Convenient Houses, With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper
by Louis H. Gibson · English · Gutenberg #42469 · 482,095 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Convenient Houses, With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper
Author: Louis H. Gibson
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[Illustration: FIGURE A.]
CONVENIENT HOUSES
With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper
Architect and Housewife--A Journey
Through the House--Fifty Convenient
House Plans--Practical House Building
for the Owner--Business Points
in Building--How to Pay for a Home
by
LOUIS H. GIBSON
Architect
New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
Copyright, 1889,
By Louis H. Gibson.
C. J. Peters & Son,
Typographers And Electrotypers,
145 High Street, Boston.
PREFACE.
When the reader is familiar with the writer's general purposes, it is
easier to understand the details of his work. This book is intended to
deal with houses in a housekeeping spirit. In doing this, the architect
has in mind convenience, stability, and that ideal of housekeepers,
beauty of surroundings.
In carrying out this idea, the relation of architecture to good and
economical housekeeping is first considered. Following this division is
"A Journey through the House." It begins at the porch, moves through the
different rooms, and stops to consider the various details. This brings
about not only a consideration of the general arrangement of a house,
but such details as kitchens and pantries, plumbing, laundry, and
heating.
These first two sections of the book--"The Architect and the Housewife,"
and "A Journey through the House"--are, in a measure, educational. After
this, and in keeping with the general principles that have been set
forth, plans of fifty convenient houses are illustrated and described.
For the most part, they are houses that have been built.
The next section is devoted to practical house-building. It is
constructed by taking a complete specification for everything which may
concern a dwelling-house, and ridding it, as far as possible, of all
technicalities; thus putting in form all practical house-building
questions for the benefit of the owner.
Following this is the consideration of business points in building,
which sets forth methods of letting contracts with the view of securing
the best results without waste of money.
The closing section is devoted to the getting of a home,--how to arrange
the monthly-payment schemes, building-association plans, and other
methods for getting a house on easy instalments.
LOUIS H. GIBSON, ARCHITECT.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., September, 1889.
CONTENTS.
_THE ARCHITECT AND THE HOUSEWIFE._
CHAPTER I.
THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE ARCHITECT.--FLOOR-PLANS AS RELATED
TO GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.--LABOR-SAVING DEVICES.--ECONOMY
AND GOOD CONSTRUCTION.--COMPACT HOUSES NOT NECESSARILY
CROWDED.--WOOD-WORK THAT IS READILY CLEANED 11-15
CHAPTER II.
HOUSEKEEPING OPERATIONS.--THE WORK OF THE HOUSEKEEPER.--THE
AVERAGE HOUSEWORK OF A WEEK.--THE ARCHITECT'S
LESSON THEREFROM 16-20
CHAPTER III.
MODERN CONVENIENCES.--A LITTLE HISTORY.--PLANS THAT MAKE
EXTRA WORK.--MODERN CONVENIENCES ENUMERATED 21-25
CHAPTER IV.
MODERN ARCHITECTS AND THE HOUSEKEEPER.--MISPLACED HOUSES.--OLD
COLONIAL POVERTY IN MODERN COLONIAL HOUSES.--AFFECTATION
IN DESIGN.--NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN
ARCHITECTURE.--AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE AND AMERICAN
HOMES 26-28
_A JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE._
CHAPTER V.
JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE.--PORCH.--VESTIBULE.--HALL.--LONG
HALLS AND SQUARE HALLS.--THE HALL THAT IS A
ROOM.--RECEPTION-HALL.--PARLOR.--SITTING-ROOM.--DINING-ROOM 31-38
CHAPTER VI.
KITCHENS.--THE KITCHEN A WORKSHOP.--WORK TO BE DONE IN
A KITCHEN.--A PLAN.--FITTINGS.--DISH-WASHING
CONVENIENCES.--SINK AND TABLES.--CHINA-CLOSET.--PANTRY.
--COMBINATION PANTRY.--PANTRY FITTINGS.--WORK IN A
PANTRY.--A DOUGH-BOARD.--FLOUR-BIN.--PANTRY
STORES.--CUPBOARD.--REFRIGERATOR ARRANGEMENTS.--PANTRY
UTENSILS.--A DRY-BOX.--SOAP-BOX.--VENTILATION OF
KITCHEN.--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF KITCHEN PLANNING 39-50
CHAPTER VII.
CELLAR.--FUEL DEPARTMENTS.--FURNACE CONVENIENCES.--COAL-BINS.
--CEMENT FLOORS.--LIGHT IN THE CELLAR.--A CELLAR-CLOSET.
--OUTSIDE CELLAR-DOOR 51-53
CHAPTER VIII.
A LOW-COST LAUNDRY.--BLUE MONDAY.--BASEMENT LAUNDRY.--LOW-COST
CONVENIENCES.--INEXPENSIVE LAUNDRY FITTINGS.--HOT
AND COLD WATER ARRANGEMENTS.--A LABOR-SAVING
LAUNDRY.--A PLACE TO DO FRUIT-CANNING 54-58
CHAPTER IX.
THE SECOND FLOOR.--STAIRWAYS.--THE COMBINATION STAIRWAY.--IDEAL
NUMBER OF BEDROOMS.--LARGE CLOSETS AND PLENTY
OF THEM.--A LINEN CLOSET.--PLACING OF GAS-FIXTURES.--SERVANT'S
ROOM.--BATH-ROOM.--AN ATTIC.--ATTIC CLOSETS.--ATTIC
ROOMS 59-63
CHAPTER X.
PLUMBING.--IS PLUMBING ENTIRELY SAFE?--COMPLETENESS IN
PLUMBING APPARATUS.--LABOR-SAVING PLUMBING APPARATUS.--SEWER
CONNECTIONS.--SOIL PIPE.--A TRAP.--ACCIDENTS
TO TRAPS.--FREQUENT USE OF PLUMBING APPARATUS DESIRABLE
FOR SAFETY.--WATER-CLOSETS.--SIMPLICITY IN PLUMBING.--DRAIN
CONNECTIONS.--TO KEEP PLUMBING APPARATUS FROM
FREEZING.--CISTERN WATER SUPPLY.--GREASE SINK.--FLUSHING
OF DRAIN.--BATH-TUB 64-74
CHAPTER XI.
HEAT AND VENTILATION.--COMMON HEATING ARRANGEMENTS.--PRESENT
METHODS GENERALLY UNSATISFACTORY.--IDEAL CONDITIONS.--PROPER
AMOUNT OF MOISTURE RARELY ATTAINED.--A
FURNACE DEFINED.--METHODS OF REACHING BEST RESULTS.--SUPPLY
OF PROPER AMOUNT OF MOISTURE.--REMOVAL OF
FOUL AIR.--SUPPLYING FRESH AIR WITH PROPER MOISTURE
FROM STOVES.--STEAM AND HOT-WATER HEATING.--DIRECT
AND INDIRECT RADIATION.--LOW-COST HEATING APPARATUS 75-82
CHAPTER XII.
HEATING DEVICES AS WE FIND THEM.--FURNACE ESTIMATES.--COMBINATION
HOT AIR AND HOT WATER.--DISH-WARMING
ARRANGEMENTS.--HOW TO GET A GOOD HEATING APPARATUS 83-85
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOUSE AND ITS BEAUTY.--ARTISTIC SURROUNDINGS.--BEAUTY
MORE A MATTER OF INTELLIGENCE THAN MONEY.--VESTIBULE
DECORATIONS.--BEAUTY IN THE RECEPTION-HALL.--MANTELS
AND GRATES.--FRET-WORK AND PORTIÈRES.--SPINDLE WORK.--SIMPLE
FORMS OF GOOD DECORATION.--WOOD-CARVING.--DOOR
AND WINDOW CASINGS.--A CONSERVATORY.--STAINED
GLASS.--A CABINET ON THE MANTEL.--TINTED PLASTERING.
--FRESCOING.--SAFETY IN THE SELECTION OF COLORS.--AN
ATTRACTIVE SITTING-ROOM.--THE PARLOR.--A RECEPTION-ROOM.
--PARLOR HISTORY.--THE IDEAL PARLOR.--THE LIBRARY.--A
PLACE OF QUIET AND REST.--LIBRARY FURNISHINGS.--THE
DINING-ROOM.--SOCIAL RELATIONS OF THE DINING-ROOM.
--DINING-ROOM DECORATIONS.--CONSERVATORY AND DINING-ROOM.
--A WOOD CEILING.--BEAUTY IN BEDROOMS.--QUIET AND LIGHT 86-100
CHAPTER XIV.
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DESIGN.--AN OLD TOPIC BEFORE THE
PEOPLE.--THE ARCHITECTURAL STUDENT'S DREAM.--A BEAUTIFUL
HOME THE HOUSEKEEPER'S AMBITION.--IT COSTS NO
MORE TO HAVE A HOUSE BEAUTIFUL THAN UGLY.--ARCHITECTURAL
EDUCATION.--CHARLES EASTLAKE'S BOOK.--VULGAR
ARCHITECTURAL REVIVALS.--THE GROWTH OF THE ARTISTIC
IDEA.--BEAUTY A MATTER OF REFINEMENT 101-105
_PLANS OF FIFTY CONVENIENT HOUSES._
CHAPTER XV.
EVOLUTION OF A HOUSE-PLAN.--RESPECTABLE DIMENSIONS FOR A
MODERATE PRICE.--SIX PLANS.--COSTS FROM $1,500 TO
$2,600 109-117
CHAPTER XVI.
A SMALL POCKET-BOOK AND A LARGE IDEA.--AMBITION, DOLLARS,
AND A GOOD HOUSE.--THE GROWTH OF THE HOUSEKEEPER'S
IDEAS.--POINTS ABOUT THE HOUSE.--$2,900 118-125
CHAPTER XVII.
"WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT."--A CONVENIENT PLAN.--MEETING
THE WANTS OF PEOPLE WHO BUILD 126-130
CHAPTER XVIII.
TWO GOOD ROOMS IN FRONT.--THE COMBINATION PANTRY.--TOO
MUCH CELLAR A BURDEN.--$2,500 131-134
CHAPTER XIX.
SITTING-ROOM AND PARLOR IN FRONT.--A CONNECTING VESTIBULE.--A
CENTRAL COMBINATION STAIRWAY.--GOOD ROOMS IN THE
ATTIC 135-138
CHAPTER XX.
A COMPACT PLAN.--AN ISOLATED RECEPTION-ROOM.--COMBINATION
STAIRWAY.--DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOOR-PLAN.--CELLAR
ARRANGEMENT.--DINING-ROOM AND CONSERVATORY.--ANOTHER
PLAN 139-144
CHAPTER XXI.
WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR $1,600?--THE CLOSET IN THE HALL.--A
SMALL, CONVENIENT KITCHEN.--CLOSETS IN THE BEDROOMS 145-151
CHAPTER XXII.
OUTGROWTHS OF ONE IDEA.--EVERYTHING COUNTS AS A ROOM.--ONE
CHIMNEY.--CONVENIENCES OF A CONDENSED HOUSE.--COST
FROM $1,600 TO $2,800 152-156
CHAPTER XXIII.
ONE-STORY PLANS.--DESCRIPTION OF FLOOR-PLANS.--BATH-ROOM
NEXT TO KITCHEN FLUE.--KITCHEN, PORCH, AND PANTRY.--THE
EXTERIOR.--ENLARGEMENTS ON THIS PLAN.--OTHER ONE-STORY
HOUSES 157-163
CHAPTER XXIV.
SIDE-HALL PLANS.--PLANS WITH BEDROOM ON FIRST FLOOR 164-170
CHAPTER XXV.
MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION.--SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF ELEVEN
HOUSE-PLANS.--VARYING COSTS.--SQUARE PLANS.--ONE-CHIMNEY
PLANS.--REAR AND SIDE HALL 171-181
CHAPTER XXVI.
EIGHT PLANS.--EACH SUITED TO FAMILY REQUIREMENTS.--DOUBLE
HOUSES.--AN ELABORATE FLOOR-PLAN.--A SHINGLE HOUSE.--A
BRICK HOUSE 182-193
_PRACTICAL HOUSE-BUILDING._
CHAPTER XXVII.
PRACTICAL POINTS.--WATER.--LOCATION OF HOUSE ON LOT.
--DRAINING THE CELLAR.--MASON WORK.--FOUNDATIONS.--WALKS.
--PIERS.--FLUES.--CISTERNS.--DAMP COURSE 197-200
CHAPTER XXVIII.
BRICK FOUNDATIONS.--LAYING BRICK.--COLORED MORTARS.--COLORED
BRICKS.--BRICK VENEERING.--HOT-AIR FLUES.--DETAILS
OF BRICK CONSTRUCTION.--CHIMNEYS AND FLUES.--HOLLOW
WALLS.--CELLAR.--ASH-PITS.--GRATES 201-206
CHAPTER XXIX.
STONE MASONRY.--CUT STONE.--TERRA COTTA.--PRIVY VAULTS.
--CISTERNS.--FILTERS FOR CISTERNS.--BRICK PAVEMENTS.--CEMENT
PAVEMENTS 207-212
CHAPTER XXX.
CARPENTER-WORK.--FRAMING.--SIZE OF TIMBERS.--HEIGHT OF
STORIES.--JOIST.--STUD WALLS.--OUTSIDE SHEATHING.
--BUILDING-PAPER.--ROOFS.--OUTSIDE FINISH.--OUTSIDE
SHINGLE WALLS.--OUTSIDE CASINGS.--WINDOWS WITH BOX
FRAMES.--HINGED OR PIVOTED WINDOWS.--OUTSIDE SHUTTERS.
--PORCHES.--LATTICE PORCHES 213-221
CHAPTER XXXI.
INSIDE WOOD-WORK.--FLOORS.--SOFT AND HARD WOOD FLOORS.
--TABULATED STATEMENT OF INSIDE FINISH.--DIFFERENT
KINDS OF WOOD.--DOORS AND FRAMES.--FLY SCREENS.--INSIDE
CASINGS.--WAINSCOTING.--INSIDE SHUTTERS.--WOOD-WORK
FOR PLUMBING.--KITCHEN SINK AND FITTINGS.--KITCHEN
TABLES.--CELLAR-SINK FITTINGS.--WOOD-WORK FOR
BATH-TUB.--WATER-CLOSETS.--WASH-STANDS.--TANK.--PICTURE
MOULDING.--CLOSET FITTINGS.--BROOM-RACK.--CEDAR-CLOSET.
--DRY-BOX.--CLOCK SHELF.--CHINA-ROOM FITTINGS.--PANTRY
FITTINGS.--STAIRWAYS 222-235
CHAPTER XXXII.
PLASTERING.--GRAY FINISH.--WHITE HARD FINISH.--BACK
PLASTERING.--GAS-PIPING.--TIN WORK.--GUTTERS.--VALLEYS.
--DOWN SPOUTS.--GALVANIZED IRON-WORK.--HOT-AIR PIPES.
--THIMBLES.--PAINTING.--STAINING.--OIL FINISHING.--INTERIOR
STAINING.--FLOOR FINISH.--GLAZING.--PLATE-GLASS.--BEVELLED
GLASS.--CATHEDRAL GLASS.--HARDWARE 236-246
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PRACTICAL PLUMBING.--WOOD-WORK FOR PLUMBER.--EXCAVATING
FOR PLUMBER.--WATER DISTRIBUTION.--OUTSIDE FIXTURES.
--HYDRANTS.--STREET-WASHERS.--SOFT-WATER SUPPLY.--HOT-WATER
SUPPLY.--SOIL PIPE.--INSIDE FIXTURES.--KITCHEN
SINK.--CELLAR SINK 247-254
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PLUMBING WORK CONTINUED.--BATH-TUBS.--BATH-SPRINKLERS.
--FOOT-TUBS.--SAFES.--WATER-CLOSETS.--WASH-STANDS.--LAUNDRY
FITTINGS.--SET TUBS.--OUTSIDE DRAINS.--GREASE
SINKS.--NICKEL FITTINGS 255-263
CHAPTER XXXV.
COST OF A HOUSE.--SCHEDULES OF COSTS.--WHAT GOES INTO A
HOUSE.--SCHEDULE "B."--COST DETAILS 264-269
CHAPTER XXXVI.
VARYING BUILDING VALUES.--COST OF APPURTENANCES.--PRICES
OF LABOR AND MATERIAL ON WHICH ESTIMATES ARE BASED. 270-274
_BUSINESS POINTS IN BUILDING._
CHAPTER XXXVII.
LOW-COST HOUSES.--METHODS OF MAKING CONTRACTS.--ARCHITECTS'
ESTIMATES.--BUILDING BY THE DAY.--THE SAFEST PLAN.--GUARDING
AGAINST LIENS 277-287
_HOW TO SECURE A HOME._
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
MONTHLY PAYMENTS.--CALCULATIONS ON A LONG-TIME PLAN.--PURCHASE
ON A RENTAL BASIS.--HOW IT MAY BE WORKED
OUT 291-294
CHAPTER XXXIX.
BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS.--WHY DIVIDENDS ARE LARGE AND INTEREST
LOW.--BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS AND SAVINGS BANKS.--ASSOCIATION
SECURITIES.--BUILDING-ASSOCIATION METHODS.--DIFFERENT
PLANS.--BORROWING FROM A BUILDING ASSOCIATION.--A
BUILDING-ASSOCIATION REPORT 295-311
CHAPTER XL.
PURCHASE OF A LOT.--THE BEST THE CHEAPEST.--A GOOD LOT
AS A BASIS OF SECURITY.--THE BASIS OF VALUE IS THE
RENTAL 312-316
THE ARCHITECT AND THE HOUSEWIFE.
CONVENIENT HOUSES.
CHAPTER I.
THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE ARCHITECT.--FLOOR-PLANS AS RELATED TO GOOD
HOUSEKEEPING.--LABOR-SAVING DEVICES.--ECONOMY AND GOOD
CONSTRUCTION.--COMPACT HOUSES NOT NECESSARILY CROWDED.--WOOD-WORK
THAT IS READILY CLEANED.
There is a definite relation between the work of the housekeeper and
that of the architect. This is the text of this book. It is a part of
the business of the architect to do what he can to make housekeeping
easy. He can do a great deal. He should understand the principles and
practice of good housekeeping. This knowledge is something which cannot
be derived from the architectural schools or offices; it must come from
a home. The public press of the country has had a great deal to say
about the artistic qualities of domestic architecture, a great deal to
say about house decoration, and, altogether, has furnished much valuable
matter. Little, however, has been said as to the relation of
architecture to good housekeeping. The artistic element should not be
neglected. There must also be considered the question of convenient
arrangement, economy and ease, for the housekeeper.
Washing dishes is disagreeable work, but the architect can do his part
toward making it easier. If we take a conglomerate mass of china,
knives, forks, and spoons, pots, pans, and kettles, and bring them
together on one small kitchen table, which has a dish-pan on one end and
a wooden water-bucket at the back, with a scarcity of everything to
facilitate the progress of the work, we have a condition quite different
from that wherein there is a roomy sink with a table on each side of it,
and plenty of hot and cold water above. An architect may plan a kitchen
so that all of these conveniences are possible. He may plan it so they
are impossible.
The floor-plan of a house has a definite relation to house keeping
requirements, which is not fully appreciated. The difference between a
good floor-plan and a poor one may make the difference of three or four
tons of coal in the heating of a house during the winter. It may
influence the keeping of a servant, the wages to be paid, or may control
the necessity for one or more than one. It makes more difference to a
man who lives in a house that costs two thousand dollars or three
thousand dollars, as to whether he burns seven or ten tons of coal in
warming it, than it does to the man who lives in a ten-thousand-dollar
or twelve-thousand-dollar house as to whether he burns fourteen or
twenty tons. The cost of fuel is of more importance to a man of moderate
means than to one of wealth. Then in the matter of service: it is
difficult to keep a good servant in a bad kitchen, or in a badly planned
house where there is a vast amount of sweeping and other work to be done
every day. Those who plan factories and mills arrange them with
reference to the saving of labor. The idea in saving labor is to save
money.
One can build a better house for a given sum of money at this time than
ever before. The real reason for this is to be found outside the fact
that material and labor are cheaper now than they have been in the past.
