The Farmhouse 1509 



and makes a new plan of the whole property. Similarly, the farmhouse 

 has been very largely traditional in its plan and construction. A familiar 

 type of house is the long upright-and-wing, with the kitchen at one end 

 and the living-rooms at the farther end, and with perhaps the cellar under 

 the upright, or parlor, necessitating much travel. Only a part of the house 

 was warmed, so that the living was nearly all concentrated in the kitchen 

 and in one or two rooms adjoining it. Any rambling type lacks the con- 

 centration that is needed in middle-class new houses of the present day. 



The introduction of waterworks, the difficulty of obtaining household 

 help, the expense of heating, the removal of the handling of milk from the 

 residence in many cases, and many other changes, have made a new design 

 of farmhouse quite as essential in many cases as a new plan of the farm 

 itself. I think that town houses need just as much to be redirected as 

 country houses ; but I am not speaking of town problems. 



There has been a tendency in recent years, when new houses are to be 

 built in the open country, to adopt city models. The house which is 

 narrow and high of necessity in the city, and which serves city conditions 

 very well, not only may be very gawky and unsightly in the open country 

 but also may entail much unnecessary labor in running up and down stairs. 



What a farm residence should be 



By way of concrete suggestions, I will throw my statements into classi- 

 fied paragraphs. These suggestions apply to common farmhouses, rather 

 than to the estates of country gentlemen : 



1. Plan a waterworks system with a supply coming from an elevated 

 tank in the barn or in the attic, from a pneumatic tank in the cellar, from 

 a pneumatic cistern, from a creek or a well or a spring at an elevation above 

 the house, or from an hydraulic ram. 



2 . Plan a compact room arrangement that will allow a woman with two 

 or three children to do her work without servants and also to have some 

 time for reading and for social activity. 



3 . Consider how a hired man may occupy a room which has a separate 

 entrance from the remainder of the house and yet which may be under 

 family control. 



4. Plan the addition of outdoor sleeping facilities. Add a fireplace to 

 an old farmhouse. 



5. Plan a house with an accessible and attractive back door or work 

 entrance. 



6. Plan a lighting system either by acetylene gas, electric light, or other 

 means that are now available. Extend this system to the barns, if prac- 

 ticable. Also devise a way to heat the house. 



7. Plan a plain workroom or retiring room for the women of the family, 

 particularly for the wife and mother. This should be a retreat room that 

 is free from the cares and noise of the remainder of the house, containing 

 perhaps a few books and other means of recreation. 



8. Provide an office that shall be the business nucleus of the farm 

 scheme. This office should be of easy access on the first floor of the house, 

 rather than in the attic or in the barn. It would be easy to add such an 

 office to almost any farmhouse. It should have an outside entrance as well 

 as connection with the living-rooms. 



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