PLANS OF FIFTY CONVENIENT HOUSES.

Fig. BFigure B

EVOLUTION OF A HOUSE-PLAN.—RESPECTABLE DIMENSIONS FOR A MODERATE PRICE.—SIX PLANS.—COSTS, FROM $1,500 TO $2,600.

The number of times that a house has been built indicates the popularity of the plan. PlanNo. 1, in one form or another, has been used oftener than any other in the book. PlansNos. 1,2, and3are more frequently selected by people who do not keep a servant. This arrangement makes a compact and low-cost house. There is a porch over which the small front bedroom extends on the second story. In PlanNo. 1the hall is seven and one-half by ten feet. There is a corner grate for the living-room and the parlor. A stove might be used in the dining-room in a way to moderate the temperature of the entire lower floor.

There is one very large window opening into the dining-room. It is a very pleasing thing to have the upper sash of the dining-room glazed with simple colors of cathedral glass. This glass gives a very pleasant tone to the light of the room, and, at the same time, excludes the hot rays of the sun in summer. It is possible to dispense with outside shutters when cathedral glass is used in the upper sashes. A metal rod running across the window on the inside, on a level with the horizontal dividing-rail of the window, may be made to carry curtains which will exclude the view from the outside. Thus, in the glass, and by the aid of the curtains, we have much that might be expected from the shutters.

There is a china-pantry between the kitchen and dining-room. It is lighted by a small window at one side. It serves as a passageway between these two rooms, and thus keeps the odor of the cooking from the front part of the house. The pastry pantry is immediately back of the china-pantry, and is entered from the kitchen. It is also provided with a small window. In the kitchen is a sink with a swinging table at one side, and room for a portable table on the other. At one side of the sink may be the cistern-pump, and on the other side the well-pump. It should be placed back against the wall, and with handles that are well out of the way when not in use.

Plan No. 1

It is entirely unnecessary to place the pumps in the yards of low-cost houses, as is so common. If a driven well is used, itcould be driven so as to be next to the kitchen sink. If it is a dug well, it may be placed on the outside, and connected through lead pipes with the sink on the inside. The cistern may be connected in the same way. The entrance to the cellar stairs is conveniently placed in one corner of the kitchen. The cellar itself is under the sitting-room. The side-porch is large enough to be used as a summer kitchen.

Plan No. 2

It is to be noticed that there is no waste room in the upstairs hall. There is merely wall space enough to admit of doors leading into the various rooms. There is a small window which lights this hall; the window may be reached for cleaning from the stairway. This plan illustrates as clearly as possible the advantage of having the main stairway land in the middle ofthe house. There is no better way to economical use of space. From the second-floor hall there is a stairway leading to the attic. This passage is lighted in the same way as the second-floor hall.

Plan No. 3

It may be said that the bedrooms of this house are not large. The house is not large. The problem involved a low-cost, roomy house. We get a large number of rooms within a small enclosure, and, necessarily, some of them are small. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the value of a room is not dependent upon its size. A room may be of respectable dimensions, but yet not have the necessary wall space for the furniture. Such a room would not be as satisfactory as a smaller one, had care been taken to provide this space. In each bedroom there should be space for a bed, a wash-stand, and a dressing-case. The latter should be near a window. It will be found that thereis room for such furniture in each of the bedrooms shown on this plan. All are provided with ample closets. In one of these houses which was built, there was a door between the bedroom in front and the chamber. In another case, there was a door connecting the two larger rooms. All these things are matters of personal preference, or special family requirements, depending upon the age and number of the children, and other family conditions.

Plan No. 4

PlanNo. 2is similar toNo. 1, excepting that there are a few changes in detail. The rooms are smaller; the hall is relatively shorter; it illustrates the process of contraction.No. 3is similar toNo. 2, excepting that it has a front as well as a rear stairway, and the position of the dining-room is changed.

No. 4is a development of the same class of plans. There are the front and the rear stairways, also a bath-room over the kitchen, and a servant’s room. The dotted lines running through the little bedroom on the second floor indicate the position of a hall, which may be constructed connecting the front and rear part of this house. As will be noticed, this is a nine-room house in a very economical form.

Plan No. 5

PlanNo. 5is a further development and improvement of the same idea. The objection that one may raise to any of the plans just described is, that one has to pass through the parlor, or the room in the rear of the hall, to reach the room back of the parlor. Plan No. 5 solves this problem. From the hall we can go into the living-room, the dining-room or parlor, without passing through another room. The second floor is an improvement overNo. 4, in that the little bedroom in the rear is enlarged by allowing it to project over the room below the width of the hall. In the rear of this comes the bath-room.

