A COMPACT PLAN.--AN ISOLATED RECEPTION-ROOM.--COMBINATION
STAIRWAY.--DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOOR PLAN.--CELLAR
ARRANGEMENT.--DINING-ROOM AND CONSERVATORY.--ANOTHER PLAN.
The floor plans in No. 11 are of a house of small area, 30 × 34-1/2
feet, for body of the structure. There is a porch in front, a circular
bay window at one side, and a pantry and china-closet projecting at the
rear. In the house there are eight available rooms besides the bath-room
and the attic. In the attic, rooms quite as liberal as any in the house
could be constructed at a small expense.
On the first floor, as we enter, there is the reception or sitting hall,
which is so common in the more modern arrangements of dwellings. This
reception hall or room has a certain amount of isolation from the
passage which leads from the vestibule to the stairway and the rear
portion of the house. It may be separated therefrom by curtains or
portières. It would be entirely possible to separate the two by means of
sliding doors, in which event the opening from the room into the passage
would have to be a little narrower than shown in the drawings. This room
could be used as the office of a physician, or of a gentleman who did
more or less business at home. By making the front vestibule about six
inches deeper, a separate entrance to this room could be provided. In
this event, a door from the room into the passage leading to the living
part of the house would be a necessity. The circular bay end of this
room would present an attractive feature. The windows in this part of
the room could be placed about four feet from the floor, in which event
book-shelves could be arranged below them. The window in front goes to
within seventeen inches of the floor. Under the stairway, and leading
from this room, may be placed a very liberal closet, in which there
should be a small window.
Leading from the passage is the stairway, and two closets. The little
passage in which one closet is placed is separated from the hall by a
door. There is another door opening from this passage into the kitchen.
Thus there are two doors between the kitchen and the front part of the
house. This arrangement has in mind the isolation of the kitchen from
the other rooms in a way to prevent the passage of the usual kitchen
odors.
[Illustration: Plan No 11.]
The stairways in this house are of the class known as combination
stairways; while they are convenient and easy of construction, there is
a certain amount of complication in their arrangement which makes them
difficult of description so as to be understood by those not accustomed
to examining floor plans. There is the stairway from the front hall to
the floor above, and one from the kitchen to the landing of the front
stairway. The landing of the front stairway and that from the kitchen
stairway is in common; that is, it is the same. For the purpose of
making this understood, it may be well to say that one may go up the
stairway from the front hall to the landing, some eight steps, and from
thence down into the kitchen, or he can turn right face and go to the
landing on the second floor. This part of the stairs is used coming up
from the kitchen as well as from the front hall. However, the kitchen
stairway is separated from the landing by a door. There is another door
at the foot of this kitchen stairway. In coming downstairs, one may
turn to the right, open a door, and go down into the kitchen; or, he may
turn to the left, and go down the front stairway into the hall. Thus it
will be seen that the combination stairway is a front and rear stairway
together, with separate entrance from both parts of the house,--one from
the kitchen, and one from the front hall. It must be confessed that
there is a certain amount of compromise in an arrangement of this kind,
but it is a saving of both space and money, and is tolerable on this
account. By this plan everything is concentrated, and without the
serious drawback which extra cost, or a smaller number of rooms, would
imply to those who have only a little over two thousand dollars to spend
for a house, without appurtenances. The head room for the stairway,
coming up from the kitchen, is secured under the bath-tub in the
bath-room immediately above.
The cellar stairway is clearly indicated as going down parallel to the
kitchen stairs and under the front stairs. The cellar in this house
should be under the kitchen, stairways, and the reception-hall; that is,
it would occupy all of one side of the house. In this cellar plan the
principles set forth in the previous chapter on cellars are carried out.
[Illustration: Cellar Plan.]
The parlor is thirteen and one-half by seventeen feet in size. It is
connected with a hall by wide sliding doors, so that about one-half of
this side of the room may be open. The grate opposite the sliding doors
in the parlor would present a very beautiful view from the hall and
stairway. The sliding doors between the parlor and dining-room are
placed there more in deference to custom than through any personal sense
of their fitness. Sliding doors do not have the quality of excluding
sound or odors that is desirable. The ordinary hinged door is better in
this respect. This room which would commonly be called a parlor would
really be used as a living-room, excepting by those who use the
dining-room or one of the second-floor chambers for that purpose.
Our dining-room has an independent connection with the front hall, so
that we do not have to go through the parlor or the sitting-room to
reach it. A little extra money, say seventy dollars, would place a
conservatory at one side, at one corner, or at the end of this
dining-room. Fifty dollars would give a bay window. As it is, we have
two windows of the ordinary kind at one side of the room, and none at
the end. A very good arrangement, when bay or conservatory is not used,
would be to take one of these windows at the side and place it at the
rear end, though near the outside corner of the room. This would give
space between the windows and the china-closet door for a sideboard. The
window at the side of the dining-room, if the other were moved to the
end, should be in the middle of the wall space; that is, opposite the
centre of the flue.
From the dining-room we go into the kitchen through the china-pantry,
which is marked "passage." This china-pantry has a little window at one
side, and at the end a separate apartment for chinaware, which is closed
from the passage by means of glass doors. The doors leading from the
passage into the dining-room and kitchen should be hung on
double-swinging hinges.
There are those who would say that there should be no door from the
kitchen into the passage leading from the dining-room to the front hall.
It would probably be well to retain this door in this position, and have
a bolt on the side of the door toward the hall. Thus the mistress of the
house can close it, and keep it closed at will. Another thing that might
be done would be to place a strong spring on this door which would
always keep it closed. The windows in this kitchen should be placed
about three feet from the floor, so that tables may be placed under
them. There is a place for a gas-stove between the two windows, or even
under them if desirable. The porch at the rear of the kitchen may be
enclosed with lattice work, or, what is better, coarse louvered slats,
like those of a shutter. In either event, it could be covered with
screen wire, and made a part of the kitchen in summer. In the plan,
however, nothing of this kind is indicated. The door which leads from
the porch into the pantry is a small one, placed above the ice-chest,
and is for the use of the ice-man.
[Illustration: Plan No 12.]
The arrangement of rooms upstairs will be readily understood. Leading
out of the hall is a store closet for bedding, etc. It is located so as
to be accessible from all rooms. From the front end of the hall a door
leads into the stair passage to the attic.
Plan No. 12 is the outgrowth of Plan No. 11. In it there is a lift
running from cellar to attic, as shown. The only important difference
between it and No. 11 is in the size of the library. Cost, as per
schedule "B," $2,600. Fig. 14 is an elevation: see page 147.