r »' mAmmiuI Uiui 
Voi, XXXYin. No 
Whole No. 1567. 
Price Five Cents, 
$2.00 Per Year. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, 
Entered at the Poet-Office at New York City, N. Y„ as second-class matter.] 
service nod await employment by the public. 
In the second place, half of the people who 
employ professional skill in building, think 
they '-now more about building than the 
architect, and he is made a mere draughtsman 
in the liant’s eves, employed merely to carry 
out tb 'atter’s views, and not to thwart him 
with suggestions of his own; but if be has 
sickness in his family, he does not presume to 
advise his physician as to the proper mode of 
treatment: nor would he feel warranted in 
suggesting to his lawyer how to carry on an 
important suit, but, when it comes to house 
building chat is wholly a different thing. There 
he feels at home, and will have everything his 
own war. He seems blinded to the fact that 
the lieagh of himBelf and family are at stake, 
and thaL the investment of a considerable sum 
of mom j. perhaps only once in a lifetime, 
ought to have due and careful consideration as 
to whether it will be judiciously and properly 
expended or wasted. 
What does a man know abont building affairs 
unless he .ias given the matter especial study? 
Some people will say that for an ordinary dwell¬ 
ing, it is only necessary to employ a builder, but 
it must be remembered a builder is notan archi¬ 
tect. and knows nothing beyond the mechanical 
system^, his trade; and the public are oft- 
times very ready to take their education in 
architecture from the village carpenter, simply 
because it is cheap and the carpenter, of 
course, wants work and does not want anyone 
stepping between him and the owner, so that 
he can have the entire work in a pecuniary 
light all to himself. 
A thoroughly conscientious bnilder and one 
who wants to do good work and something new 
and different from what is usual, will ask when 
any one calls on hitn with respect to building: 
“ Where are your plans and specifications and 
all the details of execution?" Ignorance on 
such matters will at once exhibit itself; and 
the builder will inform him: “ Without theee 
it is impossible for me to do anything; for as 
the compass is necessary for the mariner to 
guide his vessel over the deep, bo the plans, 
specifications and details are necessary for me 
to properly carry out yonr wishes in harmony 
with artistic taste.” It is, however, only this 
class, of which there are but few, who will do 
this, and the other class are numerous and are 
a sort of amateur architects, and people seem 
to lose sight of the fact that a poor article can 
always be obtained at small price. If you get 
cinders lu your iron, it is because there are cin¬ 
ders in the pay; there is always good Iron to 
be had. 
Our advice to every one who contemplates 
building is: Secure the services of a really well- 
trained and capable architect; pay him pro¬ 
perly and be guided by his judgment and expe¬ 
rience. This w#l also be-t&fcadyee of any one ex¬ 
perienced in such matters, and of others who re¬ 
gret that they built without such aid. Of course, 
every one has his peculiar wishes to be pro¬ 
readers of the Rural, as it is very rarely that 
one sees a brick cottage or a wood one. for that 
matter, in the country, with any real artistic 
merit, which should always be aimed at, with¬ 
out gewgaty and gingerbread work plastered on 
to buildings, to decay and drop of! after a year 
or two's exposure to the weather. Of frippery 
of this sort too much is seen, iustead of good 
solid work rightly designed, and which costs 
less to execute, being plain and useful in its 
position rather than tawdry and stuck on for 
mere ornamentation. 
To build and construct honestly, the style of 
construction must be ornamental; that is, the 
work must be so constructed as to make It 
ornamental without additions of filisree,scroll¬ 
work and such-like, planted on for decoration, 
and which are obnoxious to the culti vated taste. 
Yet. with few exceptions, onr rural architec¬ 
ture has not deserved or gained an enviable re¬ 
putation. On the contrary, there has been an 
artistic, tesUmric. aud sanitary deficiency here, 
in whieh pretension has overcome grace and 
the fitness of things 
Now let us look into this and see if we can 
discover the reasons for these defects. In the 
first place, architects are not employed to de¬ 
sign ahm-tenths of the buildings erected in the 
rural districts, simply because people are 
penny-wise and pound-foolish. It certainly is 
not because there are not able architects enough 
in the United States who cau render necessary 
DESIGN FOR BRICK COUNTRY HOUSE, 
PALLISER & CO., ARCHITECTS, 
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 
This cottage was designed for erection in a 
rural part of Michigan, where brick cost $5 
per thousand aud lumber is very low-priced_ 
to be had for the working, almost. The col¬ 
umns of verandas, frame-work of gables, etc., 
are of oak. oiled, with panels painted white, 
and the In ick-work is ornamented by the intro¬ 
duction of black brick in the frieze, etc., and 
is all laid in red mortar, makimra very pictur¬ 
esque and effective exterior produced solely bv 
the merits of the design and the proper use of 
color—the two important things which mar or 
make the effect of any building. 
The Interior, which is fully explained by the 
floor plans, is very convenient in arrangement, 
though, of course, it will not suit everyone, as 
individual wants and ideas differ. In fact,it is 
seldom that two persons want the same arrange¬ 
ment of rooms, etc. All the wood-work and 
finish In the Interior correspond wPnKThe ex¬ 
terior, being finished in natural colors and 
beauty, polished, with chamfers and cut-work 
picked out with raw sienna stain, through 
which the grain of the wood shows. 
DESIGN FOR A COUNTRY HOUSE—(BRICK.) 
