is an advantage, as an area is likely to get filled with snow in the winter. In the basement will be found a kitchen, with sink- room adjoining, the kitchen being provided with a large pantry, and a door to the furnace-room and coal- cellar. There is also a store-room and provision cellar. In the chamber plan are two large bedrooms and a smaller one. The principal chamber communicates with a bath-room, which has another door from the hall ; and near the bath-room is a water-closet, with a separate external window and a linen-press. In the attic three large bedrooms are planned, and a space for lumber is marked on the plan ; but this might be used as a clothes-room, if preferred, and the space overhead between the attic ceiling and the flat could have a step- ladder to it, and be used as a lumber garret. These houses might be built of eight-inch brick, furred off above the basement, the party wall being sixteen inches thick, so as to contain all the ventila- ting flues that may be required. 150 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. This block of two might be built of brick for $5000, with a simple internal finish ; and it is much to be re- gretted that some attention is not bestowed on this class of buildings, as it is a more economical, and far preferable arrangement to erecting small, detached buildings within a few feet of each other, as is gener- ally done on village streets. In this design the rooms are supposed to be of good size, and the whole arrange- ment is adapted to the requirements of a man of busi- ness in comfortable circumstances, who requires to be not farther from his office or store than the immediate outskirts of the country town in which he resides, and where, consequently, extra land will be both more val- uable and of less use than it would be farther away from his neighbors. The same idea might, if preferred, be developed on a smaller and cheaper scale. DESION FOR A DOUBLE COTTAGE. DESIGN No. 6. I'Blibl'SOTIVE VIEW. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 153 DESIGN No. 6. MODEL COTTAGE. This design has been prepared to illustrate the views set forth in the opening chapter with regard to the real needs of a small family home in the coun- try, and may be supposed to be arranged for the use of a man of simple habits, with some refinement of taste. Such a man would be a lover of hospitality, fond of fresh air, free space, and an easy life, and willing to take advantage of all reasonable modern improvements in the art of living comfortably; but, from choice as much as necessity, being economical in his requirements, he would have as strong an aversion for empty display as for scanty baldness in arrange- ment or detail. The plan shows an entrance-porch and small hall, in which are hat and cloak closets. All the family accommodation provided on this floor is a parlor com- municating with a dining-room, and both opening on to a wide veranda. The parlor has a large bay pro- jection, with seat round it, and the dining-room is fit- ted up with a book-case, B, a side-board recess, R, and connects with a roomy pantry, in which is a lift, L, a sink, S, a china-closet, a row of shelves, and a 154 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. hanging-table. The dining-room also communicates with a garden entrance-lobby, fitted up with a wash- stand, and connecting with a water-closet. The stair- case-hall is shut off from the main hall, and the base- ment staircase, opening on to the pantry, is partitioned off from the principal staircase ; thus all necessary pri- vacy is insured. The basement plan explains itself, cellarage being obtained by excavating under the ve- randa. The chamber plan supplies a family bedroom, with dressing-room, large closets, and bath-room at- tached: it also connects with a small bedroom that has an entrance from the hall. A water-closet is pro- vided close to the bath-room ; and one other guest's bedroom, as will be seen on the plan, and a linen-room under the roof of pantry building completes the accom- modation on this floor. In the attic are two good bed- rooms, a store-closet, and a large garret. Another bed- room might be finished off, if preferred. The wooden outside porch is proposed to be finish- ed with an open timber roof, the rafters being planed smooth and chamfered on the edge, and the boarding being matched and beaded. Provision is also made here for fitting sashes in the panels, and for hanging an outer door when required. Such a porch should be paved in preference to being boarded, and as per- manent seats are planned on each side, and the pro- jection from the house is ten feet, an arrangement of this sort will be found by the inmates a very tolerable substitute for a veranda when the sun is shining on the opposite side of the house. The large bay projection in the parlor is proposed to be constructed of the same materials as the walls of the house, with three sash-windows fitted into it. The ceiling is intended to be of the same height as the VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 155 room, and to have a balcony over it accessible from the chamber above. By finishing the bay projection without an interior arch, the apartment will be much increased in apparent dimensions, as the eye is natu- rally apt to judge of the size of a room by the bound- ary lines of the cornice. There are several methods of treating such an arrangement of a bay projection in a satisfactory manner internally. The other living-room, which should be library and dining-room in one, might appropriately be finished with Georgia pine, unpainted, and a moulded skirt- ing, or wainscoting, about two feet three inches high round the sides, would connect the various openings to- gether in an agreeable and not very expensive manner. The exterior of this house is simply designed. There is no attempt to make it "all corners and all gables," or to evade the fact that it is a straightforward, rectan- gular house ; but, at the same time, an effort has been made to give it a somewhat picturesque character in the arrangement of the roof and dormer-windows. The slight curve at the eaves (of which the method of con- struction has been explained in the introductory chap- ter) helps materially to reduce the hardness and angu- larity of line that would otherwise be somewhat prom- inent in such a simple arrangement of roof. It will also be observed that, as the principal gable is wider than the entrance hall, the parlor window, which is naturally planned in the centre of the room, would appear one-sided on the exterior elevation, if some precaution were not taken to avoid this disagreeable effect. A slightly-projecting pier, arranged to receive the rain-water pipe, is therefore introduced at the an- gle, and the balance is thus restored, as the windows appear now to be planned in the centre of the panel 156 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. thus formed, and a corresponding arrangement is, of course, adopted on the staircase side of the hall, so that the necessary uniformity may be preserved. Such a house as this could be fairly built for $3500 in ordinary building times, and is equally fitted for a brick, wood, or stone construction. The same general plan may be amplified so as to include a kitchen wing with back staircase, and may be adapted to a flatter pitch of roof. An example of such a modification, which was prepared for a site in the neighborhood of Shrewsbury, L. I., is illustrated below. FRONT ELEVATION. SIDE ELEVATION. BASEMENT PLAN. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOB. CI1AMUEB PLAN. ATTIC PLAN. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 157 The vignette shows a study for a farm-house intend- ed to be built of brick or stone. The aim here has been to design a building that shall be domestic and simple, and yet not unsuited in artistic effect to take its place in a rural landscape. One disagreeable pe- culiarity that is often noticeable in American farm- houses is, that they are too full of windows, and have, in consequence, an undignified, mean effect. Breadth of surface has been sought for in this study, and no more windows have been introduced than entire con- venience requires, the plan being arranged accordingly. Thus, though there are four openings under the front veranda, only two are inserted in the next story ; for if two more windows were added on the chamber floor, the -whole effect of repose would be destroyed, without any advantage being gained in interior com- fort. The accommodation in the main part of the house consists of a hall with a staircase in it, a parlor communicating with a general living-room, and a bed- room connecting with this apartment and the kitchen wing. It is not thought necessary to provide a sep- arate passage to the kitchen from the front door, and it is calculated that the family-room will be used as a dining-room. It is the custom with some farmers to make a constant practice of taking all meals in the kitchen ; but this habit marks a low state of civiliza- tion. The occupation of farming is the natural em- ployment of a human being, and it ought to be made a refined and noble pursuit, not a mere way of earn- ing a rude subsistence. It is among the sons and daughters of the farmers that the pith and marrow of a country are to be found, and every grace that be- longs to rural life should find its highest examples in the home and family of the intelligent American farm- 158 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. er. The wing building in the design under considera- tion contains a side entrance, with veranda-porch, sev- eral pantries, a roomy kitchen, a wash-room, and a wood-house. The chamber plan in the main building contains three large and two small bedrooms, a linen- press, and a staircase to an extensive open garret. The kitchen wing contains four secondary bedrooms, approached by a flight of stairs in the wood-house, and accessible also from the main building through one of the bedrooms, as it is not thought worth while in a farm house to sacrifice the space that would be re- quired for a separate communicating passage between the upper hall in the main house and the wing rooms. DESIGN FOB A FAEM-HOUSE. PRINCIPAL FLOOR PLAN. CHAMBER PLAN. DESIGN No. 7. VEBANDAft. PORCH. VERANDAH. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 161 DESIGN No. 7. COTTAGE RESIDENCE. This design illustrates a cottage residence built for Mr. Wright, of Goshen. It was required that the kitchen and its accessories should be on the same floor as the living-rooms, but the house was not pro- posed to be of such a size as would warrant the erec- tion of a separate wing for this purpose. The whole building is, therefore, under one roof, and the kitchen is so placed that its contiguity to the principal rooms does not interfere with the privacy that properly be- longs to the apartments in constant use by the family. A porch of brick, communicating by arched open- ings, with verandas on each side of it, forms the prin- cipal entrance, and opens on to a hall 8x15 feet six inches. This porch is so arranged that the arched openings at the sides can be closed with glazed frames in winter, and the central opening fitted with a frame and door, thus making a double hall, that is a great advantage in severe weather, as it prevents the ingress of a draught of cold air whenever the front door is opened, and offers a protection from storm to visitors while waiting for the servant to attend to the bell. The parlor and dining-room open from the hall by 162 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. doors opposite each other. The parlor has a bay-win- dow and a door opening on to a small private veran- da that is not overlooked by any one approaching the house. The dining-room is 15 0x18 6. It is unde- sirable that any dining-room, and more- particularly one that is used as an ordinary living-room, should be directly connected with the kitchen, for various evi- dent reasons ; and it is equally inconvenient to have the halls and passages that belong to the other apart- ments occupied several times a day by the servant whose business it is to prepare the table for meals and to clear away afterward. In the present instance the difficulty has been overcome by constructing a one- story inclosure corresponding in design with the pri- vate veranda on the other side of the house. This is of wood, and, at small cost, adds much to the con- venience, and something to the appearance of the house. Its effect is shown on the lower perspective view. A pantry between the kitchen and dining-room is thus obtained, communicating with both ; and by this means convenience of access, without loss of pri- vacy, is secured. A store-room for the kitchen is also supplied in this little outbuilding, and also a sink- room ; this latter, having two small windows on op- posite sides, is well ventilated, and renders the kitch- en a much more pleasant apartment for servants to live in, as it relieves it of the most disagreeable part of the work. The kitchen is 12 0x15 6, and has a door close to the back entrance and to the cellar stairs. If preferred, this back entrance might be shut off en- tirely from the principal staircase by a door across the hall on the same line as the cellar door, thus dis- connecting the kitchen still more completely ; but it is not shown so on the plan. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 163 The staircase hall is entered from the main hall, and communicates with a bedroom, 12 x 14, on the princi- pal floor. This room could, of course, be used as a library or study, if preferred ; but it adds much to the convenience of a country house to have one bedroom that, in cases of sickness, can be approached without the labor of going up and down stairs. It is worthy of consideration in a cottage residence that, at seasons of festivity, the rooms may be required to hold an un- usual number of persons ; and though it is not desira- ble to sacrifice any family comfort in the plan on this ground, it is as well to bear it in mind. In this de- sign, in the event of an entertainment, the rear en- trance should be used by visitors ; the bedroom would thus be close at hand, and could be used as a cloak- room, while the parlor and dining-room would make one suite with the front hall and porch, the doors of communication being thrown open. Additional room could be easily gained for a summer entertainment by temporarily inclosing the front veranda outside with calico, or any similar material, lightly affixed ; and if the veranda posts are covered with creeping plants, as they should be, the effect of such a leafy gallery as is thus obtained when lighted up at night is very cool and elegant. The chamber plan contains four bedrooms and a small study or sewing-room, 8x11, opening by glazed doors on to a balcony over the porch. A flat of this sort offers a good opportunity to the ladies of the house to cultivate flowers in pots with little trouble, and when thus used, it is a useful and agreeable acces- sory. In this country, either from climate or some other cause, ladies generally find it either too hot or too cold for gardening; and as it devolves on the 164 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. feminine portion of the household to attend to these minor matters where a regular gardener is not en- gaged, it is worth while to take advantage of any op- portunity like this to keep the flower vases filled with finer and better-tended specimens than will be likely to be found in the flower-beds on the lawn. The attic plan contains two servants 1 bedrooms and a roomy garret. The plan of the roof of this house will illustrate the general arrangement that experience seems to show is the most desirable for the roofs of country houses ex- posed to a climate so peculiar as that of these North- ern States : it is suited, indeed, for any climate, but is especially called for here. The main requirements in a roof are, that it shall keep off the wet ; that it shall offer no opportunities for snow to lie where it can thaw, and freeze, and be a nuisance ; and that it shall supply cool and commodi- ous attic rooms, if needed. By projecting the roof two feet six inches or three feet, and cutting the gut- ter into the rafters, the walls will be well protected from the wet, and by invariably avoiding solid para- pets and horizontal gutters between gables, the snow will be no inconvenience. A flat connecting the va- rious ridges supplies free room in the attic, and is in every respect a complete mode of construction, while any plan that requires gutters between the gables is sure to give trouble at some tune or another. The snow that falls on a flat of this sort is generally blown off at once, as it is so much exposed to the wind. If, however, it should happen to lie, and thaw and freeze for a month together, it can not do any harm, as it is unrestricted on every side, and drips away down the roof as it melts. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 165 Very much depends on the appearance of the roof in a country house, for it is the first and last feature that impresses the eye, and it should be made an im- portant part of every design. It is for this reason that so many plans of roofs are inserted in this work, and I hope that the casual reader may be induced to give some attention to their arrangement. For this design the plans, specifications, and working drawings were furnished without superintendence ; and as the house has been erected several years, I lately wrote to the proprietor, asking him as to its ultimate cost, and if a personal residence in the house had suggested to him any improvement on the plan. He replies, "As near as I could get at the cost of the house, for which you drew plans, it was $4200. With reference to al- terations in the plan, I know of none that I would be willing to advise, although others of more knowledge of construction might." The vignette illustrates an artist's studio, designed for Mr. Jervis M'Entee, landscape painter, of Ron- dout, and built by him of wood, fitted in a substan- tial, simple way, for $400. It is finely placed on an elevated site, and commands an extended view of the Kaatskills and the Hudson. On the plan it is one simple room : the ceiling line follows the line of the roof and collar beams, so as to give height and a more airy effect to the interior. All the rafters are left vis- ible, the plastering being fitted between them. Some time after the design had been built and occupied, Mr. M'Entee added a portion of a simple cottage residence in corresponding style, the studio still remaining in 166 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. use for its original purpose. The complete effect aimed at is shown on the lower view and plan. As the parlor, the veranda, and the porch are not yet built, a somewhat disproportioned result is ob- tained for the present, as the wing looks larger than the house ; but its accommodation and cost, as it stands, is all sufficient for the immediate needs and circumstances of its proprietor, who has judiciously preferred to run the gauntlet of his neighbors 1 criti- cism for a time, and to plan his house as he will want it, carrying it out by degrees as opportunity offers, rather than to adopt a snug arrangement complete in itself, which, although suitable enough for to-day, would, in all probability, be in a few years inconven- iently small for his own needs ; and if he wanted to sell at any time, could hardly fail to prove an unde- sirable investment on a site constantly improving in value, and that might, in all probability, be disposed of to advantage at any time, with a roomy house on it, or a building that could easily be made a good family residence, without pulling down the existing building or injuring its general appearance. The house as it at present stands, with hall, dining-room, pantry, small bedroom, and studio, on principal floor, three bedrooms and a little bath-room above, and base- ment kitchen, with cellars below, has cost $2000; and Mr. M'Entee calculates that another $1000 would ren- der it complete, as shown, giving a second kitchen be- low, a best parlor and a best bedroom over, in addition to the accommodation already provided. The scenery in the neighborhood of this cottage is of the most striking and varied description, and the eye looks over a range of country extending from the North and South Beacons at Fishkill, on one side, to VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 167 the lofty Round Top and Woodstock Peak on the other. A white, isolated speck, visible in the gray distance, marks the situation of the Kaatskill Mount- ain House, and calls to mind the many beautiful spots in its vicinity, one of which, "The Falls," I have thought it worth while to speak of more particularly here, because its pictorial effect is much injured by the un architectural treatment it has received at the hands of those who have attempted to make the ac- cess to it more satisfactory to tourists. This beautiful fall of water is so picturesquely grouped in connection with the trees and the rocky precipitous sides of the mountain, that its upper edge, or lip, seen through the spray from below, would appear to be at a great height from the eye, if it were not for a clumsy boarded structure that has been erected just on the brink of the descent to afford visitors a view clear down into the valley. This square mass in a great measure destroys the effect that Nature has attempted so successfully to produce, and is one among very many unfortunate in- stances of harm done to picturesque scenery through a lack of a little architectural knowledge in a rural way. The practical advantage gained is at once allowed ; but the important point is, that an equally satisfactory and convenient result might have been attained, not only without any sacrifice of picturesque effect^ but with even some advantage in this respect. For example, the boarded structure might have been omitted alto- gether, and a rough stone wall built up in great blocks, and without mortar, to the requisite height in a bold, irregular manner, could have received a platform at the required level, and a small, picturesque building might have been placed on this platform, if needed. In a year or so, by this arrangement, the rude new 1G8 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. wall would have been covered up with vines and creepers, so that it would have added an actual twen- ty feet to the real height at this point, and an appa- rent height^ when seen from below, of thirty or forty feet. As the building stands at present it dwarfs the appearance of the fall, and can hardly fail to strike the eye as a decided blemish, obtruded on the attention at the most interesting point of view in the whole land- scape in which it occurs. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. N.E.VIEW. BI1OW1NO T11E COTTAGE COMPLETED. DESIGN No. 8. