Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/203

 COTTAGE DWELLINGS IN VARIOUS STYLES. 179 3o3. General Estimate. Cubic contents, 15,704 feet, at 6d. per foot, £392 : 12s. ; at •Sd., i.261 : I4s. : 8d. ; and at 3d., £'196 : 6s. 354. Remarks. The expression of this dwelling is agreeable, and the tiles give it some- what the air of an Italian cottage. The windows, however, are modern, and the chimney- tops are such as are used in various manners. As picturesque effect appears to have been studied in fonning the Design of this cottage, we rather wonder that no porch was placed over the door, which would have added much to its beauty. It is true, the far- projecting roof will, in some measure, compensate for the want of this part of an edifice ; but we do not think it ought ever to supersede it. It is curious to observe, in the ground plan of this Design, the preference which the designer gives to irregular beauty over that which is regular. Had his object been to produce a regular sym- metrical building, he might have done so out of the same extent of walling, by adopting the ground plan fig. 314. By this arrangement, / and g are greatly enlarged; and a commodious back kitchen, /;, linen closet, f, and a porch, k, are added. The apartment, c, will then become the kitchen (instead of g), and the pantry, e, and the back kitchen, h, will open into it. The space over e,f, g, and i, when equally divided, will afford two good bed-rooms in the chamber floor. The superficial surface of the ground occupied by this improved plan Cfig. 314) is 1292 feet, while that of the original ground plan is only 875 feet. This difference will, „. . of course, occasion an additional surface of roofing ; but, as it is the angles and breaks of a roof which are the most expensive parts, the cost will be ver)- nearly the same ; the improved plan approximating much nearer to the form of a cube, and requiring only a plain roof. The lineal length of external walling, or the girth of the building, is 135 feet in both plans, and the internal walling is but little increased in the improved one. Thus, the second plan, though containing so much more accommoda- tion, would cost very little more than the first; for though the cubic contents of the building, according to the im- proved plan, will be 1 7,664 feet, while those of the original Design were only 15,704 feet; it must always be remembered, by those who wish to make an estimate of the expense of, or to fix a value upon, buildings measured in this manner, that the contents of the original Design would require to be calculated at 5(1. or 5ld. per foot, while those of the Design fig. 314 from its nearer approximation to a cube, and the simplicity of its roof, need not be esti- mated at more than 4d. or 4^^. per foot. The elevation of a building constructed accord- ing to the improved plan, would not be so picturesque as that of the original Design, but we do not think that it would be less beautiful. And why would it be less picturesque? Because it would have less irregularity of form, of outline, and of light and shade ; and, consequently, of that kind of beauty which is more particularly adapted for transferring to paper, or to canvass : it would, therefore, not form so marked a character for the painter ; in the same way as a plain honest man would not afford so good a study for a novelist, or so interesting a subject for a biographer, as a man of irregular features, both of mind and character. Let it be observed, however, that we do not object to the irregular style of beauty, for those who can afford it : all that we mean to say is, that it is neither so economical to erect, nor so easy to keep in repair, as the symmetrical style ; and that, as we have frequently before stated, symmetry is the soul of Architecture. Design LI. — A Cottage Dwelling, with Six Rooms and other Conveniences. 355. Accommodation. There is a good entrance porch, a, with two doors, the one to be kept shut when the other is open, to protect the interior from the weather most likely to penetrate into it. From this porch there is a door to a room, b, which might be used as a workshop for a tailor or shoemaker, or other similar trades, in the country ; as an infant school on a small scale ; as a shop ; or let off as a bed-room. There is a kitchen, c, communicating with the bed-room, d; a back-kitchen, e; and an ante-room, y. This ante-room may be used as a small green-house, or as a china closet, if the cottage were occupied by what is called a genteel family ; or if it were used as a public house, it would make an excellent bar; or, for a private family in humble life, it might be a n: