We here present the reader with a substantial, plain, yet
highly-respectable stone or brick farm house, of the second class,
suitable for an estate of three, to five hundred acres, and
accommodation for a family of a dozen or more persons. The style is
mixed rural Gothic, Italian, and bracketed; yet in keeping with the
character of the farm, and the farmer's standing and occupation.
The main body of this house is 42x24 feet on the ground, and one and
three quarter stories high--the chambers running two or three feet into
the roof, as choice or convenience may direct. The roof has a pitch of
30 to 40deg from a horizontal line, and broadly spread over the walls,
say two and a half feet, showing the ends of the rafters, bracket
fashion. The chimneys pass out through the peak of the roof, where the
hips of what would otherwise be the gables, connect with the long sides
of the roof covering the front and rear. On the long front is partly
seen, in the perspective, a portico, 16x10 feet--not the _chief_
entrance front, but rather a side front, practically, which leads into a
lawn or garden, as may be most desirable, and from which the best view
from the house is commanded. Over this porch is a small gable running
into the roof, to break its monotony, in which is a door-window leading
from the upper hall on to the deck of the porch. This gable has the same
finish as the main roof, by brackets. The chamber windows are two-thirds
or three-quarters the size of the lower ones; thus showing the upper
story not full height below the plates, but running two to four feet
into the garret. The rear wing, containing the entrance or business
front, is 24x32 feet, one and a half stories high, with a pitch of roof
not less than 35deg, and spread over the walls both at the eaves and
gable, in the same proportion as the roof to the main body. In front of
this is a porch or veranda eight feet wide, with a low, hipped roof. In
the front and rear roofs of this wing is a dormer window, to light the
chambers. The gable to this wing is bold, and gives it character by the
breadth of its roof over the walls, and the strong brackets by which it
is supported. The chimney is thrown up strong and boldly at the point of
the roof, indicating the every-day uses of the fireplaces below, which,
although distinct and wide apart in their location on the ground floors,
are drawn together in the chambers, thus showing only one escape through
the roof.
The wood-house in the rear of the wing has a roof of the same character,
and connects with the long building in the rear, which has the same
description of roof, but hipped at one end. That end over the workshop,
and next the wood-house, shows a bold gable like the wing of the house,
and affords room and light to the lumber room over the shop, and also
gives variety and relief to the otherwise too great sameness of
roof-appearance on the further side of the establishment.
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN. CHAMBER PLAN.]