s 





# 



THE XJENESEE FAEIJEE. 



47 



•1^^^ 



'^ 



RURx\L HOMES. 



A SUCUKCAN COTTAGE 



Ix our January niimber wc noticed a new book, entitled "Rural Ilomea," by Gervase WiiEni,!^, 

 promising to give some extracts from the work in a future number. We ai-e well pleased that 

 works on rural architecture are multiplying, as this fact shows a demand for reading of tliis character. 

 Li every pai-t of the country over which we have occasion to travel, we observe neat cottages, pretty 

 " rural homes," springing up where but a few years ago nothing attractive in the form of a house 

 could be seen. These may not all be designed in the most correct taste — some may exhibit redun- 

 dancy of ornament, showing the want of such a work as Mr. Wheeler's, — but still they are generally 

 pretty and tasteful. These cottage buildings add much to the beauty of the landscape. Without 

 further remark we give the promised quotation, selecting one of the cheapest and most convenient of 

 the cottage plans : 



"A cottage Iiome suited to tlie neighborhood of some small country town, and indica- 

 tive of refinement and taste on the jmrt of its occupants, may be made a very pleasing 

 feature in the landscape. 

 The illustration given 

 here represents such a 

 building, and I will pro- 

 ceed to describe it in de- 

 tail, premis'ng that its 

 cost being but fourteen 

 hundred dollars, it would 

 be found within the means 

 of most persons desiring 

 such a house. 



" The character of the 

 exterior is architectural, 

 partaking something of 

 the Rural Italian. Its 

 low walls, overshadowang 

 roof, wide veranda, and 

 projecting ombra in its 

 southern fi-ont, give it an 

 appearance of sjanmetry and refinement that adapts it to the occupancy of a family of 

 elegance and taste. The material of which it may be constructed may be stone, brick, 

 or wood. If of stone, no change may be made in its form or the nature of its details, 

 unless perhaps making them heavier, and their marked features still more bold. If of 

 brick, I would merely add a projecting face, one brick wide and projecting two inches 

 round all of the windows, and a band running horizontally below the brackets or canti- 

 levers of the roof about a foot deep, upon which they may rest. If of wood, the covering 

 should be clap-boarding or smooth ceiling, not battens and perpendicular planking, as 

 the leading characteristics of the composition are horizontal lines, and Avould be contra- 

 dicted by any other direction in the lines of the covering. The roof, of sufficiently steep 

 a slope to carry off all water or snow, should be shingled, and the gable over the center 

 of the southern front be made water-tight with metal strips in the valley formed by its 

 intersection with the slope of the main roof. The chimnies, formed of brick, rise in 

 shnple form from the ridge, and as they have no portion of the roof or building higher 

 than themselves, need not extend above the ridge more than sufficient to ensure good 

 proportion of height to Avidth. 



"Before proceeding further with the exterior of the building, I will describe tho flan. 



ELEVATION. SUBURBAN COTTAGE. 



(di 



•S5-- 



-rrc^ 



S: 