Fig. 10Figure 10

As to cost. The building, without appurtenances, on the basis outlined in schedule “B,” would cost as follows:—

Plan No. 1, $1,700; No. 2, $1,550; No. 3, $1,550; No. 4, $1,800; No. 5, $1,900.Figures 8and9are elevations suited to these plans.

Plan No. 6

PlanNo. 6had its origin in PlanNo. 1, and was developed through the successive stages indicated in the description of plans from 1 to 5 inclusive. The position of the grate-stack has been changed, so that it acts for the reception-hall on one side, and the parlor on the other. The reception-hall, instead ofreceding, projects. In one corner thereof is arranged a vestibule, partitioned from the rest of the rooms by ornamental fret-work backed with curtains. This will make a very beautiful feature. It changes this hall into a room. From here we may pass to the parlor, sitting-room, and dining-room. In the rear of the sitting-room is a porch; at one side, a projecting window-seat. The sitting-room closet is cut off from the pantry. The dining-room is connected with the sitting-room by sliding-doors. A convenient china-closet connects the dining-room and kitchen. On one side of the china-room are arranged drawers. Under the china-closet proper are shelves enclosed by panelled doors; the china-shelves above being protected by glass doors, according to the general ideas previously expressed when considering the china-closet in particular. The kitchen is the same as others, which are described elsewhere in a more detailed way. There is a laundry in the basement, and an outside cellar-way connecting with the back yard. The insidecellar-way is shown. The next door is that which leads to the second floor. There are five bedrooms on this floor. The elevation of this house is shown in Fig.No. 11. The building, without appurtenances, according to schedule “B,” costs $2,600.

Fig. 8 and Fig. 9

Elevations Nos. 1 and 2 indicate a simple form of exterior, which may go with either of these plans excepting No. 3.

The photographic view, Fig.No. 10, shows an exterior of No. 1, as built at one time.

Fig. 11

A SMALL POCKET-BOOK AND A LARGE IDEA.—AMBITION, DOLLARS, AND A GOOD HOUSE.—THE GROWTH OF THE HOUSEKEEPER’S IDEAS.—POINTS ABOUT THE HOUSE.—$2,900.

It is frequently said of those who would build, that their ideas are larger than their pocket-books. It is certainly not discreditable to any one that his ideas should be larger than his immediate resources. Such a condition causes the enlargement of the individual and his pocket-book at the same time. The man who says that he wants two thousand dollars’ worth of house does not get as much for his money as he who in effect says, “I want three thousand dollars’ worth of house for two thousand dollars.” The latter is an ambitious man; the former has only a little ambition. He merely wants a house. Fortunately, however, there are few such people. It is more likely to happen that a man and his wife, who have worked hard for several years, get enough money together to build a home, and it is possible that this home has been talked about for several years previous to their building. In fact, they have been educating themselves in house-building. They have acquainted themselves with all of the modern conveniences. They have studied porches, vestibules, and stairways; they know how many rooms they want on the first floor and the bedrooms that they will have above. At first this house presents itself in a very crude form; but in the course of time the plan shows itself more clearly to them. They begin to place the furniturein the imaginary rooms, and as they do this their ideas enlarge. They add at first inches, and then feet, to the size of the various rooms. At first their ideas of a kitchen were quite moderate; in time a sink begins to assume certain vague outlines, then it takes definite form on one side of the room; then a pump is placed beside it; afterward the wife says, “How nice it would be if we could have a hot-water faucet over the sink.” At first they shake their heads and say that it would cost too much; but in the course of a few evenings’ talk on this and kindred subjects, they come to the conclusion that if the hot-water arrangements do not cost too much, they will have them; and that as things are so much cheaper than they used to be, they certainly ought to get all of these for about what they originally expected to pay for the house. Their ideas have been of slow growth, but continuous, and in the aggregate the growth has been great. During all the winter months, previous to the time when they would build in the spring, many sketches are made, of the floor-plans of the house that is to be. Finally the net result is handed to a builder or an architect,—more frequently the former, as most small houses are built without professional service. The figures from the builder come in, and are very much higher than was expected. It is quite a shock, for certainly there is nothing there that they can well do without. Everything has been thought of so much. Nothing that their plan contains appears to them to be less than a matter of necessity. Other builders are asked to figure with results little more satisfactory. In the end there must be a compromise; the builder and the owner both yield, and, as a result, a very satisfactory house is built. There are little things which they would have different, but, in the main, the house is satisfactory.