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 171 DESIGN No. 8. A SMALL COUNTRY HOUSE WITH KITCHEN WING. This design was prepared and executed for Mr. R. L. Case, of Newburgh ; and the general idea of the plan includes so much that is called for by the Amer- ican climate and habits of life in the Northern States, that it will probably be better worth the attention of those who wish to build a moderate-sized cheap house, with a kitchen above ground, than many other plans of more pretension. It possesses one convenient qual- ity, which some other styles of plans can not be ar- ranged to include, for it admits of many modifica- tions, without sacrificing its advantages. It may be completely altered in outside appearance, and doubled in extent of interior accommodation, and yet be in reality the same plan. It can be adapted to almost any situation by a proper arrangement of the roofs. Thus, for example, on an elevated and somewhat open site, such as the one that Mr. Case's house occupies, a roof of only moderate pitch is desirable. On level ground, or in a valley, a high-pitched roof should be preferred. It is also an economical plan for the ac- commodation afforded, as will be seen by the particu- 172 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. lars 01 cost that are annexed. The house, as now fin- ished, is constructed with an eight-inch brick wall, furred off outside, and covered with clap-boards in the ordinary way followed in a wooden building. This plan of construction was adopted in accordance with the special request of the proprietor, who preferred it to any other method. Its advantages are, that it se- cures to a certainty a perfectly dry interior wall. On the other hand, it seems undesirable to have a brick house, and to give it the appearance of a wooden one, as brick is the superior and more durable-looking ma- terial. The accommodation maybe thus described: A veranda'-porch on the east provides a covered approach to the front door. The principal hall, 11 6x 10 feet, gives access to the parlor and library, both of which are on the south of the house, and also to the dining- room. Another door opens on to a staircase-hall, which is easily accessible either from the principal rooms or from the kitchen wing. This is desirable, as the scale of the house would not warrant a second staircase. An east and a south veranda are supplied to the principal rooms, but each has windows that are unobstructed by any veranda. The dining-room con- nects through a pantry with the kitchen wing, which is also approached from the main body of the house under the staircase. A lobby opens on to a kitchen veranda, facing south, that provides a servants' en- trance, and is convenient for hanging out clothes un- der cover in rainy weather. A kitchen, 17x13, fitted up with closets, wash-trays, and store-room, completes the accommodation on the main floor and wing. By this plan the disadvantages of living in the basement are entirely avoided, and the lady of the house can superintend her servants with ease and comfort. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 173 In the chamber plan will be found five bedrooms, and a bath-room and water-closet; and in the wing two bedrooms, a linen-press, and a house-maid's sink. All these rooms are supplied with registers near the ceiling that communicate with foul air flues separate from the chimney-flues. In the garret over the bath- room is a large, well-lighted linen-room ; and as this is planned on the half-landing, it is very easy of ac- cess from the chamber floor. A large store-room, the size of the bedroom over the dining-room, is finished off under the roof in a common way, and is secured with a door after being inclosed from the Stan's by a plastered partition. The remainder of the space is open and unplastered. It makes a very roomy gar- ret, with plenty of headway all over it ; but the win- dows in the peaks are, of course, close to the floor, and it was never intended that any bedrooms should be fitted up here. The roof is covered with shingles, the flat being floored and covered with canvas. In the basement are cellars and furnace-room, the kitch- en-wing foundations not being carried down farther than was necessary to keep clear of frost. In this house special precaution was taken, by Mr. Case's re- quest, with regard to the plumber's work. All the pipes, hot, cold, and waste, were inclosed in a tin en- velope fitted tolerably closely to the pipes. As the work proceeded this tin case was soldered up every here and there, and particularly where the pipe is led through the wall, in the first instance, and where it starts from the boiler. By this means the little insects that work their way from below, and are often found about water fixtures in rooms, are prevented from crawling up and down, and breeding among the warm pipes, as they are tempted to do in many situations. 174 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The carpenter's contract for this house was taken at $3500 ; the mason's at $2500 ; the remainder of the work was done by the day. After the contracts had been made the proprietor left the work entirely in the hands of the architect ; and, with the exception that hard walls were substi- tuted for brown walls throughout, -and that some tri- fling alterations were made in the arrangements for the linen-press, the plans, as signed, were faithfully executed for the contract amount, without any diffi- culty whatever. The carpenter's and mason's extras, which amounted to $350, included the change from brown wall to hard finish, and all the work apper- taining to a large outbuilding at some distance from the house. The vignette illustrates an unexecuted study for a garden outbuilding, and is supposed to be located in a situation where it must be seen more or less. DESIGN FOB AN OUTBUILDING. DESIGN No. 9. PLAN OF PRI NCIPAL FLOOR. RKAU VIKW. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 177 DESIGN No. 9. AN ERKEGULAB BKICK COUNTRY HOUSE. In this design, which was made for Mr. J. Robins, of Yonkers, a brick porch, connected with a veranda, and so arranged that it can be inclosed in winter, leads to a roomy, well-lighted hall, in which is an open stair- case to the chamber floor. A staircase of this sort may be made quite an agreeable feature in an open front hall, if there is a back stairway to the bedrooms. This is provided in the present case, so that the serv- ants need not use the principal stairway when attend- ing to the chambers. The library is a pleasant room, 15x18, unconnected with any other apartment, and with windows opening on to the veranda. It is en- tered from one side of the hall, and the parlor, 17x21, from a door opposite. This room is supplied with a bay-window, and connects with the dining-room, which also communicates directly with the main hall, and with a pantry, or service-room, that has a private ao si PLAN OF CHAMBERS. PLAN OF ATTICS. PLAN OF ROOFS. cess from the kitchen department. Both the parlor and dining-room open on to a wide veranda. The kitchen is 15x17, and has an entrance-porch, with sink and larder. The lower floor is occupied for cel- M 178 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. lars and furnace-room, and is not finished off. In the plan of second floor will be found five roomy cham- bers, a bath-room, and a linen-press under attic stairs. One of these, which would probably be a spare room, occurs over the kitchen, and has a ceiling following the line of roof and collar beams, which makes it more airy and agreeable, and improves its appearance, with- out sacrifice of space, as there are no attic rooms over the kitchen department. In the attic of main build- ing three bedrooms are finished off. It also provides a large garret, and a skylight to main stairway. The plan of the roof is deserving of some attention, as it covers a large space, without occupying much room in the flat. The rear of this house looks down a some- what steep hill, at the foot of which runs the princi- pal approach road ; and the roofs are, therefore, hipped back on this front, so as to prevent them from appear- ing in too acute perspective when viewed from below, as would otherwise undoubtedly be the case. This house is built at Yonkers, of brick, the venti- lator and dormer-window shown on the drawing being subsequent additions. BOAT-LANDING IN TI1E CENTRAL PAEK. DESIGN No. 10. (V. & W.) PERSPECTIVE YIEWT. ,f V- IJUI VERANDA |F t rL_ . rii KITCHEN 160X14 PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF CHAMBERS. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 181 DESIGN No. 10. (V. & W.) SUBURBAN HOUSE WITH ATTICS. This is a study for a simple suburban brick house of moderate size, square on plan, with the exception of a small central projection ; and it depends almost entirely on the roof lines for any picturesqueness of character that it may lay claim to. It has been de- signed and executed for a gentleman residing in Newburgh. The plan has been slightly modified in execution, the bedroom on the principal floor being finally arranged as a second parlor ; but as this does not improve the plan for our present purpose as an example of peculiar arrangement of accommoda- tion, the original design is adhered to in the illustra- tions. The house is entered by a recessed porch, with a covered balcony overhead. This upper balcony being also recessed in the brick-work, and inclosed at the sides, is always in shadow, and materially helps to re- lieve what would otherwise be a monotonous front. This space is fitted with a glazed frame in the winter, the porch being inclosed with folding-doors as soon as the cold. weather sets in. The hall extends through the house, and communicates with a parlor and bed- room, a dining-room, and a veranda in the rear. The main stairs are in this open hall, and on the half-land- ing is a connection, through a French casement-win- dow, with a balcony over the veranda, from which a pretty view is gained. The parlor has a large bay- 182 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. window in it, the cornice of the room being carried round the recess that it forms. There is a private door from this room to the bedroom adjoining. It is not generally a desirable plan to give up the space necessary for a bedroom on the principal floor ; but circumstances occur in which it is a very great de- sideratum, and this study may serve to show how, in a simple house, the idea may be developed. It will be perceived that a portion of the veranda is inclosed for a small dressing-room to this bedroom, thus mak- ing it a far more commodious sleeping apartment than it would otherwise be. The dining-room connects with a pantry, and is also supplied with a large china-clos- et. The pantry is fitted up with hanging-shelf, draw- ers, and closet, and connects with the kitchen, which is thus shut off from the living-rooms, although under the same roof as the rest of the house. An inclosure of the veranda, similar in size to that on the opposite side, supplies a space for a pantry and sink-room. The servants' entrance is quite convenient of access from the road, but, at the same time, is shut off by its position from interfering with the privacy of the veranda. A door, where shown near the hall door to veranda, incloses the basement stairs for the use of the kitchen, and a compact flight of stairs from the kitchen itself provides a separate access for the serv- ants to the bedrooms above. This staircase occupies a very small space, and is a great addition to the con- venience of the house. In the basement is a wash- room under kitchen, with an outer entrance, close by servants' entrance, for convenience in carrying out clothes to dry. The remainder of the space is not fin- ished off, and furnishes cellars and furnace-room. A straight veranda inclosed on both sides would VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 183 not, perhaps, be thought sufficiently airy, and a pro- jection is therefore made, as will be seen on reference to the plan, to increase its size and give it a more open effect. This arrangement also adds somewhat to the external appearance of the design, at but little addi- tional expense, while it is calculated to insure privacy in a suburban house ; and in common houses the no- tion is carried out frequently, in a simple way, by lathing up the ends of verandas, to prevent them from being overlooked by next-door neighbors. Such a veranda as is here shown will be almost as retired as any of the rooms inside the house. Up stairs are three full-sized bedrooms, and a small bedroom, or dressing-room, a bath-room, and water- closet, a linen-press, and two servants 1 bedrooms, the latter disconnected with the other apartments. This arrangement is made with the idea that the attics are to be left entirely unfinished for a time, the house be- ing occupied by a small family; but the plan has been, from the first, so arranged that three or four airy, well-lighted rooms can be fitted up at any future time, and if this should ever be done, the two serv- ants' rooms shown on chamber plan might be convert- ed to the use of the family, and the servants 1 rooms arranged above. In the actual execution of this design the owner determined, during the progress of the work, to throw the two small bedrooms into one, and to finish off a portion of the attic for the use of the servants. It seems desirable, in planning a country house, to locate the principal rooms in such a manner that they may court the pleasant southerly breezes in summer, and the southerly and easterly sun in winter. In some situations it so happens that this can not be 184 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. done, except at an entire sacrifice of the pleasantest views, and the general idea of the plan in such cases may require to be modified accordingly ; but under ordinary circumstances an architect will so manage matters that the inferior rooms and offices will quietly slide into the uninviting north or northwest corner of the house, and thus occupy that portion of it which can best be spared from the living-rooms. There is, however, a disadvantage in this natural arrangement which, if not guarded against, may give trouble, for the water-fixtures, being on the north side of the house, may be affected by a severe frost; but this may be avoided in several ways. One plan is to keep all the pipes on the inside partitions of the house, and to protect them from any exposure by casing round them, and filling in with sawdust or other non-con- ducting material. This is all that can be done in a house without a furnace, except to carry the kitchen flue through the cistern ; but where a furnace is used the remedy is easy and complete. A two-inch tin pipe communicating with the hokair chamber should be carried up with the water-pipes, and after being continued through the bottom of the cistern, should be coiled once round it on the inside, and then be left with an open outlet just above the level of the over- flow pipe. If the cistern is afterward covered with a partially air-tight lid the result will be found entirely satisfactory, as it has proved in the house illustrated on page 180, and in others over which I have had the control. The roof of this house is covered with the purple and green slate from the Vermont quarries, arranged in stripes, as shown, and the effect, as executed, is very soft and agreeable. The cost was scarcely more VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 185 than for a shingle roof of good quality, the slate be- ing provided and put on with mortared joints at $7 50 a square. Circumstances, however, were favorable in this instance, and $8 per square is as little as this slate can be generally laid for. It will be seen that a special arrangement is made for the carrying off of the rain-water, the pipes being fitted with ornamental heads, and connected with the gutters by brackets brought down on to the brick piers at the angles. Some additional individuality is thus given to the external appearance of the house, and at- tention is requested to this part of the design, as it re- fers to a point that is very generally left unstudied, many designs being, in consequence, marred by an awkward, obtrusive arrangement, or rather want of arrangement, of the rain-water pipes. The cost of this house, including the fence shown in the vignette, and a moderate-sized stable and coach- house, was as follows : Mason's work $1921 02 Carpenter's work 3278 71 Stone-cutter 380 00 Furnace 201 50 Gas-fitting 85 54 Plumbing and tinning 945 49 Painting 641 32 Bell-hanging 46 40 Architect's commission (5 per cent.) 375 00 Total $7874 98 A recommendation by an architect to his client to build a larger house than he or his family require for comfort, would seem, at the first glance, to be invari- ably bad advice to give to a prudent person ; but ex- perience shows that it is sometimes the best course to pursue. If, for example, a gentleman, whose require- ments are comparatively small, purchases a valuable 186 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. lot in the neighborhood of a thriving country town, he will certainly damage the selling value of his prop- erty by erecting on it a house that can not be easily converted into a tolerably roomy family residence. It is, therefore, in such a case, a better investment for him to expend somewhat more at first, and arrange his design so that further accommodation can, without much trouble, be obtained, than to cut and pare his house down to the exact measure of his own imme- diate needs, without reference to its probable market value. Some men spend, while others spare, extrav- agantly, and either habit is found to be inconvenient- ly unprofitable in the long run. ELEVATION OF FENCE. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 187 DESIGN No. 11. A NEARLY SQUARE SUBURBAN HOUSE. This design has been executed in brick by a gen- tleman in Rondout, on a site overlooking an ample stretch of the Hudson River. It contains about the same amount of room as the design last described, but SIDE ELEVATION. FROST ELEVATION. PLAN OP PRINCIPAL FLOOE. CHAMBER PLAN. arranged in a somewhat different manner. The exte- rior outline is more picturesquely broken, and the whole design is on a somewhat more extensive scale. The smaller piazza is so arranged that it can be readi- ly converted into a plant cabinet in winter, and a bay window is introduced into each of the principal rooms. The cost of this house, including painting and plumb- 188 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. ing work, and a coach-house and stable of liberal size, was about ten thousand dollars in 1862. The vignette illustrates a design carried into execu- tion in the neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, The special requirement in this case was the introduc- tion of a parlor much larger than the dining-room or library, into a square house that should have the kitch- en under the same roof with the rest of the building, but shut off from the principal rooms. FRONT ELEVATION. BIDE ELEVATION. OEDROON Ij BCD ROOM I s'. ax is'.o! I i s'.ex i?lo PRINCIPAL FLOOR CHAMBER FLOOR VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 189 DESIGN No. 12. AN IRREGULAR HOUSE, WITHOUT KITCHEN WING. This design, which is in process of execution, was prepared for a somewhat peculiar site in the vicinity of Springfield, Mass. The ground descends rapidly to the south, and the entrance to the house, on account of the shape of the property and the situation of the ap- proach-road, was of necessity made on the north front. Attic bedrooms throughout were not desired, but rEBSPlXOTVE VIEW. PLAN OF PBrNCirAL FLOOB. CI1AMBEE PLAN. 190 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. some accommodation for servants was needed over the bedroom floor. The main body of the house is only two stories high, but the block inclosing the kitchen is really four sto- ries high, as is shown in the engraving. The vignette illustrates a house erected in Llewellyn Park, in the neighborhood of Orange, New Jersey. FEONT ELEVATION. SIDE ELEVATION. AT.TIC PLAN. CHAMBER PLAN. CELLAR I .CELLAR I5xi3 UASEMENT PLAN. DESIGN No. 13. PEESPECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOE. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 193 DESIGN No. 13. A WOODEN VILLA WITH TOWER, AND WITHOUT ATTICS. This design was prepared and executed for Mr. C. H. Rogers, at Ravenswood, Long Island, and as it is built on a situation which commands a good view of the East. River, more or less intercepted from the lower stories by buildings and trees, it was thought desirable to arrange some point of view from the up- per part of the house which should admit of the whole extent of prospect being conveniently seen. A tower three stories high, finished above with an octag- onal observatory, easily accessible from below, has, therefore, been included in the design, as will be seen on the sketch. By this plan an interesting view is obtained, clear of the roofs in every direction. The observatory was made of an octagonal form, with a projecting balcony round it, so as to reduce its per- PLAN OF CHAMBERS. PLAN OF ROOFS. spective dimensions, and give a more light and airy effect to the upper part of the design ; for if a square tower four full stories in height, even though it may N ' i 19'4 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. be quite small on plan, is grouped in connection with a villa of but moderate size, the probabilities are that it will appear to have an undue preponderance over the other features, and will thus compel the more strictly domestic parts of the house to seem of second- ary importance. This result is, of course, undesira- ble; for although the observatory room is intended to be both useful and ornamental, it is far less neces- sary to the real comfort and enjoyment of the inmates than the living rooms that are in occupation all the time. The lower story of the tower is occupied as a front porch, which is connected with a veranda, and communicates with an entrance hall. The angles of this hall are finished octagonally, so as to improve its general effect. The drawing-room is 18x20:6, and is finished with a large bay-window at one end. It also communicates, through side windows, with a semicir- cular veranda and a balustraded terrace on the river front. The library opens from this room and from the hall. It is furnished with recessed book-cases and a square bay, and, like the drawing-room, communi- cates with the veranda and terrace. The dining-room on the other side of the hall instead of a bay-window has a conservatory, or plant cabinet, attached to it, as will be seen on the plan. It is also provided with a roomy pantry that has closets and a sliding hatchway immediately connecting with the kitchen. The main staircase is in a second hall, and under the upper land- ing is a large cloak-closet and an entrance to the gar- den. A little dressing, or lavatory room, is planned near to this hall, and the servants' staircase and pas- sage-way to the offices connects with the main build- ing at this point. The kitchen is in a wing on the same level as the other part of the house, and has a VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 195 sink-room, pantry, and wood-house attached. It also contains a small separate stairway to two upper rooms for men-servants. This house was built of wood filled in with brick, the principal rooms being provided with sliding-shut- ters ; and the carpenter's and mason's work for this building, and a coach-house, etc., including painting, was done for about $10,000, which, with architect's commission at five per cent., amounted to $10,500. WEST ELEVATION. An illustration of the river front is shown above, drawn to a somewhat larger scale than the perspective view, so that the arrangement of gable and mode of iinish may be intelligible by a reference to the plan of principal floor on previous page. The formal square appearance it presents, compared with the actual effect of the villa in execution, or the other illustration of the same house