Vol. LVII. No. 2525. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 18, 1898. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
THE PRIZE HOUSE PLANS. 
A IiO.OMY PLACE FOR SUMMER B O A R D E R S . 
A Plain House for Plain Farmers. 
Last Summer, Tuk R. N.-Y. received a letter from a 
farmer’s wife in Schuyler County, N. Y. We had just 
printed a picture of an up-to-date barn, and this 
woman had been discussing 1 the barn 
plans with her husband. So she wrote : 
We often see good plans for barns, but I wish 
to ask for a plan of an up-to-date farmhouse— 
not a house for the retired farmer, but for those 
who are bearing the heat and burden of the day; 
one where all the employees through seeding, 
planting, haying, harvesting, thrashing and car¬ 
ing for the stock in Winter, can be fed and lodged 
conveniently and economically to the farmer's 
wife, and comfortably to the family the year 
through. There are so many demands upon the 
farmhouse that it ought to be the best structure 
that can be designed. 
Acting upon this suggestion, we offered 
prizes for the best house plans that 
should cover the suggestions contained 
in this note. Fifty-eight plans were 
offered, and after some delay, the judges 
reported as follows : 
Report of the Judges. 
In resp.onse to The R. N.-Y.’s offer of 
prizes for farmhouse plans, many of un¬ 
common excellence, have been presented. 
The plans that came from the South are 
delightfully roomy, but impractical where warm sleep¬ 
ing-rooms are essential. Many plans are arranged 
with large and long halls which, under many circum¬ 
stances, are desirable ; but it’s no small item to furnish 
and heat them, and they often necessitate many steps. 
Not many depending solely on the farm for an income 
can afford the luxury. Then, too, few housewives on 
the farm are exempt from the opportunity, either from 
choice or necessity, of doing their own housework for 
longer or shorter periods, and ’tis then that we appre¬ 
ciate compactness. We all 
know that growth, mar¬ 
riage and death bring their 
changes to our homes, and 
a house that can adapt it¬ 
self to the varying needs of 
its owner's family, com¬ 
mends itself above all 
others. 
The question of expense 
is very difficult to deter¬ 
mine in considering these 
plans. Cost of material and 
labor differs with locality 
and management. Roofing 
is one of the most expensive 
materials, and should be 
made to cover as much 
room as possible. We find 
that the plan presented by 
W. B. Cleves, Broome 
County, N. Y., combined 
these essentials more fully 
than any other plan offered. 
The reception hall could be 
used as a sitting-room, 
while the rooms to the 
right and left are suitable 
for parlor, library, sleeping- 
other door into the dining-room, and fit it up with 
conveniences for the men to wash in and make them¬ 
selves presentable for the table without passing 
through the kitchen. If an extra cistern be required 
to furnish the water, it is no detriment to the house. 
If one cistern spring aleak, it’s very consoling not to 
have all your “eggs in one basket” or soft water in 
FIRST PRIZE FARM HOUSE (NEW YORK STATE). Fig. 189. 
one cistern. It is, also, an advantage in a drought. 
One competitor planned a house so that the “old 
folks ” could remain on the farm and be comfortable. 
This design adapts itself to that need, also, as the two 
rooms to the left of the stairway may be pleasant 
apartments by themselves, yet convenient in case of 
sickness when the greatest economy of time and 
strength is required. 
Mrs. Truman Brewer, of Caledonia County, Vt., mod¬ 
estly presents a plan for an unpretentious house that 
contains many excellent 
features. The pantry is 
almost ideal in its com¬ 
pleteness. As she says, 
room, sewing-room or nursery as circumstances re¬ 
quire. A door between the fireplace and stairway 
would allow of a shortcut to the kitchen, and a most 
convenient closet. The writer of this also wishes to 
say that she would prefer the pantry to be 9 x 4% feet, 
and make that corner of the house a tiny room 4% x 5 
feet, with a sash door opening on the porch, and an¬ 
FLOOR PLANS OF FIRST PRIZE HOUSE. Fig. 190. 
various desirable changes could be had by an increased 
outlay, but as far as it goes, it is good for utility, and, 
in our opinion, is entitled to the second prize. 
family, in anticipation of Summer boarders, the plan 
has proved very satisfactory. The house fronts south. 
You will notice that the east end overhangs the porch, 
giving additional rooms above, and this overhanging 
portion I have not included in the plan. In the orig¬ 
inal, the porch is 13 feet wide, and its railing 14 inches 
wide, affording sitting room all around. These two 
features have proved especially desira¬ 
ble—a wide porch and a broad rail. 
The sitting-room is an ample reception 
hall, its character emphasized by the 
landing of the stairs projecting into the 
room, and a broad chimney of red pressed 
brick which extends four inches into the 
room from the ceiling downward to the 
mantel, and eight inches below the man¬ 
tel. An open fireplace for a wood fire is 
px-ovided. On either side of the chimney, 
are oak bookshelves. Bookshelves, fire¬ 
place and landing with its rail are in 
view from the dining-room. The south¬ 
east room connects with the dining-room 
by folding or sliding double doors, and 
the two make practically one room for 
festive occasions. The pantry is con¬ 
nected with the kitchen and dining-room 
by swinging doors. The bath-room in 
our house is on the second floor; in 
Winter, we wish it were below, hence I 
have drawn one on each floor. The floors 
are of Georgia pine, bare and polished in 
kitchen, chambers and bath-room. The house is 
warmed by a furnace, and supplied with water from a 
reservoir 70 feet above the house on the farm. The 
x-eservoir is fed from a well by a windmill. Beyond 
the woodhouse, or between the woodhouse and cream¬ 
ery, I woxxld add an icehouse. The Colonial style, 
with square outline, gives the most room for the 
outlay. w. b. cleves. 
The Second Prize House. 
We intend to bxxild a new house next year, so I have 
sent the plans to compete with others. See Fig. 192. 
I do not claim that my plan is just such a one as I 
would like, but we do not wish to put too much money 
into a farmhouse, knowing 
that it will not greatly ip- 
crease the selling price of 
the farm. We aim to have 
a warm and convenient 
house. For instance, I 
would like to have a bay- 
window in the sitting- 
room, but that would add 
$40 or $50 to the cost of the 
house. I would prefer a 
dormer window in the 
kitchen chamber, instead 
of the slanting window. 
We have now a shed whose 
frame is perfectly good and 
just the size needed, so we 
purpose to move it up to 
the L of the new house; 
otherwise, we would frame 
a shed with the L of the 
house, then the chimney 
and men’s closet could be 
in the shed instead of jut¬ 
ting into the kitchen. In 
The First Prize House. 
The house is the one in which I am living, and while 
it was made larger than requisite for the needs of one 
the bath-i'oom, I intend having a bathtub and set 
washtub with oxitlets into a drain. The cold water is 
to be brought by rubber hose from a tank in the 
kitchen. The walls of milk-room, bath-room, kitchen 
and pantry are to be painted. 
I shall use the $10 prize for some convenience in our 
new hoxxse, which I otherwise might not have for some 
