Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/68

 44 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. Design VIIL— ^ Dwelling of Two Rooms, for a Man and his Wife. 98. Accommodation. This dwelling, though small, will be found suitable for those situations where neatness, with some little appearance of improved design, is an object. It contains a kitchen, a, well lighted, and with two closets ; a bed-room, b, with a recess for a cupboard ; a porch, e ; a back-room, d, in which there might be a boiler and an oven, for baking, and also for healing water, and the flues in the floor ; a place for the fuel, e ; and a privy,/. The section, A H, shows that the kitchen floor, and that of the back kitchen and porch, are on abed of stones. The bed-room floor is of boards laid on joists, and hollow be- neath. The whole is surrounded by a platform, which may either be paved, or laid with gravel ; and along its outer margin, there may be a small parapet, with Gothic ornaments on it at the angles. 99. Construction. The walls may be built of stone or brick ; and the roof covered with slates, or flat tiles, projecting a few inches over the walls, so as to deliver the water which falls upon it into the gutter. The chimney tops are round, terminating with small capitals. The pediment over the entrance terminates in a small ornament or pinnacle, formed of oak (fig. 78, on a scale of half an inch to a foot), characteristic of old English cottages in districts abound- ing in timber. 100. General Estimate. Cubic contents, 7,430 feet, at 6rf. per foot, £185 : 15s. ; at Ad., £123 : 18s. ; and at Zd., £92 : 17s. 101. Expression. From the pointed top of the entrance- door, from the ornament on the summit of the pediment over it, and from the cylindrical chimney tops, it is evident that something more is intended than mere expression of the subject. Yet there is no great unity of style, for the tops of the windows are square, and there is nothing out of the usual course in the appearance of the roof. All that can be said of this elevation is, that it is pleasing nnd picturesque ; that is, very well calculated to look well in a picture, though it is not in any very marked architectural style. The space between the tops of the windows and the eaves of the roof, is sufficient to admit of a veranda ; and this, with a suitable parapet on the terrace, fig. 79, would render this cottage a very ornamental object. Placed in a garden, and surrounded by low and round-headed fruit trees, such a building would produce a better effect than in a forest of pines or firs ; as the pointed forms of those trees would not contrast so well with it, and they would overpower it by their size. In planting trees near dwellings of any kind, if it be desired to conceal the building, to diminish its importance in the land- scape, and to render it an unhealthy abode for its occupants, then tall evergreen shrubs and large trees ought to be planted close to the edifice ; but, if on the contrary, it be intended that the cottage should have some dignity of character, and that its occupants should keep their health, no tree, that under any circumstances, grows higher than the building itself, should be planted within the distance of several yards of it. Design X.—A Dwelling in the Swiss style, for a Married Couple and Family ; with a Cow-house and Pigsty. 102. Accommodation. The rooms in this dwelling are of a good size, and there is a sufficient number of them for the comfort of the occupants. On the ground-floor, there is an entrance lobby, a, containing the staircase; a kitchen, b; a back kitchen, or wash- house, c; a parlour, d; a light closet, e ; a pantry, /; a coal closet, under the stairs, g; a cow-shed, h ; a piggery, i ; a wood-house, k ; and a water-closet, or privy, I. The windows and doors of all this lower range are protected by a far projecting balcony, which, in point of comfort and effect, is equal if not superior to a veranda. The bed-room floor contains one best bed-chamber, m ; a light closet, ?! ; staircase, o ; bed-room for boys, p ; and for girls, q.