already given, will serve to show how incomplete an idea is likely to be formed of an archi- tect's design, if it is judged of from elevation only, and yet.it is by no means uncommon to find this mode of 196 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. illustration adopted in architectural works in prefer- ence to any other. If a study for a house is proposed to be so drawn out that it may be used by builders for working purposes, it is absolutely necessary that plans, elevations, and sections should be furnished, because no measurements can be taken from a perspective drawing, however neatly it may be done ; but if the study is submitted with a view to show what sort of artistic effect may be produced, in execution, from a certain arrangement of ground plan, nothing but a per- spective view will convey an accurate idea to the mind ; and as the intention in this volume has been to give suggestions, rather than to supply cut-and-dried de- signs, the perspective mode of illustration has been ad- hered to as much as possible. The vignette shows a design for a fence and gate executed in connection with the above design. PINKNCY.SC. DESIGN No. 14 (D. & V.) PBR8FKCTIVB VIBW. PLAN OP EB1NCIPAL. FLOOR CHAMBER PLAN VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 199 DESIGN No. 14. (D. & V.) A SYMMETRICAL COUNTRY HOUSE. This design was prepared and executed in the vicin- ity of Newburgh, with the exception of the ventilating turret, which was a suggestion offered at the time the building was erected. This prominent feature has not, however, yet been carried into execution, as the gentleman for whom the plan was prepared pre- ferred to omit it ; still, it forms an integral part of the design, and is introduced in the sketch, as the composition appears to be somewhat incompletely represented without it. There were some special re- quirements made by the proprietor in this instance that are, perhaps, with some readers, calculated to give additional interest to this plan. The house dur- ing the summer months was to be, to all intents and purposes, a Southern house ; ample circulation of air ATTICS was to be provided, with plenty of veranda space; and a cool, open arrangement of rooms was especially asked for, as the house would be required to accom- modate agreeably many residents and visitors during the hot weather. On the other hand, the plan was to 200 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. be so arranged that during the colder part of the year the house should be suited to the changed needs of its fewer inmates, for it was the intention of the proprietor to occupy his residence during the winter. A completely fitted up and somewhat decorative prin- cipal floor was also a point of importance with the proprietor, who did not propose to expend any large amount on his house, and whose instructions were for rooms of but moderate size, and for a basement kitch- en, so as to avoid the extra expense of a kitchen wing. In the plan it will be observed that a brick porch, con- necting two verandas, and forming with them one con- tinuous piazza, opens on to the principal hall, which is 14 x 18. This hall communicates, by sliding doors, with the drawing-room on one side, and the dining- room on the other. Each of these rooms has a bay- window at the end opposite the hall entrance, and thus, when the doors are thrown open in summer, an agreeable vista effect is produced, and a free circula- tion of air is provided for. The upper end of the hall is traversed by a light, ornamental, open, arched screen, which is introduced so as to give a definite character to a passage-way, or vestibule, as shown on the plan. Beyond this arched screen is an entrance, with sliding-doors, to the library, and at the opposite end of the latter room is a large square bay-window, with open screen-work and seat in connection with it. Thus another extensive vista is obtained in summer evenings through the house in this direction, and when the doors are open, any one sitting in the li- brary bay can see the river view framed, as it were, in the outer arch of the porch. A little boudoir, or ladies' morning-room, with a private veranda entirely shaded during the whole of the forenoon, is planned VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 201 close to this library and to the drawing-room, and a similar space is inclosed on the opposite side of the house for water-closet and pantry, which has a lift in connection with the floor below. It will thus be seen, by an inspection of the plan, that it would hard- ly be possible to have a more airy and open arrange- ment for summer ; for, standing in the hall when the rooms are thrown open, one can see clear through the house, north, south, east, and west; and the porch, hall, vestibule, library, dining-room, drawing-room, and veranda, are converted, as it were, into one con- nected apartment. All idea of the moderate size of the single rooms, the largest of which is but 18 x 20, is thus done away with, and the house necessarily seems roomy, open, and ample in its accommodation. So much for the summer arrangement. In winter, on the other hand, the first step should be to inclose the arches of the porch with glazed frames, and the next to close the sliding doors for the season, entering in future each of the separate rooms from the ordi- nary-sized doors which are provided to each of the principal apartments for this purpose ; the library be- ing approached through a book-case door, already il- lustrated and described in the opening chapter (see page 90). The furnace may then be started, and the house will be found to be a warm winter house, suit- ed to a severe climate. All the thorough draughts are shut off, and the separate rooms are small, readily warmed, and easy of access from the chambers. The bedroom floor in this house contains an upper hall, lighted by a skylight, four full-sized bedrooms, a dress- ing-room, and a bath-room with water-closet. The attic contains two spare bedrooms, shut off entirely from the apartments for domestics on the same floor, 202 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. and it also provides an open hall, two servants' bed- rooms, a garret, and lumber room. In the basement will be found the kitchen, wash- room, milk-room, furnace-room, and cellars. The car- penter's and mason's contracts for this house were taken at $7230, and the painter's, and plumber's, and decorator's accounts, with some ornamental ceilings, and other carpenter's work inside the house, not con- templated in the original contract, made the amount expended, and on which five per cent., architect's com- mission, was charged, $9326 51. The stable, which contained accommodation for three horses, a coach- house, a harness-room, a coachman's living room, with bedroom over, and a hayloft in the roof, was built of brick for $1700. It is illustrated in the vignette below. CKcIG.V FOB STABLE, ETC. DESIGN No. 15. (V. & W.) PEB8FBCTTVB VIEW. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOB. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 205 DESIGN No. 15. (V. & W.) BRICK VILLA WITH TOWER, AND WITHOUT ATTICS. The working plan of this design has been prepared for Mr. Walker Fowler, of New York, and the house is designed to be erected by him on an agreeable site at Limestone Hill, in the neighborhood of Newburgh. The location has much individual character, and the whole property is well adapted for a country seat. Such a spot, however, is scarcely appreciated in the vicinity of the Hudson River, for an extended water view is, under such circumstances, thought an all-im- portant consideration; consequently a situation like this, in which undulating hills intercept the river view from the lower rooms, appears to much less ad- vantage than it would if it happened to be in another PLAN OF CHAMBERS. PLAN OT ROOFS. part of the country altogether. The site for the house is on an elevated space of table land. On the veranda front the hillside descends abruptly and picturesquely some sixty or eighty feet within full view of the drive 206 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. road, and as this steep hillside is well covered with healthy evergreens and fine deciduous trees, it will form, as it were, a broad and handsome base for the house, part of which, especially the observatory, would be visible from below. On the other side the forma- tion of the ground is such that the house will be ap- proached without any sudden ascent, as Nature has kindly made ample preparation within the boundary line of the property for an easy winding road up to the top of the hill. On the south side is a stretch of fine woods, on the edge of which is just the spot for a stable, and scattered here and there among the trees are large boulders pf stone, grouped, by accident, three and four together, quite artistically, and forming pleas- ant natural seats and nestling-places for ferns and wild flowers. One mammoth boulder, that looks like a sleeping monster, some twenty or thirty feet long, has been split in a peculiar manner by a tree growing into a fissure beneath it, and thus presents a very curious appearance. Large stones like this are often found in quite unaccountable places, and it is supposed that they must have been borne to the spot, and dropped, by melting icebergs, ages ago. This solution, whether true or not, is certainly ingenious. But to return to our more immediate business, which is a description of Mr. Fowler's plan.' A recessed porch, large enough to serve as a morning veranda, provides access to the principal hall, which is only of small dimensions, but it is provided with cloak-closets, and contains the doors to the three principal apartments, and to the staircase. The library is in the lower story of the tower, and the design is so arranged that this tower can be omitted entirely when- the first contract is made, without a dis- agreeable appearance being the result; and although VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 207 the interior accommodation and the exterior effect of the house would be materially reduced under those circumstances, the design would still be fair and com- plete, and the addition could be made at any time. A parlor and dining-room open on to a veranda. Near the dining-room is a pantry, a garden entrance, and door to the kitchen, which is in a wing building. The chamber plan supplies four bedrooms, and a fifth in the upper story of the tower, also a bath-room and water-closet, a linen-press, and two servants 1 bed- rooms. The observatory is conveniently reached by continuing the staircase that leads to tower bedroom. The roof is arranged as shown on the plan. The in- tention in this design is to insure, as far as possible, an irregular picturesque effect, without any sacrifice of convenience or a large outlay of money. As the house is to be built on somewhat of a highland, it seems undesirable to use an acute pitch for the roof, for the trees that surround the site proposed for the house, although vigorous and well shaped, are some- what scattered, and of no great magnitude. They would, therefore, scarcely take their proper share in the general composition, if the roof were made too prominent a feature. In designs like that for Mr. Willis's house, on the other hand, the rear view is so enveloped with hardy evergreens, omitted for the most part in the drawings, that it is preferable to use a high-pitched roof, as the house would otherwise be in a few years entirely shut out from view. Considera- ble judgment is needed in settling on the exact posi- tion for a house like this, so as to realize all the ad- vantages that the site affords. It must not seem to overhang the descent, or the effect will be crowded, and will give the idea from the road of a small, re- 208 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. stricted property. Neither should it retreat very far from the brow of the hill, or the house will be shut out of sight, and altogether lost on a tolerably near approach to the premises. A happy medium, both in the location of the site and in the pitch of the roof, is the desirable point to aim at under such circumstances. The vignette shows a design for an observatory to be erected at Hillside Cemetery, Middletown, N. Y. DESIGN No. 16. V ERA NDA S3.0XIZ.O PARLOR LIVINQ.R 16.0X20.0 I6.0XEO.O VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 211 DESIGN No. 16. A PICTURESQUE SYMMETRICAL HOUSE. This design was prepared and executed for Mr. W. E. Warren, 'of v Newburgh. It is situated in Mont- gomery Street, which is a straight road running par- allel with the river, at a considerable elevation, com- manding beautiful views of West Point, the High- lands, and the Hudson. From this level the cross- streets descend with a steep pitch to the shore, and the building sites, in consequence, slope considerably. ATTIC PLAN. EOOF I'LAJi. As Mr. Warren's house was to be built on a corner lot, this peculiarity of position became very conspicu- ous, and required to be considered with some care, when preparing the plans, so as to avoid a stilted, VILLAS AND COTTAGES. disagreeable effect. The entrance front of the house faces on Montgomery Street, and is seen in the ordi- nary way on a level with the street. The design is therefore made with gables accordingly. The rear, on the other hand, is conspicuous, chiefly from the lower streets and from the river ; and as it provides a basement story entirely out of ground, on account of the rapid descent of the hill, the whole front is, in consequence, of an altered proportion, and required a different treatment. The roof in this part of the de- sign is hipped back, without gables, as will be seen on the lower view, and dormer-windows are introduced to give light to the attic bedrooms. The apparent height of the rear elevation is materially reduced by this arrangement, and the general effect is altogether made more easy than if gables had been introduced corresponding with those on the opposite side. A recessed porch opens into a hall twelve feet square, in which are cloak-closets, and the doors to the principal apartments and staircase. The room called study is fitted up with wash-stand, etc., in a closet, so that it may be used as a bedroom or sick- room at any time ; and the small room by the stair- case is well-suited, and is at present used for a private office instead of a sleeping apartment, as at first pro- posed. The doors in the hall are grouped together, with a panel for a picture between each pair, as shown and described on page 88. There are two parlors con- nected by sliding doors, and opening on to a piazza twelve feet wide. This last feature of the composition is made very roomy, as it commands an extended view of the river, while the ornamental plot of ground at- tached to the house is but of small dimensions, and is at a much lower level. This veranda, therefore, is VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 213 sure to be the chief summer resort of the inmates, and is made of large size, with a balcony over, which, as it faces east, is in shadow during the evening, and af- fords an agreeable accessory to the bedrooms connect- ing with it. The chamber plan contains four bedrooms, bath- room, water-closet, and linen-press. The attic provides several spare rooms, as shown. In the basement is the dining-room, with a door on to the veranda, and also a roomy kitchen, with other offices. The neces- sary shown on this plan is arranged as described on page 47. This house is built with an eight-inch wall through- out, above the level of water-table, and the beams are supported on iron rests, as described in the opening chapter. The interior has been well finished through- out under the superintendence of the architect, and the work was done by the day, in the best manner, and of the best materials, the cost being as follows ; viz., Carpenter's bill $2,191 08 Lumber 1,428 58 Doors 237 45 Mouldings 40 99 Bell-hanging 45 00 Glazing and canvas 285 26 Mason's bill 2,266 45 Brick 426 15 Cut stone and paving 940 63 Cartage 88 50 Iron castings 54 23 Tinner's work and plumbing 1,184 37 Gas-fitting 75 21 Painting 895 23 Furnace. 204 78 Mantles 61450 Architect's commission (5 per cent.) 569 88 Total $11,967 60 The mason's bill in a contract often covers the tin- ner's work in connection with leaders, which is not 214 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. here charged to him, as that and the plumbing were in one account. The bill for paving, on the other hand, includes considerable work that would scarcely belong to a mason's contract. The cost of grates and range is not taken into the account. The particulars furnished above may be of some in- terest to any one about building such a house, as they show the relative amounts of the various bills ; but there is so much variety in the style and consequent expense of interior comforts, appliances, and finish, that a detailed estimate of this sort is not so valuable as might at first be supposed. The vignette shows a plan adopted for laying out the grounds. By this plan two entrances are planned on Montgomery Street, and one on the side-hill, while a space large enough for a cart to get to the garden with manure, etc., is arranged on the left hand side. A piece of ground of this size should not at any time be filled with very large trees, for flowering shrubs, evergreens, and a few fruit trees would be all sufficient. PLANoFGROVlNDS. DESIGN No. 17. SOUTH-EAST VIEW AS ALTERED. SOUTH-EAST VIEW liEFOKE ALTERATION. NORTH-WEST Y1EW AS AI.TXEED. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 217 DESIGN No. 17. ALTEKATION OF OLD HOUSE. This design, which is for alterations and additions to the residence of Mr. Thomas Powell, of Newburgh, was planned some few years ago from the instructions of his son-in-law, Mr. Ramsdell, the president of that gigantic American fact, the Erie Railroad, and it is selected for illustrating this part of our subject from several studies for alterations, executed from time to time in the same neighborhood and elsewhere, because it seems to show with clearness the leading points that require attention in such improvements. There are to be found in different parts of the country many families who have been settled for several generations on the same spot, and their old, simple wooden home- steads, mended and patched every few years, hold their own with commendable pertinacity. They have no idea of falling to pieces, and are altogether too solid and substantial to be pulled down. Now this qual- ity of durability is, of course, in the abstract, an ex- cellent virtue for a house to possess ; but it must be confessed that, in such very awkward and ungainly structures as often fall to the lot of these well-settled families, its presence could be cheerfully dispensed with, were it not for the many interesting, associa- tions and family reminiscences that linger round the old house, which has been, perhaps, the home of the father's and grandfather's childhood. These associa- tions are so valuable, and so little fostered by the or- dinary course of events in American families, that they 218 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. deserve to be cherished in every possible way ; and it may therefore, now and then, be more wise to do the best that can be done with an old house, even at some sacrifice of external completeness of design and inter- nal convenience, than to demolish it entirely and build anew from the foundations on a better plan. It does not often occur that a design can be altered so as to be entirely satisfactory; but much may be done to compromise matters without an uneconomical expend- iture. The error generally fallen into in such cases may be thus described: Alterations are commenced without any very definite idea as to where they will end. One thing is done after another ; partitions are pulled down, floors taken up, ceilings heightened, new windows and doors inserted, till the house is a com- plete labyrinth of mixed-up work, the clew to which is wholly undiscoverable by either proprietor or me- chanic, and the natural result is, that, after many mis- takes, and a severe trial of the patience of the owner, the workmen get through somehow, and are paid up and dismissed, while the house, although somewhat more convenient, is almost as ugly as before, and the proceeding, from first to last, has cost four or five times as much as the proprietor had an idea of lay- ing out on it. This question should always be asked and answered fairly before commencing operations, viz., Is the house worth altering at all? Sometimes it is not. The frame may be decayed, the sills rotten, the floors out of level, the ceilings altogether too low for comfort ; and as points like these can not gener- ally be meddled with economically, it seems useless under such circumstances to spend much money on alterations and additions. If, on the contrary, the house is in a sound, substantial condition, and has no VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 219 radical defect of interior arrangement that must al- ways make it an objectionable residence, it becomes worth while to consider how much alteration and ad- dition the house will bear profitably, and the whole plan and intention, from first to last, of the work to be done, needs to be studied and determined on be- forehand more exactly and minutely than would be required for a new design altogether, for each part must be, as it were, dovetailed into the other, so as to get the advantage aimed at without awkwardness of appearance or undue sacrifice of the work already in existence. The fact is, that altogether too much is generally attempted. The best way is to do as little as possible beyond obtaining the leading features of arrangement and appearance that the alteration or addition is designed to procure. I remember once be- ing called upon to pay a professional visit to a gen- tleman who wished to alter his house, which was a wooden one. I examined it, and found it had many serious defects, and advised him not to spend a cent upon it, but, if he was dissatisfied with the accom- modation it afforded, to sell his present house and lot, purchase a fresh piece of ground, and start anew. He wanted to heighten all the ceilings to begin with, a process which would, of course, throw every door, and window, and beam out of position. Then the doors and windows must be made larger, and the frame must be new-sided, and the roof new-shingled, so that it became evident that what was really want- ed was the old knife with the simple addition of a new handle and new blades. My advice seemed to be somewhat unsatisfactory to the proprietor, who evi- dently expected some encouragement, and perhaps an alteration was ultimately made ; if so, I am certain 220 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. that the result must have been even more unsatisfac- tory than the advice. In Mr. Powell's house the whole construction was in good preservation, and the addition shown on the sketch of the unaltered house had been executed substantially some years ago for the sake of the room it contained, without reference to its effect on the external appearance of the de- sign ; and the chimney of this wing being below the other roofs, a large cowl was required to prevent the chimney from smoking. All that was wanted in the way of interior enlargement was a study with bed- room over, which I planned in a square projection at the rear of the house, as shown on the lower view, and