This is the universal experience, and the effect upon thedomestic architecture of this country has been very pronounced. We can now get a better house for a given sum of money than ever before. Better not only as to general construction, but as well on account of external appearance, and the convenience of its internal arrangements. One may get more of what are regarded as the little conveniences, which mean so much to the housekeeper. This is not altogether the result of lower prices of the material and labor which go to make a house, but is as well on account of the skill which has been developed in planning and arranging buildings, with reference to economy in space, and cost of general construction. The planning of houses has undergone a revolution within a few years past; and instead of having the long, narrow halls at the side and in the middle of a house, and the long halls and narrow passages through the upper floor, all of which was ugly and inconvenient, we now have the same area thrown in large square rooms, so as to be available.

It may be known that chimney stacks are quite expensive. For this reason an effort has been made to group them, so that they may be made to answer for a number of rooms; and the success with which efforts in this direction have been attended has been wonderful indeed. The modern floor plan is altogether different from that of the past; it is more convenient and less expensive to build; and, as said before, this is largely the result of efforts of the owner, who has ideas larger than his pocket-book, and the architect or builder, who exercises his ingenuity to bring the ideas and the money together.

Plan No. 7

PlanNo. 7is of an eight-room house, and is fairly representative of the ideas expressed. The general form, it will be seen, is square. It is a two-story house with a reception-hall, parlor, dining-room, kitchen, china-closet, pantry, and stair-hall on thefirst floor; there are three chambers, the servant’s bedroom, the bath-room, and a communicating hall on the second floor. The first floor is ten feet six inches high, and the second, nine feet six inches. From the second floor there is a stairway going to the attic, which is large and roomy, and which may have various uses. The cellar is seven feet high, and is well lighted by having the joist set well up from the grade line. There may be a laundry here, and, separated from it by a door, we may have a coal-cellar and a furnace-room. As we approach the house, there is, first, a broad porch about eight feet in width, and fourteen feet in length. At a slight additional expense, say fifty dollars to sixty dollars, this porch might be extended across the entire front. Before reaching the front door, there is a small vestibule,—arranged with or without storm-doors, as may be thought desirable. It is the impression of the writer that storm-doors are seldom used. The distinctive feature of this house isthe hall, which is large enough—thirteen feet six inches by fifteen feet—to be used as a sitting-room. In the front part of this hall, and at the right as we enter, are a window-seat and a broad window in front and immediately above it; this is slightly separated from the main room by the small pilasters or casings on each side. Immediately in front of the doorway, there are a grate and mantel set in one corner of the room. There are large doorways, five feet wide, leading into the stair-hall immediately back of this room, and into the parlor at the left as we enter. In this case there are merely door openings, portières or curtains taking the place of ordinary doors. Sliding-doors might be used in addition to the curtains, and thus have the advantage of both curtains and doors. From this room the outlines of the stair-hall and the stairway are visible or not, according to the arrangement of the portières. There is a side entrance into this hall, and from it one may go into the kitchen by passing through two doors. It is a good principle in planning a house always to have two doors between the kitchen and any other part of the house. One door could as well be used in this instance, but a second one is added to make the isolation more complete. In the plan here given, it may be noticed that there are cellar stairs passing under the main stairway in the hall.

The dining-room may be entered either from the front parlor or from the stair-hall. In each case doors are used. It is always desirable to have a dining-room so arranged that it may be closed from the other parts of the house. There is a grate in each of the two principal rooms, the hall, the parlor, and the dining-room, and all communicate with a single stack. This is much more economical than having three distinct stacks, which are so frequently used for accomplishing the same result. The only other chimney stack is in the kitchen. The two answerevery purpose. The outside corners of the dining-room are cut off at an angle of forty-five degrees, so that the end of the dining-room presents the form of a large bay window. In the middle space at this end may be placed the sideboard, in which event a window will be placed over it,—that is, well toward the ceiling. The dining-room communicates with the kitchen through a large pantry, eight feet square, or through a slide in the back of the china-closet. In the kitchen there are broad windows on the two sides, and a door leading into the back yard.

