312 



COTTAGE BUILDING. 



ELEVATION. 



FIEST FLOOR. 



SECOND FLOOR. 



stove,* see my good wife busied in preparing our 

 evening meal, with tlie pantry door, door to the 

 wood-house, cellar door, and door side of the stove, 

 all in her own end, where husband, children, and 

 guest are out of her way — I think I have happened 

 to make a pretty large room of lOJ feet in the clear, 

 by 18, to say nothing of the recess, 4J by 8 feet, 

 where, in an emergency, we can quite conveniently 

 place a bed, though we have two comfortable bod- 

 rooms (a a) up stairs, 9 by lOJ, and 9 by 13 feet, 

 with closets, where- the bed-places are not against 

 doors or windows. 



Our entry (B) is only 3 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 2, 

 but it does very well to hang overcoats and hats, and 

 save wife and children from the cold blast of an open 

 door in a stormy day. The pantry (C) is of the same 

 size; but having shelves 14 inches wide running the 

 whole length of the right-hand side, and a broad shelf 

 across the end to roll the doughnuts on, with its little 

 flour and meal bins underneath, we think it very con- 

 venient. Our wood-house (D) is 12 feet square, and 

 8 high; d, in the chamber j]lan, represenis the roof 

 of it. I mean, in the spring, to put in it a cistern 

 elose"to the wall, and cover it with rough boards, 

 which extend over one-half the area of the wood- 

 house, which, with the addition of a sink and pump, 

 will make us a good summer kitchen. 



Now, ilessrs. Editors, when I take an outside look 

 at our cottage, I can not help thinking that the pro- 

 portions, 16 by 19, with 12 leet posts, and its brave 



little rectangular roof, (it looks steeper, more gotliic, 

 m the house itself, than in the drawing; I don't know 

 nliy, the proportions are the same,) its little addition 

 for hall and pantry of 10 feet 8 inches, by 4.feet, 10 

 lect posts, with its gable end, are jiretty fair. And 

 though it is built of rough, upright planks, battened, 

 (it is battened also on the inside, and the laths nailed 

 to the battens;) yet, with ils terraced foundation, its 

 piojecting water-table, its perfectly plain though 

 somewhat prominent cornice, and i's tessillated 

 windows, with their rough casings, as well as the 

 cornice bai tens and water-table, lime-washed a slight- 

 ly lighter stone-color than the planks, the eflect is to 

 rue rather pleasing. And when we get our little 

 Chinese veranda, 4 by 4 — built on the foundation 

 for it, which you see I have marlied on the ground 

 plan — to shelter the front door, and our fruit trees 

 shall have grown, by-the-by, please ask your engraver 

 to anticipate a few of them, for I can't draw trees,) 

 we think the tout ensemble will be quite an advance 

 upon the Yankee-cheap architecture that we see 

 every where about us. g. s. g. 



The nest plan we will give is one of Downing's 

 designs. It would cost about $400 in Rochester : 



This simple design is given to show how a very 

 small cottage, built of wood, may be made to look 

 well at a very trifling cost. In form, it is a mere par- 

 rallelogram, and while it is devoid of a very strongly 

 n.arked architectural character, it combines something 

 of home-like or domestic expression. 



The picturesque character is partly owing to the 

 bold shadows thrown by the projecting roof, and 

 partly to rafter brackets and window hoods. 



Let any one imagine this little cottage, with its 

 roof cut olf close to the eves, with the rafter brackets 

 that support the projecting eaves omitted, with the 

 windows and door mere bare frames, and he has an 

 example of how this same cottage would look as we 

 commonly see it built; that is to say, without the 

 pictuiesqueness of wood clearly expressed by using 

 it boldly (not neatly and carefully ;) by a senr-e of 

 something beyond mere utility, evinced in the pa'ns 

 taken to extend the roof more than is absolutely 

 needful ; and by raising the character of the windows 

 and dooi-s by placing hoods over their tops?. 



.Accommodation. — The single apartment called the 

 living-room, 12 by 18 feet, is the common apartment, 

 the kitchen, sitting-room, and parlor of this family; 

 for it is intended for a family which " takes care of 

 itself." 



Opening the front door of this cottage, we see an 

 entry six feet wide, which contains the stairs to the 

 second floor. Underneath this stairs, another flight 

 descends to the cellar. 



On the left of the entry is a small bed-room twelve 

 feet square. If this bed-room is used constantly, it 

 would be better to have it communicate with the 

 living-room by the door on the left of the chimney 

 flue, which is now the closet door; and the arrange- 

 ment, supposing this bed-room in constant ufe, will 

 give greater convenience and greater warmth in 

 winter, since' one fire will keep both rooms warm. — 

 If, on the contrary, it is only to be used occasionally, 