It is because of the thought that is put into the planning and arranging
of dwellings. It is the thought that saves the money. It adds external
and internal attractiveness, convenience, labor-saving devices, and
arrangements. Thought helps to make housekeeping easier.
Economical housekeeping can be most readily carried on in a compact
house. To say that a house is compact does not necessarily imply that it
is crowded, or that any of the conditions of comfort are neglected. If
we avoid waste space, such as is frequently assigned to large halls and
passages, we merely take away something that is not needed.
It frequently happens that a man and his wife go through life with the
hope of building a better house "some day." They are economical; they
live carefully; they live in a small house; they are crowded. At last,
by dint of hard work and careful management, enough money is accumulated
to build the new home. This is the great event which has been thought
about for so many years.
The idea in building this house is invariably to get something as
different from the old house as possible. It was square; the new
building must be irregular. It had no front hall; the new house must
have a large one. There were no grates in any of the rooms; in the new
house there must be one in each. In the old building the rooms were very
small; in the new house they must be very large. There was no porch
before; now there must be one running across the front and along one
side of the house. Altogether, the idea of the old house and that of the
new are in direct opposition to each other. In one instance they were
crowded; in the other they have plenty of room. There can be no doubt
about the abundance of room.
The building is finished; they move into it. Almost the first person to
leave it is the servant whom they had in the old house. She sees the
amount of work which she will have to do. It was easy enough to sweep
the old house, with its small, compact plan. Housekeeping was
relatively a small matter; but with the habits of economy, which
rendered the new home possible, they will not employ additional help.
The work which is left over by the servant falls to the mistress.
Strange as it may appear under such circumstances, it takes the mistress
a long time to find the cause of the trouble. It is the house. It was
planned with an entire disregard for the work which was to be done. It
had not been thought of. The idea was merely to get something which was
different from the disagreeable features of the old home. They thought
that everything would be easier and pleasanter and more agreeable in
every way. The only trouble with the old home was that they were too
much crowded. In the new they are not, but have an impossible amount of
work to do every day. The difference between what they wish to do and
what is done, is represented by fretfulness in addition to the natural
weariness at the end of the day.
What has this to do with architecture and economical house-building?
Simply this. The house which is economically planned is economical as to
money, carpets, sweeping, and strength. The architect may do a great
deal for housekeepers by keeping this thought in mind.
To recur to the idea of economical house-building in a direct sense, it
may be borne in mind that economy and good construction go hand in hand;
that none of the conditions of permanency are sacrificed for the sake of
cheapness. Of two houses which cost the same, one may be far more
convenient and roomy by an avoidance of waste space and unnecessary
material. Evidently one flue-stack will cost less than four. Therefore,
if a house can be constructed which has only one flue-stack, it will
cost less than one which has four; but the demands of the housekeeper,
and those who live in the house, are that the one stack afford the
conveniences of four. People do not like compromises in house-building,
especially when they are building a home. The compromises come easier
when one is planning property for rental. Evidently a house in which
one-fifth of the floor space is given up to halls is more expensive than
one which contains a smaller proportion of such space. According as one
is able to diminish the amount of passage room, and yet meet all of the
conditions of good and economical house-keeping, he can reduce the cost
of the house as to its building, its furnishing, and the amount of labor
required in caring for it. Thus economy in construction, and convenience
and ease in general housekeeping movements, go hand in hand. Parallel
illustrations might be carried forward, so as to include each detail of
the house.
The architect may do a great deal for the housekeeper by making his
mouldings and interior wood-work so that they will not catch dust, and
can be readily cleaned. Some of our friends, who have studied the
artistic qualities of house-building to the exclusion of all other
considerations, will say that a regard for housekeeping requirements, in
the matter of interior decorations and construction, is placing too
great a limit upon their work. They will say that beauty and general
artistic qualities are not always consonant with the means which will
make easy housekeeping,--that they are limited by such considerations.
This need not be so; it is simply a question of ingenuity and
thoughtfulness. One may be careless of utility, and make very beautiful
things. Another may be thoughtful and careful as to housekeeping
requirements, and design something quite as beautiful and attractive as
the former.
In the above statements will be found the guiding principles which
affect all of the work of this book.
CHAPTER II.
HOUSEKEEPING OPERATIONS.--THE WORK OF THE HOUSEKEEPER.--THE AVERAGE
HOUSEWORK OF A WEEK.--THE ARCHITECT'S LESSON THEREFROM.
With the architect a house has been too often considered as something to
be looked at. No one is disposed to criticise an architect for making
houses pretty and attractive. It is true, however, that many houses are
nothing more than pretty; they are not convenient. They are not built
with a regard to the requirements of housekeeping. A lady once said to
the writer, that an architect would never live up to his opportunities
until he had associated himself with a housekeeper, who would be strong
enough, in her control over him, to see that the housekeeping conditions
and conveniences were kept constantly in mind.
In order fully to reach the housekeeping idea, it will be convenient to
consider in detail what is meant by housekeeping. Primarily, a house is
a place in which to eat and sleep. The present requirements of comfort
and luxury suggest that all should not eat and sleep in the same room.
Originally this was the case. The primitive man needed only a hut or a
cave, or the protection of a rude shed. Later on, he was satisfied with
a hut with one or two rooms. If the weather was cold, the occupants
would huddle around the fire, and eat and sleep without regard to other
surroundings. A bath in cold weather was unnecessary. During the summer
this was regarded more as a matter of recreation than of necessity. A
neighboring stream served the purpose of more modern arrangements.
Housekeeping operations under such conditions were light indeed.
There are many homes of this kind in America to-day. If we take the case
of our Indians, we find that the squaws have time for much else than the
absolute duties of camp-life and the care of children. There is much
other labor which falls to their lot, house-work being regarded, as it
is, insignificant. This is one extreme. There are various gradations
which come with the instincts of a higher civilization. Education, and
other conditions which go with it, increase housekeeping requirements,
and thus far have not furnished to the majority compensating conditions
in labor-saving devices. At the present time, the natural and affected
requirements of housekeeping make the life of many a woman one of the
extremest drudgery and hardship. Her condition is almost that of a
slave; and this at a time when she is surrounded by many of the elements
of a higher civilization. Her children and those around her frequently
live under the shadow of her uncomfortable condition. The Indian's home,
in the rest and peace which it affords, is often preferable. This
condition is brought about by the increasing requirements upon the
housekeeper, without the presence of other compensating conditions.
Assuming that an architect may do something to make the care of a house
lighter, it remains to call attention to the modern requirements of a
housekeeper, with a view of simplifying her work. Let us watch her work
for a week; we will begin on Monday morning during the month of January,
and assume that there is one servant in the house to help,--bearing in
mind, at the same time, that it often happens that the work which is
here outlined is done by the housekeeper herself, with possibly only the
help of a wash-woman. First, the house is to be warmed, the kitchen fire
to be kindled, the living-rooms to be swept and dusted, the washing to
be started, the children to be dressed, breakfast to be cooked and put
on the table, and, in many cases, all of this done before seven o'clock.
The serving of breakfast is no small task to the housekeeper. The coffee
is to be poured, food prepared for the children, and many other things
done which no man can specify. As soon as breakfast is over the men are
out of the house, but not usually before making more than one demand
upon the time of the housekeeper. Then the dishes are to be washed, and
the children made ready and started to school. Next, the grocery and
butcher supplies must be cared for. Possibly they are ordered from the
boy who calls at the door. In some instances a trip for this purpose is
required. Next, the dining-room must be arranged, the dishes put in
place, the chamber-work attended to, beds made, children's things put
away, sweeping done, slops disposed of, fires looked after. Some time or
in some way the clothes worn by the children on Sunday must be
especially looked after, stitches taken, a little darn here and there,
and then put away. During this time there may be the demands of one or
more babies to be met. In this there is no compromise.
With the completion of other work dinner time is approaching, for, with
the majority, this is a noon meal. The cooking must be done, and yet
nothing else must be allowed to lag. The children in their confusion are
home from school. Then dinner. Every one is in a hurry to get away. The
children are sure they are going to be late. There is more work for them
and the men, and then they are gone. Dinner dishes are washed, and the
laundry work continues. The afternoon is little different from the
morning; there is a little less rush and confusion, but a continuance of
regular work. Before supper the evening supply of fuel must be provided.
In the mean time the children are home from school with their demands.
Now supper must be in mind. Where there are children in the house, this
is one of the most trying times of the day. They are tired, hungry, and
sleepy. Supper is over. The children go to bed at intervals during the
evening. The men have a place by the fire. The housekeeper often feels
it incumbent upon her to mend, darn, or sew, if no heavier work presents
itself.
Tuesday morning calls for a repetition of the former day's work, with
ironing substituted for washing. There is the carrying-out of ashes and
the bringing-in of coal, and the same routine during the day. On the
part of the housekeeper regular sewing-work is taken up as opportunity
presents, and possibly calls are made or received. Wednesday, the same.
Thursday, the servant, if one is kept, is out for the afternoon. Other
regular work must progress. Compromises are not thought of. Friday is
general sweeping-day, in which everything is thoroughly gone over. The
housekeeper must find time to go down street one or more times during
the week, for the purpose of doing necessary shopping. Saturday brings
its scrubbing and cleaning. During the week must come the
window-washing, cleaning of silver, baking, and many things besides.
Sunday is often the hardest day of all; the children require especial
care. There is church in the morning, Sunday school in the afternoon,
and, in many cases, church at night. In the mean while the children are
on hand all the time. Where is the man who will say that his business
life is as exacting or as harassing as the work which is here outlined?
In the pages which follow it is the intention to bear the housekeeper
and her requirements in mind, and to suggest what is properly due her in
the way of labor-saving devices, with a view to facilitate the manifold
operations of housekeeping.
CHAPTER III.
MODERN CONVENIENCES.--A LITTLE HISTORY.--PLANS THAT MAKE EXTRA
WORK.--MODERN CONVENIENCES ENUMERATED.
Most of the conveniences of housekeeping are modern. It is only within
the past few years that the demands of the housekeeper for helps or aids
in making her work easier were thought worth considering. Even now we
occasionally meet men who think that anything that was good enough for
their mothers is good enough for their wives. We have in mind a farmer
who, during fifteen years, purchased three large farms. He buried a wife
for every farm. Their death was the result of more than slavish work.
The disposition which leads in this direction often continues after the
time when economy does not demand close living.
The man who moves west to a new country cannot pay for many of the
modern conveniences. The demand for them is not great. Such a man
usually builds a house of two or three rooms. The family cook and eat in
the kitchen; they sit there between meals. The other rooms are for beds.
There is not a great deal of house-work to be done in a house of this
kind. The trouble comes when the pioneer becomes wealthier, and builds a
large house "in town" or on the farm. Possibly his wife or daughters do
the work as they did in the smaller house. If not, it is done by one
servant. The work in this house is a great deal harder. There is a great
deal more of it than there was in the two or three room house, which was
built during their earlier life. In the former house, if they had
coffee, it was poured from the pot in which it was made directly into
the cups which were on the table. The meat was taken from the skillet in
which it was cooked and put into the plates of those who ate it. If they
had pancakes, the wife would sit with her back near the stove, where she
could easily reach the griddle to grease it and turn the cakes while she
was eating her meal. There was no formal dessert. The pie was eaten from
the same plates as the rest of the food. There were no napkins; often,
no tablecloth.
It did not take long to wash the dishes after a meal of this kind--there
were not many of them. In from fifteen to twenty-five minutes after the
meal was over, the wife could be seen sitting by the kitchen stove,
sewing or knitting. The pans and the kettles were out of the way, and
the kitchen was turned into a sitting-room. If the weather was cold, the
door into the bedroom was open; the whole house was warm and
comfortable. Wood was plenty and cheap.
This woman's troubles began when her husband, by dint of hard work and
close economy, found himself in a position to gratify his pride in his
accumulated wealth by building a new house. It was a big white house
with green blinds. The stories were twelve or thirteen feet high; a
large hall ran through the centre; the kitchen had nothing in it but
doors and windows and a stove-hole; there was no sink, no conveniences
of any kind. They now had a separate dining and sitting room, and an
awful parlor with brussels carpet on it, which had red and green flowers
all over it. The bedrooms were upstairs. They were all large; wood-work
painted white. In the winter they were cold. The old habits of economy
which made this house possible had so fixed themselves upon the
occupants that they would not build a fire in the bedrooms. They said
that they "didn't think it healthy to sleep in a warm room."
People go to see Mrs. Green in her new house. They go through and look
at it, and say, "Oh, how nice." But they find a tired woman. She doesn't
sit down to sew or knit in a few minutes after the meal is over, as she
used to. She is at work all the time. The children must have clothes to
fit the house. There is more sweeping and dusting to do; there are more
dishes to wash; there is more of everything to do. Still, she came into
the new house expecting to find things different and easier than they
were before.
The modern conveniences are those arrangements and appliances which make
it possible for people to live comfortably in a larger house, without
seriously increasing the cares which they had in a smaller one. In the
old house of two or three rooms the mother would bathe the children once
a week in a tub by the kitchen fire. The tub would be dragged out the
door, which was not very high above the ground, and the water emptied
into the yard. In the new house it is different. The water is carried
from the pump in the back yard, and from the kitchen stove, upstairs
into one of the rooms. Then it has to be carried down again, emptied
into the alley or the yard. The living habits are all changed without
the compensating conveniences which naturally belong to them. It is
probable that Mrs. Green keeps a "girl," but even then she has
infinitely more work to do than ever belonged to the old home. She
cannot understand it. She has a new house and a girl, and yet she is
always tired.
Most of the houses in the newer cities and towns are, in a measure,
similar to this. Nearly every one attempts to live up to the mark set by
those who have all of the appliances of modern housekeeping. Coal and
water have to be carried all over the house. Slops and ashes have to be
carried downstairs and out of the building.
By attracting attention to the inconveniences of housekeeping, we may
see and understand the full meaning of the term "modern conveniences."
There is a natural call for dish-washing arrangements to take the place
of the square table, with the dish-pan, the tea-kettle, and the
water-bucket. In its place, we have at one side of the kitchen, a sink,
with cocks for hot and cold water immediately over it. The tables and
drain-board are arranged to simplify the operations of dish-washing. The
water, instead of being carried to the yard or alley, finds its way
naturally into the drain through the sink. Modern laundry arrangements
make it unnecessary to carry great tubs of water outside, or to delay
wash-day on account of the weather, or to bring in the frozen clothes
during the cold winter days. The bath-room, with the tub, the
water-closet, and the wash-stand, is on the second floor. This saves a
great deal of work. The water does not have to be carried upstairs nor
the slops down. There is hot and cold water within easy reach of all the
rooms. Often it happens that there are stationary wash-stands in the
various bedrooms, though this is only usual in the most expensive
houses.
The amount of work which a furnace saves is not readily estimated. It
also saves money. Others of the modern conveniences are "places to put
things;" large closets in the bedrooms, well supplied with drawers,
shelves, and hooks; a general closet on the upper floor, which is
accessible from all of the rooms, for bedding and other articles of
common use; a ventilated closet in the bath-room, in which soiled linen
may be put without contaminating the atmosphere. There should be a
closet or place on the second floor for brooms, dust-pans, and dusters.
Where there is no particular place for these articles, the housekeeper
or the servant has to use time in searching, or in going up and down
stairs. Anything which saves labor may be regarded as a modern
convenience.
CHAPTER IV.
MODERN ARCHITECTS AND THE HOUSEKEEPER.--MISPLACED HOUSES.--OLD
COLONIAL POVERTY IN MODERN COLONIAL HOUSES.--AFFECTATION IN
DESIGN.--NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE.--AMERICAN
ARCHITECTURE AND AMERICAN HOMES.
No one ever heard of the matter of house-planning being discussed in a
convention of architects. Their reports will show that a great many
subjects are handled, but none so near home as this. Sometimes there is
an effort to discover that America has a style of architecture peculiar
to itself. When such a thing becomes true, the effort to find it will
not be necessary. An American architecture will have its growth in
American necessities, and not through the blind copying of foreign
styles and architecture. Nor to have an American style does it
necessarily mean that we should ignore foreign precedent. It means that
we should consider foreign architecture intelligently. Everything that
is good should be adopted, no matter whence it comes. Those of us who
see what is going on in the architectural world frequently notice
English houses designed and built for those who live in the cold
Northwest. In many of them the broad, English casement windows and
general style of architecture, which is suited to the gloomy light and
the mild temperature of Great Britain, is placed in the bright, cold
climate of the Northwest. Nothing could be more out of place; it is an
affectation, an exhibition of bad taste and poor sense. The cold
Northwest, with its bright, clear atmosphere, presents its own
architectural conditions. The work of blind copyists, those who have so
strong a regard for precedent, is ridiculous. In one of the Eastern
magazines there was an illustration showing what purported to be an old
colonial cottage, situated possibly at Newport. The architect had copied
the old colonial details, the old colonial forms, which were very nice,
but he had also copied an idea which had its outgrowth in extreme
poverty. He had placed a rain barrel at the side of the house, and had
set it up on a rustic-looking bench or support, all of which was very
ridiculous. This had been done in an old colonial house, and had its
origin in old colonial poverty. Now, this architect, in his respect for
that which was past, copied the faults, the inconveniences, and
arrangements which belonged to those earlier times. A course of this
kind, carried out to its fullest extent, would lead us to barbarism. In
the same magazine was another house which was designed with great
respect for precedent. In it was a front door which was divided about
half-way up, so that the lower part might be shut and the upper part
opened. Houses have been seen where something of this kind was
reasonable, where it had its advantages. There are many places in this
country where a door of this kind is almost a necessity; but it isn't on
the seashore. If one has a house in the country, or in a small country
town, where the horses and pigs, geese, chickens, and other animals, are
allowed to roam about in the front yards, a door of this kind has its
uses. In the summer time the upper part can be thrown back and the lower
part closed, so that the most a horse can do in the way of getting into
the house is to stick his head over the top rail and look in. In the
country mills doors of this kind have a very proper and apt name; they
are called pig-doors. They keep the pigs off the mill floor, and, at the
same time, allow the light and air to come from above. But there is no
necessity for a pig-door at Newport or Long Branch, or other seaside
resort. Their use is a silly affectation. There is no beauty in them.
There is no convenience which would lead to their use.
It is performances such as the above which retard the natural
development of American architecture. American architecture will be
simply carrying out, in an architectural way, the requirements of the
American people in their buildings. From their homes the march of
progress will be through the kitchens, pantries, and dining-rooms. It
will unite with the parlor and sitting-room ideas, which have been more
clearly worked out. The exterior will be formed in a natural way by the
requirements of the interior, and by the variations of climate, and it
will be decorated in a rational, artistic manner. We will not hamper the
interior by the adoption of doors and windows which possibly belonged in
a cathedral of the twelfth or thirteenth century, or the richer details
of the later time, which had their special uses and forms as the
development of the necessity and requirements of that particular period.
The doors and windows of the nineteenth century should have their own
special forms and positions. They should be decorated with a true regard
for precedent so long as precedent does not influence the arrangements
suited to modern times. The American style of architecture will not be
developed through grand public buildings and enormous cathedrals, or
expensive dwellings.
In this country every one is imbued with the idea of having a home of
his own, and he desires to have it nice, convenient, and attractive. The
average home is in a small, inexpensive house. The proper construction
of these buildings, their arrangement with reference to their
housekeeping requirements, their tasteful external designs considered in
a rational way, will develop American architecture. It will be the
expression of American wants in a natural, artistic spirit.
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE.
CHAPTER V.
JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE.--PORCH.--VESTIBULE.--HALL.--LONG HALLS
AND SQUARE HALLS.--THE HALL THAT IS A ROOM.--RECEPTION
HALL.--PARLOR.--SITTING-ROOM.--DINING-ROOM.
In this section of the book we will make a journey through the house,
stopping at various points of interest long enough to give general
consideration to the details. From the principles herein derived, the
plans subsequently given are constructed.
Every house should have a front porch. It should be wide,--if possible,
eight feet, that one may sit at a distance from the railing and afford a
space for others to pass behind. The porch is a protection to the front
part of the house from the sun, wind, and, partially, from the cold.