In following the stairway to the second floor, it will be noticed that there is a broad landing something more than half-way up, and that there is a large window, slightly above it, which lights the hall below, and partially lights the one above. The advantages of having a stairway which lands approximately in the centre of the house, as does this one, is that no room is lost by having long halls which have to lead from the front to the rear of the house. All we need have is a short hall in the centre of the building, which will communicate with the rooms around it. Another convenience of this arrangement is that all of the front of the house is utilized for chambers. Where the stairway lands in the front of a house, there must either be a long hall, which is a waste of room, or one must pass through one or more chambers to get to others. In this plan the rooms are arranged around the hall, there being three large ones over the three principal rooms below. In each of these chambers there is abundant space for the usual bedroom furniture,—viz., a bed, dresser, wash-stand, and chairs. In these rooms there are closets, and at the end of the hall there is a store closet for bedding, etc. The servant’s room, as shown, is over the kitchen, as is also the bath-room.

Fig. 12

It may be noticed that the fixtures in the bath-room—thatis, the bath-tub and closet—are directly over the sink below, so that the pipes may have the most direct and the shortest runs possible, which is not only economical, but also safer from flooding in case of accident. The tank in the attic, which contains the soft or cistern water, is directly over the tub, and the laundry sink in the cellar is directly under the kitchen sink. Thus, from cellar to attic, all the plumbing fixtures are in line, and all pipes exactly vertical, excepting where it is desirable to take a short branch to connect the fixtures. Having the bath-room slightly separated, as it is, from the main hall, it is safer, from a sanitary point of view, than if it opened directly into the main hall. There is a closet for soiled linen next to the bath-room, which is accessible either from it or from the short hall leading to it. The stairs to the attic lead out of the hall, as shown. The attic is floored, but is otherwise unfinished. Iffound desirable, one or more rooms could be finished here, which would be quite as large and pleasant as any of the other rooms in the house. This house can be finished complete, including fences, sheds, walks, gas fixtures, plumbing, mantels, and furnace, for $2,900.

Fig.No. 12is an elevation.

“WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT.”—A CONVENIENT PLAN.—MEETING THE WANTS OF PEOPLE WHO BUILD.

Floor plans develop from the varying necessities of those who build. There is no reason why the same arrangement should suit any large number of people. A floor plan, if carefully and thoughtfully made, will meet the requirements of the individuals whose wants are particularly considered. While there are certain general principles, which affect the value of a floor plan for good or evil, the detailed requirements are almost as varied as the tastes and dispositions of the occupants.

A lady and gentleman come into an architect’s office, and explain that they are intending to build, and want to look at something with a view of selecting a plan. The architect has a great many plans which he might show them, but he knows well enough that none of them will be selected. He says:—

“I shall be glad to show you anything I have, but not with the expectation of finding something that will please you. By doing so, I shall probably find out what you do not want, and in that negative way meet your requirements.”

“I think I know what we want,” says the lady, “but I do not know just how to arrange it. The stairways bother me, and there are things which I do not get to suit me.”

“Well, tell me what, you want, and then we will make a sketch; and from that, corrections; and, in the end, we shall probably have something satisfactory, though not wholly so at once.”

“Before we go any farther,” says the gentleman, “I want to say that we have only twenty-five hundred dollars to put into a house.”

“Yes, that is all we can afford,” says the lady; “but I can tell you what we want.”

The architect reaches for a note-book and a piece of paper.

“We want a reception-hall, with a grate and stairway in it. There must be a small vestibule, with a place for overshoes, hats, and overcoats. Somewhere near the reception-hall, or in it, I want a closet where I can put my own wraps, and those of the children, and other things which I do not care to keep upstairs, and yet wish to have out of the way. It does not need to be a large closet, but must not be unusually small. We want a parlor and dining-room, which connect with the reception-hall. The parlor will be used as a sitting-room not a little, but not in the ordinary way, for the reason that I stay upstairs with the children most of the time. I do my sewing there. If I should use the parlor regularly as the sitting-room, I could receive my callers in the reception-hall. It would be nice if we could have some kind of a window-seat in that room. We want a grate in the sitting-room, but not necessarily one in the dining-room. I want a back stairway, but it must not go up directly from the kitchen. The kitchen and pantry I want you to make as convenient as possible in a house of this cost.”

“How would a combination stairway do?”

