EVOLUTION OF A HOUSE-PLAN.--RESPECTABLE DIMENSIONS FOR A MODERATE
PRICE.--SIX PLANS.--COSTS, FROM $1,500 TO $2,600.
The number of times that a house has been built indicates the popularity
of the plan. Plan No. 1, in one form or another, has been used oftener
than any other in the book. Plans Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are more frequently
selected by people who do not keep a servant. This arrangement makes a
compact and low-cost house. There is a porch over which the small front
bedroom extends on the second story. In Plan No. 1 the hall is seven and
one-half by ten feet. There is a corner grate for the living-room and
the parlor. A stove might be used in the dining-room in a way to
moderate the temperature of the entire lower floor.
There is one very large window opening into the dining-room. It is a
very pleasing thing to have the upper sash of the dining-room glazed
with simple colors of cathedral glass. This glass gives a very pleasant
tone to the light of the room, and, at the same time, excludes the hot
rays of the sun in summer. It is possible to dispense with outside
shutters when cathedral glass is used in the upper sashes. A metal rod
running across the window on the inside, on a level with the horizontal
dividing-rail of the window, may be made to carry curtains which will
exclude the view from the outside. Thus, in the glass, and by the aid of
the curtains, we have much that might be expected from the shutters.
There is a china-pantry between the kitchen and dining-room. It is
lighted by a small window at one side. It serves as a passageway between
these two rooms, and thus keeps the odor of the cooking from the front
part of the house. The pastry pantry is immediately back of the
china-pantry, and is entered from the kitchen. It is also provided with
a small window. In the kitchen is a sink with a swinging table at one
side, and room for a portable table on the other. At one side of the
sink may be the cistern-pump, and on the other side the well-pump. It
should be placed back against the wall, and with handles that are well
out of the way when not in use.
[Illustration: Plan No. 1.]
It is entirely unnecessary to place the pumps in the yards of low-cost
houses, as is so common. If a driven well is used, it could be driven
so as to be next to the kitchen sink. If it is a dug well, it may be
placed on the outside, and connected through lead pipes with the sink on
the inside. The cistern may be connected in the same way. The entrance
to the cellar stairs is conveniently placed in one corner of the
kitchen. The cellar itself is under the sitting-room. The side-porch is
large enough to be used as a summer kitchen.
[Illustration: Plan No. 2.]
It is to be noticed that there is no waste room in the upstairs hall.
There is merely wall space enough to admit of doors leading into the
various rooms. There is a small window which lights this hall; the
window may be reached for cleaning from the stairway. This plan
illustrates as clearly as possible the advantage of having the main
stairway land in the middle of the house. There is no better way to
economical use of space. From the second-floor hall there is a stairway
leading to the attic. This passage is lighted in the same way as the
second-floor hall.
[Illustration: Plan No. 3.]
It may be said that the bedrooms of this house are not large. The house
is not large. The problem involved a low-cost, roomy house. We get a
large number of rooms within a small enclosure, and, necessarily, some
of them are small. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the value of
a room is not dependent upon its size. A room may be of respectable
dimensions, but yet not have the necessary wall space for the furniture.
Such a room would not be as satisfactory as a smaller one, had care been
taken to provide this space. In each bedroom there should be space for a
bed, a wash-stand, and a dressing-case. The latter should be near a
window. It will be found that there is room for such furniture in each
of the bedrooms shown on this plan. All are provided with ample closets.
In one of these houses which was built, there was a door between the
bedroom in front and the chamber. In another case, there was a door
connecting the two larger rooms. All these things are matters of
personal preference, or special family requirements, depending upon the
age and number of the children, and other family conditions.
[Illustration: Plan No. 4.]
Plan No. 2 is similar to No. 1, excepting that there are a few changes
in detail. The rooms are smaller; the hall is relatively shorter; it
illustrates the process of contraction. No. 3 is similar to No. 2,
excepting that it has a front as well as a rear stairway, and the
position of the dining-room is changed.
No. 4 is a development of the same class of plans. There are the front
and the rear stairways, also a bath-room over the kitchen, and a
servant's room. The dotted lines running through the little bedroom on
the second floor indicate the position of a hall, which may be
constructed connecting the front and rear part of this house. As will be
noticed, this is a nine-room house in a very economical form.
[Illustration: Plan No. 5.]
Plan No. 5 is a further development and improvement of the same idea.
The objection that one may raise to any of the plans just described is,
that one has to pass through the parlor, or the room in the rear of the
hall, to reach the room back of the parlor. Plan No. 5 solves this
problem. From the hall we can go into the living-room, the dining-room
or parlor, without passing through another room. The second floor is an
improvement over No. 4, in that the little bedroom in the rear is
enlarged by allowing it to project over the room below the width of the
hall. In the rear of this comes the bath-room.
[Illustration: FIGURE 10.]
As to cost. The building, without appurtenances, on the basis outlined
in schedule "B," would cost as follows:--
Plan No. 1, $1,700; No. 2, $1,550; No. 3, $1,550; No. 4, $1,800; No. 5,
$1,900. Figures 8 and 9 are elevations suited to these plans.
[Illustration: Plan No. 6]
Plan No. 6 had its origin in Plan No. 1, and was developed through the
successive stages indicated in the description of plans from 1 to 5
inclusive. The position of the grate-stack has been changed, so that it
acts for the reception-hall on one side, and the parlor on the other.
The reception-hall, instead of receding, projects. In one corner
thereof is arranged a vestibule, partitioned from the rest of the rooms
by ornamental fret-work backed with curtains. This will make a very
beautiful feature. It changes this hall into a room. From here we may
pass to the parlor, sitting-room, and dining-room. In the rear of the
sitting-room is a porch; at one side, a projecting window-seat. The
sitting-room closet is cut off from the pantry. The dining-room is
connected with the sitting-room by sliding-doors. A convenient
china-closet connects the dining-room and kitchen. On one side of the
china-room are arranged drawers. Under the china-closet proper are
shelves enclosed by panelled doors; the china-shelves above being
protected by glass doors, according to the general ideas previously
expressed when considering the china-closet in particular. The kitchen
is the same as others, which are described elsewhere in a more detailed
way. There is a laundry in the basement, and an outside cellar-way
connecting with the back yard. The inside cellar-way is shown. The next
door is that which leads to the second floor. There are five bedrooms on
this floor. The elevation of this house is shown in Fig. No. 11. The
building, without appurtenances, according to schedule "B," costs
$2,600.
[Illustration: Fig. 8]
[Illustration: Fig. 9]
Elevations Nos. 1 and 2 indicate a simple form of exterior, which may go
with either of these plans excepting No. 3.
The photographic view, Fig. No. 10, shows an exterior of No. 1, as built
at one time.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]