Nothing can be pleasanter than to sit on a shady porch during the warm
part of the day or in the evening. It is an auxiliary to the vestibule.
The front door should be wide--three or three and a half feet. Double
doors look very nice from the outside, but they are not as convenient or
as easily handled as the single door. The door-bell should be at the
right-hand side. The threshold should be elevated from three to six and
a half inches above the porch floor.
VESTIBULE.
In the plans that are given, various arrangements of vestibules are
shown. In a few instances, direct entrances into the hall and
reception-room are indicated, but such an entrance is not as desirable
as where there is a vestibule. The arrangement of a vestibule for
hat-rack, umbrella-stand, and other conveniences, changes the hall into
an available room. Take, for instance, plan No. 16, page 153. At the
right, as one enters, is a little closet; in it are hooks. At one side
is an umbrella-stand; on the floor is a place for overshoes. Here one
may arrange himself before going into the hall or reception-room. This
is altogether better than having to pass across to one side of the hall
or room, in order to find a place to deposit overshoes, wraps,
umbrellas, etc. It saves work. If this vestibule have a hard-wood floor,
and on it is placed a rug, one may stand there and divest himself of
that which he would not carry into the house, and go into the room in
good order, leaving the muddy overshoes, and the possible dampness of
his umbrella and overcoat, behind him. This arrangement saves work; mud
is not carried into the room. It is a very simple matter to care for the
vestibule; the rug on the floor may be taken to the outside, and the
deposit of mud and dust readily removed. It is well to have a small
mirror at the side, or in the rack. The plan mentioned is merely
suggestive, and does not apply to all houses. By looking through the
plans given, various arrangements may be seen. In some of them there is
no vestibule. Not all housekeepers want the same arrangement. Again,
others do not care to pay for a vestibule. In other instances, the hall
is too small to admit of one. As said before, a good vestibule changes
the hall into a room. It makes a reception-hall tolerable, because it is
not necessary to deposit there many things which should have another
location. A vestibule does not properly serve its purpose where there is
no room or arrangement for depositing wraps, etc. The closet part of the
vestibule, shown in the cut, can, perhaps, be omitted, and hooks
arranged around the wall sides. A curtain could be hung across the space
occupied by the closet door: however, all these details are matters of
taste and disposition. In the opening between the hall and vestibule may
be placed tapestry curtains; these are sufficient storm protectors from
the outside door, especially if the hall register is placed near it. No
one who has not tried it, can realize the amount of protection from the
weather that is afforded by a heavy curtain. It is not necessary or
desirable that a door be placed in the opening from the vestibule to the
hall.
HALL.
This part of the house may be hall, reception-hall, or room. It is a
hall or passage frequently, and not provided with a vestibule. It may be
a hall from its shape; it may be a room for the same reason. It may be
of no use as a room, if the stairway is improperly placed. The house
arranged with a long, narrow hall, having the stairway at the side, is
essentially wasteful of room. Such hall space is usually dark and gloomy
as well as crowded. A hall eight feet wide and twenty feet long,
contains one hundred and sixty square feet of floor-surface, though only
a limited portion of it is available, on account of the shape of the
space which remains after the stairway is placed. A hall twelve by
thirteen feet contains one hundred and fifty-six square feet, but a
great deal more available room. The space not occupied by the stairway
is in better shape. A hall of this shape partakes of the nature of a
room, and may be used as such. In the plan referred to a window-seat is
shown. This window-seat may be used as a seat in warm weather, and, if
the front is in the proper direction, as a conservatory in the winter.
There are many such arrangements as this shown in the book.
The hall, in most of the plans, is a key to the whole arrangement. It
has been a common, objectionable practice during the past few years to
build houses of moderate cost, so that the hall is along one side with
its entrance to the front, and the parlor next to it; back of the parlor
is the sitting-room, and the hall opens into the dining-room; back of
the dining-room is the kitchen, and so on to the extreme rear with
summer-kitchen, pantry, etc. This makes a long house with only one room
in front on the first floor, and one chamber and alcove facing the
street on the second. Thus the hall serves only as a passage-way. The
living-room has no front view. To obviate this, the halls in the plans,
that are considered with most favor, are arranged to be used as rooms,
and the vestibules are built so that such a thing is possible. If the
hall is to be used as a vestibule, the hat-rack and other arrangements
for hanging wraps, and the umbrella-stand, etc., are placed as near the
front as possible. Where this is not done there must necessarily be a
track from the front to the back, as a mark of travel.
The stairway may start at one side, and should lead towards the centre
of the house. The nearer it can be started to the rear of the hall, the
better; this gives more room in front. Sometimes the stairway is started
immediately in the rear of the reception-hall, or from an alcove space
at one side; these are good arrangements, depending, of course, upon
other conditions. Upon one side, or in the rear, should be placed a
grate. Nothing can be pleasanter when coming in from a disagreeable
outside than an open-grate fire; this needs no argument. Under the
stairway, or in some convenient nook, it is well to have a lavatory. The
hall should be arranged as a centre from which to pass to the parlor,
living-room, and dining-room. It is important to consider in this
connection that the hall, and the stairway in it, should be placed so
that the stair-landing above is in the centre of the house. Thus we have
in the centre of the building only a small hall as a starting-point;
hence less waste room. When the stairway lands near the front wall on
the second floor, a passage must be provided to the rear of the house.
Where the landing is in the centre, we have only to pass into rooms
without extra steps through long halls. For example, see plan No. 1,
page 110.
Not every one cares to use the front hall as a reception-room. There is
certainly no objection to naming and using it otherwise.
RECEPTION-HALL, PARLOR, AND SITTING-ROOM.
During recent years there is more of a disposition to live all over the
house; one reason for this is the improved heating arrangements. The
terms sitting-room, parlor, reception-room, mean less in a distinctive
sense, and are used largely for the purpose of classification. We will
consider the parlor and the sitting-room in the same connection. The
parlor has lost the awful stiffness of times past. It is now a
reception-room.
In a house where there is a reception-hall in front, and the
sitting-room to one side, both having a distinct front view, as is shown
in many of the plans, a lady may occupy the front room and have her
children and work around her, if desirable. A caller may be received in
the reception-room; these, however, are matters of individual
preference. The vestibule may be planned so that it will have an
entrance to both reception-room and sitting-room.
In some instances the arrangement of sitting-room and reception-hall are
reversed. The hall is the sitting-room, and the other room the parlor.
If doors are used between hall and sitting-room, they should be
sliding; the effect is better, and the separation of the rooms as
complete as necessary. Such doors should always be hung from the top.
The sitting-room should certainly be as good a room as any in the house;
as well located. There should be a closet on the first floor, and, if
possible, it should communicate with this room; if not that, with the
dining-room or reception-hall next to it. Certainly the sitting-room
should always be provided with a grate.
A window-seat in the hall, parlor, reception, or other room, is really a
great addition in more ways than one. It is not only attractive, but it
adds to the availability of a room. Where there is space for three or
four people to sit, in case of necessity, it is like seating that number
of people outside of the room. They are comfortable, and the room has
that much added to its seating capacity. A bay window arranged in this
way is pleasant indeed.
Wall space is of great importance in these rooms. In planning a house,
the piano, pictures, lounges, book-shelves, book-cases, bric-à-brac,
etc., should be in mind. In a house of moderate size, it is, ordinarily,
not necessary that the reception-hall, parlor, or sitting-room should be
wider than thirteen and a half feet, and from fifteen to eighteen feet
in length. However, this is not wide enough for those who entertain
largely. A room thirteen and a half feet, with much furniture in it, is
not wide enough for dancing.
A house arranged with a reception-hall, parlor, sitting-room,
dining-room, etc., is used when it is desired to entertain a great deal;
but for those who are living economically, whose means are limited, one
of these rooms may be omitted. In many of the modern houses the number
of rooms on the first floor has been decreased and their size increased.
Oftentimes there is a reception-hall, a small library, and a
dining-room only, as belonging to the living part of the house on the
first floor. An arrangement of this kind belongs more particularly to a
house which is occupied during only a part of the year; say as summer
cottages in the North, and winter houses in the South. Modern ways of
living make a larger number of rooms less desirable.
When it is possible, it is pleasant to have a little room off from the
library as a study, or for a doctor as a reception-room or office. Where
one does work at home, it is advantageous to have a private room that
insures isolation, be it never so small. Often the library, so called in
an ordinary sense, is not a library at all. There may be a few books in
it, but it is used as a sitting-room or passage, and has no distinct
necessity or use.
Additional rooms require more work than the same amount of floor space
in a less number of rooms. The addition of rooms multiplies corners,
windows, doors, etc., and adds more cost and labor, than does mere
additional space. The availability of a room is not always dependent
upon its size. A good deal depends upon the arrangement of wall space. A
room may be large and still have no room for the furniture that is to go
into it. It may be small and still have room enough.
DINING-ROOM.
A good width for a dining-room is thirteen feet. Where one can afford
it, it should be from fifteen to twenty feet in length; larger than this
is a luxury. Its location, for the most part, is back of the
sitting-room or hall. A grate in the dining-room is not altogether
desirable; it is always at somebody's back. Again, a grate does not heat
a room uniformly. It is very common to provide sliding-doors to connect
the dining-room with other parts of the house, even with the parlor; but
they are not the best kind to use. Sound and the odors of the food are
more readily communicated through sliding-doors than others. For that
reason they should not be used. A large, single door, three and a half
feet wide, is preferable, though it does not always give the desired
opening. Generally speaking, it is easier to provide wall space when
planning a dining-room than in any of the other rooms in the house. A
large number of windows is not necessary, and one of them can be placed
high, and thus afford space for a sideboard. This sideboard should be
placed at the end of the room nearest the entrance to the kitchen and
china-closet, where such is used. The sideboard has various uses,
according to the plans of the housekeeper. In some cases it is merely a
place to display dainty china and other table furniture. Below are
places for linen and table cutlery. In other cases, the sideboard is
used as a buffet; as a place from which to serve the food. Sometimes
this is carried to the extremest degree, and includes the carving, and
the serving of that which goes with the meats.
It was very common in times past to use a slide connecting kitchen and
dining-room. A passage is much better. The slide is worse than a door in
communicating sounds and odors. In some of the plans in this book, doors
are shown opening directly into the kitchen. This is done under protest;
the owner of the house would have it so. The sideboard may be built as a
part of the house. This is well enough when the question of cost is not
important.
From the dining-room we will pass to the kitchen.
CHAPTER VI.
KITCHENS.--THE KITCHEN A WORKSHOP.--WORK TO BE DONE IN A
KITCHEN.--A PLAN.--FITTINGS.--DISH-WASHING CONVENIENCES.--SINK AND
TABLES.--CHINA-CLOSET.--PANTRY.--COMBINATION PANTRY.--PANTRY
FITTINGS.--WORK IN A PANTRY.--A DOUGH-BOARD.--FLOUR-BIN.--PANTRY
STORES.--CUPBOARD.--REFRIGERATOR ARRANGEMENTS.--PANTRY UTENSILS.--A
DRY-BOX.--SOAP-BOX.--VENTILATION OF KITCHEN.--GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
KITCHEN PLANNING.
The kitchen existed in its state of greatest cleanliness and order a
good many years ago in New England, where it was largely used as a
sitting and dining room. As people became more prosperous, they moved
out of the kitchen; they had a separate sitting-room. It was then that
the kitchen began to decline. After this it was often literally as well
as figuratively separated from the living part of the house.
The public has not suffered through lack of information on cookery and
general housekeeping topics. Little has been said, however, about the
house itself, with regard to its arrangements for facilitating the
manifold operations of housekeeping. The subject is a broad one, and may
be treated with some respect to detail. As the heart of the house, the
kitchen may be given serious consideration.
In the modern house the kitchen is merely the place where the food is
prepared for the table. The controlling idea and its arrangements should
be to afford facilities for doing the work with as little labor as
possible.
The kitchen is the workshop of the house. It should be arranged and
planned according to the same general principles as any other workshop.
A manufacturer arranges his foundry, his mill, or his printing-house,
with reference to the saving of labor, for the purpose of saving money.
When we save labor in a kitchen, we save the energy of the housekeeper,
and, possibly, money.
An article on this subject was probably never written that did not
pretend to describe the "model kitchen." It is safe to say that no such
kitchen was regarded as "model" by all readers. A model kitchen is
something which is out of reason. No two housekeepers have the same
requirements. Housekeeping practice varies greatly. Again, the kitchen
that can be built to one floor-plan cannot be built to another. In
describing a kitchen, it is in mind to set forth certain general
principles for the benefit of those interested.
There is little difference between the requirements of a kitchen for a
house of moderate cost and an expensive house. Work of the same general
character is done in every kitchen. The conveniences are more a matter
of thought than of money. Elaborate details add much to the cost, but
little to the convenience. There is little or no difference between the
cost of a well-planned kitchen and one which is poorly planned.
To state the case broadly, a kitchen should be arranged solely with
reference to the work which is to be done in it: the cooking,
dish-washing, the care of the kitchen itself, and possibly the laundry
work. This latter work should be removed from the kitchen--in any event,
the washing should be done elsewhere--when it is at all possible. The
steam and odor from the washing, which not only fill the kitchen but
permeate the house, are enough to render whatever food there is in the
kitchen unfit for use. It is altogether possible to arrange in the
cellar of any house that is being built, and in many that are already
built, at a trifling cost, a laundry in which the washing and ironing
may be comfortably done. Of course this does not contemplate set tubs;
but set tubs are not found in houses where the washing and ironing are
done in the kitchen, and it is possible to do this work both well and
easily without their use. There is little or no objection to doing the
ironing in a well-ventilated kitchen. It is clean work, and while doing
it the servant may attend to any cooking which is necessary, and see
that the other work of the house moves forward.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
The kitchen the plan of which is here given (Fig. 2) has been in use for
three years under the varying conditions of one or two servants, and at
times none at all. These are the conditions under which most
housekeepers operate. There have been no emergencies in which the
kitchen and pantries have not proven themselves ample, and none in which
the housekeeper thought that they were too large and complicated. It is
as necessary in houses where the means for maintenance is simply
moderate, that a kitchen should not be too large as that it should
afford ample facilities for accomplishing any work which may be done.
The kitchen itself is thirteen and one-half by fourteen and one-half
feet. In it are placed the range, tables, sink, drain-board, etc., and
the kitchen safe. The room has been found large enough for the work
which is to be done there, and not so large that the tables, range, and
safe are so far apart that time and strength are wasted moving from one
to another. The kitchen has one large window in it, which is three feet
from the floor. This permits the placing of a table, ironing-board, or
chair under it, and thus gives additional wall space. There are two
windows in the pantry, and a draught is secured through them, the
kitchen window, and the transom over the door. The door is glazed.
The most disagreeable work of a kitchen, and that which takes much time,
is the dish-washing. It is possible to make this work lighter and
pleasanter than is usual. The necessary conditions are plenty of water,
hot and cold, a place where the dishes will drain themselves, an
abundance of table room for them both before and after washing. In the
kitchen given the sink is placed next the kitchen flue. This gives a
place for the pipe duct next the warm bricks, which prevent freezing
even in severe cold weather. During the three years in which this
kitchen has been in use they have never frozen, even when the
temperature was twenty degrees below zero. The exact construction of
this kitchen pipe-duct and other kitchen wood-work is given elsewhere.
The range, which is usually next the flue, is, in this instance, placed
at some distance from it. There is no reason why this should not be
done, as it has been in many instances, with no disagreeable results.
The sink is not enclosed, but stands upon legs. Enclosed sinks are
places which cannot be kept clean even with the utmost vigilance. The
brushes, scrub-rags, and buckets, which are usually kept there, are in
this kitchen provided a place elsewhere.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
At the left of the sink is a table; at the right, a drain-board, which
is inclined toward the sink, and provided with grooves. At the right of
this is a swing-table on the same level. The soiled dishes are placed on
the table at the left, washed in the sink, which is provided with cocks
for hot and cold water, drained on the drain-board, and, when wiped,
placed on the table at the right. A glance at the plan will show that
they are then beside the door which leads to the china-closet, and may
be quickly placed where they belong.
It may be well to say a few words about the china-closet. The shelves
are placed in a passage which leads from the kitchen to the dining-room,
and are separated from the passage by doors. This passage is lighted by
a window, and has two doors leading into it--one from the dining-room,
and one from the kitchen (Fig. 2). These doors are swung on double
swinging hinges, so that they may be opened by merely pushing against
them, and will then swing back noiselessly into a closed position. One
may pass through doors of this kind with a tray full of dishes without
touching them with the hand. This arrangement dispenses with the
necessity for a slide, and also does away with the noises and odors from
the kitchen, which so readily find their way to the rest of the house
where a slide is used. However, if a slide is really desired, it can be
placed over either the table at the left of the sink or over the
swing-table at the right, and be convenient from both kitchen and
dining-room.
The china-pantry could be readily enlarged into a butler's pantry, by
extending it across the end of the dining-room, and placing the end
window of this room on one side, thus bringing two windows on the same
wall. There is a movable shelf under one of the permanent shelves in
this china-closet, which can be drawn out in order to place a tray of
dishes on it while they are being put away, and which can be pushed out
of the way when not in use. This shelf is also of service as a place
upon which to arrange the different dishes needed for the several
courses of a meal, and in this way facilitates the table service.
In Fig. 4, the combination idea is carried out in pantry and
china-closet. The pantry-cupboard projects into the room in a way to
form a partition between the pantry and china-closet, and, at the same
time, admits of a passage between the kitchen and dining-room with a
separation of two doors.
Fig. 5 indicates an approved form of construction of china-closet and
pantry, such as may be used in most of the pantries and china-rooms
which are in this book.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
The work which takes the most time is the preparation of food, and every
well-planned kitchen has its arrangements for lightening this burden.
The first consideration is the location of the utensils, and the table
and sink where the meats and vegetables are prepared. All should be near
enough to the range so that there are no unnecessary steps to be taken.
The number that are taken where the sink is in one corner of the
kitchen, the table in another, and the range removed from both, is
innumerable. In this kitchen the table proper and the sink are together,
and they are but a step from the range.
There is a small swing-table attached to the wall at one side of the
range. This provides a place for utensils, such as spoons, and forks,
and dishes, such as those holding pancake batter, which are in constant
use during cooking, and which cannot be held in the hand while the
cooking is in progress. This alone saves many steps. The drain-board is
a good place for draining vegetables, and to place utensils which are
used in the preparation of food. Above the sink are hooks, etc., upon
which to keep small utensils. In localities where there is much dust
coming in from the outside these utensils must be kept elsewhere, behind
closed doors.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
For the preparation of bread, cake, pastries, etc., the pantry is
provided. In it are places for everything which can be used for such
preparation. One can go out of the heat and noise of the kitchen into a
little room which holds everything that can possibly be needed, and
there prepare those articles of food which take the most time and
careful attention. In Fig. 2 are two windows; under one is the
dough-board. This is a table fastened to the wall at a convenient
height for moulding and general work of this character. On one end is a
piece of marble, twelve inches wide by sixteen long, which is used for
moulding purposes. The advantages of such a piece of marble are
numerous. It is as easily cleaned as a dish and requires no scouring,
and, as dough does not readily stick to it, moulding can be done without
the trouble which comes from the use of a board. This piece of marble is
not fastened to the dough-board, as is sometimes done. Where it is set
into the board there will always be creases in which dough will lodge,
and it can only be cleaned with the greatest trouble. Where it is free,
it can be raised from the board occasionally, and everything thoroughly
cleaned.
At the right of the board is the flour-bin, which contains places for
various kinds of flour and meal. Next to it is the refrigerator. Over
the refrigerator is a window which opens on the porch, and through which
the ice may be placed without the iceman going through the kitchen with
his wet feet and dripping load.
At the left of the dough-board are shelves for keeping stores. The lower
shelves are enclosed by doors and provided with a lock, so that extra
stores may be placed there for safe keeping, where this is found
desirable. The upper shelves are exposed. On them are kept sugar, tea,
coffee, baking-powder, and kindred stores, which are in every-day use,
and can be reached easier if there are no doors to be opened and closed.
