WHEELER'S RURAL HOMES. 



as they would be if not under the roof.* In a cool climate like that of England, this nest- 

 ling under the roof, as a toad nestles under a stone, is snug and comfortable — but "woe 

 to the Yankee who builds a " medieval cot" upon this principle, for this climate. " Hot 

 corn and baked pears," we are told, in a certain nursery rhyme, have a tendency to 

 " knock a darkey down stairs," whether from the excess of delight or not, is left to the 

 youthful imngination. But a July night in the cock-loft of one of these garrets of a high 

 peaked English cottage, built in our " diggins," will cause a poor wretch to seek the descend- 

 ing scale of the house with emotions more in harmony with Dante's Inferno, than 

 what is befitting and comfortable in " American country life." 



The "summer lodge" (p. 78) has the merit of being simple and unpretending — but is 

 marked by the same boldness and poverty of detail and composition. The veranda at the 

 side reminds one of Calvin Edson the walking skeleton, and the chimneys look as if they 

 had been " sat-down-upon." In the plan, it would be difficult to say why the pretty 

 library, (No. 4,) should be deformed by crowding the fire-place in the corner — when it 

 might as well have been ]mt in the centre of the side wall. The door leading from the 

 hall into the spacious drawing-room opens close to the fire-place — without any necessity 

 for it; and would, if executed according to the plan, utterly spoil the sj'^mmetry and pro- 

 portion of the room. 



The "Suburban villa" (p. 107) is a really good design, and the " Southern home" (p. 132) 

 has points of merit: but the " Parsonage house" has the same bold-corniced porch as 

 that we have already noticed, and the plan of the " small southern house," (p. 141) with 

 four rooms of the most ugly and inconvenient shapes, has the fire-place in three of them 

 stuck in the angle or corner of the apartment, in a way inexcusable in any man who has 

 "^ mastered the theories and technicalities" of his profession. 



Mr. Wheeler's desire to please the American public, and his talents for belle lettres, 

 have led him into the discussion of the varied beauties, principles and theories of the sub- 

 ject, which he treats in a manner by no means new with him, but with suggestions bor- 

 rowed from the works of native authors who have trodden the same ground more earnest- 

 ly and truthfully before him. In the main, he presents these principles fairly, and often 

 with point and elegance of expression. But it is entertaining to see how thin is his re- 

 publican disguise, and how poorly the dress fits him, notwithstanding his ambition to be 

 the model architect of our rural homes. The following extract will explain our mean- 

 ing. He has been describing, with some gusto, a model American village — has already 

 built the church and the school-house, and continues the tableau as follows : 



" Not far from this might be placed the parsonage — such an one as exhibited in this 

 Ijook: — unobtrusive, solid, and simple, connected with the church by a something which 

 distinguishes it from other dwellings, and yet possessing features in common with the 

 people's homes. Then could come houses of differing size and character; the modest cot- 

 tage of the working-man, with its gay little garden plot and bright flower bed; the some- 

 what larger dwelling of the store-keeper, merchant, and professional man ; the greai house 

 of the village with its noble woods and lawns, and everything that can show cultivation 

 thereof by art. The village inn, no flaunting, plate-glass bedizened temple of Bacchus, 

 but a cheerful, spacious traveller's home," &c. 



Now we do not deny that this is a "sweetly pretty" picture of a village, but leaving 

 out the " store-keeper's" house, is it not essentially wn-American? Nay, is it not essen- 

 tially English? The single church, the parsonage, the modest cottages of the working- 



this reason most American architects have, in adapting the English cottage style to this country, introduced 

 ory for the chamber floor instead of the origijial half story. 



No. XII. 8. 



