“ Beauty alone is not sufficient to constitute architectural excellence. Architecture is the art of building, and utility is the first consideration. If the architect be an artist, endowed with an appreciation of form and color, he will so combine the materials at his command that he will produce a building at once useful and beautiful. Exterior ornament should be sparingly used on cottages, and, if at all, should be so employed as to emphasize the design. But it seems more sensible in an economical dwelling to keep the exterior quite simple. ”

“ Every bed-room should have a closet, and, indeed, an abundance of closets is necessary, it being hardly possible to have too many of them. One for coats, in the front hall, one for linen, one for stores, and a good-sized pantry for the kitchen, are dear to the heart of a housekeeper.
No house should be without a bath-room, large and conveniently located. Care must be taken that the plumbing apparatus is not exposed to the cold, or the pipes will freeze in winter. ”

“ The question of how to heat a house is discussed at length elsewhere, but from the point of beauty, cheerfulness and comfort, we must enter a plea for the open fire-place. It may be troublesome to keep clean, although this may be obviated by an ash-shoot to the cellar. We admit that the open fire-place is wasteful, as two-thirds of the heat goes up the chimney. And then most of the foul air in the room goes with it, and we have the best and surest ventilating flue yet devised. ”

“ It seems that the sense of proportion, like an eye for color or an ear for music, is an innate quality possessed by some and lacked by others; and that it is as impossible to design a building as to make a musical composition by mathematical rules. ”

“ But true hospitality consists in giving our friends what we deem to be our best. Now a parlor that is kept for state occasions and is such a prim, formal room, that everything in it is too awfully nice to touch, is not a place where true friendship is likely to flourish. If we need another apartment for our guests, let it merely be an extension of our sitting-room. The room we occupy most will be the pleasantest in the house, as we will naturally surround ourselves with the objects we love best. ”

“ IX. It will be noticed in all these designs that whatever grace or charm they may have is the result of the simplest treatment. A building should be logically designed, and the exterior be the natural expression of the plan. This is what is meant by Truth in Architecture. But just how much need be expressed, is not always clear. A proper regard for our architectural morals does not require us to exhibit to the passer-by every detail of construction and arrangement. Only what is shown must be true. A building ought at least to declare its purpose, which should be recognizable at a glance. ”

“ In a large country-house a separate room for a library is convenient, also a breakfast or morning-room, and a billiard-room, is a luxury to be enjoyed, if possible. If we can manage it, a nursery, where the children can make a noise and have a real good time without shocking anybody’s nerves, will be found a great comfort. Give the little ones space, where they [16] can romp to their hearts’ content, a large, sunny room, with broad windows and a big fire-place, a room with nothing in it that will spoil by contact with little hands, and you will contribute much to their happiness. ”

“ It is a good plan for summer cottages to have the kitchen in a wing by itself, even if not disconnected with the rest of the house. In a small house, where the dining-room and kitchen must be placed next to each other, a pantry with doors not opposite each other, between the rooms, will do much to intercept odors and noises.
A sitting-room or living-room should be bright and cheerful. Let it have the benefit of any good view that the situation of the house may command. Give it broad, generous windows, admitting plenty of light and sunshine. ”

“ A stately oak and a few graceful maples, or perhaps some faithful evergreens, will take away the barren and forlorn appearance a house often presents when standing quite alone. A little terracing and grading, besides helping to shed the surface water, often give the building the appearance of being well and firmly placed.
Care will of course be taken to see that an abundant supply of pure water is obtainable; to decide its quality a few preliminary borings should be made.
Having roughly chosen the position and driven a stake in the site, we must decide in which direction our house shall face. ”

“ Occasionally two cesspools are used, one for the kitchen sink waste, the other for soil and bath-room waste water. The conditions of these cesspools after some use will not differ materially from each other, and such an arrangement is, if anything, more of a nuisance than the one first-mentioned.
The smaller the house lot, the greater is the danger from a cesspool. No leaching cesspool should ever be placed nearer to a dwelling than one hundred feet. To locate such a cesspool close to the well, or even a cistern, is a practice which should be forbidden by law. ”

“ The quaint interest, the great beauty of old European towns, are so marked, that we would do well to remember that each of the houses in their picturesque old streets was evidently built to suit the special tastes and requirements of its owner. At present, the fashion is set; and, while it lasts, all cottages are built to suit. The fashion changes and the next batch of cottages must come up to the new standard. Now, ready-made houses, like ready-made clothes, may fit, but the conditions of house-planning are complex and the requirements are many and varied. ”

“ The greatest objection to the ordinary open grate fire lies in the fact that 85 per cent. and more of the fuel is wasted, the heat from it going straight up the chimney flue. A fire-place generally causes extremely cold drafts from window cracks, or from door spaces, especially in very cold weather. On the other hand, if such cracks are all carefully closed and stopped up, the chimney is apt to smoke. While, therefore, an open fire-place may be adequate in warm climates, it is entirely inadequate to warm, per se, cottages in our eastern, northern, and northwestern States. ”

“ The liquid manure will be easier removed and taken care of. The usual and much to be condemned substitute for a water-closet is a privy, located close to or at a distance from the house. It rivals with the leaching cesspool in nastiness and danger to health. It pollutes the soil, taints the water in the well and contaminates the air of the neighborhood. A privy must always receive unqualified condemnation. There are cheap and cleanly substitutes for it, such as the various apparatus known as earth or ash closets. ”

