Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/72

 48 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 104. General Estimale. Cubic contents, 23,026 feet, at Crf. per foot, ^6575: I2s.; at 4d., £383 : 15s : 4rf. ; and at 'id., £287 : I65 : 6rf. 105. Expression^ This Design assumes a decided character or style, which no one, who has been in Switzerland, can doubt is in imitation of the timber-built dwellings of that country. As a picturesque object, it is most agreeable ; more especially in its native situation on the side of a hill, where it is frequently accompanied by firs, or pines, or other spiry topped trees, which contrast well with the long horizontal line of the roof. It frequently happens that cottages of this sort are placed on the side of a steep slope, so that while the lower end is entirely above the surface the upper end is half sunk into it. In this case, the sloping line of the hill contrasts admirably, both with the horizontal and perpendicular lines of the building, and the appearance of stability is heightened by the one end being sunk or bedded into the hill. The balcony in this case, terminating on the surface, may be entered on the outside. The same cottage placed across the slope would appear much less stable, as well as less picturesque. In imitating the style of any particular country, the Architect ought to take care not to imitate peculiarities or defects. It is common, both in Switzerland and in Kinsigthal, in the Duchy of Baden, to see the roofs of dwellings of this sort, loaded with stones, with turves, with planks, or with roots of trees, to keep on the shingles, and even, in some cases, to prevent the roof itself from being blown off by the wind. A landscape painter in taking views in Switzerland or Baden, would, very properly, copy these circumstances, and a moral traveller would describe them ; but for an Architect to introduce them as component parts of a Design in the Swiss style, would display a great want of discrimination, and would be, what Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his Lectures on Painting, calls, " imitating a peculiarity." It fre* quently happens, with such buildings in Switzerland, that being situated in narrow valleys, they are subject to partial inundations from sudden thaws ; and also to have the rain thrown more violently against some parts of the building than against others, when the wind is in a particular direction. To guard against these incidents, barriers of boards are put up in the first case, and an exterior protection of weather boarding (boards overlapping each other), in the latter. For an Architect to imitate these, would be to copy defects in the construction, rendered necessary by an error in the choice of situation, and would remind one of the story of the Chinese tailor, who imitated the patches on a coat sent him for a pattern. 106. The fitness of a building of this construction for a human dwelling may deserve some consideration. It is certain that wooden buildings of any kind are never erected (excepting now and then as a matter of fancy), by those who can afford to use stone or brick. Their liability to accidents by fire, is an objection for which no architectural or picturesque beauty can ever compensate. The balcony also surrounding the building, liable to be constantly used, and commanding the bed-room windows, takes away all idea of privacy from these apartments. We, therefore, by no means, recommend this style for any country. For our own part, indeed, rather than bestow so much labour on so perishable and combustible a material as wood, we would prefer walls of earth. Design X. — A Dwelling for a Married Couple and One Child, with a Pigsty. 107. Accommodation. This is a dwelling of the lowest class, consisting .of three rooms in two stories, and dif- fering only from the commonest cottages in England by the completeness of its appendages, and the architecture of its exterior. It contains, on the ground-floor, an entrance porch or lobby, a ; a wash-house, with a place for an oven to heat the kitchen-floor by a flue, b ; a kitchen or living room, c ; a large closet under the stair- case, rf; apantry, f; fuel-house,/; water-closet or privy, e ; and pigsty, li- The chamber-floor contains a bed- room, i ; a clothes or lumber-closet, A- ; child's bed-room, /; and the staircase, TH. 108. Construction. The walls, as high as the bed-room floor, may be built of stone or of brick, with a vacuity in the centre, as explained in describing Design I. Above, , the walls may be of brick nogging ; the principal timbers of which may be like those shown in the elevation. These walls should be plastered within and without. A much better plan of construction, however, is to carry up the brick walls to the roof; unless the object of the Architect be the imitation of an accident in