128 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[April, 
Fig. 1.— FRONT, OR SOUTH-EAST, ELEVATION. 
A Convenient Country or Village House, 
Having the !! Modern Improvements ” of Gas, Hot and 
Cold Water, Bath-room, Water-closet, Warm Air 
Furnace, Speaking Tubes, Bells, Dumb-ioaiters, etc .— 
(all of which, except the Gas, are available in 
Country Houses generally). — Cost, $7,000.to $8,500. 
The demand upon us for hints and suggestions on 
building and improving houses, is becoming very great. 
This is hardly to be wondered at, when we remember 
that there are in this country some Forty Millions of 
people, all of whom need some kind of shelter in the form 
of a house. We will try to do more than hitherto, to¬ 
wards supplying practical information. Perhaps the best 
way to do this is, to take up successive plans and describe 
them, weaving into the descriptions various suggestions. 
Some of these plans will furnish exact models for those 
having no experience in building, and no favorite plans 
Fig. 2.— REAR, OR NORTH-WEST, ELEVATION. 
of their own. Usually, however, these descriptions will 
serve merely as suggestions.Our Senior Publisher 
has for several years kept one or more houses in course 
of erection, not as a source of profit—for they are sold at 
cost —but partly as a matter of pleasant pastime or source 
of pleasure in exercising a natural mechanical taste, and 
partly, to gain information that may be useful to our 
readers, by practical experience in working out plans. 
In March of last year, we published a description of one 
of his houses costing $12,000. These houses were further 
improved upon in two others, costing about $13,000 each, 
having more piazzas, circle head or arched doors and win¬ 
dows in the first story, 
and one foot larger 
each way. Last month 
we described those, 
alike in plan, but vary¬ 
ing a little in size, 
which cost $5,100 to 
$5,500. These prices 
are exclusive of the 
ground. We now give 
plans of those costing 
a little over $S,000. 
Mr. J. is also thinking 
over some plans (for 
testing by actual trial) 
of houses to cost re¬ 
spectively $1,200 to 
$1 ,500 each; about 
$2,000 each; about 
$3,000 each; and 
about $4,000 each. 
Fig. 1 shows the 
Front, or South¬ 
east, Elevation ; 
this stands on a cor¬ 
ner, but back from the 
streets, with the Piaz¬ 
za extending parallel 
with both the streets. 
Fig. 2 shows the 
Rear, or North¬ 
west, Elevation. 
For notes on kind of 
siding, roofing, liight from ground, filling in walls, paint¬ 
ing, etc., see notes last month, pages 88-9. Gas 
Pipes extend to every room and hall, from the 
basement to the 3d story. Color, very light gray. 
Fig. 3. Basement.—flight in clear, 8% feet. 
The walls are of Brick, with hollow in middle, and 
rise about 4)4 feet above the ground surface. Aa, 
the Kitchen, is of ample size, having: r , a 9-inch 
“ Victory Range ” with water-back, and by its side 
a pot and shelf closet, Cc; a Sink, u, —with Suction 
Pump, p, drawing water from outside reservoir 
through a tin-lined lead pipe; a Pantry, Cc, and a 
Dumb-Waiter, dw, to the butler’s pantry above; 
Speaking Tubes, s,s, one to dining-room, and one 
to family chamber (F, fig. 5). Bb is the Laundry, 
having Stationary Wash Trays (or tubs), t,t.t, sup¬ 
plied with hot and cold water stop cocks, chain- 
plugs, and outlet pipes with stench traps; a Suction 
and Force pump, n, which draws cold water from 
the reservoir for the wash- 
trays, and when needed in 
dry weather, forces water to 
the Tank (figure 6). The 
pump is supplied with an 
air chamber, and a valve to 
prevent drawing water from 
the tank, as shiftless “help" 
would be inclined to do. Z 
is a 40 gallon Copper Boiler, 
put hero instead of in Kitch¬ 
en, for heating. This is of 
course connected with the 
range water-back, and lias 
waste-pipe and stop-cock at 
the bottom, to draw off any 
sediment that may collect at 
the bottom in the course of 
time, if the water ho not ab¬ 
solutely pure. It is of course 
kept full by a pipe from the 
tank. Ee is a milk or food 
cellar, plastered and finish¬ 
ed off like Aa, Bb, and Hh. 
