_By_ HASTINGS H. HART
The Thorn Hill School is an institution for delinquent boys maintained
by Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and located at Thorn Hill, 20 miles
north of Pittsburgh. When the school was instituted, in 1911, on the
advice of the writer, two wooden shacks, without basements, with a
capacity of 24 boys each, were built for temporary use. These buildings
were well constructed, with floors of southern pine and were ceiled
with southern pine, and equipped with good plumbing.
[Illustration: ONE-STORY COTTAGE--FLOOR PLAN]
Soon after some excellent two-story brick cottages of modern
construction were built. The superintendent said to one of the house
fathers: “You have done so well in this temporary cottage that we
intend to give you one of the new cottages.” The house father replied
that he and his wife would prefer to remain in the one-story cottage.
This preference led to a study which resulted in the construction of
three one-story brick cottages, two of which had a small basement under
a part of the building, and the other had no excavation. The first two
one-story cottages were planned by Mr. T. E. Billquist, architect, and
have been in satisfactory use for a number of years.
The writer said to one of the cottage matrons: “You have worked in a
one-story cottage and in a two-story cottage: which do you prefer?”
She replied: “The one-story cottage is greatly to be preferred. The
matrons in the two-story cottages are tired to death climbing up and
down stairs. When they are upstairs, the boys are doing mischief on the
first floor, and vice versa. But I can stand in the door of my room and
can see the kitchen, the dining-room, the living-room, the porch, the
dormitory, and the locker room, and it makes the work very much easier.”
We submit a photograph of the exterior and floor plan of a one-story
cottage, which was built without any excavation. Heat was supplied by
natural gas, which simplified the problem. The dormitory contained
20 beds and was readily overlooked from the adjoining room of the
house father. The foundation and the floor were of concrete, and the
superstructure of brick. A large part of the work of construction was
done by the boys.
In the first two cottages small basements contain heating apparatus,
lavatories, and playroom for stormy weather. All of these one-story
cottages are attractive in appearance inside and out. The temporary
one-story “shacks,” built in 1911, are still in use. They cost only
$4,000 each.
The one-story plan is gradually coming into favor. At Mooseheart, the
great institution for dependent children, maintained by the Loyal Order
of Moose, they have adopted as a standard cottage unit a one-story
cottage for 16 children, with two dormitories containing eight beds
each.
[Illustration: THORN HILL SCHOOL, WARRENDALE, PENN.--ONE-STORY COTTAGE