“Oh, I don’t want that at all. It would be bringing the two together. I want the rear stairway in the rear of the house, and entirely separate from the one in front. It should land near the girl’s room on the second floor, so that it can be cut off from the rest of the house. We must have plenty of closet-room upstairs.”

“How many children have you?”

“Two: a baby and a little boy about six years old.”

“Then you must have at least four bedrooms,” was suggested. “For the present, the baby can sleep in your room, and the boy in a room next to and connecting with it. There must also be a guest’s room and a servant’s room.”

“Yes, that will have to do for the present; but don’t forget the bath-room, and be sure to have plenty of closets. There is one thing I had almost forgotten. There must be some arrangement so that the servant can get from the kitchen to the front door without going through the dining-room; but we don’t want the smells of the kitchen to get into the front part of the house.”

After two or three sketches had been made, the result, as here illustrated, was reached. The architect has it in mind that the space at the right of the entrance door in the vestibule would serve as a place for overcoats and other winter equipments. He suggests that a portière be placed between the vestibule and the opening leading into the reception-hall. This will prevent draughts of cold air from making their way into the front room when the door is opened. It will also lend a certain amount of privacy. The porch is placed in front, as a matter of course. In the recess of the hall which is made by the vestibule a window-seat is placed. In the rear of the reception-hall is the closet required. As a means of getting from the kitchen to the reception-hall without passing through the dining-room, two doors are arranged leading to a passage under the stairs. This will prevent the passage of kitchen odors over the house. The parlor and dining-room are arranged as shown. Between the window and the door leading to the china-closet is space for the sideboard. The pantry isseparated from the china-closet by the cupboard of the former. It has doors above and shelves below. The ice-chest is placed in the pantry. It is readily accessible from both china-closet and kitchen.

Plan No. 8

The passageway to the second floor is from this room, and, considering the limited means and large general requirements, this arrangement will no doubt be satisfactory. The stairway is accessible from both dining-room and kitchen. As there is a bath-room and water-closet above, there is no necessity for carrying slops downstairs and through the kitchen. The kitchen has the usual fittings. The passage to the cellar is under the front stairway. As will be remembered, there is a door shutting this passage from the reception-hall. Upstairs there is a closet in each room, two opening into the hall—one for bed linen, and one for dust-pans, brushes, etc. There is also a closet in the bath-room. The attic stairway is shown. An inspection of PlanNo. 8will show how all of the requirements were met.

Cost, as per schedule “B,” $2,200.

TWO GOOD ROOMS IN FRONT.—THE COMBINATION PANTRY.—TOO MUCH CELLAR A BURDEN.—$2,500.

In PlanNo. 9, the reception-room contains the front stairway. This stairway lands near the front of the house on the second floor, for which reason we are enabled to have in the front part of the house the two rooms which are most used on each floor. We have the two chambers above, and the reception-room and the sitting-room below. If we had a long, narrow stair hall constructed in the usual way, we should have the sitting-room towards the rear, and only a little alcove bedroom over the hall in front.

The dining-room, which is a large room, is connected with the front part of the house by sliding-doors. It has a grate in one corner of it. On general principles, a grate has no business in the dining-room. It is nearly always at some one’s back, and makes him uncomfortable at meal time. Being in the corner of the room, it is farther from any one than it would be if located on a side wall: hence it may be allowed. There is a porch in the rear of the dining-room, and between the door leading to it and the door to the china-closet there is a space for a side-board. There are two windows at the end of this dining-room. The door which passes into the pantry should be on double spring-hinges, so that it will swing both ways. One can push against it and open from either side, and when it is released it will take its natural position.

Plan No. 9

The pantry is a large one. Pantries, in general, may be regarded as a kitchen annex—a store-room and preparing-room. This pantry is on the combination plan. It connects with the china-closet by means of a slide. Aside from this china-closet, which projects into it, there is a cupboard with double doors at one end, a flour-bin at the side, a pastry table next to it, and a refrigerator by the window. One reason for placing this refrigerator near the window is, that a flight of steps and a platform might be arranged on the outside, so that the iceman could put in the ice without going through the kitchen. We go down cellar from this pantry.