They should be kept in air-tight cans, which prevent their exposure to
dust, insects, and air. Back of the door opening into the kitchen are
hooks for the utensils which more properly belong in the pantry than the
kitchen.
Many housekeepers prefer to keep the refrigerator in the cellar, on
account of the waste in the ice. This waste, to the mind of the writer,
is a small matter. The time spent by either housekeeper or servant in
going into the cellar could much better be occupied in doing something
else which would save more than does keeping the refrigerator below.
Then, again, when it is kept in the pantry it can readily be provided
with a zinc drain to the outside, which saves some little labor. In the
cellar such a drain would only be possible where sand could be reached.
A refrigerator should never, under any circumstances, be drained into
the sewer, as is sometimes done.
The utensils which properly belong to the kitchen are kept in an
old-fashioned kitchen safe, rather than in a closet opening out from the
kitchen. A safe is more readily cleaned than a closet, and the
perforated metal doors render the upper part of it an excellent place
for storing cold food, which it is not desirable to keep in the
refrigerator. Then if, as may happen in any kitchen which is left to the
care of servants, vermin should take possession, the safe can be moved
from the room, and trouble from this source avoided.
The entrance to the cellar is near the table, as marked. At the head of
the cellar are placed brooms, mops, and dust-pans, and above these, well
away from the head when going below, is a shelf upon which two buckets
can be placed.
Back of the range is a small wooden box, thirty inches long by
twenty-two inches wide and twelve inches deep, which is provided with a
door and shelves. These shelves, as well as the top and bottom, have
holes bored through them in order to allow the passage of hot air. In
this box scrubbing-rags and brushes dry at once, and never have a bad
odor. The box is of the same wood as the other kitchen finish, and looks
as if it were a part of it.
A soap-box, with construction similar to the above, may be provided. It
should have a tin-pipe connection with flue or other ventilating
apparatus. It will dry the soap and render its use less wasteful.
The ventilation of the kitchen is an important matter. The ideal kitchen
has no rooms over it, and has ventilators in the ceiling. But this is
not possible in most houses, and a substitute must be provided. An
inverted sheet-iron hopper placed over the range, with an opening into
either the flue or the outside of the house, will carry out the odors
from cooking. An opening into the pipe-duct which holds the plumbing
pipes will keep them from freezing in cold weather at the same time that
it helps ventilate.
An important consideration in a kitchen is to build it so that it will
not readily accumulate dirt, and can be easily cleaned. A large amount
of time is spent in every well-kept house in cleaning the kitchen. The
floor should be of oak, maple, or other hard wood, oiled, waxed, or
finished with regular floor-finishing. The casings and doors are, of
course, kept in better condition, with less labor, when of hard wood.
Where this is not attainable, poplar, or other similar wood, finished
with a varnish which will stand warm water, will prove a very good
substitute. The tables should be either of oak, which requires little
scrubbing, or poplar, which is so easily scrubbed that it is always
white enough to delight the heart of the most particular housekeeper. A
kitchen finished in this way is much less care than when the floor is of
soft wood, and the finish a soft wood painted.
All kitchens in this book are planned according to the principles here
set forth. They do not pretend to be exactly like this one, but the same
general principle runs through all.
There are very good reasons why wainscoting should not be used in a
kitchen, and no compensating advantages. The bead-joints and extra
wood-work thereof make labor in the impossible task of keeping it clean.
The less wood-work there is in a kitchen, the better. There are various
kind of water-proof proprietary plaster finishes which may be used in
finishing the walls and ceiling of a kitchen. Where they are not used, a
white skim coat should be put on and painted after about a year's use.
CHAPTER VII.
CELLAR.--FUEL DEPARTMENTS.--FURNACE
CONVENIENCES.--COAL-BINS.--CEMENT FLOORS.--LIGHT IN THE CELLAR.--A
CELLAR-CLOSET.--OUTSIDE CELLAR-DOOR.
The cellar was originally a hole in the ground. In the modern house,
that is arranged to please the house-keeper, it is well lighted;
provided with a smooth cement floor that is easily cleaned; is not open
as one room, but has apartments--one for a laundry, another for fuel and
furnace, and still others for fruits and general stores. In the matter
of fuel there is no reason why the entire winter supply should not be in
the basement. It is certainly a great deal worse to go outside of the
house in winter time from a hot, steaming kitchen, than it is to go into
the basement for the fuel. However, there is some objection to storing
wood in the cellar, for the reason that it brings bugs, ants, and vermin
into the house.
Coal-bins should be constructed with hopper bottoms,--with bottom and
sides slanting from level of outside grade-line to cellar floor,--where
the location will admit of it. When there is not a cellar under all of
the house, it is generally possible to arrange the coal-bin under the
part without cellar, and slanting down to the part so used. This is
illustrated in plan No. 11, Chapter XX. There the coal is put through
the windows into the bins, and slides down to the opening in cellar. For
each shovelful of coal taken away from the lower opening, another will
take its place. This is particularly true with crushed coke, or
anthracite coal, or nut and egg sizes of other fuel. The lump sizes
require a larger opening than the usual twenty-inch-square opening for
the coal mentioned. These bins should be lined on the bottom preferably
with bricks laid in cement. If this is not used, two-inch oak boards
will do. Partitions of the same material should be used to separate the
various bins. With an arrangement of this kind a large amount of storage
capacity can be provided. Under some circumstances this plan cannot be
adopted. In such a case the ordinary bins may be used.
As houses are now planned, the first tier of joists are placed from
twenty to twenty-four inches above the grade-line. Where it is not
possible to secure that height for cellar-windows, areas may be built of
brick or stone, and additional light provided. Light is the enemy of
disorder and uncleanliness; where there is exposure there will be less
disorder.
It is not necessary to have the cellar under the whole house, for
reasons as mentioned, and on account of the cost. It is sometimes
important that savings of all kinds be made. The furnace may be set in a
pit with its face directed to the cellar. It is best that the opening
from the hoppered coal-bins, above described, be close to the furnace.
If it can be opened at the side, so that one can stand in the pit and
throw coal in the fire-box, it is better than any other arrangement.
The ordinary cellar is seven feet in the clear, and, for this reason, it
is nearly always necessary to pit the furnace. This is done by digging
an extra depth, and lining the area and opening with brick.
Near enough to the furnace to be warm, should be a closet for canned
fruit, made of flooring-boards, if not of more substantial material, and
provided with a door and lock. It should be shelved with board about
seven inches apart. Other winter stores, like potatoes, cabbage, etc.,
should be kept in a dark cellar with an earth floor. It is the opinion
of farmers and others that vegetables keep best when lying next the
ground. The cellar-involving arrangements here outlined may be seen in
plan No. 11. The outside door, which leads into the cellar, should bolt
on the inside, and the upper cellar door on the outside. There should be
doors provided to separate the different rooms. Where cost is an item,
they may be made of two thicknesses of flooring. Cellar-windows should
be hung on hinges, and provided with bolt fastenings; catches are not
secure.
CHAPTER VIII.
A LOW-COST LAUNDRY.--BLUE MONDAY.--BASEMENT LAUNDRY.--LOW-COST
CONVENIENCES.--INEXPENSIVE LAUNDRY FITTINGS.--HOT AND COLD WATER
ARRANGEMENTS.--A LABOR-SAVING LAUNDRY.--A PLACE TO DO
FRUIT-CANNING.
The term "Blue Monday" probably originated on account of its being
general wash-day, and a day in which everybody about the house undertook
to do an impossible amount of work with limited resources.
Most of the washings in this country are done in the kitchen. The
wash-boiler is on the stove, and the servant or mistress of the house,
or both, attempt to wash and do their cooking without seriously
disturbing the routine of meals. There is a fussiness about everything
pertaining to that day, which creates an atmosphere of blueness which is
proverbial. The steamy, crowded kitchen, the almost inevitable wetness
or slipperiness, the great physical exertion required, the carrying of
water, the lifting of tubs, are all uncomfortable, and the work is done
at a great disadvantage. In an expensive house, where there is plenty of
money, Monday is not so blue. Immunity is purchased. Possibly the
clothes are sent from the house to be washed in somebody else's kitchen;
maybe to be worn by some one else before they are returned, and often to
be injured or destroyed by the strong washing-mixtures and soaps, which
are made to save rubbing. This kind of immunity is expensive. It is too
expensive for the large majority of people. It is annoying to all
alike.
Laundry work will sometime be done at a cost which will admit of people
of moderate means having this work done at a public laundry. At present,
the general laundry work of an ordinary household cannot be done in this
way, on account of the expense.
The general public laundry, where arrangements are made to do the entire
family washing at a low cost, is a complete solution of the Blue-Monday
problem; but until the laundry is an accomplished fact, such work will
be done at home, and a family laundry must be considered in
house-building. It would be a very easy matter to arrange a laundry
which would meet all the desired conditions, if we were to operate
independent of cost, but the large majority of people are not
independent in this way. If it were not a matter of cost, we would have
an independent room for the laundry work, with porcelain tubs, and hot
and cold water running into all of them; we could have a steam-drier,
and many other things, which it is useless to mention here. It is the
laundry of the moderate-cost house which interests the largest number of
people.
We must have a place to do laundry work which is a compromise between
the foggy kitchen and the laundry with porcelain tubs.
As houses are now built, the first floor is usually from two and a half
to three feet above the grade. This affords abundant opportunity of
getting a well-lighted basement. If the basement is dark, put more
windows in it, and whitewash the walls and ceilings. Cement the floor.
Put in a slop sink, and give it a trapped connection with the vault or
sewer. Provide a pump over this sink to connect with the cistern. If the
city water is soft, this will be used and no pump will be required. Then
a laundry stove is to be provided. Thus we have everything ready for
use without much labor, and certainly at a very low cost.
The basement should be light under any circumstances. The floor should
be cemented, the joists should be whitewashed, so that the only
additions necessary to make the laundry work easy are a laundry stove, a
place to throw waste water, and a supply of hot and cold water. If one
does not care to heat the water in the ordinary boiler, there is a very
simple device for heating water which may be placed in any laundry. An
open tank, which will hold two or three barrels of water, can be placed
over the stove and next to the joist. From it a connection can be made
with the laundry stove by means of lead and iron pipe. This pipe should
start from the bottom of the tank and connect with an iron pipe which
enters the stove, and passes around the inside of the fire-pot, then to
the outside and connects with another lead pipe, which empties into the
tank again on a level above the first opening. Thus the cold water would
come from the bottom of the tank, through the stove where it would be
heated, thence upward and into the tank. This would give a hot-water
circulating connection, and in this way provide hot water for use in the
laundry. This arrangement would require a low-cost force-pump to force
the water to the tank. There are many kinds of these pumps, which are
substantial and can be secured at a low cost. The pipe from the stove
could be supplied with a compression cock from which the water could be
drawn into the tubs. The better way would be to have an independent tank
connection. Lead pipe was mentioned as being the pipe to use in making
the connection with the iron pipe in the laundry stove. Galvanized iron
pipe would answer every purpose and cost a little less. Where set tubs
are not used, the water could be readily distributed by means of a hose
pipe. If the above arrangement is too expensive, the stove only can be
used for heating water.
Set tubs might be used instead of the ordinary wooden ones which were
contemplated, and would save a good deal of labor, but the cost is
something which all cannot afford. The arrangement described here can be
reached by nearly every one of moderate means. It provides a place to
throw slop water, and brings hot and cold water close at hand. It
isolates the washing from the cooking, and the smell of washing from the
whole house. It is very different from the conditions in most houses,
where the water has to be carried from the backyard into the house,
lifted to the stove, poured into the tubs, and afterward carried out, a
bucket at a time, and emptied over the back fence, if the tub is not
dragged out and emptied into the yard.
It is well in building a new house to have an outside cellar-way to
facilitate the use of the laundry below. In such a case the clothes can
be carried into the yard without being taken through the kitchen. There
will be times when the weather will not permit taking the clothes
outdoors. In very cold weather it should never be done. It is murderous
for a woman to have to carry clothes from a hot, steamy laundry or
kitchen at eighty degrees to the cold, dry air of the outside. There is
no woman so strong that she can stand this. All the clothes can be
readily dried in the basement. Here is presented another argument in
favor of the laundry below. The washing can always be done at the
appointed time in spite of the weather. When one goes into a large attic
he is apt to say, "What a splendid place to dry clothes." People who dry
clothes in the attic usually do the washing in the kitchen.
A basement laundry is a cool place in summer and a warm one in winter.
There is no better place for ironing in warm weather, for even with a
fire the basement is always cool. Nor can there be a better place for
canning fruit. The conveniences of plenty of water, a fire, and yet a
cool place for doing this extremely laborious work, will be readily
appreciated.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SECOND FLOOR.--STAIRWAYS.--THE COMBINATION STAIRWAY.--IDEAL
NUMBER OF BEDROOMS.--LARGE CLOSETS AND PLENTY OF THEM.--A
LINEN-CLOSET.--PLACING OF GAS-FIXTURES.--SERVANT'S
ROOM.--BATH-ROOM.--AN ATTIC.--ATTIC CLOSETS.--ATTIC ROOMS.
In many houses a combination stairway is used. By this is meant one in
which the front and rear stairways run together in a common landing. In
this case, there should be doors separating the rear from the front
stairway, one at the beginning, and one at the end of the rear part. The
combination stairway is a compromise. Oftentimes, however, one can
secure other things which are desirable by its use. There are other
compromises more objectionable than the combination stairway.
A stairway of this kind is not used as the most desirable thing, but as
the least objectionable of other compromises; for instance, if one can
secure, for a given cost, an additional room or two by using a
combination stairway, the room is frequently preferable. No one can
doubt but that a front stairway, entirely separated from the one in the
rear, is the best thing to have; however, it is easy to understand that
a combination stairway may be used for reasons above stated. In some of
the plans a stairway is shown, starting from a stair-hall in the rear of
reception-hall or room. Under such circumstances, a combination is not
necessary. One can come from the kitchen and go upstairs without being
observed from the other parts of the house. Again, combinations are
sometimes used so that they apply to the servant's room as a continuous
stairway, and as a combination to the other parts of the house. This is
true of several plans given.
It is almost superfluous to say that a stairway should be easy, still it
is known that not all are so. The one in the front part of the building
should always be made without winders; that in the rear, the same way if
possible. Landings are preferable, and make a staircase beautiful.
Stairways may be considered from a hygienic standpoint. This, however,
is not necessary in this connection. Where there is only one stairway,
it is not uncommon to have it start from the dining-room, and, if one
stops to think about it, this is not a bad arrangement. The dining-room
is centrally located, and the stairway may be used by the servants when
this room is not otherwise in use. Certainly it is less objectionable
than placing it in a hall through which all have to pass, or where it is
necessary to pass through other rooms to reach the second floor from the
rear. A combination stairway, or one that starts up from the
dining-room, is less objectionable in a house where there is a bath-room
on the second floor than it would otherwise be. Where the bath-room is
so placed, it is not necessary that the slops be carried down or the
water carried up stairs; and, in other respects, it is less necessary to
use the stairway in a disagreeable way.
The rear stairway should be connected with the front part of the house
by means of a hall on the second floor. It is generally found desirable
to have a girl's room near the rear stairway, and to cut off that part
of the house from the front by means of a door. There should be means of
lighting, artificial and otherwise, at the beginning and landings of all
stairways.
In a young and growing family, five is the ideal number of rooms for the
second floor. This number may be increased or decreased according to the
size and development of the family. Where there are five rooms it
affords, first, a family room in front, built over the parlor or
sitting-room; next to that is a room in front for the very young
children, and afterwards for the girls; then the room in the rear of the
family room may be for the boys; the fourth room for guests, and the
fifth for the servant. The guest-room view is to the side and the rear.
There are cases where one must accommodate a large number of people with
a smaller number of rooms, and, again, a larger number of rooms is
thought indispensable. In connection with the size of bedrooms, we may
say what was said before,--that their availability does not depend
entirely upon their size. A room may be large and still not contain a
place for a bed or other furniture. It may be moderately small and yet
have space for all.
The more we think about the arrangement of houses, the larger appear the
number of indispensables. It used to be thought unnecessary to have a
closet in every bedroom; one was certainly enough in the family room.
Now it is almost a necessity that there be two closets in the family
room--one for the lady, and a smaller one for the gentleman. There
should certainly be one closet in every bedroom, and, in addition to
that, one which opens from the hall, to be used for bed-linen and
general bedroom supplies. A suitable place for brooms and dust-pans is
the attic stairway when a special closet is not provided.
In lighting bedrooms there should be at least one window for each
outside exposure. Where the size will admit, there should be two windows
placed so that the dressing-case can be set between them, either in the
corner or otherwise. Most bedrooms are lighted artificially by bracket
lights instead of the centre light. There should be one bracket on each
side of the dressing-case; if not, a pendent light immediately over it.
Centre connections for gas-fixture are usually provided, but in practice
many houses are not supplied with the fixture.
Grates on the second floor make work: carrying of fuel and ashes is
always disagreeable in the extremest degree. The placing of ash-pits in
the cellar may make it unnecessary to carry the ashes, but still grates
make work. At the same time it is very pleasant to have a grate in the
bedroom; they are the best means of ventilation known.
The servant's room is not usually very large, seldom large enough. It
should be provided with a closet, the same as other rooms. The window in
that room should be set high enough from the floor so as to admit of the
placing of a trunk under it, without interfering with the light or in
other ways appearing uncomfortable.
The bath-room and general plumbing work are considered in detail in the
following chapter. It is sufficient to say that there should be as
little wood-work as possible in the bath-room. Water-proof plastering
should be used, and when this becomes soiled it can be washed and
painted.
There is nothing a housekeeper appreciates more than a good attic and an
easy stairway leading to it. Often attics are not plastered; they should
always be floored at the same time the house is built. Where it is not
possible to make divisions by plastering, and other substantial
material, light wooden partitions will serve the purpose of providing
means of classifying that which is stored in the attic, and prevent it
from being in a continual state of disorder. The rooms may be fitted
with shelves, closets, etc.
Where it is possible so to do, the attic room should be plastered. It
makes the rooms below appreciably cooler in summer. In most of the
plans herein illustrated, the roof is high enough to provide space for
good rooms, with ceilings as high and as square as those of the rooms
below. It is cheaper to provide rooms in this way than to spread over
more ground; and there is certainly no valid objection to their use by
the boys of the family.
CHAPTER X.
PLUMBING.--IS PLUMBING ENTIRELY SAFE?--COMPLETENESS IN PLUMBING
APPARATUS.--LABOR-SAVING PLUMBING APPARATUS.--SEWER
CONNECTIONS.--SOIL PIPE.--A TRAP.--ACCIDENTS TO TRAPS.--FREQUENT
USE OF PLUMBING APPARATUS DESIRABLE FOR
SAFETY.--WATER-CLOSETS.--SIMPLICITY IN PLUMBING.--DRAIN
CONNECTIONS.--TO KEEP PLUMBING APPARATUS FROM FREEZING.--CISTERN
WATER SUPPLY.--GREASE SINK.--FLUSHING OF DRAIN.--BATH-TUB.
In considering the plumbing apparatus of a house, the question is often
asked, "Are these things safe? Do they not endanger the health of the
occupants of the house?" The answer is, The plumbing apparatus may be
entirely safe. That it is not always so, we all know. We hear of many
cases of typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and other diseases,
which are traceable to, or aggravated by, defective plumbing. In some
sections of the country so much trouble has been caused by poor
plumbing, that the people, as a class, have come to be suspicious of
all. The reason for this is the effort to cheapen the work. Suffering
from bad work has led to safety. In larger cities this work is under the
control of the city government. It may be said that it is possible so to
arrange the fixtures and apparatus appertaining to plumbing that it is
entirely safe. The question naturally follows, "How is this done?"
It may be said that good work is not a great deal more expensive than
poor work. Again, good work is not always a question of money. It is one
of knowledge or inclination on the part of the plumber.
One in moderate circumstances, who builds a house to cost from
twenty-five hundred to four thousand dollars, should have well water or
city water, and hot and cold cistern water in the sink in the kitchen.
