24 
THE CULTIVATOR 
ELM-WOOD COTTAGE, ROCHESTER.—(Fig. 6.) 
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 
ILLUSTRATED BY PLANS OF ELMWOOD COTTAGE. 
Luther Tucker, Esq. —Agreeably to request, I 
send you herewith the drawings, plans, &c., of a rural 
gothic cottage which I built at “ Elmwood,” —(the 
title with which my little Rural Home Farm, on Gene- 
see-st., Rochester, hath been dignified,) the last year. 
After making up my mind to build, my first aim was to 
get up and adopt that style of cottage whose expression 
should most nearly and appropriately correspond with 
that of the site upon which I was to build. My next 
object w-as to combine simple elegance, an apt expres¬ 
sion of purpose, and utility and convenience of arrange¬ 
ment, with economy of expenditure. How far I have 
been successful in these particulars, I leave it for good 
judges to decide; as for myself, I see nothing, as yet, 
that I could wish to alter. For several years I have 
taken a deep and lively interest in the study of Rural 
Architecture, and the modes of beautifying the homes 
of our rural population. And although in my research¬ 
es and studies on these subjects, I have consulted Lou¬ 
don, and most of the standard writers, yet I have de¬ 
rived more interest and profit from Downing’s admira¬ 
ble works on those subjects, than from all the others 
together; and I would here acknowledge my indebted¬ 
ness to his suggestions and illustrations, for much of the 
merit of the cottage plan which I here present; and like¬ 
wise to the skill and taste ofMERWiN Austin, Esq., the 
accomplished architect, who has with such facility taken 
my own crude notions and suggestions and brought there¬ 
from such perfect symmetry of proportions, beauty of 
form and elegance of expression, as the plans which he 
has drawn with so much taste and accuracy, most con¬ 
clusively show. The spirited pencil drawing was 
sketched by Mr. Cleveland, an artist of promising abili¬ 
ties. 
This cottage fronts the east—the view here given of 
the elevation, fig. 6, is from the south-east. It stands 
upon an eminence, about one hundred feet from the 
street, and has, as will be seen, large, fine, branching 
elms, and a number of towering poplars, in the back 
ground and at the right, which add not a little to the 
picturesque effect of the cottage itself. The site was 
chosen thus near the public road, because the ground 
was the highest and best suited for the purpose, and 
because of the fine large elms and other trees and shrub¬ 
bery, which have, (the former, at least,) the advantage 
of a growth of some fifty years. It commands beauti¬ 
ful and picturesque landscape views in nearly every di¬ 
rection—including a fine view of a large portion of 
the city of Rochester, in the suburbs of which “ Elm¬ 
wood” is situated, a short distance west of, but in full 
view of the Genesee river and Mount Hope. 
The general contour or outward expression of the cot¬ 
tage is, I think, in admirable keeping with the rural ob¬ 
jects around it. I cannot better describe it than in the 
beautiful language of Downing, in speaking of a similar 
style of cottage. “It belongs to the class of neatly 
decorated, rural Gothic edifices, abounding in carved 
verge boards and pendant clustered chimney tops and 
irregular outlines. There is something indicating a 
certain license of architectural ■ imagination, not to be 
precisely measured by the rule and square, or the strict¬ 
ly utilitarian view. Now a cottage of this class must 
not in any case, be erected on a bare plain, as in such 
a place all its picturesqueness would seem out of keep¬ 
ing-, unmeaning and absurd. But let it be partially- 
hidden, or half concealed by clustering foliage, and 
assimilated, as it were, with nature, by the interlacing 
and intertwining branches and boughs around it, and of 
which its ornaments are in some degree a repetition, 
and we shall feel it to be in perfect unison with its situ¬ 
ation. Whoever has seen one of these cottages, with 
its rich gables breaking out from among the intricacy 
of tall stems and shadowy foliage, will readily confess 
that he has rarely beheld anything more harmonious 
and delightful, than the charming effect thereby pro¬ 
duced. Some one has truly remarked, that the archi¬ 
tecture of our dwellings is most appropriate, when it 
embodies and breathes forth a home expression , a charac¬ 
ter to which we think the rural Gothic, with its quaint, 
independent, comfortable, and extended air, seems fully 
to lay claim.” 
But as to details .—-The main building is 33 feet front, 
by 25 feet deep, with a rear addition one story high 
above the basement, and 34 feet deep by 20 feet wide, 
(including the side verandah,) with a wash kitchen and 
woodhouse underneath, opening out nearly on a level 
with the ground, owing to the slope of the back-ground. 
The height of the first story in the main building is ten feet 
in the clear; second story, eight feet, excepting where 
the pitch of the roof reduces it to about six feet, only 
in the room from which the front gable projects, which 
is full height. The front verandah is about 7 by 34 
feet, with steps in front and at either end, and lattice 
ballusters between. The vestibule is lighted by glazed 
panels in the front door; and light is thrown into the 
back hall through the glazed door between it and the 
vestibule, and through a like door between the hall and 
dining-room. The drawing-room or parlor is 15 by 
24 feet in the clear, besides the bay-window, which is 
21 feet by 8, making the drawing-room 17-§ feet wide 
across the centre; this room, and also the vestibule, are 
neatly corniced, and the latter has a handsome rosette, 
in the centre of the ceiling, from which is suspended a 
hall lamp. The pleasant bay-window is designed to 
look out upon a pretty flower-garden on the south of 
the house, and the view from the rear window will be 
most charming by converting a portion of the rear ve¬ 
randah (upon which it looks,) into a conservatory for 
plants; it will also make the view through the windows 
of the dining or living room, into it, very pleasing and 
agreeable. The neat, pleasant little library (10 by 15 
feet,) is my favorite room,, and may be used for a recep 