Fig. 13

There is a cellar under about half of this house—the kitchen and the dining-room. It should have a cemented floor, and numerous windows for lighting it. The part under thekitchen could be used for a laundry, that under the dining-room for coal storage and furnace. There could be an excavation under a part of the sitting-room for vegetable storage. “Why not put a cellar under the whole house? It would cost but little more,” has been asked many times. It is the little things, the smaller economies, in a building of this kind which makes the difference between an expensive house and a house of moderate cost. Every foot of cellar space beyond what is needed for actual use is a burden to the housekeeper. The arrangement has more to do with the number of apartments than with the amount of space. We have a laundry-room, a place for furnace and fuel, and a room for vegetables, which is about all that can be used. From the cellar we can go up the stairway and into the kitchen, from the kitchen to the second floor, and from the second floor to the attic.

It is a large attic, a place for large rooms if one should need them. Under any circumstances this attic should be floored. There could be no better place for general storage, and at times for drying clothes.

It seldom happens that two houses from exactly the same plan are built. While this plan has pleased many people, there are others who would not be attracted by it; who would not care to build this house as their home. The universal floor plan has never been made, and never will be. There are general principles running through all plans which are valuable, and if rightly understood will contribute to the improvement of the homes of the people.

Fig. 13is an elevation.

Cost, without appurtenances, $2,500, as per schedule “B.”

SITTING-ROOM AND PARLOR IN FRONT.—A CONNECTING VESTIBULE.—A CENTRAL COMBINATION STAIRWAY.—GOOD ROOMS IN THE ATTIC.

When we say that the sitting-room should be in the front part of the house, it does not necessarily imply that the parlor should be disturbed. As shown in PlanNo. 10, they may both be in front. The vestibule, which is large enough for a hat-rack, and for the occupants of the house to stand while putting on their overshoes and wraps, is in front of both parlor and reception-room, but yet in a way so as not to disturb the view to the street from either of these rooms. We cannot have all of the rooms in front. The kitchen we do not want there. The dining-room is convenient if placed immediately in the rear of the sitting-room. Thus we have two rooms in front and two in the rear. This is practically a square house. The old habit has been to place the stairway along one side of the parlor in the hall which served as a passageway from the front to the rooms immediately in the rear. This distribution of halls is what has thrown the sitting-room back of the parlor. In the plan here given the change has been made so that the hall has relatively the same position that did the sitting-room in the past, though it is by no means as large. It is essentially a stair-hall, and incidentally a passage. As placed, we may enter it from the parlor, sitting-room, dining-room, or kitchen. Its position is central. There are two doors between this stair-hall and the kitchen. The central position of the stairway has other advantages than those just stated. It makes long halls on the second floor entirely unnecessary. As will be seen by looking at the floor plan, it gives two good bedrooms in front.

Plan No. 10

The dining-room is immediately in the rear of the sitting-room. There may be sliding doors connecting these two rooms. One door, three and a half feet wide, usually makes a sufficiently large opening for the dining-room connection. There are sliding doors between the parlor and sitting-room, and dining-room and sitting-room, as shown. The kitchen has the advantage of a certain amount of isolation from the rest of the house, for the reason that there are two doors between it and any other room. The pantries are arranged with reference to their most convenient use. In the kitchen-pantry there areplaces for a refrigerator, flour-bin, bread-board, and cupboard. The dining-room pantry is a china-closet, with glass doors above and closed doors below. The doors connecting the dining-room pantry or passage should be hung on double-spring hinges.

In the plan of this house it is shown how we may go from the kitchen to the same landing that is used for the main stairway, and thus avoid the necessity for a distinctively back hall and back stairway. However, if it is so desired, it is easy to place a stairway in the rear, and thus have them entirely independent. In that event a room may be placed over the pantry, and be used by the servant. This part of the house could be cut off from the front rooms and the bath-room on the second floor by a door. But to take the house as it is, we have a combination stairway, there being two doors separating the kitchen approach from the common landing in the main stair-hall.

On the second floor there is a hall about fourteen feet long from which we pass to two bedrooms in front, two in the rear, the bath-room and the store-closet. Each room is independent. They may be connected one with the other as family necessities suggest. The store-closet is accessible from the hall, as such a closet should be. This makes it available from any of the rooms. The bath-room is directly over the kitchen.

In each bedroom there is a place for a bed, a dressing-case, and a wash-stand, which is not always the case in bedrooms. If there is a place for these things, if the dressing-case bears its proper relation to the sources of light, if it is so placed that the light from the window or from the gas shines in the face of the user, if the wash-stand is conveniently disposed, and there is room at the side of it for a slop-jar, if there is a large closet, then the architect has done his full duty in the arrangement ofthe bedroom. The room that is called the family room should be especially well cared for in the matter of closets.