There should be at least a slop-hopper in the laundry. In the bath-room
a water-closet, a tub, and generally a wash-stand. This latter feature
is not absolutely necessary, as will be explained later. In the attic
there should be a tank to hold the cistern water, which is connected
with the fixtures using soft water below. A force-pump, or water-motor,
may be located in the kitchen or basement to lift the water to tank. In
more elaborate houses a completer plumbing apparatus may be used. There
may be an especial sink in the china-closet. There may be wash-stands in
the various chambers, and one on the first floor.
There may be, also, an additional water-closet on the first floor, or in
the cellar, located where it is accessible to the members of the family.
There are many ways of expending money in plumbing fixtures; but, with
those first mentioned, one may be entirely comfortable, and derive all
of the housekeeping benefits which may be expected from such
conveniences. Unless the house be large, an increase in the number of
fixtures would increase the amount of work done in keeping them clean,
rather than save labor.
In the matter of safety, another question, which sometimes arises, is as
to the danger from the plumbing apparatus where there is no sewer
connection, or where it has to be made with a vault. The protection
against sewer-gas is not from the sewer itself or the vault. It is
entirely through protective apparatus in the house, and the manner of
the connection with the vault or sewer.
One may consider the conditions of safety in plumbing apparatus under
two general heads. First, as to the workmanship; second, as to design or
plan of the apparatus. Nothing need be said as to the workmanship,
excepting that the execution of the design, or the benefits to be
derived from it, maybe entirely lost by defective workmanship. If the
work is not properly executed, the design need not be considered. The
result will be bad irrespective of the plan.
In considering the design of the apparatus, we will take into account
the arrangement of the connections and fixtures. By the latter
expression is meant the tub, the water-closet, the wash-bowl, and the
sink, pump, etc. The connections which have to do with the safety of the
apparatus are the traps and the waste pipes, or pipes which connect with
the vault or sewer.
The main waste pipe inside the house is called the soil pipe. The
smaller waste pipes from the fixtures connect with it. The soil pipe is
of cast-iron, and usually four inches in diameter on the inside. It
connects, full size, with the water-closet. Most other wastes are of
lead, and are usually an inch and a half in diameter. In the soil and
waste pipes there will naturally be the odors from the vaults and sewer,
or from the foul matter which is in or passing through the pipes.
Therefore, there must be means in each waste pipe, which connects a
fixture with the main soil pipe, of preventing the passage of gas or air
from it into the house. This is done by means of what is called a trap.
The "S" trap is the commonest form; this name is given it from its
shape, and illustrates its construction. If we take a letter S and turn
it sideways we will get the form of such a trap. The right side or end
would continue directly down toward the drain or soil pipe, and the left
side would continue upward and connect with the fixture (see Fig. 6).
The water from the fixture comes down and is forced upward through the
bend by the pressure of water above, and from thence runs into the soil
pipe or drain. Thus it will be seen that there is always a seal of water
in the trap. There is always water in the trap as indicated by the depth
of the bend of the S. There are hundreds of different forms of traps,
but they are all constructed on the same principle; the idea being that
the gas or air from the pipe would have to pass through the water in
order to get into the house. The water in the trap is called the seal;
it seals the passage of air as stated.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
There are many conditions under which a trap may fail to do its full
duty. It may be foul in itself, or it may be rendered foul by the bad
air in the drain. The trap may be siphoned by a heavy flow of water
through the main drain, or it may be siphoned by a string or a rag which
may readily find its way into the trap, and hang over the bend so that
all of the water will run out. Again, the water in the trap may
evaporate. All these dangers may be guarded against. In the first place,
there should be means which allow fresh air to pass through all that
portion of the main drain or soil pipe which is in or close to the
house. The means of accomplishing this are various.
The soil pipe is ventilated by continuing up through and well above the
roof with a full opening at the top. The smaller drains should be
ventilated in the same way when far removed from main soil pipe or other
connection. The traps should be ventilated by 1-1/2-inch or two-inch
connections with the outer air, as shown by cut.
Frequent use of plumbing fixtures contributes to safety. It causes a
large volume of water to pass through the pipes. The flushing of the
pipes and drains in this way makes them cleaner and thus safer. It is
frequently said by those who have plumbing fixtures in their houses
that they use them as little as possible, because they are afraid of
them. Nothing worse could be done. The water in the traps evaporates or
becomes foul, and thus the gas has a free entrance to the house. A
water-closet helps greatly to cleanse the soil pipe and outside drain.
It discharges a large volume of water into it suddenly, in a way to keep
it clean. It is not a bad plan to use the closet at least once a day,
solely for the purpose of flushing the drain. In houses where there are
a number of wash-stands distributed through the various chambers and
halls there is danger from neglect in using them. The water seal in the
traps may evaporate, and thus give direct sewer-air connection with the
house. Particularly is this so in the guest's room. A wash-stand is a
more dangerous fixture for this reason than any other in the house.
[Illustration: Fig. 7]
The water-closet problem has received a great deal of attention. A few
years ago they were quite complicated, there being levers and pipes,
pans, springs and weights, to a degree of complexity which caused a
great deal of trouble. There has since been a return to first principles
and great simplicity. The water-closet of to-day is nothing more or less
than a large bowl connected by means of an "S" trap four inches in
diameter with the soil pipe, and provided with means of flushing with
large volumes of water. Such a closet is known as the "washout closet."
In other closets there is an intermediate plunger-valve separating the
hopper from the trap. The plunger-valve is defined by its name. It is a
large stopper which plunges into and closes up the opening to the trap
by means of its own weight when released. That which makes one closet
different from another has to do more with means of flushing than
anything else. By flushing is meant the pouring into and distribution of
water in the hopper. The most popular closets, those which have given
the most satisfaction, are "washout" closets, made entirely of white
earthenware, not alone the bowl, but the trap and connecting neck.
Closets are best flushed from an independent tank, which is placed about
seven feet above the closet and connects with it by means of 1-1/4-inch
pipe. The height gives it a strong flush of water, which cleanses it
thoroughly.
In the past it has been usual to conceal the earthenware or iron body of
the closet. It is best to leave it entirely open around the sides, that
the entire apparatus may be exposed. Sometimes it is necessary to
support the flap and seat by legs, though the modern closets are
arranged so that all of the woodwork may be secured to the upper part of
the hopper or the wall. There should be the solid flap covering to the
wooden seat with the opening in it, both of which should be hinged, so
as to allow them to be thrown back. It is convenient to use the
water-closet as a slop hopper. In order to do this the seat should be
hinged, so that it may be thrown back out of the way.
One frequently hears it said by those who exercise their authority over
household matters that they do not allow anything to be put into the
water-closet except that which is naturally intended for it; meaning
that they do not allow the slop water to be put into it. There is no
reason in this. The closet that cannot be used for this purpose cannot,
with safety, be allowed in the house. The use of the water-closet as a
slop sink is not only legitimate but desirable. It flushes the drain.
There is a movement toward simplicity in general plumbing apparatus. At
the time the water-closets were in the complicated state mentioned,
everything pertaining to plumbing was in the same general condition. It
was thought necessary to fill a house with a wilderness of pipes and
traps to have it safe or satisfactory. The very complexity of the
arrangement made it not only unsafe but expensive to maintain.
We have all heard a great deal about the expense of maintaining a
plumbing plant, if it may be so called. There is no reason why there
should be constant repairs and expense. It is pleasant to know that
additional expense is not necessary to secure immunity from trouble. The
idea of simplicity in arrangement, general excellence in the fixtures,
material, and labor, which go to form the completed work, has to be
borne in mind. The arrangement of the plumbing apparatus has to be
planned with the same care and thoughtfulness as the other parts of the
house.
It should be remembered that if the pipes are placed in a position where
the temperature is liable to fall below thirty-two degrees the water in
the pipes will freeze. Thus it is suggested that all pipes should be on
an inside wall,--if possible, next to the kitchen flue,--and that there
be here arranged an especial pipe duct of wood to ventilate the kitchen,
and, at the same time, keep the pipes from freezing by means of the warm
air which will pass through it. This duct should be covered on the face
with a wide board, which can be readily removed by taking out a few
screws. Thus the pipes may be exposed at any time desirable.
If the hot-water boiler in the kitchen is surrounded by an enclosure
which has an opening in the bottom, and which connects from above with
the pipe duct previously described, there will be a current of warm air
passing upward through the pipe duct as long as there is warm water in
the boiler. The water in the boiler will be warm long after everything
else is cold. This will insure safety from freezing when other helps
fail.
The cistern water is supplied to the bath-room, and to the hot-water
reservoir, by means of a tank placed in the attic, or at least above the
highest fixture. It sometimes happens that the supply pipe from the tank
above the attic floor freezes. All this may be prevented by enclosing
the tank, and the pipe which connects with it, with a large box or
canvas covering which is six or eight inches larger than the tank. This
confines the warm air from the duct mentioned, so that as long as there
is heat it will always be in this enclosure.
The outside drain, which connects with the vault or sewer, is, in some
instances, trapped previous to its entrance to the sewer or vault. In
such cases, this trap should have a connection with the outer air, and
on the side of the trap towards the house. Sometimes this outer-air
connection is made into the water spout from the roof; but this is not
proper, for the reason that the sewer gas, or the gas from the vault, is
almost certain to destroy the spout. Again, this spout may come out near
a dormer, or may pass near a window, and in either case may contaminate
the air in the house. It is better that this ventilating connection
should be in the yard, at some distance from the house, or, better yet,
that there should be a long iron pipe extending well above the ground.
It should be understood that this vent has no direct connection with the
sewer, but merely with the soil pipe and drain back of the trap; with
that part of it which is nearest to, and in, the house.
Sometimes it is necessary to run the down spouts into the sewer
connection; in such a case one should be certain that the down-spout
openings are not near the dormers, and that they have no connection
whatever with the cistern. It is common to have a switch or cut-off in
the down spout, so that the latter may be connected either with the
cistern or sewer. This is very bad practice. While it is connected with
the sewer or with the drain pipe, the down spout is contaminated with
all the foulness of the air of the drain. On its being connected with
the cistern, the water is poisoned.
Immunity from sewer gas in the house is largely dependent upon the
flushing and ventilation of the drain and the soil pipe. In the case of
a drain which is trapped as described, there is an air connection
through the vent before the trap; then the soil pipe which is in the
house should continue upward through the roof. Thus there is a fresh air
inlet through the drain, and upward through the soil pipe of the house.
Such a connection prevents the possibility of siphoning the traps, as it
gives an outward air connection. The water passing through the drain or
soil pipe can draw its supply of air from the upward soil vent, rather
than through the traps which contain water. When there is no upward vent
of the soil or drain, the water in the traps which connect therewith
will be drawn out by the passage of water through the drain where
fixtures are used.
There are those who maintain that there should be no trap in the yard or
adjacent to the house, but that there should be a straight run from the
soil pipe to the sewer or vault, and upward through the roof and above
the house. It is good practice to use the trap as described for sewer
connections, but not for open vault connections.
A grease sink is frequently placed in the drain to intercept the
passage of grease into the vault. It is so placed and connected that
only the water from the kitchen sink, or other fixtures where the water
contains grease, may enter it. It is made of brick, and is usually of
six or eight barrels capacity. A four-inch pipe connects it with the
kitchen waste, and if the grease sink is placed adjacent to the main
drain, there can be a similar connection between it and the main drain.
It should be a siphon connection, so that the sink will become nearly
full before it discharges. When it discharges through the siphon the
water will go out with a rush and leave the grease in the sink. This
makes an intermittent discharge into the main drain, which flushes or
cleanses it thoroughly and is much better than a constant small flow of
water. This grease sink must be cleaned from time to time. Small
cast-iron grease sinks are sometimes placed under kitchen sinks in very
large dwellings or hotels.
Nothing particular need be said in regard to wash-stands more than has
been said, excepting, possibly, that the drain should be trapped,
ventilated, and connected with the soil pipe; also that there should be
a lead safe or safety pan on the floor under the wash-stand when they
are enclosed; it is preferable that they should remain unenclosed. It
has been common to connect this safe with the soil pipe. It is only
intended that it should be useful in cases of accidental overflow; but,
notwithstanding the fact that there be a trap in the safe waste or
drain, it would be empty most of the time, because of the evaporation of
the water. It is proper to make direct connection with the cellar or
kitchen sink.
The bath-tub should have the same-sized drain connection as the
wash-stand; that is, one and one-half inch in diameter, trapped. The
overflows from both the wash-stand and tub should be flushed with hot
water quite frequently, to avoid the soap smells which are so common to
bath-rooms. It often happens that those who have bath-rooms in their
houses imagine that they smell sewer gas, when it is nothing more or
less than the smell of rancid soap.
CHAPTER XI.
HEAT AND VENTILATION.--COMMON HEATING ARRANGEMENTS.--PRESENT
METHODS GENERALLY UNSATISFACTORY.--IDEAL CONDITIONS.--PROPER AMOUNT
OF MOISTURE RARELY ATTAINED.--A FURNACE DEFINED.--METHODS OF
REACHING BEST RESULTS.--SUPPLY OF PROPER AMOUNT OF
MOISTURE.--REMOVAL OF FOUL AIR.--SUPPLYING FRESH AIR WITH PROPER
MOISTURE FROM STOVES.--STEAM AND HOT WATER HEATING.--DIRECT AND
INDIRECT RADIATION.--LOW-COST HEATING APPARATUS.
It is only within a short time that the heating and ventilation of
buildings of any kind have been in any measure satisfactory. This
applies only to the largest buildings; the heating and ventilating of
smaller structures are still in an unsatisfactory condition. Most
dwelling-houses are heated with stoves, which, as now arranged, are not
successful. The same air is heated over and over again. Fresh air in the
proper quantities or from the proper source is not supplied to the
interior of the building. Grates are very well in their way in that they
take large quantities of air from the room. Thus far they ventilate. The
supply of air is necessarily irregular, unless special means are
provided.
Furnaces are used for heating a very large number of houses. While they
are satisfactory in some respects, they are deficient in others. The
same thing may be said of steam, hot-water, or other heating apparatus.
As the statement has been made that heating systems in general, as
applied to dwelling-houses, are unsatisfactory, it may be well to state
the fault, and what is to be desired. It is not the purpose to consider
this question chemically, or from a highly scientific standpoint; there
is no occasion for it. It is well to bear in mind that we are
considering the heating and ventilating of a house during cold weather,
and not its ventilation during the summer, when natural means are to be
relied upon. Then it may be asked, What is to be done? Primarily the air
should be at the proper temperature at all times; it should be in its
pure state, as found on the outside of the building, and not
contaminated with any of the gases of combustion. It should be supplied
with its proper equivalent of moisture at the temperature at which we
find it in the room. As it becomes impure from natural causes, there
should be some means of effecting its withdrawal.
These are the ideal conditions. How far do they exist in practice? The
temperature is ordinarily high enough. The air of the room is apt to be
contaminated by the gases of combustion, and vitiated by breathing and
otherwise. Rarely indeed does it contain its proper equivalent of
moisture; it is dry and parched. Now that we know the conditions in
their ideal state and as they exist in fact, we will consider in detail
what may be done to bring about more satisfactory results. If the
heating apparatus be a furnace, it should be constructed of steel or
wrought-iron plate, the joints thoroughly riveted and calked; or, if of
other material, it should certainly be gas-tight. Every precaution
should be taken to prevent the passage of the air of combustion from the
furnace to the warm-air chambers and from thence to the rooms above. The
furnace is nothing more or less than a large stove with various
radiating arrangements, surrounded by an iron or brick enclosure, with a
supply of fresh air from the outside, and with connecting tin pipes to
the rooms above. It is important that the inner parts, the fire-pot,
the radiating surface, etc., be thoroughly well built and gas-tight, to
prevent the heated air from becoming contaminated by the gases of
combustion. The supply of outer air should be ample. It should be so
arranged that it can never be entirely cut off. The furnace should be of
sufficient capacity so that means of reducing the outer air supply
should not be necessary. However, if such arrangements are made, they
should be limited.
The proper equivalent of moisture should be given to the air at the
temperature at which it reaches the room. It may be said that there is a
water-pan connected with every furnace, that will do everything
necessary in supplying moisture. This is a mistake. So far as I know,
the furnace or other heating apparatus for dwellings has not been
constructed which is provided with a proper evaporating apparatus. The
pan is set in the side of the furnace, with an opening to the outside
into which water may be poured. It is small, and has very little
evaporating surface on the inside. Oftentimes the joints at the outside
are so poorly made that the cold air from the cellar may be drawn in
over the water in the pan, and in that way prevent its proper
evaporation. Winter air heated to a summer temperature is dry and
parched, whereas natural summer air contains the proper amount of
moisture. The outer air during the winter time has its proper equivalent
of moisture for the winter temperature, which is a much smaller amount
than would belong to it at a higher temperature. Therefore when we take
winter air into the furnace or other heating apparatus, raise it to a
summer temperature, and carry it into a room, we have a very dry air,
which seeks its equivalent of moisture from the occupants of the room,
from the furniture, carpets, walls, ceiling, and everything in it. The
air will not take additional moisture unless that moisture be supplied
after it has reached a higher temperature. For instance, if a spray or
a series of wet blankets be arranged in the cold-air duct, before the
air gets to the furnace, the air will not take the moisture from that
spray or from the damp blankets. The moisture must be supplied after the
air is heated. Where the water-pan is set on the side of the furnace,
and where there is a supply of air through the pan from the cellar, as
there frequently is, evaporation is naturally retarded by the cold air,
as indicated. Again, if this pan be never so well protected, it is
small, the proper amount of evaporating surface is not presented. An
evaporating pan or other device should be placed above the fire-pot and
should occupy a large proportion of the area of the heating chamber. The
supply of water should not be dependent upon some one's attention. It
should be constant by means of a ball-cock or otherwise. It should run
into or drip into a shallow pan, or should be supplied to sheets of felt
or blanket so that the air will come in contact with the moist surfaces,
at the temperature at which it is to go into the room. Thus it has the
proper amount of moisture which belongs to it at that temperature. In
this way we have winter air from the outside going into the room at a
summer temperature and with a summer equivalent of moisture; that is, we
have summer air in the winter time. People sometimes undertake to get
around this by putting water-pans in the registers, but they are rarely
ample. They are neglected, or they interfere with the supply of warm
air, and are abandoned.
Where a furnace is already in a house, or where it is not possible to
make elaborate arrangements for providing the air with moisture, there
is a very simple makeshift which is quite effective. It consists in
suspending in the registers in the floor small water receptacles--a
quart bucket answers every purpose--in which is placed a broad strip of
linen. This cloth should go to the bottom of the receptacle and be long
enough to hang over and below it for several inches. When the bucket is
filled with water this piece of cloth acts as a siphon, and carries the
water, a drop at a time, into the furnace-pipe, where it is converted
into steam. A piece of old table-linen is the best material to use, for
the reason that it carries the water fast enough, that the heat from the
furnace does not dry it out before it can drop into the pipe; otherwise
the cloth becomes dry at the end, and the siphonage ceases. For the same
reason it should be broad,--about twelve inches. Where a moderate heat
is carried through the furnace-pipe, three quarts of water may be
evaporated in this way in twenty-four hours from each bucket. A bucket
of the size mentioned does not in any way interfere with the passage of
heat.
The next point for consideration is the means of getting the foul,
contaminated air to the outside. One way is through the use of grates.
Another is by means of ducts in the wall, opening near the floor, which
draw the foul air from the room to the outside. These should consist of
heated flues, with connecting registers in the ceiling and floor, which
may be open when necessary. Under any circumstances, the grate is best.
Sometimes the flue may be heated by a supply of warm air from the
furnace, or by a steam-pipe in case steam is used for heating the house.
In natural-gas regions, the supply of additional heat in a flue from a
furnace or by a jet would be a small matter.