an enlargement of the parlor, which was arrived at by a square projection in front of the depth of the veranda, shown on the upper view, the old wall above the level of parlor ceiling being carried on iron sus- pension rods. Some of the windows and doors were shifted along a foot or two one way or the other, so as to bring the arrangement of openings into a form that would admit of proper treatment on the exterior. Small alterations, also, were made here and there to improve the internal convenience of the plan ; but still nothing was done of sufficient magnitude to ren- der it necessary for the family to leave the premises, even for a day, and the house was more or less occu- pied during the whole period required for the execu- tion of the improvements. The chief alteration was made by taking a slice off the top of the original stiff old roof, and then bringing up the flat roof of the wing to the new ridge level. The smoky chimney was thus carried out at a proper elevation, and the whole appearance of the exterior of the house was by this means much enlarged ; two of the other chim- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 221 neys, after being taken down as far as was necessary, and tied together with an iron band, were arched over in the garret, and grouped above the ridge into one double stack, as shown on the upper view. The roof was projected all round, and fitted with brackets. The ventilator was placed where shown, hoods were arranged over a few of the windows, the verandas were somewhat improved, and the addition of a plant cabinet to the library completed the work as far as carpenters and masons were concerned. Both new and old parts were then painted and sanded in quiet, neutral tints, so that all appearance of alteration was at once avoided. Thus it will be perceived that, without much tearing to pieces, a new character may be given to a house, if it is only well built at first; and this design is a proof that such a result may be gained at a cost that shall not be unsatisfactory to the proprietor, for on making some inquiries for the purpose of this work from Mr. Ramsdell some years after the house was altered, I received from him a let- ter which touches on this point among others, and which I take the opportunity of introducing here : " OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK AND ERIE EAILROAD COMPANY, " NEW YORK, September 2ith, 1855. "DEAR SIR, You are quite at liberty to introduce the design made for remodeling our homestead into your proposed work. I do not know how far a sin- gle instance of this sort is calculated to bear on the general subject of altering old houses, but our own ex- perience is certainly satisfactory. We have now an agreeable arrangement of rooms, with all the minor conveniences that so materially help to make a coun- try house enjoyable, and should be unwilling to undo any thing that has been done. The exterior of the 222 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. house, which, I think, looks better than in your en- graving, suits us very well, and, I dare say, may serve to show how much can be done in the way of altera- tion by very simple means. I can not readily give you the particulars of cost you ask for, as no contract was made, and the accounts include much other work that was being executed by our mechanics at the same time, but have no hesitation in saying that the gen- eral result is well worth the outlay incurred. The most important part that I feel to be gained is, that, with all its alterations, it is still the old homestead of the family (my father-in-law, Thomas Powell, Esq., has resided there for nearly fifty years), and we are thus enabled, without any sacrifice of enjoyment, to retain the pleasant associations that are connected with a home that has been in the family for so great a length of time. "Very truly yours, etc., " HOMER RAMSDELL. The vignette shows a method of altering a common and awkward looking form of cottage roof that is very easy of execution, and has been found, in practice, to add much to the light and shade, and general pictur- esque character of an old house. STUDY FOE COTTAGE EOOF ALTERATION. DESIGN No. ]8. (D.&V.) PEBSFECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF CHAMBERS VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 225 DESIGN No. 18. (D. & V.) PICTURESQUE SQUAEE HOUSE. This house, which now belongs to a gentleman re- siding in Newburgh, was planned for another party in the first instance, and was partly executed with the idea that it was to be very simply and economically finished. It was commenced without any intention of constructing the dormer-windows, the projecting hoods, or the covered balcony over the lower bay, all of which, as may be seen on reference to the sketch, help materially to give individuality and completeness to the design. The main outline of the plan is a sim- ple parallelogram, without any break in the walls, and the study may, therefore, be interesting to those who like a generally picturesque effect in a house, but who wish to avoid irregularities in the internal arrange- PLAN OF ATTICS PLAN OF ROOTS ment, or uneconomical projections in carrying up the brick-work. During the progress of the work the building changed hands, and came into the possession of its second owner, Mr. D. Moore, and in accordance with his instructions the design was improved in many 226 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. important points. The additions already referred to were made, another bay-window was introduced, the roof to the veranda, also, was curved, and finished with a balustrade. The plan may be thus described: An inclosed wood- en porch, shown to a larger scale at page 72, leads into the principal hall, which is paved with red, black, and buff encaustic tiles in a simple but effective star pattern. This hall communicates with the library, which is a handsomely-finished room, containing two book-cases recessed in the walls on one side, and a third arranged between the windows on the other side. The architrave mouldings of the doors, win- dows, and book-cases being boldly relieved, and so ar- ranged that they may group together in several dif- ferent combinations. The drawing-room extends the whole length of the house. The southern part was originally proposed for a bedroom, but when the prop- erty came into Mr. Moore's possession it was connect- ed with the parlor by an ornamental wooden arch, without folding doors. From this drawing-room the windows open on to a wide, spacious veranda, com- manding an extensive view of the Hudson. In the staircase hall is a garden entrance, and a door to a small private room or office. The dining-room is in the basement, but the ground falls off so rapidly that the side of the room which looks out on to the orna- mental garden, and the river beyond, is entirely out of ground, and communicates with a brick piazza sup- porting the veranda above. It has not, however, been thought necessary to give a separate plan of this floor, which contains kitchen and other offices, cellar, vaults, and furnace-room. Conveniently situated underneath the pavement of side-entrance is an outhouse and nee- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 227 essary, approached from the basement through a vine- covered veranda passage, and arranged on a similar plan to that already described in the opening chapter, and in the description of Mr. Warren's house. Mr. Moore's house was, however, the first in which this plan was tried, and it was while endeavoring to over- come the difficulties suggested by his needs that the idea occurred to me. The filling up and grading about the house was thus made more satisfactory, and the outbuildings were entirely concealed from view, which could not, in any reasonable time, have been done by trees or evergreens on account of the contin- uous fall in the ground, which made it necessary that the principal rooms and veranda should look down on to the lawns and garden ground surrounding the house. The chamber plan will be found to contain four bedrooms, with a linen-room, bath-room, and water- closet, all easy of access, but planned with a special regard to privacy. An open and airy stairway to the attic leads into a roomy, well-lighted upper hall, com- municating with four large bedrooms and a store- room. Above this again is a well-ventilated garret four or five feet high, that affords convenient stowage for trunks, and furnishes a complete shield from the heat and cold. The attic rooms in this house are as convenient, and almost as agreeable, as the principal bedchambers below them ; and as they naturally com- mand a more extensive view than can be obtained from the rest of the house, they have this one great advantage over the other rooms. A reference to the plan of roofs will show how, by the arrangement of the flat on the top, the whole composition is simply treated, so as to offer as little resting-place as possible 228 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. for the snow where it is likely to do any harm. This house is painted in soft, quiet tints. " The walls are very light buff, with a tinge of green in it, that, al- though scarcely noticeable, materially improves the general effect, as it makes the contrast between the house and its surroundings less decided. The wood- work is in various shades of brown. I feel, however, that it is useless for me to attempt, by words, to con- vey an accurate idea of any delicate effects of color that may be used with advantage in rural architect- ure. One might as well try to describe an Irish mel- ody or a fantasia on the violin. All varieties of form may be explained, to a considerable extent, by simple diagrams and descriptions, but minute refinements in color refuse to be penned down, and must be seen to be understood and appreciated. This house, which was built by the day, and under the superintendence of the architect, from the time it came into Mr. Moore's possession, has been very carefully and com- pletely fitted up throughout with all the modern im- provements of gas, water, speaking-tubes, furnace, and ventilators, under the direction and instructions of the proprietor, who took a personal and constantly active interest in the work from the time he commenced his improvements till the whole was completed to his sat- isfaction ; and it affords a fair example of what may be done in this style with a simple, straightforward plan, although it is difficult in so small a drawing to convey any very complete idea of its actual effect, which depends a good deal on the care bestowed in working out the details. In this case the locality in which the house was built had already been provided with gas-works, and the pipes were therefore introduced as a matter of VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 229 course. But in a majority of the situations in which country houses are built there are no gas-works at hand, and no likelihood of any being erected. It is, however, in any plan of moderate size, well worth while to introduce the pipes, as the expense is small, and the improvements that are constantly taking place in the machines invented for making gas on a small scale for home consumption, lead us to hope that ere long it may be both easy and economical to light a single house in this way with some simple apparatus that can be put up and readily attended to on the premises. This is, indeed, already done to a greater extent than may, perhaps, be supposed. When put- ting in the pipes it is, of course, necessary to prepare a notch in the beams to receive them; and unless proper care is taken this notch will, in many cases, be made by cutting an inch or more out of the very mid- dle of the upper edge of each of the beams that occur between the side of the room and its centre (where the chandelier is suspended), although this plan is the most foolish that can be adopted, as it weakens the beam at the most important point merely to save a few feet of pipe and A little trouble on the part of the gas-fitter. The pipes should always be so planned that the notch, or recess, may be cut into the beam not more than a foot from the wall, where it will do no harm, and the connection to the centre of the room should invariably be made between the beams, and not across them. The architect's commission for Mr. Moore's house was calculated on $12,000, which was about the cost without mantles, range, and grates. Sixty dollars was also charged for laying out the grounds, and the gar- den plan adopted may be gathered from the vignette 230 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. below. It will be seen that the house appears to be considerably on one side of the lot. This occurred from necessity, originally, as the foundation was com- menced on a piece of ground only half the size finally occupied ; but the effect is, in execution, quite satis- factory, and it does not now appear at all desirable that the house should have been planned on the cen- tre of the lot on which it at present stands, for the ornamental garden shows to good advantage, and the stretches of open lawns that are rendered possible by placing the house on one side have a much better ef-J feet than small plots intersected by gravel walks. On the grass in front of the house a pretty fountain is in- troduced, and the gates are made somewhat ornament- al. The principal entrance gate is shown on page 286, and the side gate is sketched on one of the outside pages at the commencement of the present edition. PLAN or &RO U N D S . DESIGN No. 19. (D. & V.) VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 233 DESIGN No. 19. (D. & V.) SUBURBAN VILLA. This study for a villa residence illustrates two va- rieties of the same leading idea of plan and elevation that were executed some years ago in Georgetown, Dist. Col. The upper one was prepared for Mr. R. P. Dodge, and the lower one for Mr. F. Dodge. These gentlemen commenced their houses about the ED ROOM 22-CXI7-0 t- M JBE3R30UI | - I.CJH.OP" M - >: T~~' fr~ I >30K J PLAN 3 E CHAM B E R S PLAN of CBAM.BESS same time, and each desired to obtain the particular distribution of the rooms shown on the plan, and 'wished for a general similarity in the two designs, al- though the situations on which the buildings were to be erected differed somewhat in their local require- ments. By reversing the plan, and altering the posi- tion of the library, the necessary change was made, and the details also were varied as much as possible, the windows in one design being square, and covered by projecting wooden hoods, while in the other they were made with circular heads and stone label mouldings. Minor modifications were also introduced throughout 234 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. the whole of the exterior and interior; and thus, al- though these two houses have their principal features in common, neither is a servile imitation of the other. The plan of principal floor shows a porch that occu- pies the lower story of a tower, and forms a continu- ation to veranda on the principal front. The main hall, lighted from this porch, is of liberal dimensions, and leads to a drawing-room that is provided with windows opening on to the front veranda, and with a handsome bay at the farther end. There is also a means of access from this room to a more retired piaz- za, or ombra, on the other side of the house. The dining-room, which communicates with the ombra, is, as shown, entered from this parlor as well as from the outer hall, and has a large pantry, or service-room, attached. Another door leads to the staircases and garden entrance ; and as the library is also furnished with a second door, all the principal rooms can be reached, as may be seen on reference to the plan, from the upper floor, without its being necessary to trav- erse the principal hall. An arrangement of this sort is calculated to add much to the privacy of the in- mates of any country house, and is well worth secur- ing when it can be obtained, as in the present case, without sacrifice of convenience in other respects. An easy, well-lighted principal staircase is provided, and a separate flight for the domestics. This latter com- municates with the kitchen and offices, which are planned, according to instructions, in the basement. On the second floor will be found one large bedroom, with a dressing-room attached, three other roomy chambers, one smaller bedroom, and a bath-room, wa- ter-closet, and linen-press. Another pleasant spare room in the upper part of the tower is reached by VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 235 continuing the private staircase into the attic, which affords a large open garret space, lighted from the ga- bles. When these houses were first planned it seemed to be the intention of both proprietors to carry them out in a very simple and economical way ; and as the season was a good one for building, it was roughly cal- culated that they might cost about $8000 or $9000. Such a plan, under ordinary circumstances, and with a perfectly plain finish, might now be fairly executed for $10,000, but not in the thoroughly complete and handsome style that was ultimately adopted by Messrs. Dodge, who were led to introduce, as the work pro- ceeded, a good deal of cut stone into the exterior de- tails of the design, and who appear to have spared no expense, either in labor or materials, to develop the whole idea of the plan in an entirely satisfactory man- ner. As the distance from Newburgh was so great, the works were not superintended by the architects, and I therefore wrote to Mr. F. Dodge, when contem- plating the publication of this work, and requested him to furnish me, if possible, with some particulars as to the actual cost of these houses, and also with any suggestions for improvement that had occurred to him after a year or two's personal occupation of his own residence. In his reply he says, "I have received your letter of the 31st ult., and will comply with pleasure with your request. The plans are with our builders. I will get them, and send by express or mail in a day or two ; I mean my brother's as well as mine. We find the cost of our houses to be much beyond what Mr. Downing led us to expect say about $15,000 each; yet we have fine houses, and very comfortable and satisfactory in every respect." 236 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The vignette gives a slight sketch of an oak mantle- piece, introduced into a design for a dining-room, ex- ecuted at Fishkill Landing. It required to be simply planned, so that it could be easily executed in the country by a clever carpenter. IU2UUN FOB OAK MA^TLK-VIECE. DESIGN No. 20. (D. & V.) WSBSl'ECTIVE VIEW. Ji_AN ELOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 239 DESIGN No. 20. (D. & V.) VILLA RESIDENCE WITH CURVED ROOF. This design was prepared for an agreeable site in the vicinity of Newburgh. The accommodation pro- posed consists of a recessed porch opening on to a hall eighteen feet square, on one side of which is a hand- some morning - room isolated from the other apart- ments. There is also a drawing-room, a library, and a dining-room, so arranged as to form a suite of three principal rooms, all connected together by doors, but at the same time furnished with separate entrances from the main hall. These three rooms face south, which is the pleasantest aspect in the Highlands ; and as they command in this direction a remarkably fine view over the Hudson, which adds much to the value of the site, each is provided with a large bay and win- dow seat, placed so as to overlook the river. Both the parlor and morning-room open on to a large veranda, and the dining-room is connected with a more retired piazza, as shown on the plan. A large pantry is pro- vided close to the dining-room and servants' staircase, while a private office and water-closet are arranged near the garden entrance. An ample kitchen, with all other necessary offices attached, is provided in the base- ment, and a convenient chamber plan and attic are in- cluded in the design ; but it has not been thought nec- essary to give here more than the general view, and the disposition of rooms on the first floor. 