OUTGROWTHS OF ONE IDEA.--EVERYTHING COUNTS AS A ROOM.--ONE
CHIMNEY.--CONVENIENCES OF A CONDENSED HOUSE.--COST FROM $1,600 TO
$2,800.
Plans Nos. 16, 17, and 18 are all outgrowths of the same idea. It is the
most economical general scheme for a house that is represented in this
collection. In No. 16 there is not more than forty-eight square feet of
hall space in the entire house. This is on the second floor. This plan
was devised under an extraordinary pressure for a roomy house for a
relatively small sum of money. Everything is made to count for a room.
Twelve sets of plans of this general kind were made for as many
different owners of houses during one season. This statement is made for
the purpose of indicating its popularity. We will look through No. 16
with some respect to detail.
It is a one-chimney plan. There are three grates with independent flues
in the three principal rooms on the first floor, and two grates with
their flues on the second floor. One among other points of economy is
the stairway arrangement. It is a combination, front, rear, and cellar
all in compact form. There are two doors between the kitchen and the
landing of the main stairway. In this respect it is like other
combination stairways which have been described. The front and rear
stairway come to the same landing, and from thence to the second floor.
The front stairway is provided with a railing, baluster, etc., and the
one from the kitchen is within an enclosure. There may be portières
between the landing and the reception-hall. Thus one may pass from the
kitchen to the second floor without coming into view from this room. The
cellar stairway goes down under the main stairway. The combination idea
is carried out again in the pantry and china-closet. This pantry and its
arrangement in detail are fully described in Chapter VI., and
illustrated in Fig. 4. The vestibule next to the reception-hall is the
one referred to in Chapter V.
[Illustration: Plan No. 16]
On the second floor are four bedrooms and a bath-room, which is
immediately over the kitchen. There is a straight run of pipe in a pipe
duct on the inside wall.
Fig. 17 is a photographic view of the exterior. It is an ultra shingle
design.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.]
[Illustration: Plan No. 17.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 17.]
Fig. 18 is an elevation of Plan No. 17. Fig. 19 of Plan No. 18.
[Illustration: Plan No. 18.]
No. 17 is the house in which the general plan was first worked out, and,
in some respects, it shows that the idea was then in an experimental
stage. However, it indicates a house of moderate size on this plan,
whereas No. 16 is a large house. No. 18 is the small size of the same
plan. It has been built many times as a rental house. With the furnace
it is under lease, in one instance, for five hundred dollars a year. In
other cases, without a furnace but including plumbing with the use of
city water only, the rent is thirty-five dollars a month. Any of these
plans can be worked into a double house by putting the bathroom on the
outside, and adding to the amount of window space front and rear. The
following is a list of costs, without appurtenances, as per schedule
"B":--
No. 16, as a shingle house, $2,800; No. 17, $2,200; No. 18, $1,600.
The latter figure includes soft-wood finish throughout. Other sizes of
this house have been built where the general construction aggregated
$2,400.