Planning the House 



Once upon a time a man bought an old Dutch Colonial farmhouse on a 

 beautiful spot in the state of New York. Its exterior was charmingly simple and 

 dignified. Not so 

 the interior. The 

 front door opened 

 into the sitting room, 

 and the servant 

 was obliged to go 

 through this room 

 and the dining room 

 to answer the bell. 

 The front stairway 

 led from the sitting 

 room through a slit 

 in the wall into a 

 chamber, and they 

 were as steep as a 

 barn ladder. One 

 night the head of 

 the house got up to 

 get the baby a little 

 subjugator and neg- 

 lected to light a 

 lamp. First he tried 

 to get into the servant's room, 

 which aroused that terrified 

 worthy to screams; then he tried 

 the guest's room with like result. 

 Finally he escaped through the 

 son's room, only to fall part way 

 downstairs in an effort to cross 

 the landing. By this time the 

 whole house was up and look- 

 ing for the burglar. 



Steps from one room to another and all places where one is likely to get a fall 

 should be avoided. The making of one part of the house on a different level from 

 the rest is picturesque enough, but is it worth the while ? A confusion of doors 

 is bad. For instance, not long ago an old lady who had occasion to arise in the 

 night mistook the backstair door for that desired and, there being no landing 

 at the top, she stepped off and fell to her death. Such backstairs should have a 

 landing with a rope or gate across it at night, if by any chance they are allowed 

 to exist at all. 



Every house should have a permanent front and back vestibule or 

 enclosed porch. This is important in order to keep out the cold, and further 

 because there are often callers at both front and back doors whom one does 

 not wish to admit further into the house. Then again the vestibule is an 



An excellent example of English design, at Overbrook, Pa. Cost, about $12,000 

 Wm. and Walter Price, architects 



