24 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
Design for a Spacious Country-House. 
Our readers will remember when the common style 
of building, many years ago, was the simple square 
box, or clap-boarded frame, perforated with long ranges 
of numerous windows. And as a general thing, the 
greater the number of windows, or the more nearly 
the dwelling approached a cotton factory in external 
appearance, the more aristocratic of course was its ex¬ 
pression. At a later date, a supposed improvement was 
made, by adding four tall, elaborate Grecian columns 
to one side of these perforated boxes, reminding one 
of the fine new patch on the old and tattered coat. 
Still later, the Gothic style found its way pretty gene¬ 
rally into the more tasteful country erectinos, and this 
immediately led to all kinds of fantastic imitations. If 
a simple, sensible Gothic house 
was an object of attraction, then 
certainly it was thought that car¬ 
rying the fashion to its utmost ex¬ 
treme, would be prodigiously fine. 
The result was that dwellings be¬ 
gan to appear like mushrooms all 
over the country, some of them 
with their flimsy, floridly carved 
verge boards; others, with gables 
so numerous as to convey the idea 
of a hottentot village placed upon 
the roof; others again, had such 
extra fashionably steep roofs and 
short posts, as tp look like a very 
long extinguisher on a very short 
candle. 
At the same time we like a de¬ 
viation from the dull monotony of 
blank walls, we want to see a sen¬ 
sible, common sense application of 
architectural forms. We have nev¬ 
er seen the design of a Gothic 
dwelling, that excelled in this desirable particular, the 
one represented at the head of this article, and which 
we copy from a former volume oSfthe Horticulturist. 
The moderate steepness of its roof—the agreeable pro¬ 
portion between roof and walls—the variety in its ex¬ 
ternal expresssion and its perfectafreedom from stiffness 
and formality—and its entire freedom from elaborate 
ornament, all produce an effect rarely to bo met with. 
It is intended to be built of common quarry stone, the 
whole to be finished in a simple and rather rustic 
manner, furnishing a dwelling of this extent at a mod¬ 
erate cost. Where quarry stone is not near at hand, 
it may be built of brick, and rough-cast. 
The plan of the principal floor is shown in Fig. 2, 
where the dining-hall, (a kind of hall and dining room 
combined,) or the office (or ante room) A, are entered 
Fig. 2 