We have mentioned heating by stoves, grates, and furnaces. The same
principles which apply to the furnishing of fresh air to a furnace may
be applied to a stove. The fact is, they never have been. A stove should
be made, and will be made some day, that is surrounded on the outside by
a second jacket, the space between being connected with the outer air by
means of a tin tube to the under side of the stove. The supply of cold
air could be so arranged as to be shut off when there was no heat in the
stove. The warm air would pass out at the top of the jacket. On top of
the stove could be placed an evaporating pan, and the supply of moisture
come therefrom. In connection with the stove-pipe, which should be
jacketed, a second ventilating flue, starting from the floor and having
an opening both above and below, could be arranged, and in that way the
supply of fresh air and withdrawal of impure air could be accomplished.
Next we may speak of steam and hot-water heating. So far as a change of
air and the ventilation of the room are concerned, heating by direct
radiation, that is, by radiators placed in the room, is no better than
stove heating. It may be that the air is not so severely parched by the
extreme heat, also the escape of steam may contribute somewhat to the
moisture of the air; but the escape of steam is not agreeable, and is
not allowed to exist to any great extent;--its odor is not always
pleasant. Certainly the addition of moisture to the air by this means
would be a mere makeshift and unsatisfactory.
Hot-water coils act the same as steam radiators in that they heat the
same air over and over again, and are no better than stoves, so far as
the provision for fresh air, at proper temperature and humidity, is
concerned.
A steam or hot-water apparatus, with indirect radiation, is superior to
furnace heat as ordinarily provided. The means of supplying moisture to
an indirect steam apparatus, as ordinarily constructed, are not
convenient. There is a radiator for each hot-air connection above, that
is, a radiator for each register, with a distinct and direct supply of
outer air thereto. Sometimes there are two registers connecting with a
single radiator. But under any circumstances the radiators are somewhat
separated, having steam or water connection with the boiler at the
proper point. Steam apparatus for public buildings has been constructed
where the radiators have been bunched, that is, put into a single
chamber, the air passing through the chamber containing the radiators,
where it is heated to the proper temperature, and the moisture
afterwards supplied before it enters the room. Where this arrangement is
used, there must be conductors, tin or otherwise, from the chamber to
the register, as in the case of a furnace. Again, it will be found that
the supply of air will not be uniform through all of the openings; for
instance, the register that is farthest removed from the warm-air
chamber may fail to act. In this event, auxiliary radiators may be
placed under that register, and the operation of the heating apparatus
greatly facilitated thereby. This plan is superior to a furnace, and can
be applied to hot-water or steam apparatus in dwellings. The reason that
it is superior to a furnace is that the supply of heat is more uniform.
It does not require the constant firing or attention that is necessary
in the case of a hot-air furnace. It may be known that the temperature
does not change with the pressure of steam or in the same proportion.
There are inexpensive automatic arrangements in connection with furnaces
and steam apparatus, which control the dampers and keep the steam
pressure measurably uniform, as long as there is fuel of sufficient
quantity in the fire-pot. The hot-water apparatus is more uniform in its
operation than steam, and for that reason more satisfactory.
A furnace plant is the most inexpensive apparatus that may be used for
general heating; the steam apparatus is next higher as to first cost,
though no more expensive in amount of fuel used. The hot-water apparatus
costs more than steam, and is somewhat more economical in the cost of
maintenance. It is probable that a house of moderate size can be warmed
all over at a less cost, as far as fuel is concerned, by a furnace or a
steam or hot-water heating apparatus than by stoves and grates. However,
grates are generally used in addition to these for the purpose of
comfort and appearance, and for ventilating. Under such circumstances,
they consume very little fuel.
CHAPTER XII.
HEATING DEVICES AS WE FIND THEM.--FURNACE ESTIMATES.--COMBINATION
HOT AIR AND HOT WATER.--DISH-WARMING ARRANGEMENTS.--HOW TO GET A
GOOD HEATING APPARATUS.
For the present, people who build must take things as they find them,
and use heating and ventilating apparatus as regularly manufactured.
Experiments are uncertain. The theory of the proper heating and
ventilating of a house as set forth in previous chapter is correct. The
fulfilment of the ideas in dwelling-house heating remains to be
practically worked out. It is not the business of the architect, or the
housewife, or the owner of the house, to work out these mechanical
details. It will be done in time by competent mechanical experts.
In the estimates subsequently given, the furnace is the only means
considered for general heating. However, this does not indicate a
prejudice in favor of that particular method. The furnace is considered
and figured upon as the ordinary method of heating houses of moderate
cost. It is the least expensive plant to be used for general heating.
Indirect radiation from hot water or steam is to be preferred to a
furnace. A combination of a hot-air furnace with hot water, or steam, is
used with fair success. In this case, a hot-water coil is placed in an
ordinary furnace, which connects with hot-water radiators in a
conservatory or other room for the purpose of contributing a uniform
degree of heat to that room. The water supply is a tank, located well
above the level of the radiators, and connecting through an inlet pipe
with the coil in the furnace. The proper means of supplying this tank
with water is through a ball-cock or float-cock, the float of which
opens the valve when the water gets low in the tank. Thus the supply is
as constant as the source. A hot-water radiator of this kind may be used
in connection with a device for warming dishes or keeping food warm. The
heat is gentle, uniform, and constant. This is a general advantage of
all hot-water heating.
Aside from the automatic arrangements for controlling the steam or water
pressure in the heating apparatus, and thus measurably controlling the
temperature in the building, other more positive automatic arrangements
are provided which undertake to maintain any fixed temperature. These
are proprietary devices, patented and advertised.
Complaints are made of the general inefficiency of everything under the
sun: hence, furnaces and other heating apparatus come in for their
share. An architect is sometimes asked how he would heat a certain
building. He answers, "Hot water, steam, or furnace."--"Oh, I wouldn't
have steam. My uncle had a steam plant in his house, and they nearly
froze to death all last winter; and they burned over a ton of coal a
week." The same things are said, and truly, of every kind of heating
apparatus made, when we consider them in general classes. General
complaints of a similar nature are made of everything. In regard to the
steam plant or hot-water apparatus, or anything else of which this thing
may have been said, one may first acknowledge its truthfulness, and then
consider what it all means. Something is at fault. It may be that the
whole design of the apparatus is faulty. The design may be right, and
the construction bad. Everything else may be right, but the apparatus
too small; or there may be some little defect which has to do with the
placing of the apparatus in the house. Sometimes, when everything is in
good form, the apparatus does not receive proper attention: hence
trouble.
It may be asked how one is to get a good heating apparatus for a
dwelling-house. The first thing to be determined is, the particular kind
to be used: whether hot-water, steam, or hot-air furnace. There are many
manufacturers of the various apparatus, who are regularly in the
business. To these may be submitted plans of the building, and a request
for estimates and suggestions. It is the experience of an architect that
one who is putting money regularly in the manufacture or production of
anything will not waste his energies for a great length of time on a bad
thing, if he knows it. The evidence that an establishment has been
putting up good furnaces or other heating apparatus is long-continued
business success. If the owner of a house writes to an old-established,
wealthy concern, and sends his plans, he is as certain to get a reliable
proposition as he can be of anything. A local agent of an establishment
of this kind may misrepresent, unintentionally or otherwise. The surest
way is to go to headquarters. The local agent does not always know
exactly what should be done. A competent architect can settle all these
matters for an owner. However, if an architect says there are only one
or two furnaces or heating apparatus which are all right, he is either
ignorant or dishonest. There are many different kinds which will give
fair satisfaction.
The idea in this chapter is to take things as we find them, and suggest
what may be done. The theories outlined in the previous chapter may be
correct, but they do not amount to anything to a man who is building
to-day. The only purpose of this chapter is to suggest to those who are
building that they go to a first-class house, pay a fair price, and get
the best possible apparatus regularly in the market.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOUSE AND ITS BEAUTY.--ARTISTIC SURROUNDINGS.--BEAUTY MORE A
MATTER OF INTELLIGENCE THAN MONEY.--VESTIBULE DECORATIONS.--BEAUTY
IN THE RECEPTION-HALL.--MANTELS AND GRATES.--FRET-WORK AND
PORTIÈRES.--SPINDLE WORK.--SIMPLE FORMS OF GOOD
DECORATION.--WOOD-CARVING.--DOOR AND WINDOW CASINGS.--A
CONSERVATORY.--STAINED GLASS.--A CABINET ON THE MANTEL.--TINTED
PLASTERING.--FRESCOING.--SAFETY IN THE SELECTION OF COLORS.--AN
ATTRACTIVE SITTING-ROOM.--THE PARLOR.--A RECEPTION-ROOM.--PARLOR
HISTORY.--THE IDEAL PARLOR.--THE LIBRARY.--A PLACE OF QUIET AND
REST.--LIBRARY FURNISHINGS.--THE DINING-ROOM.--SOCIAL RELATIONS OF
THE DINING-ROOM.--DINING-ROOM DECORATIONS.--CONSERVATORY AND
DINING-ROOM.--A WOOD CEILING.--BEAUTY IN BEDROOMS.--QUIET AND
LIGHT.
The journey through the house is hardly complete until we abandon the
material view, and consider it from the standpoint of beauty. As is said
in another connection, the architect does not do his full duty in making
a house a model of convenience and utility. The housekeeper always looks
toward a beautiful home, something that will be recognized for its
beauty and elegance. A house that is beautiful and attractive gives
pleasure to all who see it, as well as to the occupants. A beautiful,
artistic house is a source of education to the occupants. A porch with
clumsy columns, rude mouldings, heavy ceiling, coarse details of all
kinds, cannot but affect one's living. One that is fine in detail,
generous in size, decorated in artistic spirit, must of necessity not
alone contribute to the comfort of those who live in the house, but
serve to lift them from that which is common and ordinary. People may be
surrounded by that which is beautiful and artistic, and for a time fail
to realize its true excellence, or they may be surrounded with that
which is homely and crude without knowing the full measure of its
ugliness. The time must come, however, when the truth will be realized
to a certain extent. If it is in the direction of the appreciation of
what is beautiful, it must necessarily bring about a higher state of
mind. No man can walk across a front porch, time after time, and take
hold of a beautiful door, without being affected by it. For this reason
the vestibule, the front door, and all that belongs to it, should be
designed in a thoughtful spirit, with the idea that it is the first of
all things that will impress those who enter the house. There may not be
much money to put into this door, but what there is may as well bring
something beautiful as something ugly. The same money that will make an
ugly detail will make a beautiful, artistic one. If the glass of this
door must be inexpensive, let it be the ordinary cathedral glass.
Instead of being brilliant in color, select a soft, mild tint,--a light
amber or a straw color. If there are divisions in the door so that a
number of sheets may be used, two tints at most are all that are
necessary. It is best that they should be quiet in tone. If money is
more abundant, and an elaborate stained-glass design may be had, put the
work in the hands of an artist, one who is well known, and the result
cannot but be satisfactory. As to the door itself, nothing can be nicer
than natural wood, properly finished. The detail of the design should be
refined; there should be an avoidance of all that is clumsy and heavy.
The spirit of the interior may be stamped upon this door. Where one
cannot encompass the expense of an artistically designed glass for the
door or vestibule opening, a very pretty effect may be secured by the
use of a plain sheet of plate-glass; or, if desired, a slight additional
expense will give glass with bevelled edges. Sometimes this bevelled
glass is in small squares, with leaded joints. This gives a very simple
and rich effect from either side.
As one opens this door and steps into the vestibule, there may come to
his sight a beautiful mantel and grate-fire in the reception-hall
beyond. This is particularly beautiful when shown through the folds of a
tapestry curtain which separates the vestibule from the reception-hall.
Sometimes this vestibule is arranged so that there is a small window at
one side of it. Nothing can be nicer than to have this filled with
glass, of the same general design as that of the door. The hooks for
wraps should be of polished brass, secured to a natural-wood strip. An
umbrella-stand of the same material is attractive. The floor is best of
hard wood, all but covered with a heavy rug. This is a pleasant place to
stop a moment, with a more beautiful view beyond.
A reception-hall is, from an architectural standpoint, the easiest room
in the house to handle; that is, it can easily be made to look well.
This is because of its connection with the vestibule, the stairway, the
grate, often a window-seat, the large openings into the other rooms, and
the portières which go with them. All these things combine well to make
a pretty room. Stairways, as now designed, are much more beautiful than
those made a few years ago. Then it was a habit to start at one end of
the hall and continue to the second floor in a single run, with winders
only at the upper end, to change the direction of the movement. Now it
is common to have at least two landings in each run; oftentimes there
will be only two or three steps, then a landing, from which steps lead
to another near the top. At the beginning of the stairway there are the
newel posts, and at each landing a corner post. This arrangement
frequently admits of the placing of a seat along one side of the outer
part of the lower landing. If not that, possibly one along the side of
the stairway, below the run of steps which starts from the lower
landing. The space between the railing and the steps is usually occupied
by turned balusters, though there are many forms of filling and
decorating this space. Sometimes it is of turned spindle-work,
scroll-work, fret-work, and squares or panels, arranged in different
forms.
It is not unusual to have stained-glass windows at each landing. These
windows are not necessarily large, and are usually hung on hinges.
Sometimes a small bay-window projection is made from one or both of
these landings. In them may be placed seats, and in this way add beauty
and convenience to the room. It is quite usual to cover the
reception-hall with rugs rather than carpets. The hard-wood floor idea
probably had its origin in the reception-hall. If it ever takes its
departure it will be first from this room. If a hard-wood floor is not
largely covered with rugs it requires a great deal of labor.
The mantel in the reception-hall should be of wood. It is pleasant to
have the larger part of the entire setting made of tile. These tiles are
now made in most beautiful designs and colorings. Beautiful figured
designs may be had, if not for the entire facing, for certain parts. It
is not uncommon that only a narrow margin of wood-work borders the sides
of a mantel of this kind. The shelf and cabinet above may be as
ornamental as desired. No treatment of wood-work can add to the beauty
of a large surface of tile facing. In some instances, no shelf is
provided; simply a bevelled facing, with a margin of woodwork, not over
an inch wide, to cover the joint where the tiling comes in contact with
the plaster. The hearth should be large. The grate border is best of
brass.
The walls of the reception-hall may have a gray plaster finish, or be
tinted or papered, as desired. The picture moulding may come pretty well
down from the ceiling; certainly not higher than the tops of the doors.
The part below may be tinted in one color, and the upper, in another.
The picture moulding should always be of the same kind of wood as the
finish, and not gilded or treated in any other highly artificial manner.
The openings into other rooms, even where sliding or hinged doors are
used, are frequently filled a short distance from their top with what is
popularly called fret-work. It may be fret-work, pure and simple, or
spindle-work, or simply scroll-work. It is a very pleasing form of
ornamentation. The curtains come below. In one of the plans furnished,
the entire vestibule is made up of turned work, which, with a curtain,
is the only separation from the main hall. Sometimes arches are
decorated in the same manner, and the space between the circle and frame
is filled with these ornamental forms. A very simple way of making
screens is by the use of thin quartered oak-strips, woven into basket
patterns of ornamental form.
Only one general design of door and window casings is shown in this
book. There is no limit to the ornamental forms which may be used in
decorating casings of any kind. During recent years, many ladies have
used their energy and ability in the direction of wood-carving, and,
under competent instruction, have done good work. For the most part, the
patterns are in low relief. The designs are frequently conventionalized,
foliated patterns. In the smaller communities it is hardly possible to
get good carving through ordinary channels, for the reason that there
is not a sufficient amount of this kind of work to be done to justify a
high grade of talent in occupying so unprofitable a field. It is
unfortunately true, however, that very few workmen who can carve at all,
but have an idea that they do this kind of work exceedingly well. No
matter how crude their efforts may be, there is no lack of
self-appreciation. They profess to be able to do that of which they are
entirely ignorant. It is best to be content with the simple mechanical
forms of interior wood-decoration, unless there are those of known and
recognized ability, who are capable of executing the more artistic
patterns.
Door and window casings are made much narrower and less complex than was
the custom several years ago.
The sitting-room of the lower floor is more clearly defined by the term
"living-room." It is a room with much more wall space than the
reception-hall. It usually contains a grate and mantel; has a large
window to the front, and one on the side. It is very nice if one of
these windows can be arranged in the form of a bay, with or without a
window-seat. In the latter case, it may serve the purpose of a
conservatory in the winter and a window-seat in summer. The use of large
quantities of stained glass in a sitting-room is objectionable. It is
very well to have a certain amount of it in the upper sash of some of
the windows. If the colors are mild, the effect upon the atmosphere of
the room is pleasant indeed--the light coming through the soft amber or
straw tints adds a mellowness and richness to the light of the room,
which is opposed to the colder effects of light which comes through
white glass. The mantel of the sitting-room may contain a large number
of compartments in the form of small shelves, brackets, or cabinets, in
which may be placed bric-à-brac of various forms. A little cabinet on
each side of a mantel, with a high door, is a very pretty feature. A
mirror between these cabinets gives a pleasing effect. This mantel, like
the one in the reception-room, should be of wood with tile hearth and
facings.
If this room is plastered in a gray finish, the walls may be tinted in
fresco colors, and, if desired, certain parts of it ornamented by
stencilling or otherwise. Unless this ornamental work is done by an
artist of recognized ability, it should be of the simplest character.
One or two simple lines, or a series of short dashes, is much better
than scrawling figures drawn by an untrained hand. The ordinary fresco
done by the foreign artist is the ugliest, most ungraceful work
possible. In the larger cities, there are usually a few artists who do
very beautiful work, but the ordinary, cheap, conventional fresco stuff
is barbarous. Plain tinted walls are preferable to such glaring
monstrosities. There is not much risk, if one is careful in the
selection of colors; the part above the picture moulding may be tinted
differently from that below. There are very few people but feel
themselves competent to select colors for the interior or exterior of a
house. The fact is, there are very few who can do it with any assurance
of success. It is well for those who have no special training in this
line to pursue a safe plan in the selection of tints for the walls and
ceilings. This may be done by choosing different shades of the same
color for use in the room. Say one begins with a terra-cotta body for
the part below the picture mould. That above the moulding may be a
lighter terra-cotta with a tendency to a buff. Then the ceiling may be
lighter still, or, to be entirely safe under almost any circumstances, a
gray with a leaning towards the color of the wall. Other colors may be
selected in the same way. Very light, vivid blues have frequently been
selected for ceilings, presumably because of the supposed resemblance
to the sky. It is certainly an illogical but by no means uncommon
thought. Soft, undecided grays are much pleasanter to those of quiet
tastes. There may be variations in it according to the character of the
wall decorations and surroundings. If one without special knowledge
wishes something more ambitious, he should consult some one of
acknowledged ability in this particular line. One cannot afford to try
experiments. Extremely beautiful wall decorations are to be had in
wall-paperings, and, while rather expensive, are entirely satisfactory
if carefully selected.
Very little more may be said about the sitting-room, excepting to call
to mind that a great deal depends upon the fittings and furnishings of
the room, which, however, should not be glaring or rich. The quality of
everything may be of the finest and best, yet this room should
essentially be quieter in tone than the reception-hall or parlor, or
even dining-room, which are not in constant use. Anything which is rich
and in any way approaches the gorgeous is wearisome, and directly
opposed to the idea of a sitting-room.
The parlor may be merely a reception-room,--a room where a lady may
receive her callers in the afternoon, or the more formal calls of ladies
and gentlemen in the evening, or it may be one room in addition to the
others in the lower part of the house. It may be the room which adds
capacity to the lower floor during times of general entertaining. In
some cases, particularly where the parlor is merely used as a
reception-room, it need not be large. In such a case it is merely a
place separated from the sitting-room, and in which to go for the
purpose of receiving friends in a room somewhat removed from the slight
confusion which may legitimately belong to a sitting-room. The parlor is
made distinctive in its appearance from the sitting-room by its
furnishings. It is not usual to have any great difference in the design
of the wood-work in the different rooms of the lower floor. Generally
speaking, the doors are of the same design, and likewise the casings,
base, etc. The parlor belongs particularly to the society life of the
occupants of the house. It is not generally a family room. It is removed
from the ordinary home life except in so far as the general social
conditions draw all together. The parlor, in its connection with the
living-rooms of the house, and the house itself, is entirely legitimate.