Del is a general or vegetable 
cellar, and Ff a coal cellar. 
is a 22-inch “Oriental” 
Base-burning Furnace, (see 
advertising columns), with 
door opening into Ff, and 
man-hole door in Hh, for 
supplying water to vapor 
pans. A door from the main 
Hall, Hh ,opens back into Ihc 
basement Area and Stairs. A Closet, c, is put under the 
stairs—the rule being to put closets wherever they can be 
worked in, throughout the house, which all housekeepers 
will value. The tin pipes conveying warm air to the 2d 
story, are carried up through the partitions, with iron 
laths on each side. These are made by cutting strips of 
sheet-iron 2 inches wide, bending the two edges over to 
hold the mortar, and nailing them upon the studding. 
This prevents any possibility of firing the wood-work. 
Too much care cannot be given to keeping all hot air 
pipes nearly an inch away from any wood-work, and 
lining all wood near them with tin, for absolute safety. 
Fig. 4. First Story.—Hig’nt in the clear 11 feet. 
A Piazza, 8 feet wide, extends around two sides, and an¬ 
other (Area 12)4x6 feet) is enclosed in sash—a cool resort 
in hot weather.The Main. Hall, H, is sufficiently 
wide for a house of this size, and with the double doors 
on each side gives a very much more spacious look to 
the whole house, on entering, than if it were only the 
usual width of 6 feet. The Vestibule, V, is shut off by 
glass doors.The size of the main Parlor, P, was 
adopted after much measuring and inquiring among house¬ 
keepers of good taste and judgment. The front double 
windows open down to the floor of the Piazza. The chim¬ 
ney has a statuary or white marble mautle, grate and sum¬ 
mer piece. r, near a square, here as elsewhere through¬ 
out the houses, indicates a register and warm air pipe 
from furnace. Bi i; is a bell-pull to the kitchen. In this 
room, as in others, double ventilators, one at the base- 
hoard, and one with cords placed near the ceiling, con¬ 
nect with a flue in the wall. (When heating up a cold 
room, close the upper and open the lower ventilator, and 
the warm air rising to the ceiling soon force's the cold air 
out through the lower ventilator. When desirable to re¬ 
move the heated, rarified, or impure air from above, the 
order of opening is reversed.). B is the Reception 
Room, ox Smaller Parlor, or “Living Room,” with pantry 
or closet,/), Italian Marble Mantel, and Grate, etc., and 
warm air register, r. Blc is a bell to kitchen.The 
Dining-Room, D, has pantries or dish-closets, p.p , at the 
ends, With an arch thrown over, and side brackets or pen- 
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Fig. 4.— FIRST STORY—FLOOR PLAN. 
dants. This is ornamented; it breaks up the box-like 
look of the room, and has the appearance of a Bay-win¬ 
dow. The Butler's pantry, bp, has an eieptical plated 
copper basin or wash sink, supplied with hot and cold 
water cocks with elevated, curved discharge pipe, and 
waste pipe and trap below. This is convenient for washing 
silver, and China or other dishes not to be sent below. 
The Dumb Waiter, dw, opens into this pantry, so that food 
can be brought up from the kitchen and prepared for the 
table out of sight of the dining-room; and soiled dishes 
are taken here to he sent down. (The elevator is sus¬ 
pended in the center by weight and cord over a pulley at 
the ceiling, for which there is room, as the shelves do not 
need to rise more than 4)4 or 5 feet above the floor.) 
Sk is a speaking tube to kitchen ; /Sc one to the family 
chamber ; Blc, a bell-pull to kitchen ; BZh, a hell-pull to 
3d story hall to call down servants or others when desired. 
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Fig. 3.— BASEMENT—FLOOR PLAN. 