A hundred dollars would lath and plaster the entire attic of this house, and provide a room in the front part which could be used by the boys or the servant. There is no objection to this except in the necessity for climbing an extra pair of stairs. The mere mention of a bedroom in the attic is distasteful to many people. It arouses memories of hot, dusty, and uncomfortable places in which they have passed the night. All this depends on the attic. The roof in this house is pitched at an angle of forty-five degrees. The house at the narrowest point is 29. feet wide. This would make the attic at the highest point 14½ feet. We can stud down from this and have a nine-foot story and at the same time a large room, one which would have none of the disadvantages of a half-story room, and which would have all the advantages of a well-ventilated, comfortable bedroom, for summer or winter. The plastering of the attic suggests neatness. Having it well lighted by dormers exposes all disorder. Cost, as per schedule “B,” $2,600.

A COMPACT PLAN.—AN ISOLATED RECEPTION-ROOM.—COMBINATION STAIRWAY.—DESCRIPTION OF THE FLOOR PLAN.—CELLAR ARRANGEMENT.—DINING-ROOM AND CONSERVATORY.—ANOTHER PLAN.

The floor plans inNo. 11are of a house of small area, 30 × 34½ feet, for body of the structure. There is a porch in front, a circular bay window at one side, and a pantry and china-closet projecting at the rear. In the house there are eight available rooms besides the bath-room and the attic. In the attic, rooms quite as liberal as any in the house could be constructed at a small expense.

On the first floor, as we enter, there is the reception or sitting hall, which is so common in the more modern arrangements of dwellings. This reception hall or room has a certain amount of isolation from the passage which leads from the vestibule to the stairway and the rear portion of the house. It may be separated therefrom by curtains or portières. It would be entirely possible to separate the two by means of sliding doors, in which event the opening from the room into the passage would have to be a little narrower than shown in the drawings. This room could be used as the office of a physician, or of a gentleman who did more or less business at home. By making the front vestibule about six inches deeper, a separate entrance to this room could be provided. In this event, a door from the room into the passage leading to the living part of the house would be a necessity. The circular bay end ofthis room would present an attractive feature. The windows in this part of the room could be placed about four feet from the floor, in which event book-shelves could be arranged below them. The window in front goes to within seventeen inches of the floor. Under the stairway, and leading from this room, may be placed a very liberal closet, in which there should be a small window.

Leading from the passage is the stairway, and two closets. The little passage in which one closet is placed is separated from the hall by a door. There is another door opening from this passage into the kitchen. Thus there are two doors between the kitchen and the front part of the house. This arrangement has in mind the isolation of the kitchen from the other rooms in a way to prevent the passage of the usual kitchen odors.

Plan No. 11

The stairways in this house are of the class known as combination stairways; while they are convenient and easy of construction, there is a certain amount of complication in their arrangement which makes them difficult of description so as to be understood by those not accustomed to examining floor plans. There is the stairway from the front hall to the floor above, and one from the kitchen to the landing of the front stairway. The landing of the front stairway and that from the kitchen stairway is in common; that is, it is the same. For the purpose of making this understood, it may be well to say that one may go up the stairway from the front hall to the landing, some eight steps, and from thence down into the kitchen, or he can turn right face and go to the landing on the second floor. This part of the stairs is used coming up from the kitchen as well as from the front hall. However, the kitchen stairway is separated from the landing by a door. There is another door atthe foot of this kitchen stairway. In coming downstairs, one may turn to the right, open a door, and go down into the kitchen; or, he may turn to the left, and go down the front stairway into the hall. Thus it will be seen that the combination stairway is a front and rear stairway together, with separate entrance from both parts of the house,—one from the kitchen, and one from the front hall. It must be confessed that there is a certain amount of compromise in an arrangement of this kind, but it is a saving of both space and money, and is tolerable on this account. By this plan everything is concentrated, and without the serious drawback which extra cost, or a smaller number of rooms, would imply to those who have only a little over two thousand dollars to spend for a house, without appurtenances. The head room for the stairway, coming up from the kitchen, is secured under the bath-tub in the bath-room immediately above.

The cellar stairway is clearly indicated as going down parallel to the kitchen stairs and under the front stairs. The cellar in this house should be under the kitchen, stairways, and the reception-hall; that is, it would occupy all of one side of the house. In this cellar plan the principles set forth in the previous chapter on cellars are carried out.

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