TWO GOOD ROOMS IN FRONT.--THE COMBINATION PANTRY.--TOO MUCH CELLAR
A BURDEN.--$2,500.
In Plan No. 9, the reception-room contains the front stairway. This
stairway lands near the front of the house on the second floor, for
which reason we are enabled to have in the front part of the house the
two rooms which are most used on each floor. We have the two chambers
above, and the reception-room and the sitting-room below. If we had a
long, narrow stair hall constructed in the usual way, we should have the
sitting-room towards the rear, and only a little alcove bedroom over the
hall in front.
The dining-room, which is a large room, is connected with the front part
of the house by sliding-doors. It has a grate in one corner of it. On
general principles, a grate has no business in the dining-room. It is
nearly always at some one's back, and makes him uncomfortable at meal
time. Being in the corner of the room, it is farther from any one than
it would be if located on a side wall: hence it may be allowed. There is
a porch in the rear of the dining-room, and between the door leading to
it and the door to the china-closet there is a space for a side-board.
There are two windows at the end of this dining-room. The door which
passes into the pantry should be on double spring-hinges, so that it
will swing both ways. One can push against it and open from either side,
and when it is released it will take its natural position.
[Illustration: Plan No 9.]
The pantry is a large one. Pantries, in general, may be regarded as a
kitchen annex--a store-room and preparing-room. This pantry is on the
combination plan. It connects with the china-closet by means of a slide.
Aside from this china-closet, which projects into it, there is a
cupboard with double doors at one end, a flour-bin at the side, a pastry
table next to it, and a refrigerator by the window. One reason for
placing this refrigerator near the window is, that a flight of steps and
a platform might be arranged on the outside, so that the iceman could
put in the ice without going through the kitchen. We go down cellar from
this pantry.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
There is a cellar under about half of this house--the kitchen and the
dining-room. It should have a cemented floor, and numerous windows for
lighting it. The part under the kitchen could be used for a laundry,
that under the dining-room for coal storage and furnace. There could be
an excavation under a part of the sitting-room for vegetable storage.
"Why not put a cellar under the whole house? It would cost but little
more," has been asked many times. It is the little things, the smaller
economies, in a building of this kind which makes the difference between
an expensive house and a house of moderate cost. Every foot of cellar
space beyond what is needed for actual use is a burden to the
housekeeper. The arrangement has more to do with the number of
apartments than with the amount of space. We have a laundry-room, a
place for furnace and fuel, and a room for vegetables, which is about
all that can be used. From the cellar we can go up the stairway and
into the kitchen, from the kitchen to the second floor, and from the
second floor to the attic.
It is a large attic, a place for large rooms if one should need them.
Under any circumstances this attic should be floored. There could be no
better place for general storage, and at times for drying clothes.
It seldom happens that two houses from exactly the same plan are built.
While this plan has pleased many people, there are others who would not
be attracted by it; who would not care to build this house as their
home. The universal floor plan has never been made, and never will be.
There are general principles running through all plans which are
valuable, and if rightly understood will contribute to the improvement
of the homes of the people.
Fig. 13 is an elevation.
Cost, without appurtenances, $2,500, as per schedule "B."