There is a good deal of sneering at the old parlor idea. This feeling
has its origin in the memory of the parlors of a few years ago,--those
which contained the one Brussels carpet, covered with red and green
flowers, furnished with black hair-cloth furniture, chairs arranged
around the wall in military style, a sofa--stiff of back and commanding
an attitude--in a most conspicuous position; walls covered with
coarse-figured, gilt paper, and rendered more offensive by cheap, family
portraits in oil, and elaborately framed chromos.
The parlor of to-day is still a formal room; it does not greatly differ
from the older one in idea; it is the execution of the idea which has
changed. There is a greater refinement in all the details; there is an
artistic spirit which pervades everything. There is harmony of color,
quietness in tone. The pictures are of a different character. The
furniture is graceful and comfortable. It is rarely separated from the
other part of the house. The doors leading into it are nearly always
open. Oftentimes there are only portières of tapestry or lace to
separate this room from the others which lead to it. It is a room which
is made necessary by the social life of the time.
The ideal parlor is a long room,--a large room. It is long in
proportion to its width. Sometimes there is an archway near the middle,
which suggests the division of the room into two parts. There is a
mirror at the end, and, lending dignity to the room, there is the hall
or library at one side. By its size, its arrangement, its dignity, it is
inspiring to a congenial company. This is the ideal parlor, and the one
of which the vulgarly furnished parlor of a few years ago was a
corruption. The ideal parlor is shown in its completest original form in
some of the old mansions of the East and South. Some of the old Virginia
and Maryland houses carry out this idea in the completest way. In
Natchez, Miss., are houses built long before the war, and designed by
the French architects, which contain parlors of splendid proportions and
most artistic details. These were designed in the purest classic
architecture. The ceilings were high, the paintings rich. All this is
somewhat removed from the common idea of a parlor as carried out at this
time. However, it is a pleasant thing to look back upon, or, when the
opportunity and means are at hand, a proper thing to enjoy in the
reality.
The library, as now understood, is, in the ordinary house, a room for
books, papers, and magazines, in which the members of the family may
gather, who have use for that which it contains. It should be a room
which may be isolated from the other parts of the house; a room in which
one may study or read or write, and have the quiet which belongs to such
occupations. A room which may be used as a passage from one part of the
house to another cannot be dignified by the name of library. In such a
room there must be quiet. There are very few homes to which such a room
would not be a material and practical addition. There are times when
nearly every one desires the quiet and freedom from interruption which a
room of this kind affords.
It need not be a large room, but should contain all of the paraphernalia
of work: a desk, conveniently arranged, bookshelves which are readily
accessible, possibly portfolios arranged along the walls, drawers with
proper compartments, cases for circulars and catalogues, and other
"places for things." The nicest thing about book-cases is the books.
Ornamental glass doors and rich trappings add nothing to the beauty of
the library. People who make large use of books do not care to have them
protected by glass cases. The other furnishings and fittings of a
library should be quiet in tone, the chairs easy but not rich, the
carpet of a neutral color, the wall decorations preferably without
figured outlines, the pictures small and quiet. Sliding doors between
the library and any other room of the house are not to be considered.
Close-fitting doors on hinges are proper. They exclude the sound.
Sliding doors permit the ready passage of sound, for the reason that
they are more or less open at top, bottom, middle, and sides. A low
ceiling in a library adds to the quiet and restful effect. One may have
a low ceiling in a library, even if they are higher in other rooms, by
studding down from above,--that is, putting in a false ceiling. The
expense is light indeed, and by such means additional protection from
the sounds above may be afforded.
The dining-room, in many houses, is the room in which the entire family
is gathered, perhaps for the only time during the day. In this sense it
is an assembly room. There is in this busy country a growing respect for
the social value of the dining-room. In the family meetings at the
table, there may be an interchange of experiences that does not occur at
other times, for the reason that there is no opportunity for it. After
the meals the members of the family go to their various occupations, and
probably do not come together until another meal. These facts may be
considered in the planning of a dining-room.
We have thought of this room before in its mechanical sense; we have
looked at it through housekeeping eyes. We have now to consider its
artistic and social features. We look at it as one of the family rooms.
It has its shape or proportion suggested to it from the table. It is
oblong. The light coming into it should be ample, but subdued in tone.
It is pleasant, as one enters a dining-room, to come into full view of a
sideboard which is decorated with that which belongs to this room in a
utilitarian way--its china, cut glass, and beautiful linen, than which
nothing can be more attractive.
It is a pleasant thing to have a conservatory attached to one side or at
a corner of the dining-room. The odor of flowers or plants may not be
agreeable constantly in a sitting-room. The periodical occupation of the
dining-room makes this pleasant rather than otherwise. Most of the plans
which are shown will admit of the placing of a conservatory in
connection with the dining-room in the manner indicated.
The old English dining-room was large in its general proportions, and
heavy and rich as to its details; it was so large and impressive that
there was an offshoot which took form in a breakfast-room. In our homes
at this time we have the compromise. Our habits of living do not demand
the breakfast-room: all come to breakfast together, and the requirement
is the same as for other meals.
Where one wishes to have a wood ceiling panelled or with decorated
beams, the dining-room, or the hall connecting with it, may be chosen as
the proper place to be treated in this way. Where expense is not a great
object, it is agreeable to have a large part of the walls finished in
wood. A wood finish one-half to two-thirds the height of the wall, and
a ceiling of wood above, with the intervening space finished in rough,
tinted plaster, gives a very pleasing effect. Projecting from the top of
the wood wall-finish may be a little shelf extending, say, five inches
beyond the wall. It may have a simple moulded edge. In the top may be
cut grooves; on the under edge may be arranged, at regular intervals,
cup hooks, which may be used in part for suspending china, or, upon
certain occasions, as a means of securing floral decorations--say, a
little train of ivy or smilax. On the upper part of the shelf are placed
pieces of china. This shelf may be placed in any dining-room; if not
around the entire room, between two windows, or between the chimney
breast and the adjacent wall. Six feet from the floor is a good height.
If it is not overloaded, or if the idea is not generally overworked, the
effect will be very satisfactory.
The coloring of a dining-room may be a little heavier and richer than
that of the other rooms. A very pretty feature which maybe introduced in
a room of this kind is a china-closet, which opens into the dining-room
as well as into the china-room adjoining. The dining-room side of the
china-closet should be glazed with clear glass above its lower section,
and the china-room or back side of the china-closet should be glazed
with cathedral glass of a semi-transparent character. There are doors on
hinges on each side. The drawers in the lower part, if provided, open
from both sides. If doors are used they should be arranged in the same
way, so that the lower shelves may be approached from both dining-room
and china-room. The glass door on the dining-room side should not come
down to the shelf at the top of the lower section, but should be
arranged to leave an open space, as is indicated in the chapter on
kitchens and pantries. However, the doors on the china-room side of
this closet should come down, so as to cut off communication between
dining-room and china-room at will. This space between the upper and
lower section of the china-closet gives space in which to set a tray,
and, by opening a door on the back, it acts as a slide between the
china-room and dining-room. This arrangement is not only very beautiful,
but very useful. See china-closet plan Fig. 5, page 46.
The conservatory mentioned does not need to be in conventional
conservatory form, which usually has cheap glazing and often common
wood-work, but may be a bay-window with more than an ordinary amount of
glass, preferably plate.
The chambers and bedrooms, in their ideal form of arrangement, have an
abundance of light and sun, ample means for ventilation, and a greater
air of restfulness and airiness than the rooms below. The carpets are in
lighter tints, the walls more nearly white, the windows not so heavily
draped, the pictures and frames of a lighter character, the chairs not
so heavy as those of the other rooms. From a chamber it is sometimes
desirable to have a bay window projecting from side or front. It adds to
the availability of the other floor space, affords additional light and
ventilation. Nothing can be nicer than a grate fire in a bedroom. It
should be surrounded with a wood mantel, with tile facing and hearth.
Above the mantel it is useful to have a short plate-glass mirror. A
dressing-case takes its proper place on the side wall between two
windows, or in a corner with a window in each wall adjacent to it.
Bedrooms are, for the most part, lighted with brackets rather than
central lights. When attainable, a small dressing-room adds to the
attractiveness of a chamber.
In some houses there may be an alcove, a bay window, a window-seat, a
conservatory, or something of this kind, from every principal room.
These are features which add to the beauty and attractiveness of the
house. While all of these things are not possible in every home, some
one or two of them may be attainable. In mentioning the various details
which go to make the beauty of a house, it is in mind that all these
features can be taken into account in but a very small proportion of all
the houses that are built, yet some one or more of them may be used in
every house, and thereby add to its attractiveness.
CHAPTER XIV.
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DESIGN.--AN OLD TOPIC BEFORE THE PEOPLE.--THE
ARCHITECTURAL STUDENT'S DREAM.--A BEAUTIFUL HOME THE HOUSEKEEPER'S
AMBITION.--IT COSTS NO MORE TO HAVE A HOUSE BEAUTIFUL THAN
UGLY.--ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION.--CHARLES EASTLAKE'S BOOK.--VULGAR
ARCHITECTURAL REVIVALS.--THE GROWTH OF THE ARTISTIC IDEA.--BEAUTY A
MATTER OF REFINEMENT.
It often happens when one gives especial attention to a particular
branch of a subject his neglect in other lines is measured by the depth
of his attention to the particular branch. Matters which have to do with
the utilitarian features of house-building are considered in this work
much more fully in the text, than has the appearance of the buildings.
It is desired that this fact will not lead any one to believe that
matters relating to the appearance of the exterior have been neglected.
Domestic architecture is an old topic before the people. It is old in
what has been said in regard to the appearance of the buildings. The
subject, as a science to the architect, is new when considered from the
standpoint of convenience. The architectural student's dream is not of
kitchens, pantries, closets, convenient and economical arrangements of
floor space, but is principally of large public buildings, libraries,
court-houses, and cathedrals. When he descends to dwelling-houses, it is
of something unique, or odd,--something that is pretty or rich. When it
relates to details, it is hallways that are peculiar in their beauty,
parlors and sitting-rooms that are full of odd conceits. There has been
a tendency toward strange things during recent years. Matters of this
kind have fed the fancy of many architects. The housekeeper has been
neglected.
Nothing attracts more attention than a beautiful house. It is a pleasure
to every one. It is as important to have a house beautiful as it is that
it should be convenient. The same education and thoughtfulness that will
enable an architect to design a convenient house will make it beautiful.
No one can be conscientious in the consideration of the comfort of the
housekeeper and neglect the smallest detail leading to the beauty of the
house. The housekeeper lives in the hope of having a beautiful home. It
has been the purpose, in writing this book, to bear all this in mind,
and to add the element of convenience to what has been said and done by
others toward making beautiful houses.
It costs no more to have a house beautiful than to have it ugly. Beauty,
like convenience, is largely a matter of thoughtfulness and education.
The only excuse for ugliness in house-building is ignorance. The student
of architecture has had a great deal done for him. And, in considering
that which has to do with appearance, he has only to accept the
advantages of the best architectural schools and offices. Without these
he cannot expect to succeed. To be a designer of beautiful houses, one
must have had the same special training and advantages that are
necessary for success in other lines of professional work. A physician
must know the history of his profession, aside from the more formal
knowledge which leads him through his practice. It is the same way with
the student of architecture. The successful designer of a small cottage
will do better from having a knowledge of the history of early
architecture. Such a knowledge is indispensable, in order to reach the
best results. One who has made a study of Greek architecture is much
better equipped to design a beautiful low-cost cottage, of four or five
rooms, than one who has not availed himself of these advantages. He will
make a better house for the same money. He will do better work with
simpler means. To take another illustration: We may suppose that an
architect has a porch to design, and that the owner of the house does
not have a great deal of money to put in it. There are four turned
columns, a cornice, with a rafter finish, and underneath, a space in
which may be inserted a small band of inexpensive scroll-work. A
knowledge of the earlier architecture comes to his assistance in a
wonderful way. For the turning on the columns the architect may select
that from a column of the early English Gothic architecture of the
fourteenth century. These are simple profiles, which can be turned at no
greater cost, if the drawing is furnished, than some crude, modern
invention of the turner or an uneducated designer. For the jig or scroll
saw work, he can arrange figures from some of the earlier ornamental
forms of the same period, and by drawing them full size the
scroll-sawyer can reproduce a beautiful design, which has a history,
with no more labor than he would give some corrupted design which has
filtered through the minds of careless house-builders. For his rafter
feet, this designer will have no difficulty in recalling some simple
form which has had a refined development. This same line of procedure
can be followed in all details of house-building, and not add one dollar
to the cost of the structure. At the same time it brings about most
beautiful results,--the results of successful experience.
It may be said again that it takes no more money to make a beautiful
detail--one which has been the development of experience and
refinement--than it does something which is clumsy and coarse. It
requires, however, a knowledge of what has been done,--a knowledge of
the history of design. It requires the faculty of using intelligently
the results of the past, not merely as they originally existed, but in
their adaptation to the wants and conditions of the present.
Several years ago Mr. Charles Eastlake wrote a book entitled "Hints on
Household Taste." The book accomplished a great deal, by merely leading
people to think. To this day there are a great many architectural
features which, in the builder's parlance, go under the name of
"Eastlake" designs. There are so-called Eastlake doors, Eastlake frames,
etc. In truth, Mr. Eastlake had little to say about architecture in a
distinctive sense, and many evil things have been perpetrated in his
name. The best thing that Mr. Eastlake did was to teach people that the
furniture and other things which they had around them could be beautiful
and not expensive. That it was not necessary to have a chair or a piece
of wood-work loaded down with something called ornament, in order to be
beautiful. After this people lost confidence in the furniture
manufacturer, and did not depend solely on the price of his wares as a
measure of their elegance or attractiveness. This was the sole work of
Charles Eastlake, with the masses of the people. He was a missionary in
his way. A man of no particular knowledge in regard to architecture or
design, yet one who was the means of doing a great deal for
architecture. He taught people to look for beauty in simple things.
After a time came a certain something in domestic architecture which was
designated as the "Queen-Anne" style. We all know what it is, yet it is
difficult to describe. The veritable Queen-Anne architecture meant
something; the "Queen-Anne" architecture of a few years ago meant
anything--particularly something that was pointed, erratic, and
unusual. It, however, did a good work. It enabled the architects to get
out of the old beaten paths. A great many beautiful houses were built,
which, by the public, were said to be in this style. The name "Queen
Anne" was the vehicle for the passage from an old conservatism, which
had to do only with the commonplace, to something which was fresh and
attractive. In this way a great many beautiful houses were built during
this so-called Queen-Anne revival.
More recently there has been a movement toward the revival of the old
colonial architecture--a style that was developed by a class of educated
builders among the earlier settlers of this country. Their knowledge was
particularly of classic architecture of the period of the Italian
renaissance. A great many strange and unusual things are being
perpetrated in the name of old colonial architecture at this time. At
the same time, a great deal that is beautiful and refined is being built
in this style. In the work of the very recent period which has to do
with this architecture, one may find a great deal of encouragement. It
shows a decided re-action from the extravagant crudeness of the
so-called Queen-Anne architecture, and in the end we will reach
something that is rational and beautiful.
Thus it is to be seen that, in whatever lines architecture is moving, we
shall find good work; that it is not so much the style that it is named,
as the resources of the designer: resources which have to do with his
education, and his disposition to select that which is fine and
beautiful--the sense which leads him to discriminate.
[Illustration: FIGURE B.]
PLANS OF FIFTY CONVENIENT HOUSES.
CHAPTER XV.
EVOLUTION OF A HOUSE-PLAN.--RESPECTABLE DIMENSIONS FOR A MODERATE
PRICE.--SIX PLANS.--COSTS, FROM $1,500 TO $2,600.
The number of times that a house has been built indicates the popularity
of the plan. Plan No. 1, in one form or another, has been used oftener
than any other in the book. Plans Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are more frequently
selected by people who do not keep a servant. This arrangement makes a
compact and low-cost house. There is a porch over which the small front
bedroom extends on the second story. In Plan No. 1 the hall is seven and
one-half by ten feet. There is a corner grate for the living-room and
the parlor. A stove might be used in the dining-room in a way to
moderate the temperature of the entire lower floor.
There is one very large window opening into the dining-room. It is a
very pleasing thing to have the upper sash of the dining-room glazed
with simple colors of cathedral glass. This glass gives a very pleasant
tone to the light of the room, and, at the same time, excludes the hot
rays of the sun in summer. It is possible to dispense with outside
shutters when cathedral glass is used in the upper sashes. A metal rod
running across the window on the inside, on a level with the horizontal
dividing-rail of the window, may be made to carry curtains which will
exclude the view from the outside. Thus, in the glass, and by the aid of
the curtains, we have much that might be expected from the shutters.
There is a china-pantry between the kitchen and dining-room. It is
lighted by a small window at one side. It serves as a passageway between
these two rooms, and thus keeps the odor of the cooking from the front
part of the house. The pastry pantry is immediately back of the
china-pantry, and is entered from the kitchen. It is also provided with
a small window. In the kitchen is a sink with a swinging table at one
side, and room for a portable table on the other. At one side of the
sink may be the cistern-pump, and on the other side the well-pump. It
should be placed back against the wall, and with handles that are well
out of the way when not in use.
[Illustration: Plan No. 1.]
It is entirely unnecessary to place the pumps in the yards of low-cost
houses, as is so common. If a driven well is used, it could be driven
so as to be next to the kitchen sink. If it is a dug well, it may be
placed on the outside, and connected through lead pipes with the sink on
the inside. The cistern may be connected in the same way. The entrance
to the cellar stairs is conveniently placed in one corner of the
kitchen. The cellar itself is under the sitting-room. The side-porch is
large enough to be used as a summer kitchen.
[Illustration: Plan No. 2.]
It is to be noticed that there is no waste room in the upstairs hall.
There is merely wall space enough to admit of doors leading into the
various rooms. There is a small window which lights this hall; the
window may be reached for cleaning from the stairway. This plan
illustrates as clearly as possible the advantage of having the main
stairway land in the middle of the house. There is no better way to
economical use of space. From the second-floor hall there is a stairway
leading to the attic. This passage is lighted in the same way as the
second-floor hall.
[Illustration: Plan No. 3.]
It may be said that the bedrooms of this house are not large. The house
is not large. The problem involved a low-cost, roomy house. We get a
large number of rooms within a small enclosure, and, necessarily, some
of them are small. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the value of
a room is not dependent upon its size. A room may be of respectable
dimensions, but yet not have the necessary wall space for the furniture.
Such a room would not be as satisfactory as a smaller one, had care been
taken to provide this space. In each bedroom there should be space for a
bed, a wash-stand, and a dressing-case. The latter should be near a
window. It will be found that there is room for such furniture in each
of the bedrooms shown on this plan. All are provided with ample closets.
In one of these houses which was built, there was a door between the
bedroom in front and the chamber. In another case, there was a door
connecting the two larger rooms. All these things are matters of
personal preference, or special family requirements, depending upon the
age and number of the children, and other family conditions.
[Illustration: Plan No. 4.]
Plan No. 2 is similar to No. 1, excepting that there are a few changes
in detail. The rooms are smaller; the hall is relatively shorter; it
illustrates the process of contraction. No. 3 is similar to No. 2,
excepting that it has a front as well as a rear stairway, and the
position of the dining-room is changed.
No. 4 is a development of the same class of plans. There are the front
and the rear stairways, also a bath-room over the kitchen, and a
servant's room. The dotted lines running through the little bedroom on
the second floor indicate the position of a hall, which may be
constructed connecting the front and rear part of this house. As will be
noticed, this is a nine-room house in a very economical form.
[Illustration: Plan No. 5.]
Plan No. 5 is a further development and improvement of the same idea.
The objection that one may raise to any of the plans just described is,
that one has to pass through the parlor, or the room in the rear of the
hall, to reach the room back of the parlor. Plan No. 5 solves this
problem. From the hall we can go into the living-room, the dining-room
or parlor, without passing through another room. The second floor is an
improvement over No. 4, in that the little bedroom in the rear is
enlarged by allowing it to project over the room below the width of the
hall. In the rear of this comes the bath-room.
[Illustration: FIGURE 10.]