240 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The design illustrated below has been executed near West Point, on the Hudson. In accordance with in- structions, a veranda was carried all round the princi- pal suite of rooms, and was so arranged as to connect with the entrance porch. The octagonal projection faces south, and commands an extensive view of the river. I'LAN OV FUINOIFAL FLOCK. PLAN OP CUAMHEEK. The vignette shows a sketch of a stable and coach- o house, with cattle stable in the basement, proposed to be erected in Westchester County, New York. It has VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 241 no very fanciful features, and is not expensively con- structed, but is given here as a carefully-studied de- sign for a simple, straightforward, roomy country barn that need not be ashamed to take its proper place in a home landscape. It is always disagreeable to see such a building, if injudiciously located, where it Avill be in the way of the view from the house, or have an awkward appearance from the road, or be incon- venient of access, or be so prominent that it attracts an undue share of attention. But, on the other hand, it is very agreeable to catch a view of the inferior buildings belonging to a rural home whenever they happen to be picturesquely designed, and grouped with a due regard to retirement among the trees sur- rounding the house. A clever and amusing chapter about "Barns" was written some little time ago for Putnam's Magazine, and the ideas are presented in a manner so likely to be entertaining and instructive to the readers of any work on rural architecture, that I take this opportunity to make a few extracts : "Nothing is more essential than good impressions in childhood, and nothing secures them like a good old barn. I speak well of my mother, who was formed in a large mould, but I insist on my grandfather's barn, and I am sure that I had more pleasure in it than I have had in the new opera-house, and I would not exchange the recollections of the one for the other. My grandfather's heart was as large as his barn, and the kingdom of God was within him (I hope he is now beyond the reach of evil and selfish influence) ; and he knew well how necessary it was for us children to play on his hay, and he let us do it. Every Satur- day afternoon my sister and I, with two other boys, played there, and on Sunday afternoon we went (she Q " 242 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. and I) to look for the eggs for that was a work of necessity, and we did not then play much, for we were religious and knew the catechism. But Saturday aft- ernoon was our high tide, and we sailed free. My sis- ter could not climb as well as I could, but she was sa- gacious in discovering hens 1 nests, and in the art of hiding unequaled; and as she was a capital sympa- thizer and peace-maker, she kept her equality, and we thought her a very good fellow, if she was a girl. True, we were sorry for her, but then we said she could not help it. There was no floor but the 'thresh- ing' floor (as in a barn built for children there should not be), but on either side of it the deep bays extend- ed, and high up the dusky light filled the roof, through which a pencil of sunshine showed the dancing motes. In that dim space the swallows wheeled, and we watched them, hoping to scatter salt on their tails; but may be our salt was poor, may be our aim was bad, for we never caught one. We wondered what their mud nests up in the very high ridge-pole con- tained ; sometimes young ones we knew, but eggs we always hoped, and we sighed that we could not reach them, though the old swallows took a different view of it. It was hard to climb up to the great cross-ties, and my sister could not do it; so she did not enjoy, as we did, the suspended breath of long jumps into the hay, nor the imminent peril of walking that beam. From tie to tie there were lofts, where grain was stored, made by loose poles. There was every reason to expect that we should slip through these, and fall prone twenty feet ; but we never did ; and this very danger gave a charm to all that was very delicious. Moreover, it stimulated our daring and educated our nerves, and was a security against the greater dangers VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 243 of becoming ' spooney 1 good boys (not real good boys), which are apt to result in long legs, long coat-tails, long nails, and long hair, in after life the immediate precursors of early marriage, and other spooney good children. To be sure we always tore our clothes, and we always hurt ourselves, but we never got killed; children never do, if Providence is allowed to see to them, for the Providence of children, when they are about to fall, always tilts them into the hay, not on to the floor. Pious parents would do well to have a little more trust in Providence. Scapegraces are apt to overdo that, and to forget their own duty. My mother looked upon the injuries to our legs and pan- taloons in quite a different light ; and it was natural too, for the last she had to mend, and the first would 'get well.' However, we went on bravely till the shad- ows of evening stole upon us; then new revelations came to us, and we could not tell what large thing might not be sitting in the peak, nor what might not be lurking in the dark places, nor what those rustling noises might be, for we could hear something. Then the germ of imagination was stimulated to life, and the sublimest capacity of man wonder was wrought up to action; and who can tell but a poet was begun? Just at this critical moment we rushed out into the evening sky, where we found Jane milking the quiet old cow in the first light of the evening star. About my grandfather's cow there was nothing pokerish but her horns, which she shook at us now and then, so we stood by Jane and Kitty very quietly, watching the yellow milk as it streamed down into the foam (which we knew was cream) ; and then we walked home with Jane, not because we were afraid, but because we were good children, and wanted our suppers. Such was 244 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. the end of many a delicious Saturday afternoon in that old barn, and I am old enough to love its mem- ories. Now, in conclusion, I hope for three things. First, that when our litany is revised, immediately after famine, pestilence, and sudden death, we may be allowed to say, ' From small Gothic barns good Lord deliver us!' Secondly, that all good mothers will be sincerely sorry for what they have done, if they have supplied their boys with fringed pantaloons, a small cane, kid gloves, and long curls, instead of country air and a good barn. Thirdly, that fathers of fami- lies will read this paper, and at once begin to build roomy, ruinous old barns somewhere for their chil- dren and the swallows, and so insure good consciences, manly boys, and my blessing." DESIGN FOB STABLE, ETC. DESIGN No. 21. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. CHAMBER PLAN. PLAN OF PEINCIPAL KI.OOK. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 247 DESIGN No. 21. (V. & W.) IEEEGULAK WOODEN COUNTEY HOUSE. This design was prepared for a gentleman resid- ing at Worcester, Massachusetts, and has been exe- cuted by him, under his own immediate supervision, on a valuable site in the vicinity of that thriving city. The house was located on the edge of a beautiful pine wood that forms part of the property ; and a few fine deciduous trees, that had been fostered and pictur- esquely grouped by the liberal hand of Nature, sug- gested the exaqt position to be selected. They now form a valuable help to the architectural composition, when viewed from a little distance, and, as anticipa- ted, add very much to its rural, home effect. A coun- try house built under such favorable circumstances as this may at once take its appropriate place in the land- scape; and if it is agreeable in color, and designed with even an approximation to good proportion and pictur- esque arrangement of light and shade in its outlines, it will appear to be an old resident directly it is occupied. The leading idea of the plan was suggested by the wife of the proprietor, and the disposition of the rooms on the principal floor, with a few slight modifi- cations, is . in accordance with a pencil-sketch of ar- rangement furnished me, as expressing her wishes on the subject. It possesses, as will be seen, many ad- vantages, and an explanation of it may, I hope, in- duce other ladies who may look over this volume to take some personal interest in the plans of the villas or cottages that are to be built for their occupation 248 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. and enjoyment. The mistress of the house is, in real- ity, more interested than any one else in the conven- ience and completeness of its interior arrangement, for this part of the design is entirely under her control and regulation, and it is evident, therefore, that she must be the best judge of what will suit her individ- ual requirements. It is well known that the daughter of ErwinVon Steinbach materially assisted her father in the design of that stupendous triumph of Gothic architecture, Strasburg Cathedral, and a sculptured memento of this interesting fact is preserved within its walls. Both father and daughter are represented in stone as consulting together on the plan of the cathe- dral, which Steinbach holds in his hand, together with a pair of measuring compasses, and the gently earnest and confiding expression that is to be traced on both faces is delightfully rendered. There can be no doubt but that the study of domestic architecture is well suited to a feminine taste, and it has, moreover, so many different ramifications, that it affords frequent opportunities for turning good abilities to profitable account ; for if we even allow the objections that might be raised by some against the actual practice of architecture by women, such as the necessity for their climbing ladders, mingling with the mechanics and laborers during the progress of the works$ and having frequently to attend to the superintendence of buildings in disagreeable weather, and at all sorts of different levels, we must, nevertheless, see at once that there is nothing in the world, except want of in- clination and opportunity, to prevent many of them from being thoroughly expert in architectural draw- ings, or from designing excellent furniture, paper- hangings, draperies, carpets, or decorations, or from VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 249 drawing or engraving on wood, or from coloring arch- itectural perspectives in water-colors, or from model- ing ornaments in clay. I do not, it will be perceived, include in the difficulties to be overcome want of nat- ural ability, for this certainly does not exist. The tasteful and delicate needle-work that comes from the hands of women is amply sufficient proof that there is a supply of inventive capacity and artistic feeling la- tent among them that deserves, in civilized countries and liberally-educated communities, a much wider out- let than can be furnished by the point of a needle. To return, however, to our plan. A porch under the tower opens into a principal hall, and contains an out- side door to a business office that is accessible from the staircase hall in the interior of the house. A ve- randa, extending round three sides of the drawing- room, also connects with this porch, so that a prome- nade of considerable extent is provided by the design. The hall and principal staircase are so designed that they form one symmetrical composition, and a light, open, airy effect is thus produced. The drawing, or summer room, is a handsome apartment, with windows on three sides ; two of them, at opposite ends of the room, open on to a veranda, and the third is a bay, commanding an agreeable view of the distant land- scape, and fitted up with a permanent settee, or lounge. The library is supplied with book-cases recessed in the wall, and has a door to the dining-room, which is sup- plied with a pantry and china-closet. The servants 1 wing is above ground, and contains kitchen, back kitchen, pantry, and store-room. In the basement are cellars and a furnace-room. The second floor plan provides in the main body of the building one bed- room, with dressing-room attached, also a large room 250 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. used as a study, and three other chambers of moder- ate size, and all furnished with closets. In the wing will be found a bath-room and water-closet, a chil- dren's bedroom, a linen -closet, and a servants' bed- room. The attic is not finished off at present, but several agreeable rooms can be arranged here when- ever they are needed. The house was built of wood, filled in, and the in- terior has been fitted up carefully and completely, the work being done by the day under the proprietor's supervision. The cost has been somewhat over what was at first proposed, and an extra $5000 or $6000 could easily be spent on such a house as this by in- creasing the value of the external and internal work and decoration accordingly, while preparing the plans and specifications. The vignette illustrates a termination to a gable which was used in a residence at Newburgh, described at page 225. VEKGE-BOABD. DESIGN No. 22. (D. & V.) TEKSrECTIYE VIEW. HALL I DRAW1NS ROOM 7-OXIffO - 4/-0X/7-0 PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF CHAMBER FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 253 DESIGN No. 22. (D. & V.) SUBURBAN HOUSE WITH CURVED ROOF. This design was prepared to answer the require- ments of a suburban residence for a physician, and is occupied by Dr. Culbert, of Newburgh. As it is situ- ated on a, corner lot facing the main street in the up- per part of the town, it was necessary to pay as much attention to the side as to the principal elevation, and the plan has been so made that a symmetrical arrange- ment is arrived at on both these fronts. The house is built of brick and brown stone, the panels being re- cessed in the brick-work, while the pilasters and cor- nices are of stone. The roof is curved and covered with tin the porch, the veranda, the railings, and the work on the roof being of iron. The plan may be thus described: A hall, 17x10, communicates with the parlor and staircase hall, and also with a lobby that leads directly to the consultation room. Any lady, therefore, who may inquire at the front door for the doctor, can be shown into his room at once, through this vestibule, without traversing that part of the house which is in use by the family. This lob- by has also an external entrance covered by a porch, and is provided with a bell to the office, so that the greater number of those who call professionally go to and from the private room without entering the resi- dence at all. The consultation-room communicates with the library, and this again with the inner hall, and also with the drawing-room, which is provided 254 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. with a bay-window. A veranda, accessible from both rooms, is located in the angle formed by the library and office. The staircase is made circular to suit the peculiarities of plan and site, and has a good effect, as it runs continuously from the basement to the chamber floor. In Paris and other Continental cities the circular, or elliptical, staircase is in great request, and the plan offers, undoubtedly, many advantages, as it takes up less room than any other that will provide treads and risers equally easy of ascent. But I do not often introduce it in country houses, as it requires a lit- tle more care in going up and down, and stair carpet- ing does not adapt itself satisfactorily to the form. The extra labor needed for steps and hand-rails is also more expensive than the room and material required for other simpler styles of staircase, and no advantage is therefore gained by using it, except under peculiar circumstances. But in a design like this it may be very profitably introduced, as it enables an architect to obtain results in the internal arrangement that could not otherwise be arrived at without the occupa- tion of valuable space. In this case, moreover, the angles supply several useful closets, which could not conveniently be dispensed with or otherwise located. The chamber plan shows four bedrooms and a bath- room; and several fine bedrooms, protected by the curved roof, are arranged in the attic. The dining- room and kitchen offices are planned, according to in- structions, in the basement. This house has been built on the upper level of Newburgh, in Grand Street, which is at present the handsomest thoroughfare that passes through the town. It offers a drive of ample width, and thor- oughly well constructed, high up above the river, and VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 255 on a parallel line with it. It is lined on both sides with fine flourishing trees, most of which have been planted within the last twenty years, and many of them considerably within that time. The last four or five years' growth has wonderfully improved the ap- pearance of this vista ; and the beautiful elms and maples, with their wide-spreading and interarching branches, promise ere long to produce an effect that may equal the far-famed Hill-house Avenue in New Haven. Grand Street i's thus naturally becoming the principal promenade of Newburgh, and the often-re- curring glim'pses of the Hudson, with its gleaming and ever-shifting freight of sails that one catches at intervals framed in the foliage of the trees on the side- streets, give it a charming pictorial character that is very rarely attainable. This design was built some years ago, at an outlay of about $10,000 ; but I am unable to furnish the ex- act particulars of cost. This house has been painted in quiet, agreeable tints, but, in the first instance, was finished, according to the design, with a fair quality of red brick, that contrasted in color so richly and artist- ically with the brown stone and brown wood-work that I was very sorry indeed to see the painters at work covering it all up one fine day. There can, I know, be little doubt but that red brick, unrelieved by any other material, is altogether too vivid in color to please in an American climate; but when, as in this instance, it is used in conjunction with a good deal of stone, like the Little Falls or Connecticut brown, the effect is altogether too harmonious and satisfactory to need any attempt at improvement, and it is certain that the house will look much larger and more valua- able if the work is left in its pristine state than if the 256 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. surfaces are painted, although the work may be done by the best painters, and with the best colors that money can procure. Few persons take the trouble to calculate the real cost of paint, which seems a much more economical material to use than it is in reality. If the sums spent in external painting were added to the value of the brick or stone used in the building, they would often procure materials that would need no painting at all. And the same rule applies in the interior. Well-grained white pine costs as much as oiled Southern pine, and the latter is a really beauti- ful material Avhen oiled or varnished, while the grain- ing is but a sham and pretense, however well it may be executed. The vignette illustrates one of the dormer-windows to a larger scale. DORMER WINDO DESIGN No. 23. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. PRIVATE ENTRANCE J'i-AM OF I'BINCIl'AL FLOOK. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 259 DESIGN No. 23. SIMPLE PICTURESQUE COUNTRY HOUSE. This design, which is fully illustrated on a subse- quent page, was carried out in a simple manner a few years ago for the residence of Mr. N. P. Willis, at Idlewild, his beautiful country place on the banks of the Hudson (with the omission of the bell turret and a few minor features that may possibly be added at some future time). The position selected, while it commands a full view of Newburgh Bay, is on the edge of a wood, and on the verge of a plateau that al- most overhangs a deep ravine. The rocky sides of this gorge are clothed with sturdy pines and hemlocks, and thus often shut out from the eye, but never from the ear, a turbulent mountain stream that roars through the long, narrow pass, and falls some two hundred feet in a series of rapid, successive leaps within a short distance of the house. There is also a quieter brook that winds its way through the property, and yet an- other smaller rivulet, both of which, after fraternizing with their more noisy and energetic companion, flow into Moodna Creek, which almost at the same point empties itself into the Hudson. The site for the house is therefore very picturesque, and is peculiar in many respects, overlooking, as it does, the Hudson and three or four of its tributaries. These latter, with the' ravine and inland scenery, lie far down on one side. Beautiful views of the bay and the Highlands are gained from the south and east fronts, and a thick pine wood encircles and protects the remainder. 2GO VILLAS AND COTTAGES. When the building had been entirely erected on pa- per, and before the foundations were laid, all the lines of the plan were set out under the special direction of Mr. Willis, who seemed to take more interest in ac- commodating the house to the fancies of the genius of the place than in any other part of the arrange- ment. And the whole design was so fitted among the evergreens, and adapted to every peculiarity of the site, that it appears to be almost surrounded by tall, flourishing trees, although broad stretches of distance in every direction, and extensive views of the river and mountain scenery are gained from the various windows, each view being a separate picture set in a frame of unfading foliage. The advantageous result arrived at by this careful study of the exact position for such a house, although more negative than posi- tive, is incalculable. The new house was made to look not new, points of view were not sacrificed, and time was not lost in waiting for young trees to grow in place of old ones that would have had to be re- moved for the sake of a prospect, if less foresight had been exercised at starting. In such cases it is the foot or two one way or the other that makes or mars, and when once the contractor is fairly at work, alter- ation is next to impossible. Mr. Willis's house looked like an old familiar settler almost before the roof was on, and it can easily be un- derstood that, under such circumstances, every subse- quent stroke in the way of improvement will yield its fullest value. From the upper approach road on the level of the plateau and principal entrance the house appears to be, what in actual fact it is, a plain, roomy cottage residence, comfortably sheltered among the trees ; but VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 261 from the lower road along the river bank, at the mouth of the gorge, its situation gives it a less ordinary effect. High up among the trees, and apparently on the very edge of a precipitous ascent, it seems to peer over the topmost branches of the dark pines, and to command the whole valley below. The position is exactly such a one as a medieval knight would have selected for his strong-hold, and a little imagination may easily trans- mute the simple domestic cottage into the turreted and battlemented castle. We sometimes hear a regret that the shores of the Hudson are deficient in interesting buildings, and that they lack the poetic associations that cling to the Rhine, with its thousand picturesque old ruins. This is perhaps true ; but if so, it might easily be remedied, if the poetic spirit were encouraged to be active in the life, and not passively dependent on the memory, for picturesque and artistic beauty be- long to whoever can realize them. It is, moreover, a little inconsistent for any true lover of freedom to take much pleasure in contemplating old castles for the sake of their associations. There are surely much more beautiful associations connected with free, peaceful in- dustry, whenever it is generous and joyous. Dark dungeons, spiky, picturesque portcullises, and artistic machicolations for pouring down hot pitch on unin- vited visitors, may, undoubtedly, have a somewhat mysterious and romantic air about them ; but the sen- timent they express is not, in reality, either touching or true. A nobler phase of poetic thought, and a more courteous chivalry properly belong to this freer country and more civilized era. It would scarcely, for example, have been a very easy matter to explain to any middle age Front de Boeuf the propriety of the sentiment embodied in the 262 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. following remarks of Mr. Willis when speaking inci- dentally of the visits of strangers to the interesting country place he has discovered and rendered enjoyable: "To fence out a genial eye from any corner of the earth which Nature has lovingly touched with her pencil, which never repeats itself to shut up a glen or a water-fall for one man's exclusive knowing or en- joying to lock up trees and glades, shady paths and haunts among rivulets, would be an embezzlement by one man of God's gift to all. A capitalist might as well curtain off a star, or have the monopoly of an hour. Doors may lock, but out-doors is a freehold to feet and eyes." The day for castles, or even magnificent mansions, has never yet dawned in America ; and as its arrival must necessarily be accompanied by a return of feud- alism in some form or other, any wish for the advent of such a day should be at once rejected by even the most art-loving republican. And yet, although we at once give up all hopes of this sort, no real sacrifice need be made in so doing, for a beauty of outline and color, and a picturesqueness of grouping fully equal to that which was realized by the barons of yore in their moated strong-holds, or the noblemen of the olden time in their splendid palaces, may undoubtedly be reproduced in the rural architecture needed by Amer- icans of the nineteenth century whenever it shall be properly developed. The effect must be produced in a different way, of course, and with a different spirit to guide it, but it may, nevertheless, be equally at- tractive and equally poetic, if viewed from the proper point of view. In America the stranger will never, probably, be much struck with the architectural re- sults of wealth concentrated through a series of gener- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 263 ations ; but if art flourishes as is to be hoped, he will be still more surprised and delighted by the constant recurrence of beauty and grace in the residences of the large body of the people, and the impression made on the mind will, on the whole, be more striking and more lasting than if it were excited by a compara- tively few large objects of interest rearing themselves proudly up from a low general level of unprogressive poverty and wearisome monotony. The plan provides a brick porch that may be in- closed, communicating with a veranda and with a principal hall of moderate dimensions. This hall opens into a parlor, a dining-room, a library, and a bedroom, each purposely disconnected with the other. It also leads through a door into the principal stair- case hall, and a back staircase provides a private gar- den-entrance, and communicates with the dining-room through a pantry, in which is a rising lift connected with the kitchen. The windows that open on to the verandas are glazed to the floor, and the dining and drawing rooms have bay-windows. It was at first proposed to have a projecting window to the library, and to carry it up two stories, for this point com- mands a view clear down into the very heart of the glen, and in the early summer presents to the eye a wonderful waving sea of vividly green tree-tops, among which it is difficult to distinguish a single bough or trunk ; but this part of the architectural arrangement had to be given up as too costly. Fortunately, how- ever, the inexpensive green gulf, whose books are the running brooks, floats on with a glorious disregard of more conventional libraries, and never refuses to be enjoyed because it does not happen to be contempla- ted from an appropriate bay-window. 