Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/274

 250 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 505. Construction of the public Offices. All the walling, with the exception of that of the central chimney and clock turret, may be of earth. The chimney and tower must be built of stone or bricks. All the flooring may be formed in the same manner as that of the i)rivate dwellings. The baths may be simply square tanks, lined with Roman cement. The roof should project as in the private dwellings, as well for the protection of the walls, as to give a dry path completely round the whole, for the purpose of communicat- ing from one door to another. Other details need not be entered into : the oven may be Hicks's patent one, described in the Mvch. Mag., vol. xiv. p. 417; the kneading inacliine, one of several also described in the same work ; and the turret-clock may be of wood, a clock of that mat'^rial being little more than half the price of one of metal (see Mech. Mag., vol. iv. p. 142); the washing and wringing machine may be one manufac- tured by Weir, to be hereafter figured and described. 506. General Estimate. The expense of each dwelling, steam or hot-water pipe and cold-water pipe included, would, in most parts of the country, not exceed £50 ; and the expense of furniture to the occupier would evidently be less than in the case of single cottages ; because vessels for cooking, baking, brewing, washing, &c., would be unneces- sary. The expense of the greater number of the apartments, constituting the public ofhces, would be about the same, per cubic foot, as that of the private dwellings. The most expensive would be the fire-house and the kitchen. The different apparatus and machines would form a considerable item, because no part of the work connected with them could be done by the occupants themselves. Exclusive of the heating apparatus, and of the machines, and furniture of the public offices, the whole quadrangle might, in all probability, be completed for between ifSOOO and ^£"'4000; and j£:'1000 more would supply all the machines, furniture, and fittings-up for the public offices. 507. The general appearance of such a working man's college as that we have just described will be simple, but not inelegant, as will be seen by the isometrical elevation, tig. 444. Much of the beauty and interest of the wiiole will depend on the keeping of r<. 30 (ic 'JO i;o t the gardens, and the cultivation of the farm ; and much of the enjoyment of the occupants, on the building being placed on an elevated situation, commanding extensive prospects on all sides. 508. Remarks. Though we have recommended a quadrangle as the preferable form for a large working college in the country ; yet there is no form which may not be adapted to this ])urpose, with advantages approaching more or less to those possessed by the quadrangle. One continued line along a road or river, uj) a steep hill, or across a slope, provided always that the floors of all the dwellings were in one plane, whether level or inclined, would answer perfectly. In such cases the general fire must always be placed at the lower end, and the general cistern for supplying cold water at the higher end, for obvious reasons. Even in a scattered village, if the floors of the houses were either nearly on one plane, or nearly on a level, they might all be heated from one fire ; and their inhabitants might all have their cookery and washing performed in the same kitchen and laundry. Indeed, if Busby's mode of circulating hot water below the level of the boiler, by mechanical means, were adopted, the floors of all the houses might be heated, however diff"ercnt might l)e their levels. It would be easy to bring together double the