As to cost. The building, without appurtenances, on the basis outlined
in schedule "B," would cost as follows:--
Plan No. 1, $1,700; No. 2, $1,550; No. 3, $1,550; No. 4, $1,800; No. 5,
$1,900. Figures 8 and 9 are elevations suited to these plans.
[Illustration: Plan No. 6]
Plan No. 6 had its origin in Plan No. 1, and was developed through the
successive stages indicated in the description of plans from 1 to 5
inclusive. The position of the grate-stack has been changed, so that it
acts for the reception-hall on one side, and the parlor on the other.
The reception-hall, instead of receding, projects. In one corner
thereof is arranged a vestibule, partitioned from the rest of the rooms
by ornamental fret-work backed with curtains. This will make a very
beautiful feature. It changes this hall into a room. From here we may
pass to the parlor, sitting-room, and dining-room. In the rear of the
sitting-room is a porch; at one side, a projecting window-seat. The
sitting-room closet is cut off from the pantry. The dining-room is
connected with the sitting-room by sliding-doors. A convenient
china-closet connects the dining-room and kitchen. On one side of the
china-room are arranged drawers. Under the china-closet proper are
shelves enclosed by panelled doors; the china-shelves above being
protected by glass doors, according to the general ideas previously
expressed when considering the china-closet in particular. The kitchen
is the same as others, which are described elsewhere in a more detailed
way. There is a laundry in the basement, and an outside cellar-way
connecting with the back yard. The inside cellar-way is shown. The next
door is that which leads to the second floor. There are five bedrooms on
this floor. The elevation of this house is shown in Fig. No. 11. The
building, without appurtenances, according to schedule "B," costs
$2,600.
[Illustration: Fig. 8]
[Illustration: Fig. 9]
Elevations Nos. 1 and 2 indicate a simple form of exterior, which may go
with either of these plans excepting No. 3.
The photographic view, Fig. No. 10, shows an exterior of No. 1, as built
at one time.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
CHAPTER XVI.
A SMALL POCKET-BOOK AND A LARGE IDEA.--AMBITION, DOLLARS, AND A
GOOD HOUSE.--THE GROWTH OF THE HOUSEKEEPER'S IDEAS.--POINTS ABOUT
THE HOUSE.--$2,900.
It is frequently said of those who would build, that their ideas are
larger than their pocket-books. It is certainly not discreditable to any
one that his ideas should be larger than his immediate resources. Such a
condition causes the enlargement of the individual and his pocket-book
at the same time. The man who says that he wants two thousand dollars'
worth of house does not get as much for his money as he who in effect
says, "I want three thousand dollars' worth of house for two thousand
dollars." The latter is an ambitious man; the former has only a little
ambition. He merely wants a house. Fortunately, however, there are few
such people. It is more likely to happen that a man and his wife, who
have worked hard for several years, get enough money together to build a
home, and it is possible that this home has been talked about for
several years previous to their building. In fact, they have been
educating themselves in house-building. They have acquainted themselves
with all of the modern conveniences. They have studied porches,
vestibules, and stairways; they know how many rooms they want on the
first floor and the bedrooms that they will have above. At first this
house presents itself in a very crude form; but in the course of time
the plan shows itself more clearly to them. They begin to place the
furniture in the imaginary rooms, and as they do this their ideas
enlarge. They add at first inches, and then feet, to the size of the
various rooms. At first their ideas of a kitchen were quite moderate; in
time a sink begins to assume certain vague outlines, then it takes
definite form on one side of the room; then a pump is placed beside it;
afterward the wife says, "How nice it would be if we could have a
hot-water faucet over the sink." At first they shake their heads and say
that it would cost too much; but in the course of a few evenings' talk
on this and kindred subjects, they come to the conclusion that if the
hot-water arrangements do not cost too much, they will have them; and
that as things are so much cheaper than they used to be, they certainly
ought to get all of these for about what they originally expected to pay
for the house. Their ideas have been of slow growth, but continuous, and
in the aggregate the growth has been great. During all the winter
months, previous to the time when they would build in the spring, many
sketches are made, of the floor-plans of the house that is to be.
Finally the net result is handed to a builder or an architect,--more
frequently the former, as most small houses are built without
professional service. The figures from the builder come in, and are very
much higher than was expected. It is quite a shock, for certainly there
is nothing there that they can well do without. Everything has been
thought of so much. Nothing that their plan contains appears to them to
be less than a matter of necessity. Other builders are asked to figure
with results little more satisfactory. In the end there must be a
compromise; the builder and the owner both yield, and, as a result, a
very satisfactory house is built. There are little things which they
would have different, but, in the main, the house is satisfactory.
This is the universal experience, and the effect upon the domestic
architecture of this country has been very pronounced. We can now get a
better house for a given sum of money than ever before. Better not only
as to general construction, but as well on account of external
appearance, and the convenience of its internal arrangements. One may
get more of what are regarded as the little conveniences, which mean so
much to the housekeeper. This is not altogether the result of lower
prices of the material and labor which go to make a house, but is as
well on account of the skill which has been developed in planning and
arranging buildings, with reference to economy in space, and cost of
general construction. The planning of houses has undergone a revolution
within a few years past; and instead of having the long, narrow halls at
the side and in the middle of a house, and the long halls and narrow
passages through the upper floor, all of which was ugly and
inconvenient, we now have the same area thrown in large square rooms, so
as to be available.
It may be known that chimney stacks are quite expensive. For this reason
an effort has been made to group them, so that they may be made to
answer for a number of rooms; and the success with which efforts in this
direction have been attended has been wonderful indeed. The modern floor
plan is altogether different from that of the past; it is more
convenient and less expensive to build; and, as said before, this is
largely the result of efforts of the owner, who has ideas larger than
his pocket-book, and the architect or builder, who exercises his
ingenuity to bring the ideas and the money together.
[Illustration: Plan No. 7]
Plan No. 7 is of an eight-room house, and is fairly representative of
the ideas expressed. The general form, it will be seen, is square. It is
a two-story house with a reception-hall, parlor, dining-room, kitchen,
china-closet, pantry, and stair-hall on the first floor; there are
three chambers, the servant's bedroom, the bath-room, and a
communicating hall on the second floor. The first floor is ten feet six
inches high, and the second, nine feet six inches. From the second floor
there is a stairway going to the attic, which is large and roomy, and
which may have various uses. The cellar is seven feet high, and is well
lighted by having the joist set well up from the grade line. There may
be a laundry here, and, separated from it by a door, we may have a
coal-cellar and a furnace-room. As we approach the house, there is,
first, a broad porch about eight feet in width, and fourteen feet in
length. At a slight additional expense, say fifty dollars to sixty
dollars, this porch might be extended across the entire front. Before
reaching the front door, there is a small vestibule,--arranged with or
without storm-doors, as may be thought desirable. It is the impression
of the writer that storm-doors are seldom used. The distinctive feature
of this house is the hall, which is large enough--thirteen feet six
inches by fifteen feet--to be used as a sitting-room. In the front part
of this hall, and at the right as we enter, are a window-seat and a
broad window in front and immediately above it; this is slightly
separated from the main room by the small pilasters or casings on each
side. Immediately in front of the doorway, there are a grate and mantel
set in one corner of the room. There are large doorways, five feet wide,
leading into the stair-hall immediately back of this room, and into the
parlor at the left as we enter. In this case there are merely door
openings, portières or curtains taking the place of ordinary doors.
Sliding-doors might be used in addition to the curtains, and thus have
the advantage of both curtains and doors. From this room the outlines of
the stair-hall and the stairway are visible or not, according to the
arrangement of the portières. There is a side entrance into this hall,
and from it one may go into the kitchen by passing through two doors. It
is a good principle in planning a house always to have two doors between
the kitchen and any other part of the house. One door could as well be
used in this instance, but a second one is added to make the isolation
more complete. In the plan here given, it may be noticed that there are
cellar stairs passing under the main stairway in the hall.
The dining-room may be entered either from the front parlor or from the
stair-hall. In each case doors are used. It is always desirable to have
a dining-room so arranged that it may be closed from the other parts of
the house. There is a grate in each of the two principal rooms, the
hall, the parlor, and the dining-room, and all communicate with a single
stack. This is much more economical than having three distinct stacks,
which are so frequently used for accomplishing the same result. The only
other chimney stack is in the kitchen. The two answer every purpose.
The outside corners of the dining-room are cut off at an angle of
forty-five degrees, so that the end of the dining-room presents the form
of a large bay window. In the middle space at this end may be placed the
sideboard, in which event a window will be placed over it,--that is,
well toward the ceiling. The dining-room communicates with the kitchen
through a large pantry, eight feet square, or through a slide in the
back of the china-closet. In the kitchen there are broad windows on the
two sides, and a door leading into the back yard.
In following the stairway to the second floor, it will be noticed that
there is a broad landing something more than half-way up, and that there
is a large window, slightly above it, which lights the hall below, and
partially lights the one above. The advantages of having a stairway
which lands approximately in the centre of the house, as does this one,
is that no room is lost by having long halls which have to lead from the
front to the rear of the house. All we need have is a short hall in the
centre of the building, which will communicate with the rooms around it.
Another convenience of this arrangement is that all of the front of the
house is utilized for chambers. Where the stairway lands in the front of
a house, there must either be a long hall, which is a waste of room, or
one must pass through one or more chambers to get to others. In this
plan the rooms are arranged around the hall, there being three large
ones over the three principal rooms below. In each of these chambers
there is abundant space for the usual bedroom furniture,--viz., a bed,
dresser, wash-stand, and chairs. In these rooms there are closets, and
at the end of the hall there is a store closet for bedding, etc. The
servant's room, as shown, is over the kitchen, as is also the bath-room.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
It may be noticed that the fixtures in the bath-room--that is, the
bath-tub and closet--are directly over the sink below, so that the pipes
may have the most direct and the shortest runs possible, which is not
only economical, but also safer from flooding in case of accident. The
tank in the attic, which contains the soft or cistern water, is directly
over the tub, and the laundry sink in the cellar is directly under the
kitchen sink. Thus, from cellar to attic, all the plumbing fixtures are
in line, and all pipes exactly vertical, excepting where it is desirable
to take a short branch to connect the fixtures. Having the bath-room
slightly separated, as it is, from the main hall, it is safer, from a
sanitary point of view, than if it opened directly into the main hall.
There is a closet for soiled linen next to the bath-room, which is
accessible either from it or from the short hall leading to it. The
stairs to the attic lead out of the hall, as shown. The attic is
floored, but is otherwise unfinished. If found desirable, one or more
rooms could be finished here, which would be quite as large and pleasant
as any of the other rooms in the house. This house can be finished
complete, including fences, sheds, walks, gas fixtures, plumbing,
mantels, and furnace, for $2,900.
Fig. No. 12 is an elevation.
CHAPTER XVII.
"WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT."--A CONVENIENT PLAN.--MEETING THE WANTS OF
PEOPLE WHO BUILD.
Floor plans develop from the varying necessities of those who build.
There is no reason why the same arrangement should suit any large number
of people. A floor plan, if carefully and thoughtfully made, will meet
the requirements of the individuals whose wants are particularly
considered. While there are certain general principles, which affect the
value of a floor plan for good or evil, the detailed requirements are
almost as varied as the tastes and dispositions of the occupants.
A lady and gentleman come into an architect's office, and explain that
they are intending to build, and want to look at something with a view
of selecting a plan. The architect has a great many plans which he might
show them, but he knows well enough that none of them will be selected.
He says:--
"I shall be glad to show you anything I have, but not with the
expectation of finding something that will please you. By doing so, I
shall probably find out what you do not want, and in that negative way
meet your requirements."
"I think I know what we want," says the lady, "but I do not know just
how to arrange it. The stairways bother me, and there are things which I
do not get to suit me."
"Well, tell me what, you want, and then we will make a sketch; and from
that, corrections; and, in the end, we shall probably have something
satisfactory, though not wholly so at once."
"Before we go any farther," says the gentleman, "I want to say that we
have only twenty-five hundred dollars to put into a house."
"Yes, that is all we can afford," says the lady; "but I can tell you
what we want."
The architect reaches for a note-book and a piece of paper.
"We want a reception-hall, with a grate and stairway in it. There must
be a small vestibule, with a place for overshoes, hats, and overcoats.
Somewhere near the reception-hall, or in it, I want a closet where I can
put my own wraps, and those of the children, and other things which I do
not care to keep upstairs, and yet wish to have out of the way. It does
not need to be a large closet, but must not be unusually small. We want
a parlor and dining-room, which connect with the reception-hall. The
parlor will be used as a sitting-room not a little, but not in the
ordinary way, for the reason that I stay upstairs with the children most
of the time. I do my sewing there. If I should use the parlor regularly
as the sitting-room, I could receive my callers in the reception-hall.
It would be nice if we could have some kind of a window-seat in that
room. We want a grate in the sitting-room, but not necessarily one in
the dining-room. I want a back stairway, but it must not go up directly
from the kitchen. The kitchen and pantry I want you to make as
convenient as possible in a house of this cost."
"How would a combination stairway do?"
"Oh, I don't want that at all. It would be bringing the two together. I
want the rear stairway in the rear of the house, and entirely separate
from the one in front. It should land near the girl's room on the second
floor, so that it can be cut off from the rest of the house. We must
have plenty of closet-room upstairs."
"How many children have you?"
"Two: a baby and a little boy about six years old."
"Then you must have at least four bedrooms," was suggested. "For the
present, the baby can sleep in your room, and the boy in a room next to
and connecting with it. There must also be a guest's room and a
servant's room."
"Yes, that will have to do for the present; but don't forget the
bath-room, and be sure to have plenty of closets. There is one thing I
had almost forgotten. There must be some arrangement so that the servant
can get from the kitchen to the front door without going through the
dining-room; but we don't want the smells of the kitchen to get into the
front part of the house."
After two or three sketches had been made, the result, as here
illustrated, was reached. The architect has it in mind that the space at
the right of the entrance door in the vestibule would serve as a place
for overcoats and other winter equipments. He suggests that a portière
be placed between the vestibule and the opening leading into the
reception-hall. This will prevent draughts of cold air from making their
way into the front room when the door is opened. It will also lend a
certain amount of privacy. The porch is placed in front, as a matter of
course. In the recess of the hall which is made by the vestibule a
window-seat is placed. In the rear of the reception-hall is the closet
required. As a means of getting from the kitchen to the reception-hall
without passing through the dining-room, two doors are arranged leading
to a passage under the stairs. This will prevent the passage of kitchen
odors over the house. The parlor and dining-room are arranged as shown.
Between the window and the door leading to the china-closet is space for
the sideboard. The pantry is separated from the china-closet by the
cupboard of the former. It has doors above and shelves below. The
ice-chest is placed in the pantry. It is readily accessible from both
china-closet and kitchen.
[Illustration: Plan No. 8.]
The passageway to the second floor is from this room, and, considering
the limited means and large general requirements, this arrangement will
no doubt be satisfactory. The stairway is accessible from both
dining-room and kitchen. As there is a bath-room and water-closet above,
there is no necessity for carrying slops downstairs and through the
kitchen. The kitchen has the usual fittings. The passage to the cellar
is under the front stairway. As will be remembered, there is a door
shutting this passage from the reception-hall. Upstairs there is a
closet in each room, two opening into the hall--one for bed linen, and
one for dust-pans, brushes, etc. There is also a closet in the
bath-room. The attic stairway is shown. An inspection of Plan No. 8 will
show how all of the requirements were met.
Cost, as per schedule "B," $2,200.
CHAPTER XVIII.
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."
CHAPTER XIX.
SITTING-ROOM AND PARLOR IN FRONT.--A CONNECTING VESTIBULE.--A
CENTRAL COMBINATION STAIRWAY.--GOOD ROOMS IN THE ATTIC.
When we say that the sitting-room should be in the front part of the
house, it does not necessarily imply that the parlor should be
disturbed. As shown in Plan No. 10, they may both be in front. The
vestibule, which is large enough for a hat-rack, and for the occupants
of the house to stand while putting on their overshoes and wraps, is in
front of both parlor and reception-room, but yet in a way so as not to
disturb the view to the street from either of these rooms. We cannot
have all of the rooms in front. The kitchen we do not want there. The
dining-room is convenient if placed immediately in the rear of the
sitting-room. Thus we have two rooms in front and two in the rear. This
is practically a square house. The old habit has been to place the
stairway along one side of the parlor in the hall which served as a
passageway from the front to the rooms immediately in the rear. This
distribution of halls is what has thrown the sitting-room back of the
parlor. In the plan here given the change has been made so that the hall
has relatively the same position that did the sitting-room in the past,
though it is by no means as large. It is essentially a stair-hall, and
incidentally a passage. As placed, we may enter it from the parlor,
sitting-room, dining-room, or kitchen. Its position is central. There
are two doors between this stair-hall and the kitchen. The central
position of the stairway has other advantages than those just stated.
It makes long halls on the second floor entirely unnecessary. As will be
seen by looking at the floor plan, it gives two good bedrooms in front.
[Illustration: Plan No 10.]
The dining-room is immediately in the rear of the sitting-room. There
may be sliding doors connecting these two rooms. One door, three and a
half feet wide, usually makes a sufficiently large opening for the
dining-room connection. There are sliding doors between the parlor and
sitting-room, and dining-room and sitting-room, as shown. The kitchen
has the advantage of a certain amount of isolation from the rest of the
house, for the reason that there are two doors between it and any other
room. The pantries are arranged with reference to their most convenient
use. In the kitchen-pantry there are places for a refrigerator,
flour-bin, bread-board, and cupboard. The dining-room pantry is a
china-closet, with glass doors above and closed doors below. The doors
connecting the dining-room pantry or passage should be hung on
double-spring hinges.
In the plan of this house it is shown how we may go from the kitchen to
the same landing that is used for the main stairway, and thus avoid the
necessity for a distinctively back hall and back stairway. However, if
it is so desired, it is easy to place a stairway in the rear, and thus
have them entirely independent. In that event a room may be placed over
the pantry, and be used by the servant. This part of the house could be
cut off from the front rooms and the bath-room on the second floor by a
door. But to take the house as it is, we have a combination stairway,
there being two doors separating the kitchen approach from the common
landing in the main stair-hall.
On the second floor there is a hall about fourteen feet long from which
we pass to two bedrooms in front, two in the rear, the bath-room and the
store-closet. Each room is independent. They may be connected one with
the other as family necessities suggest. The store-closet is accessible
from the hall, as such a closet should be. This makes it available from
any of the rooms. The bath-room is directly over the kitchen.
In each bedroom there is a place for a bed, a dressing-case, and a
wash-stand, which is not always the case in bedrooms. If there is a
place for these things, if the dressing-case bears its proper relation
to the sources of light, if it is so placed that the light from the
window or from the gas shines in the face of the user, if the wash-stand
is conveniently disposed, and there is room at the side of it for a
slop-jar, if there is a large closet, then the architect has done his
full duty in the arrangement of the bedroom. The room that is called
the family room should be especially well cared for in the matter of
closets.
A hundred dollars would lath and plaster the entire attic of this house,
and provide a room in the front part which could be used by the boys or
the servant. There is no objection to this except in the necessity for
climbing an extra pair of stairs. The mere mention of a bedroom in the
attic is distasteful to many people. It arouses memories of hot, dusty,
and uncomfortable places in which they have passed the night. All this
depends on the attic. The roof in this house is pitched at an angle of
forty-five degrees. The house at the narrowest point is 29. feet wide.
This would make the attic at the highest point 14-1/2 feet. We can stud
down from this and have a nine-foot story and at the same time a large
room, one which would have none of the disadvantages of a half-story
room, and which would have all the advantages of a well-ventilated,
comfortable bedroom, for summer or winter. The plastering of the attic
suggests neatness. Having it well lighted by dormers exposes all
disorder. Cost, as per schedule "B," $2,600.
CHAPTER XX.
A COMPACT PLAN.--AN ISOLATED RECEPTION-ROOM.--COMBINATION
STAIRWAY.--DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOOR PLAN.--CELLAR
ARRANGEMENT.--DINING-ROOM AND CONSERVATORY.--ANOTHER PLAN.
The floo
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