264 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The dining-room was at one time designed where the bedroom is now placed, but more mature consid- eration located it in its present situation, so that it might receive the benefit of the afternoon sun, which, as the house is proposed to be occupied all the year round, is a desirable addition to enjoyment during the colder months in a room so much occupied by a fam- ily as the dining-room. The library contains book-cases recessed in the walls, and, as well as the parlor, or drawing-room, opens on to a veranda more private than the one communica- ting with the entrance-porch. All the rooms on this floor were finished simply, the walls being prepared for papering. The casings to the doors and windows are unmoulded, and the wood-work is painted in plain tints, a liberal supply of room and plenty of fresh air being preferred throughout to any elaboration of de- tail. The bedroom plan provides two chambers, with dressing-rooms attached, two other good-sized sleeping apartments, and a smaller spare room, all furnished with permanent closets. These, together with a bath- room, water-closet, and linen-room, complete the ac- commodation on this floor. The upper hall is open and airy, and communicates with the back staircase, which is continued to the attic story. As the roof is of a high pitch, ajnd a large flat is designed on the top to connect the various ridges, this attic is roomy, and provides several available spare bedrooms besides what are necessary for the use of the servants ; and the free, uninterrupted, uppermost hall being cheerfully light- ed and well ventilated, offers an available play-room for children. This is a desideratum in a family house, as the active pattering of feet that in early years ac- KOIITII-EAST VIEW. BASEMENT PLAN. CIIAMUEK PLAN. ATTIC 1'LAN. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 267 companies the healthy development of any new growth of possible Presidents is not less beneficial in its influ- ence when removed a story from the ceilings of the principal living-rooms. The rain-water cistern being sunk in the floor over the bath-room, allows a large proportion of the water from the roof to be collected in it, the remainder being carried by rain-water pipes into brick cisterns sunk in the ground near the house. The two windows shown at A A not being abso- lutely necessary, were omitted in execution, but they would, of course, make the two attic rooms in which they occur more agreeable, and they can be introduced at little cost, if it is ever thought worth while to in- sert them. The general arrangement for the roof and the posi- tion for the proposed bell turret are shown on the roof plan. A rope could thus be arranged to pass from the bell down the side of the bath-room to the pantry be- low, where it would be most easily accessible when wanted. The basement plan shows a kitchen, with windows almost entirely out of ground; a sink-room, several pantries and store-closets, a milk-room, a wash-room, a provision-cellar, a coal-cellar, and furnace-room are also provided, and an open hall communicating with an outer, entrance at the lower level. This entrance is shown on the side of the plan, and was after- ward covered by a porch and rendered more com- modious. The house was built of brick, covered with a lime- wash. The general plans and specifications only were provided by the architect, who was not required to furnish the detail drawings or to superintend the work. The contract for carpenter's and mason's work 268 VILLAS AND COTTAGES was taken at $7700, painting, plumbing, and other et cscteras not included. The vignette illustrates a small cottage executed in the same neighborhood. The plan is simple, but sup- plies an amount of accommodation that is frequently in request. A timber porch leads to a principal hall, which communicates witfc a parlor and dining-room, and both these apartments open on to a veranda. The dining-room has a roomy pantry attached, that is ac- cessible privately from the kitchen department. The chamber floor contains two large and two small bed- rooms. Kitchen offices are supplied in the basement ; and the contract, including painting and all items nec- essary to prepare the house for actual occupation, ex- cept grates and mantles, was taken at $3470. N.E.VIEW. PRINCIPAL FLOOR. CHAMBER FLOOR. DESIGN No. 24. (V. & W.) rEKSI'ECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF KJIMCirAL KLOOE. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 271 DESIGN No. 24, (V. & W.) IRREGULAR BRICK VILLA. This study has been prepared for execution for a gentleman residing in Newburgh, and is designed to suit a very agreeable site commanding an extensive view of the Hudson River. No contracts have at present been made, and I am therefore unable to give particulars of cost, but should estimate it at from $10,000 to $12,000, if the house is built of brick, and the attic left unfinished, as proposed. The plan provides an entrance-porch opening into BASEMENT. PLAN OF CHAMBERS. ATTICS. ^T^Tj FLAN OF ROOFS. a large hall, in which is a wide, open staircase leading to the upper story. Where there is no second stair- case in a country house, this plan of arranging the 272 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. principal flight in the main hall is attended with sev- eral disadvantages, as the servants have to be con- stantly traversing it backward and forward when at- tending to the upper rooms. In a house like this, on the other hand, where there is a kitchen wing and a back staircase, a well-proportioned, handsome, open de- sign, with newel posts and solid turned balusters, may be made to add much to the dignity of the hall, and to give a special character and individuality to the whole house. The owner, when giving his instruc- tions in regard to the design now under considera- tion, laid much stress on this feature of the plan, and was desirous that it should be both easy of ascent and liberal in its general appearance. I have endeavored to avoid one inconvenience that is often felt in houses that have the staircase leading directly from the main hall to the chamber plan above. I refer to the want of domestic privacy that is likely to be experienced by this arrangement, if not guarded against in the plan, for the upper and lower halls being, in such cases, gen- erally open one to the other, any conversation going on above stairs, or any slight noise that may be made is heard distinctly even at the front entrance, and this is oftentimes undesirable. It will be observed in the chamber plan of this house that the upper hall is shut off from the stair- case landing by a door, and lighted separately by a skylight. The bedrooms are thus divided off effectu- ally from the lower rooms without losing the free, airy effect that is aimed at in the open staircase. The stairs to the attics commence from the landing, and by this means the privacy of the principal suite of bed- rooms is rendered still more complete. Two bedrooms, a linen-closet, bath-room, water-closet, and house-maid's VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 273 closet, with sink, are provided in the wing, and provis- ion is made for obtaining four or five large bedrooms in the attic whenever it is thought desirable to finish them off. The roof plan is added, and it will be seen that although the house is irregular in plan there would be no practical difficulty in so arranging the lines of the roof that the snow would have no chance of lodging in any part of it. The basement plan ex- plains itself. The three principal rooms communicate with each other, and it will be seen that the veranda which commands the river view is expanded into a semi-octagonal pavilion opposite the dining-room win- dows, so that the tea-table may be prepared there, when preferred, in the summer, and a small smoking- piazza is arranged so as to be easily accessible from the dining-room, which has a large pantry attached to it, connected with the kitchen, etc. The library, it will be observed, is, as it were, embayed at the end, so that book-cases may be recessed in the angles, and some variety obtained both internally and externally. The porch, with the gable over it, thus acquires the prominence that properly belongs to it. A large pro- jecting gable over the end of the library would have had a tendency to make the entrance of secondary im- portance, especially as it would have occurred at the most prominent angle in driving up to the house, and the design was therefore arranged with a hipped roof^ as shown on the perspective. A projecting balcony is arranged to be entered from the room over the library. This addition to a design is not very expensive, and helps materially to give picturesque character to a front ; it casts a deep shad- ow, and serves somewhat as a hood to the lower win- dows. This house, which has not yet been contracted S 274 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. for, is proposed to be built of brick, painted in quiet, neutral tints, the cornices, verandas, etc., being of wood; and if a plain finish is used throughout, the carpenter's and mason's estimate should be about the amount mentioned above. The vignette illustrates a design prepared for a chimney for the residence shown on page 304. As the stacks had each to contain many smoke-flues and several ventilating-flues, they would have worked out rather larger than seemed desirable for external effect if all the flues had been carried up of equal height, and the ventilating openings were therefore brought together, so as to finish on the ends of each stack at a lower level than the other flues. By this means the design of the chimney is somewhat modified from the ordinary every-day form, and a square outline avoided in a situation where it would have been inappropriate. DESIGN FOB CULMNEY WITH VENTILATING FLUES. DESIGN No. 25. (V. & W.) I'EKSI'EOTIVE VIEW. DRAWING ROOM I DINING ROOM' 27-0X18-0 I 21-0X18-0 Jc.,.. BALCONY BED ROOM IS-OXI6-O I BEDROOM BEDROOM t-OXIO-0 rim.?! 14-0X9-0 TLAN OF FBUlOIFAIi FLOOR. 1'LAN OF CHAMHER6. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 277 DESIGN No. 25. (V. & W.) SUBURBAN HOUSE WITH CURVILINEAR ROOF. This is a preliminary stud} 7 made for a gentleman in Worcester, and although it is not, and probably will not, be executed by him, the plan is one that offers an amount of accommodation that is often asked for ; and as it is, moreover, a variation of the simple rectangular form, and has some peculiarities in the bedroom arrangement, it seems worth while to sub- mit it. Almost any character of roof may be adapted to a house of this plan, and the ogee form that is il- lustrated in the view is effective in some situations, and has been carried into execution in a design I pre- pared for new roofing a square house for another par- ty in the same neighborhood. The attic rooms in a roof of this sort are nearly as symmetrical as those in PLAN OF BASEMENT the second story, and are entirely protected from the heat. The accommodation provided by the plan of principal floor consists of a projecting veranda porch, which gives access to a hall, a reception-room, library, 278 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. drawing-room, and dining-room in the main body of the house, while a pantry, with dumb waiter, plate and china closets, and also a private entrance, with dressing-room and water-closet, are arranged in a one- story projection. Two of the principal rooms have bay-windows, and two communicate with a veranda. It will thus be seen that the apartments, though sim- ply planned, are liberal in size and easy of access. The same arrangement might be adopted either on a larger or smaller scale. In the bedroom plan it was wished to provide a suite of rooms connected one with the other, and with dressing-room and bath-room at- tached. This, it will be perceived, is arranged for, and two spare bedrooms and a linen-press, with an easy stairway to the upper rooms, are kept distinct, with direct access from the principal flight. The attic is proposed to contain six bedrooms, a large garret, and an open hall. In the basement will be found a servants' entrance and well-lighted, airy corridor com- municating with kitchen, sink-room, wash-room, store- room, provision-cellar, coal-cellar, and furnace-room. As the study was made for a house proposed to be erected on sloping ground, there is a brick piazza in front of the kitchen, and accessible from it. This might be convenient on some occasions for drying clothes ; and as it would be unseen both from the en- trance front and from the interior of the house, it might be thus used without any annoyance. Such a house as this, and of the scale illustrated, would cost, under ordinary circumstances, about $10,000. It was proposed to be erected of brick, with brown stone quoins at the angles. This design, it will be observed, is very simple in its plan, and a suburban house must generally be ar- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 279 ranged in a compact, regular form, because the size of the lots available for this class of residence is almost always much more limited than for dwellings required to be erected in more completely rural situations. The external appearance of such a house should, I think, be somewhat symmetrical, if it is proposed to harmonize agreeably with the other buildings in its neighborhood, and with the regular and unavoidably formal line of the paved avenue, or street, that passes in front of it. In a fine open, undulating site, well planted with trees, a symmetrical house can hardly appear to ad- vantage, however carefully it may be designed ; and in a busy thoroughfare, an irregular, picturesque plan must be equally difficult to manage satisfactorily, be- cause the whole aspect of its surroundings will be likely to suggest the idea of precision and accuracy, and the artistic eye can hardly fail to perceive the propriety, under such circumstances, of a well-defined, self-contained expression in each of the buildings that attracts its attention. In the suburban house an opportunity is offered to attempt a combination of both the city and the coun- try residence ; and although the plan may need to be plain and unbroken, the details may be so managed as to give any desirable degree of picturesqueness to the general composition. The vignette illustrates a study prepared to show what may be done to give a picturesque character to an exactly square house, without any break whatever in the plan of the walls. A recessed porch leads to an open hall and stairway on the principal floor, which 280 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. contains a library, drawing-room, dining-room, pantry, and small bedroom, also a water-closet near a garden entrance under the half-landing, the basement stairs being shut off at this point. The perspective view shows the veranda, or garden front. The bedroom plan gives four bedrooms, a dressing-room, bath-room, linen-press, and attic stairs. The other plans are not drawn out, as the object is sufficiently gained from the two submitted. It will thus be seen that even a sim- ple square, which is the most absolutely formal plan that can be selected for a house, may be rendered, in a measure, picturesque, if some study is given to the arrangement of the roof lines and the spacing of the windows. It is a common error among those who intend to build economical, straightforward houses in the coun- try, to suppose that there is no need to consult a pro- fessional man about their plans. The fact is, that a simple design requires to be drawn out very carefully for execution, so that its internal and external pro- portions may be agreeable, because, in a plain house, its proportions are all that it has to depend on to re- lieve it from absolute unsightliness. tDIMSO ROOM 24 X if, Z*XI -Ih- PLAN Of PRINCIPAL FLOOR. PLANOFCHAVBERS. DESIGN No. 26. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. CHAMBER PLAN. PLAN OF PKINCirAL FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 283 DESIGN No. 26. WOODEN VILLA WITH TOWER AND ATTICS. This design belongs to a gentleman in Worcester, Massachusetts, and has been adapted to a fine situa- tion about a mile from that thriving city. The pro- prietor of the site has no very immediate intention of erecting his country house, but, unlike many of his countrymen, has preferred to have his plans before him for a year or so, prior to breaking ground, so that all the minor points of internal convenience and exte- rior detail may be fairly and completely discussed and studied out as opportunity offers. This is a mode of proceeding much more likely to lead to a satisfactory result than to leave the whole matter to the last mo- ment, and then hurriedly instruct an architect to pre- pare plans, specifications, and contracts in the course of a fortnight, that shall be warranted to supply all the accommodation required by each member of a family, in exactly the artistic form that will suit every body, and at exactly the price that the owner has con- cluded it will be quite convenient for him to lay out. Such requests are not unfrequently made by employ- ers in perfect good faith, and without any apparent perception of their impracticability, and yet it must be evident, on consideration, that if a design is wanted in a very short space of time, only a limited amount of study can properly be given to it, and the natural result is likely to be that the house will not be com- pletely adapted to the requirements of those who pro- 284 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. pose to occupy it, simply because the architect has had no fair opportunity to consult the well-weighed in- structions of his employer. The plan shows a porch, which occupies the lowest story of the tower, and forms part of a front veranda. The principal hall connects with the principal rooms. The library and parlor communicate with each other, and with another and more private veranda. The dining-room is kept separate from the other rooms, and has an access to the kitchen wing. In the stair- case hall is a door to a bedroom on this floor. The kitchen wing is arranged with pantry, store-room, etc., and servants 1 bedroom, that might be a wash-room, if preferred. The upper floor provides five bedrooms in the main body of the house, and a bath-room, or child's bedroom, or nursery, in the wing, with a private door opening from the family bedroom, so as to be conven- ient of access without traversing the hall and passage. A servants 1 bedroom is also arranged in the wing. A pleasant little bedroom, or study, is prepared for in the tower, and a number of rooms may be finished off in the attic, if thought advisable. The house is pro- posed to be built in a situation where it will have a background of fine trees, as seen from the main road ; and while the home scenery is pleasantly varied, an extensive panoramic view is obtained from the upper part of the house. A tower has therefore been intro- duced to command this outlook ; and to give a more marked character to the design, its roof has been some- what curved, so that it may group easily with the trees in its vicinity. A two-story bay-window, it will be seen, is introduced in the design. This is illustrated in detail in the opening chapter. This study admits of many changes, without altering its main features, VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 285 and it could be easily made to suit a stone or brick construction, if preferred. To any one who is interested in the progress of ru- ral architecture, it must be encouraging to remark how universal is the tendency now to build comfortable res- idences in the environs of all our large towns and cit- ies. The love of peace and quietness, and of unaffect- ed domestic life, that is indicated by this increasing taste for suburban houses and cottage residences, shows that it only requires a little more progress in artistic perception, and a little more appreciation of the very great advantage, to all parties, that attends study and forethought in building, to enamel the surface of this country with really beautiful rural homes. And a not distant future is, I hope, destined to show that all the liberal arts may flourish in this free republic at least as well as under the more despotic governments of the elder continent. This great step in advance might be taken in the New England States, perhaps, more easily than in any of the others ; for the indus- try, the thrift, and the almost universal prosperity that are such leading characteristics of the people, all point distinctly to genuine refinement in private life, and to a progressive spirit of unpretending elegance that, in an enlightened Christian community, should preside habitually over every thing that appertains to the idea of "home." The vignette shows a design for an entrance gate and piers prepared for Mr. David Moore, of New- burgh, and erected by him a few years ago. The plan of the grounds is illustrated in the vignette to Design O O < ' 286 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. No. 18, and as the lot occurs at the intersection of two cross-roads, this gate was therefore placed at the an- gle, as shown on the garden plan, for several reasons. In the first place^ it gave a more easy access to the property from every direction; and in the second, it brought the gate into such a position that a large tree on the sidewalk grouped with it agreeably, and added to the importance of the entrance. It also prevented the crowded, awkward appearance that a gate at the extreme end of one side would have had, and gave the angular view, which was, of course, the longest one, across the grounds to any one passing or entering the property. The gate is a simple design of wood and iron work, a combination which I am led to think may often be used with more advantage in rural arch- itecture than iron alone, which, in simple, economical forms, has a very thin effect, and, when elaborated, is too suggestive of the town house to be agreeable in the country. DESIGN FOE EXTRjLN'CE-GATE. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 287 DESIGN No. 27. (SEE FRONTISPIECE.) FAMILY COTTAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS. This study has been prepared with reference to a particular site, and appears to be sufficiently well adapted to the present purpose of illustrating the gen- eral ideas of design that are applicable to houses or cottages built in mountainous districts. The plan is simple, and yet is not entirely symmetrical, as decided formality even in plan would be out of character with the situation. The roof, on the other hand, is both simple and symmetrical, although not formal, the break in the plan being nearly sufficient to give an impres- sion of variety to the general effect of the whole de- sign. 288 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. It is not desirable that the leading outlines of a house in such a position should be much broken ; an impression of breadth and strength ought to be given by the general plan and by the walls, and an over- shadowing, sheltering effect should be presented to the eye by the roof. Self-reliance, liberality, simplicity, and humility must be prominent characteristics in any family that spends even a few summer months suc- cessfully in a mountain home ; and if such a residence is to be specially adapted to its surroundings, it must in some way or other be suggestive of these ideas. The vignette illustrates a design for a rustic bridge that has been carried into execution in that part of the Central Park in New York which is called the Ram- ble. DESIGN No. 28. (F. C. W.) PLAN OF TBINCIPAL FLOOB. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 291 DESIGN No. 28. (F. C. W.) STONE COUNTRY HOUSE WITH BRICK DRESSINGS. This design illustrates, so far as can be done by an engraving, the effect that may be produced by the use of rough stone for the general building material, and of brick for the quoins and dressings generally. Not having yet had an opportunity to construct a country house in this manner, although an admirer of the combination and often recommending it, I have requested my friend, Mr. Withers, to allow me to intro- duce into this work the accompanying picturesque ex- ample, which was built a few years ago. in accordance with his plans, for a gentleman residing at Clinton Point, on the Hudson River. PLANorCHAMBERS. 292 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The vignettes show two designs for shaded seats that have been executed in the Central Park, New York. DESIGN No. 29. FEONT ELEVATION. CHAMBER PLAN. HF l VERANDA |j DINING ROOM LIBRARY L' IS.OX22 > .0. I6.0.X2,0 1'ZINCII'AI. FLOOR PLAN. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 295 DESIGN No. 29. WOODEN VILLA WITH CURVED ROOF. The design for this house is shown in elevation on the accompanying page, which also contains the plans of principal and bedroom floors. In execution the effect is of course irregular and picturesque, but the geometrical drawing will show more accurately than a perspective view the true pitch that should be given to a roof of this sort. BASEMENT PLAN. ATTIC PLAN. The basement and attic plans are given above, and the design adopted for the carriage-house and stable is shown below. This house was built of wood for a gentleman re- siding in Greenwich, Conn., and contains an amount of accommodation that is in very general request. FKONT ELEVATION. KNI> ELEVATION. 296 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. The vignette illustrates a design for a square house executed at Staatsburgh, on the Hudson River. The arrangement of roof is somewhat similar to the one just described. This house contains five rooms on principal floor. The bedroom accommodation is lib- eral, a portion of the attic being used for guests 1 rooms, and the remainder, which is entirely distinct from the other part, being set apart for servants. The kitchen is in the basement. SIDE ELEVATION. FBONT ELEVATION. BASEMENT PLAN. ATTIC PLAN. FLAN OF PEINCIPAL FLOOB. cnAMBEE PLAN. DESIGN No. 30. (D. & V.) PBBSPKCTIVB VIKW. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 299 DESIGN No. 30. (D. & V.) VILLA OF BRICK AND STONE. This design was prepared for Mr. Matthew Vassar, of Poughkeepsie, and proposed to be erected at his country place, called Springside, a little to the south of the city. This estate, being full of easy sweeps and gentle undulations, is somewhat secluded and park- like in its character, fine healthy trees being scattered in groups and masses over its whole extent. These have been sparingly and judiciously thinned out by the proprietor, and the arrangement of the roads and general distribution of the grounds has been adapted to the peculiar features of the situation. The effect is very rural and homelike, although a great deal of rough work has been done, and it is only a few years since the hand of improvement was first laid upon it. The buildings of minor importance that have been put up on various parts of the property interfere less than is often the case with the general result, each having been studied with some reference to its posi- tion and artistic importance in the landscape, as well as to its more immediately useful purpose. A roomy coach-house and stable illustrated in the last edition of Downing's cottage residences, also a cottage for a farmer and gardener, an ice-house, an aviary and poul- try-yard, an entrance-lodge, summer-house and arbors, and an extensive conservatory and vinery have been erected from time to time, and the whole property 300 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. has been thoroughly drained, the surface being en- riched wherever it was thought necessary. Although the property lies at some distance from the river, agreeable peeps of the gleaming Hudson and its beautiful white sails are gained here and there. Still, it is the bold horizon lines, and the broad, free stretches of richly-wooded intermediate distance con- trasting, and yet in harmony, with the home land- scape, that gives the peculiar charm to the place. It can, indeed, with difficulty be separated from its sur- roundings, and a mutual understanding advantageous to both seems to have sprung up between Springside and the scenery in its vicinity. In country places of this size it is sometimes thought necessary to aim at increased artistic effect by a copious introduction of architectural ornaments at the salient points about the grounds ; and as the result is seldom agreeable, I take the opportunity of extracting from the "Suburban Gardener" a few remarks on the sub- ject that seem to be worthy of attention: "Architect- ural ornaments, such as vases, statues, etc., water in different forms, pieces of rock-work, and other objects of the like kind, form sources for varying the views from the walks of a country place ; but architectural ornaments ought to be very sparingly introduced at a distance from the house, in gardens in any style, but more especially in such as are laid out in the irregular or modern manner. When mixed up with groups of flowers and shrubs, they divide the attention between the beauties of art and the beauties of nature ; and as the mind can only attend to one sensation, and experi- ence one emotion of pleasure at a time, it becomes dis- tracted among so many. The true situation for stat- ues is on an architectural terrace, or in an architect- VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 301 ural flower-garden adjoining the house, the conserva- tory, or some other structure in which architecture and sculpture are the main features, and flowers and vege- tation are altogether subordinate." The house is approached through a porch connect- ing two verandas, which thus afford a lengthened cov- ered promenade. The principal hall, seventeen feet square, with windows commanding an agreeable view, is intended to be somewhat more than a mere hall, and is designed with recesses on three sides, in which easy, simple lounges might be fitted, so that this hall, which is on the westerly side of the house, could be used as a cool morning-room in summer, if desired. The drawing-room opens from the hall, and is con- nected by folding doors with the library, which has a separate approach from the inner hall, and thus, when the folding doors are closed, is private and retired. The dining-room is disconnected with the other apart- ments, and communicates with the servants' offices through a roomy pantry. There is a private garden entrance, with a gentlemen's dressing-room and water- closet in close proximity to it. The bedroom accom- modation is liberal, but it has not been thought neces- sary to give the other plans. This house has been estimated, with simple interior finish, to cost about 16,000. It is designed to be built of brick, with a free use of brown stone for the angles, the copings, and the windows and other open- ings. The most harmonious arrangement of colors would be a soft, reddish brick, and a brown stone of as gray a tint as could be obtained. The roofs are intended to be covered with greenish-gray slates, and the eaves, veranda, and other outside wood-work should be painted of a warm oak color. There would thus be 302 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. sufficient variety of color to accord with the irregular outline, and the red would have a refreshing effect in a situation secluded and sheltered among rich green trees. The vignettes show two forms of window-hoods, the one adapted for stone construction, and the other for wood. I am not aware of any existing example in the United States of a window-hood constructed of stone ; but there does not seem to be any sufficient reason why this method of obtaining a picturesque variety of light and shadow should be executed only in inferior materials, and in Design No. 33, prepared for a gentleman residing in Worcester, it is proposed to construct the window-hoods of brown stone, in ac- cordance with the study here illustrated. BTONK HOOD. WOODEN HOOD. DESIGN No. 31. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR CHAMBER PLAN VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 305 DESIGN No. 31. PICTURESQUE STONE COUNTRY HOUSE. This design has been carried into execution for a gentleman residing at Staatsburgh, on the Hudson River. The estate is of considerable extent, the drive- road, as it passes the house, being perhaps a third of a mile from the entrance to the grounds. Still the actual building spot is somewhat limited in size, be- cause it was necessary to select an elevated situation commanding the best views, and this happened to oc- cur in a part of the property which was not only very varied in surface, but entirely covered by a handsome growth of trees, which it was desirable to preserve uninjured as far as was compatible with a convenient arrangement of the plan. After much examination of the different parts of the property, and due deliber- ation pro and con, for there were many points to be discussed, the site that seemed the most appropriate was ultimately determined on, and it then became a question how to suit the design of the house to the formation of the ground, and, so far as might be nec- essary, to adapt the site to the house. It seemed proper to make the plan nearly square, and without a 306 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. wing, for several reasons. In the first place, a suffi- ciently extensive arrangement for kitchen offices above ground would have rendered it necessary to cut down several more of the trees, and this, as above remarked, was to be avoided, if possible. In the second place, a wing must have blocked up the west or north views, which command the river, and are in every respect delightful ; or otherwise, as it could not come on the south or entrance front, it must have been placed on the east, which is the first seen, and the most promi- nent at all times from the approach road. The ground was so irregular and broken, moreover, that it seemed judicious to aim at a varied outline and picturesque effect in the immediate vicinity of the house, rather than to attempt smooth extents of lawn on a level, or nearly so, with the principal floor, for this would have still farther increased the expense for filling in and grading, which must, under any circumstances, be large in such a situation. Taken altogether, it would probably be difficult to find a building spot better suited to illustrate the propriety of sometimes design- ing a country house with a basement kitchen. Mere economy is always in favor of this arrangement ; but on level ground, unless the principal floor is stilted up some distance from the surface, the rooms in the basement will be dull, dark, and cheerless. This house is built of blue stone taken from a quarry a few hundred yards from the building site, the stones being of various sizes and comparatively rough the quoins, the dressings to the windows, the porch, and some few ornamental features being carefully executed in. brown stone, all laid on its natural bed. The point- ing mortal? used in this building was specified to be of a dark red, so that by means of this warm color in VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 307 the mortar joints, the cold and sombre tint of the blue stone should be modified as far as possible, and made to harmonize with the cheerful character of the rest of the house. In ten or twelve years this blue stone will begin to change its hue, and then every month will add new beauty to its color. This kind of stone is undoubtedly most harsh and monotonous in appear- ance when first taken from the quarry, but after about fifteen years of exposure it assumes a delicate, lumin- ous gray tint, each stone differing just so much from the one next to it as to give life and brilliancy to the general effect in the sunlight. When this point is once arrived at, it is unrivaled as a building material, being as durable as granite, and, in connection with landscape, far more beautiful in color than any brown stone, marble, or brick. The plan may be thus described : A porch connect- ing two verandas opens on to a vestibule and hall which gives access to library, drawing-room, dining- room, billiard -room, and principal staircase. The rooms are all disconnected in accordance with the in- structions of the proprietor. The vestibule is fitted with permanent seats, and a terrace extends round two sides of the house. This terrace is covered by a large hood extending over it some eight or nine feet in front of one window in the billiard-room and one in the drawing-room, and reaching down to within seven feet of the floor. The shade that would be af- forded by a veranda is thus obtained on this side of the house without there being any posts to interfere with the view from the windows. In the dining-room is a large bay-window recess, and the ceiling is so de- signed that this recess forms part of the room, and adds much to the apparent length of the house in this 308 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. direction ; it also increases very materially the avail- able space for attendance on the dinner-table. The pantry is of large size, and is fitted with various con- veniences, including a lift from the kitchen, several closets, and a sink. The billiard-room is so planned that a full eighteen feet is obtained in the clear of the fire-place and walls in the narrowest part. The two side windows open to the floor, so as to afford access to the terrace, and there is a closet for cues, etc. The drawing-room is a handsome apartment, 18 x 24, opening on to the ter- race and veranda. The library was originally designed to be finished with book-cases in the angles, and sub- sequently, at the owner's request, I furnished him with a plan for an ornamental ceiling, and a suitable de- sign for furnishing the whole room with continuous book-cases and oak fire-place, thus carrying out the original intention in a more complete manner. There is a side entrance under the landing of principal stair- case, and connected with this is a dressing-room and water-closet. A cloak-closet is also planned near here, and a lift to bring coal, etc., from the basement to this floor and the floor above. The plan is so arranged that the flue of the kitchen fire-place, which is under the dining-room, is carried away behind the closet in pantry, so that it may not heat the room unpleasantly during the summer months. A servants' staircase was thought unnecessary by the proprietor, as the principal flight is inclosed from the main rooms. In the chamber plan will be found two large bed- rooms, a dressing-room, a linen-closet, a house-maid's sink, a bath-room and water-closet, and a nursery 14 x 18. The upper hall opening on to these rooms is amply lighted, and is roomy and open, which is a VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 309 great desideratum in the country, provided it can be obtained without a sacrifice of privacy. In the attic will be found two spare bedrooms, en- tered near the head of the stairs, and shut off from the attic hall, which communicates with three serv- ants' rooms and a garret. The greater part of the basement is finished off, and supplies kitchens, sink-room, servants' bedroom, pan- try, wine-cellar, coal-cellar, and furnace-room. A contract of $13,200 was made for this house "com- plete, ready for occupation, and with a simple, sub- stantial finish throughout. This, however, is exclu- sive of the cistern and drains, the hauling and the right of quarry, all of which were furnished by the owner, and not calculated for in the estimate. All other items, such as painting, ranges and grates, fur- nace, etc., are included. The vignette represents a study for a simple cot- tage, designed as a residence for men employed on the farm and in other operations about the estate. The cottage is in full view from the principal drive-road, and it therefore seemed worth while to consider it as an accessory in the landscape as well as a convenient home for those who were to live in it. The other side of the house showing the veranda would probably have offered a more picturesque view, but the vignette will serve to give a general idea of the simple effect aimed at. The basement, entered from a door on the outside, as shown on the sketch, was designed to be fitted up, for the use of the family, as a wash-room, and to be provided with drying-closet, ironing-room, 310 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. etc. The principal floor explains itself, the two bed- rooms below being for the housekeeper's use, and the chamber plan above, containing three roomy bedrooms, being set apart for the use of the men. Such a cot- tage, with the basement finished off, should cost about $1400 or $1500. In this instance the outlay was in- creased, from various causes, to DESIGN FOR A FABM COTTAGE. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. DESIGN No. 32. PEB8FECTIVB VISW. PLAN Of PBJWaiEAl-..EJ-OOR, VILLAS AND COTTAGES 313 DESIGN No. 32. AN IRREGULAR VILLA WITHOUT WING. This study has been prepared in detail for a gentle- man residing at Millville, Mass., and is proposed to be erected in Connecticut on a beautiful suburban site, several acres in extent, on the outskirts of Middletown, which is unquestionably one of the most pleasant and attractive neighborhoods in which to build a country seat to be found in the Eastern States. Middletown is not a remarkably large place, but it possesses a cheerful and very fascinating rural character, that is to be attributed, in a great measure, to the attention that has been bestowed, from time to time, to plant- ing in the streets and avenues. Fortunately, also. a judicious selection of specimens has been made in the first instance, which is not always the case, and PLAN OF CHAMBERS. the result is that the transient visitor can hardly fail to be struck with the number of fine, flourishing speci- mens of the different varieties of shade trees that court his attention when passing through the various ave- nues. It is related of Coleridge, that once, when he 314 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. happened to find, in a small house in an out-of-the-way place in the country, a well-thumbed copy of one of his poems, he held it up and said, with real satisfaction, "This is fame;" and the first planters of trees on a liberal scale in Middletown might, with equal satisfac- tion, rejoice in the palpable evidence afforded by the present aspect of the place of the success of their in- fluence, for they have, without doubt, been mainly in- strumental in giving to the whole town that refined rural character that makes it now so desirable a place of residence. The site on which this villa is to be erected is a choice spot in the pleasantest part of the suburbs, and consists of several acres commanding beautiful views of richly-wooded hill and dale. The drawing-room side of the house looks over a dip in the intervening ground to the Connecticut Eiver in the distance, which will also be seen from two or three other points about the house, and will come in pleasantly in con- nection with the home landscape in walking about the grounds. Still, the principal river view, when the trees are grown, will always be from the drawing- room windows. The owner has interested himself for a year or two past in grading and preparing the site for the house, and, in accordance with a carefully con- sidered plan, has laid out the roads and lawns, and planted fine young thrifty trees where they will be required to help the general effect. A wide high-road passes in front of the property, and there is a section of open ground in front of it of irregular shape, bound- ed by a more private road that branches out of the main avenue to several country places, and then, after making a circuit of a few hundred yards, returns again into the highway. This plot of ground will probably VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 315 be planted at some time or other, by subscription, as a little park for public accommodation ; and if this is done, it will add another marked feature of interest to this improving neighborhood. The plan consists of a large open porch, that is de- signed in connection with the principal gable of the elevation, and is so planned that it forms a continua- tion to a wide veranda on the dining-room side of the house. The hall, which is arranged to have recesses for sculpture or casts on each side of the main en- trance, opens on to the morning-room, the drawing- room, the library, the dining-room, and the principal staircase hall. The morning -room is a handsome apartment, eighteen feet wide, with an ornamental ar- rangement of the corners of the room, and a bay-win- dow. It also communicates, through folding-doors, with the drawing-room, so that the two rooms can be thrown open together in the summer, if preferred. The drawing-room has also a large bay-window and door to the library. Both the morning-room and the drawing-room open into a large veranda, or pavilion, that is a principal feature in the design, and one, it is thought, that would add much to its desirability as a summer residence. T^ie library is a room of moderate size, with recessed book-cases and a bay-window, de- signed to group in connection with the drawing-room bay. This part of the design is illustrated in detail at page 97 of the opening chapter. The dining-room is a large room, entered from the principal hall, and also from the main staircase. A circular plant-cabinet, with an external access for the gardener, is arranged to be entered from this room through sliding glass doors, the glass being a little or- namented, but not so much so as to obscure the view 316 VILLAS AND COTTAdffl.' of the various-colored flowers from the interior of the apartment. There is also a door to a butler's pantry that communicates with the kitchen offices, the arrange- ment of which will be readily understood from the plan. In the chamber plan will be found a range of bed- rooms and dressing-rooms, with bath-room and water- closet, servants' staircase, and two servants 1 bedrooms over the kitchen. In the attic are two or three bed- rooms, but the larger part of the space is proposed to be occupied as an open garret. This house is proposed to be built, by the day, of brick, painted, the verandas, etc., to be of wood; and it is calculated to cost about $14,000 or $15,000, fin- ished in a simple but substantial manner. The vignette illustrates a design for a small bath and boat house made for Mr. C. H. Rogers, and pro- posed to be executed by him at his country place at Ravenswood, Long Island, the lawn of which contin- ues from the house to the water's edge, with a some- what rapid fall as it approaches the river, so that probably a portion of the roof only of this little build- ing would be visible from the house. DESIGN No. 33. (V. & W.) PLAN OF CHAMBERS. PtAM OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR.. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 319 DESIGN No. 33 (V. & .W) PICTURESQUE VILLA WITH WING AND ATTICS. This design has been fully prepared in detail for a gentleman residing in Worcester, Mass., and it is to be executed, by day's work, in brick and brown stone, with wooden trimmings to the roofs, bays, verandas, etc. The roof is intended to be covered with green and purple slates, arranged as shown on the perspec- tive view. The plan, which is on a liberal scale, may be thus described: The principal entrance is formed by a recessed porch, which has been designed in con- nection with a gabled projection and a hooded bal- cony over the main arch, so as to give due prominence to this part of the design. The hall connects with a drawing-room, a library, a dining-room, a reception- room, and a main staircase. The principal rooms communicate with each other. The library and draw- ing-room have access to a plant-cabinet and terrace, and the library and dining-room open on to a veranda. The pantry arrangements are more than usually roomy and complete, as the proprietor was desirous that this part of the plan should not be in any way cramped or restricted. There is a small veranda over a garden- entrance, which has a dressing-room near it, and which can be reached from the principal staircase hall. A large kitchen and wash-room, with a store-room and pantry, complete the accommodation on this floor. The chamber plan supplies five large bedrooms, a dressing-room, a bath-room, and a linen-closet in the 320 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. main body of the house, and three inferior bedrooms are provided in the wing. The attic may contain quite a number of chambers, if required, but it is not pro- posed at present to finish off more than one or two bedrooms for servants. In the working plans the li- brary is shown to be divided, by a partition, into li- brary and study, in accordance with particular instruc- tions, but the more simple arrangement shown here would, I think, be preferred by most persons. The vignette illustrates the kitchen wing and the rear of the house, and will serve to show the way in which this part of the design is intended to be com- posed. EKAE VIEW. DESIGN No. 34. (V. & W.) I'KKSI'ECTIVE VIEW. CHAMBER PLAN. ['LAN OK PRINCIPAL FLOOR. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 323 DESIGN No. 34. (V. & W.) A TOWN HOUSE. This house, which is introduced as a contrast to the uther designs in the book, has been executed in Fifth Avenue, New York, on a valuable lot, 25 feet wide, ad- joining the grounds occupied by the Church of the As- cension. The situation for the house being thus unin- closed on three sides, it is more open and airy than is the case in the majority of house lots of ordinary width in New York, and it is, at the same time, free from the exposure and the extra expenses, such as paving, etc., that are involved in the occupation of a corner lot. It, of course, overlooks the green sward and shrubbery that have been laid out round the church, and thus, in connection with its own front garden, it may be so arranged as to avoid, in some measure, the stiffness and formality that are characteristic of most town houses, and the design may, without impropriety, aim at some picturesqueness of effect in the arrangement of the roof lines, which will come prominently into view from the other side of the street. The house is proposed to be executed in brown stone and brick. The basement will be of brown stone, the walls of the principal floor being carried up with courses of brick and stone alternately, and the walls above prin- cipal story being of Philadelphia face-brick of superior quality, with brown stone window architraves, hoods, string courses, and chimney-caps. The principal floor contains a vestibule, hall, stair- 324 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. case, drawing-room, library, and dining-room, with pan- try, and back staircase to the basement and chambers. The dining-room is proposed to be terminated by a large recess, which is to be glazed and fitted up with a stand for flowers, or a handsome vase and small fountain, if preferred. There is a peculiarity in the arrangement of this part of the design which may be mentioned here. The pantry, as well as the recess, projects from the main body of the house, for a valu- able addition to the convenience of the principal floor accommodation is thus gained at a comparatively small cost; but the windows on the north, or pantry side of the semicircle would, by this arrangement, be blocked up altogether, unless some plan like the one illustrated had been adopted. This sash and the one opposite to it is glazed with ornamental glass, the two central openings being left with clear plate-glass, as there hap- pens to be a pleasant vista view of adjoining gardens from the rear of the house. A partition is set up in the pantry at an angle of forty-five degrees opposite the sash, and a glazed opening is introduced in the outer wall of pantry in the triangular space thus shut off, as shown on the plan. The inner face of the par- tition is to be covered with bright tin, and the result will be that ample light will be reflected into the din- ing-room recess through this sash, and no disagreeable effect will be produced on the design by the convenient extension of the pantry. The bay-window in the library, which is shown on the drawing, is not included in the working plans of the house, but can be added at any time, if approved. It would give a desirable relief to the straight, unin- teresting wall adjoining the church lot, and would fur- nish the middle room with a little extra width and a VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 325 pleasant angular view of the avenue. The principal staircase is designed with a landing in the middle of the first flight, so as to make the ascent more easy and agreeable ; and a staircase shut off by a door under- neath this landing leads to a fine room in the front basement that is intended to be used as a study. The kitchen and other offices are on the basement floor, and there is a sub-cellar under the whole house. In the chamber plan an effort has been made to get clear of lobbies and passages, and dark entrances to bedrooms ; and it will be seen that by giving a curved line to each end of the partition that is planned in the central part of the house, a much larger landing than can otherwise be obtained is supplied at the head and foot of the staircase (where it is most needed), and the three principal bedrooms are entered through doors opening directly from the main hall on each floor. There are two bath-rooms on this floor, and two in the floor above, which is nearly the same in plan. The attic supplies a number of roomy chambers, and a large skylight to the main staircase. This house was carefully built throughout by day's work, and cost about $30,000 properly finished. The vignette shows a design for a country house, for which the cellar is now being excavated, and which will probably cost about the same amount as the town house just described. It has been prepared in detail for execution by a gentleman in Orange County, New York, and is to be built on a site commanding extens- ive views of the Hudson. A carriage porch leads to a vestibule and octangular hall, which gives access to the 326 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. drawing-room and dining-room, and to a billiard-room and library, which are separate from the other rooms. The kitchen wing is roomy, and the bedroom accom- modation is on a liberal scale, as will be seen from the chamber plan. The exterior is quite simply de- signed, as it must necessarily be in a house of this size that is to be built for a moderate estimate. The house is proposed to be constructed with hollow walls, faced with a fair quality of brick, and relieved by a sparing introduction of brown stone where it is most required to carry out the idea of the design. SOUTH-EAST VIEW. PLAN ofPRINCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF CHAMBER FLOOR. DESIGN No. 35. (D. & V.) ENTRANCE FRONT. PLAN OF PRINC1PA.L FLOOR FEONT FACING TUB BEA. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 329 DESIGN No. 35. (D. & V.) MARINE VILLA. This design was erected for a gentleman residing at Newport, Rhode Island. It was built of brick and brown stone, and contracted for, including painting and plumbing, at a little under $20,000. It was prepared for a fine situation, commanding an uninterrupted view of the sea, and including several acres of ornamental ground, that have been well laid out and planted under the superintendence of an experi- enced landscape gardener. A carriage-porch, of which a larger drawing is given on page 74 of the opening chapter, leads to a vestibule and main hall, that con- tains a door to a private morning-room, and that also gives access to a suite of three other rooms of liberal size, consisting of drawing-room, cabinet, and dining- room. These apartments are connected with each other, and communicate with the lower portion of a double arcade that is introduced on the front that faces the sea. This arcade is illustrated in detail on page 99 of the opening chapter. There are bay-win- dows to the dining-room and drawing-room, and the latter opens on to a large veranda, or pavilion, that is 330 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. one of the principal features of the design. It is thought by some that in the cool and genial climate of Newport a country house is preferable without ve- randas, and it is certainly desirable to admit the sun- shine into all the rooms ; but if a veranda is arranged, as in the present plan, so that every room that opens on to it has also another window through which the sunshine can be freely admitted, the objection to its introduction seems to be avoided, and its manifest ad- vantages are secured without making the house dark or cheerless. A bedroom is introduced on the ground floor of the wing near a side entrance, and the chamber plan con- tains a number of bedrooms and dressing-rooms, the servants 1 rooms being contained in the kitchen wing. The vignette illustrates a design for the coach-house and stable, which was erected at some little distance from the house. DESIGN FOU A COACII-UOUSE AJS'1> STAliLh. DESIGN No. 36. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 333 DESIGN No. 36. IRREGULAR STONE VILLA. This house has been erected at Fordham, near High- bridge, in the neighborhood of New York ; it is con- structed of stone quarried on the immediate site of the building, and the quoins and other dressings are ex- ecuted in New Brunswick stone. The building material found on the place is of a cool gray, and the New Brunswick stone is of a soft olive tint; the woodwork is painted to correspond with the latter, and as the roof is covered with Sus- quehanna slate, the whole effect of color is subdued, and yet pleasantly varied. The principal floor contains four large rooms en suite, and opening on to verandas and terraces ; the dining-room also connects with a plant cabinet or con- servatory. A school-room and children's dining-room are provided on the other side of the house, in a con- venient position with regard to the kitchen wing. The design made for the lodge, which is also the gardener's house, is illustrated below. PRINCIPAL FLOOR. FSONT KLEYATION. CHAMBER PLAN. 334 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. A design made for a coach-house and stable that has also been erected near Highbridge, but for a dif- ferent owner, is illustrated below. The coach-house is 24 feet by 30 feet, and is so arranged that carriages may be driven through it when necessary. Stabling for five horses is provided, with a passage in front of the horses' heads as well as in the rear. A living room is provided for the coachman on the main floor, and two bedrooms on the floor above. An ample hay- loft is included in the design, as indicated on the plan. The materials used were rough gray stone and New Brunswick freestone. PLAN OF PBINCIPAL FLOOR. PLAN OF LOFTS. DESIGN No. 37. (D. & V.) J PARLOUR 4_30-OX20-0 PANT " 23-0 X II -0 J I--J- T-4-r J_ VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 337 DESIGN No. 37. (D. & V.) IRREGULAK STONE VILLA WITH TOWER, This design, proposed to be executed on a handsome country place that overlooks the Hudson, was com- menced by Mr. S. D. Dakin some years ago, but the foundations were only partially laid when the sudden death of the proprietor put a stop to the works. The house was to be built of rough stone, with cut stone dressings to the windows, and wherever else it was needed, and the whole plan was to have been carried out in a handsome and expensive style. The same general arrangement would admit of considerable va- riety in artistic treatment, and the exterior design might be entirely changed, without, in any way, alter- ing the plan, which may be thus described: A car- riage-porch provides a covered entrance to the main hall, which is twenty feet square. This hall is divided, architecturally, by an open, arched screen, from a wide corridor that traverses the centre of the house, and leads to the various rooms, and to the principal stair- case, that is lighted from above, and is planned on a liberal scale. The principal floor contains a library opening on to a veranda, and fitted with recessed book-cases, and it it also supplies a suite of three rooms, consisting of drawing-room, parlor, and dining-room, and a large bedroom, with dressing-room and bath-room attached. In the wing will be found a butler's pantry, a house- keeper's room, and the kitchen offices. The chamber Y 338 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. floor contains bedrooms and dressing-rooms, the ar- rangement of which will be readily understood from the plan. Such a country residence as this, economically fin- ished inside, would cost about $30, 000 ; and this esti- mate might easily be doubled in carrying out the plan of such a large house by adopting an elaborate and expensive style for the external detail, and for the in- ternal fittings and finish of the various apartments. The vignette shows the plan of principal floor, and the chamber plan of a square house, that would admit of varied treatment in exterior design. This study has been carefully worked out in detail, and the plans and specifications have been prepared for Mr. John W. Burt, of New York. A recessed porch opens on to a hall, 8 x 18, that contains cloak-closets, and that gives access to the parlor, the dining-room, the library, and the staircase-hall. The parlor and dining-room can be thrown into one large room at any time, as there are sliding-doors of communication, and both these rooms open on to a veranda that is octangularly arranged opposite the parlor windows, so as to give more space at this part, and to add picturesqueness to its exterior outline. The library is on the opposite side of the hall, and is disconnected with any other apartment; it is planned, however, with a door opening on to the garden-entrance lobby, which is inclosed from the hall under the first landing of the staircase ; and as this lobby also contains a door to the kitchen, the library, which has a pleasant aspect for a winter room, may, if preferred, be used as a breakfast-room during the colder months. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 339 The dining-room pantry occurs between the dining- room and the kitchen, which is in the main body of the house, but arranged, as will be seen on the plan, to be quite shut off from the living-rooms. On the bedroom floor will be found four chambers of good size, and one smaller sleeping-room, that may be used as a dressing-room, if preferred ; also a bath- room and water-closet, and an inclosed staircase to the attic, in which is provided a linen-press, a servants 1 bedroom, and one or two agreeable spare rooms. The chamber windows communicate with the ve- randa roofs, which are nearly flat, and are furnished with a continuous railing, so as to secure an open promenade for the second floor rooms on each side of the house. The exterior is treated picturesquely, in a simple, unpretending manner, and the house is to be built of wood, at Orange, New Jersey, on a pleasant site that forms a portion of Llewellyn Park, an estate of about five hundred acres, which has been lately taken in hand, and judiciously laid out with lawns and drives by its original proprietor, Mr. Haskell. This gentleman, aft- er reserving in his plan about fifty or sixty acres for an ornamental park, has divided the remainder into building lots of various sizes ; and as the whole area is inclosed by a boundary fence, there will be no actual necessity for separate gates to each section of the property, . for the private roads that will lead from the main drive to the various country houses can be planned so as to commence in each case with a curved line running through a close plantation for a short distance, so as to insure entire seclusion, and thus the trouble of opening and shutting gates may be avoided. I have already received instructions to prepare two 340 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. other plans for houses to be erected in Mountain Park, and this very attractive spot, which is hardly an hour's ride from the city, is undoubtedly destined to be rapid- ly filled up with the villa residences of gentlemen who carry on business in New York. There will be but one porter's lodge to keep up, and all annoyances will be avoided ; while each resident, for a small addition to the first cost of his building lot, Avill hold a share legal- ly secured to him in the public park, that is to be joint- ly held and superintended by the owners of the various small estates that are included within the boundaries of Mountain Park. The idea is an excellent and truly republican one in principle, and a very few years will serve to show what great advantages may result in this way from combined action in landscape garden- ing, if it is wisely directed in the first instance. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. DESIGN No. 38. PERSPECTIVE VIEW. PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOU. VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 343 DESIGN No. 38. MARINE VILLA WITH TOWER. This house has been built of brick, with Nova Scotia stone dressings, at Newport, Rhode Island, on an agree- able site overlooking the sea. The general arrange- ment will be readily understood from the plan on the opposite page, which provides on the principal floor a suite of five rooms, opening from a large central hall, CI1AMBER FLAK. ATTIC FLAN. | 18 X 24- *",., 32 ZQ CELLAR CASEMENT PLAN. 344 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. and connected with verandas and terraces, and also with a conservatory. In the chamber plan, two bed- rooms, with dressing-rooms, a bathroom, and two other bedrooms, are grouped together, and separated from the rest of the accommodations on this floor ; the lob- bies and passages, that would otherwise be dark, being lighted from skylights above by wells marked L on attic plan. The third story contains four pleasant bedrooms and a bathroom, and six rooms (entirely separate from the main hall and guests'* apartments) are arranged for servants. The kitchen accommoda- tion is in the basement. The plan adopted for the carriage-house and stable is illustrated below. L'RONT ELEVATION. SIDE ELEVATION. GENERAL PLAN. DESIGN No. 39. (D. & V.) PBBSPECTIVE VIEW. PANTRY"" - PARLOR INJNC ROOM "I 20-0X20-0 ToRAWINS ROOM fc LIBRARY 30-0X20-0 * A SX20-0 r 340XM'0 HALL i7-OX221 CORRIDOR CORRIDOR FOUNTAIN 1 BOUDOIR 20-0Y/7-0 PLAN OF PRINCIPAL FLOOR. CARRIAGEJ VILLAS AND COTTAGES. 347 DESIGN No. 39. (D. & V.) VILLA ON A LARGE SCALE. This plan was prepared in detail some time before Mr. Downing's death, in accordance with instructions we received, but it has not been executed. It is more extensive than is usually called for in the United States, but may serve to close our examples of Amer- ican villas, and to show how a large amount of ac- commodation may be arranged and combined. It was intended to be built of stone, on a site commanding an interesting prospect, and that sloped off considerably on one side. The garden was therefore proposed to be terraced, as shown on the perspective view, so as to do away with this sloping appearance in the imme- diate vicinity of the house, and to furnish a level pla- teau on which to build. It will be seen, on reference to the plan, that a carriage-porch gives access to an inclosed lobby, in which are cloak-closets. This in- closed lobby leads into the principal hall, which is open on both sides, to a wide corridor, and contains a fountain in the centre. There is also an open arcade, or veranda, in connection with this principal hall. The dining-room, parlor, drawing-room, and library are designed so as to form a continuous suite of large rooms, entered from the main hall; and a boudoir, that does not connect with the other apartments, is also provided at one end of the corridor. A large pa- vilion is planned at the side of the boudoir and li- brary, and a veranda and terrace, that are accessible 348 VILLAS AND COTTAGES. from the three other principal rooms, are designed on the front that commands the. best view. The pantry arrangements are on a liberal scale, and the kitchen offices are extensive. In the wing of principal floor will be found a large family bedroom, with dressing- room and bath-room attached, and easily accessible from the principal staircase hall and from the serv- ants' department. It has not been thought necessary to give the other plans of this design, which was cal- culated to cost about $60, 000 without any elaboration of finish. The concluding vignette illustrates a design for a grave-stone erected in Newburgh Cemetery. DESIGN FOB A OBAVE-bTONE. c. sq. foot. c. laid. c. sq. foot. c. laid. No. 3. ]STo. 5. c. Zaid. c. sq. foot. c. laid. FOR SALE BY