“ If warming by a hot-air furnace is decided upon, care should be taken to select from the innumerable patterns in the market a good furnace. The furnace should be of the best quality of material of its kind—either cast iron, wrought iron or soap-stone,—and of a good size, for if the furnace is small, it will be overheated in extremely cold weather, which is very objectionable, as it renders the air less fit for breathing, and is liable to cause cracks in cast-iron, and loose joints in wrought-iron furnaces. ”

“ For door and window trims and other interior woodwork, white pine is recommended, as it is the cheapest, and, if properly finished, looks very well.
It may be stained, if too light—the transparent stains merely darken the wood and do not conceal the natural grain. Under no circumstances try to imitate oak or walnut by graining. Such shams deceive no one and are in the worst taste. If we use paint for interior work let us use it frankly, carefully selecting the color, and avoiding a shiny surface, a flatted or dull finish being preferable. ”

“ The house in which we live should have some individuality, and not be a mere duplicate of our neighbor’s dwelling. We do not care to confess that we are exactly like other people. Of course we are not. We may not wish to be considered eccentric or “funny,” but we do flatter ourselves that we have some ideas of our own; so our home, if it is to be a home, must be planned just to suit our habits. Regarding the exterior appearance, that, to a [9] certain extent at least, will proclaim both the disposition of the interior and its inmates. ”

“ Sandy or gravelly soil is good. Clay is bad. A side-hill has many advantages and affords opportunity for something picturesque. We need not fear it, for a broad trench dug deep as our cellar, and running obliquely back of the house, will leave us high and dry. If we are sensible rather than ambitious, we will not choose the summit of a hill. Sooner be a little lower down on the slope, securing shelter from the wind and a readier water supply. The question of site is an important one, and much depends on a wise selection. ”

“ On the other hand, it would be equally false for a large mansion which should have an air of dignity and magnificence to attempt to assume a simple, rustic appearance. Indeed, Southey informs us that the devil’s “favorite sin is the pride that apes humility.” Proportion—that is, the relation of parts to each other and to the whole, is the most important element of beauty in architecture. ”

“ A brick house of the same capacity as a wooden one, will cost nearly 20 per cent. more. Rubble stone, if easily obtained, costs about as much as brick.
In building double houses, we may save from 10 to 15 per cent. on the cost of the houses singly.
Good materials and workmanship are always the cheapest in the end, and it is by no means advisable to economize too closely on that score. There can be no comfort in a house that constantly needs repairs; and the money spent in building a home, carefully and substantially constructed, will never be regretted. ”

“ It is impossible to heat a room well by furnace heat, unless arrangements are made, by an open fire-place or other outlet into a chimney flue, for withdrawal of the air once breathed and fouled by respiration. You cannot introduce pure, warmed air, unless you remove a like amount of fouled air. Another mistake, frequently made, is to take the air supply to the furnace air-chamber directly from the cellar. Thus, cellar air, ground air, or air from sewer pipes, is often sent up in a heated condition into the living and sleeping rooms. ”

“ While we should not inflict our neighbors with an ugly house, we will not be open to the charge of selfishness if we choose the extravagance of a daintily carved oak mantel in our sitting-room to that of ornamented brackets and posts on the veranda. ”

“ To say that a very large waste of fuel is incident to warming by fire-places, is not strictly correct, for the heat is not actually wasted. It forms a good aid to the ventilation of rooms, and we will see later that, as an accessory of other heating methods, the fire-place is eminently serviceable, and much to be recommended. Better, however, than ordinary fire-places, are the improved, so-called ventilating fire-places, which are provided with a large air chamber, and a sufficient air supply from outdoors. ”

“ If the dwelling draws its supply from a well or a cistern, the water is usually lifted by means of suction-pumps, generally located, for convenience’s sake, inside the house, at the kitchen sink. If the cottage has any plumbing fixtures on the upper floor, it becomes necessary to force water by a lift and force-pump to a small reservoir or tank under the roof, from which it is distributed to the fixtures under a constant head of pressure. Such water tanks should be made of cast iron well painted, or of wrought iron well protected against rust. Slate tanks are also very good. ”

“ It is also, unfortunately, true that, as ordinarily arranged, they make the worst possible devices for warming the air of our rooms. Heating should always be combined with ventilation, that is, there [50] should be a continuous removal of the fouled air and introduction of plenty of pure air instead, but arranged so as not to cause inconvenient or unhealthy drafts. A room warmed by an air-tight stove must soon contain air entirely unfit to breathe, for a close stove removes practically none of the vitiated air, and there is usually an entire absence of any provision for introducing fresh air. ”

“ If there is no leaching cesspool, no privy, nor other cause of soil contamination, in the neighborhood, a well may safely be used. If cesspools must be kept on or near your, or the neighbor’s, lot, or if the ground has previously been saturated with filth, do not sink a well.
A properly built well should have walls made tight and impervious from the level of the ground-water up to the surface, in order to prevent any filtration from the soil surrounding the well. The surface of the ground should be raised somewhat at the well, and graded so as to pitch in all directions away from the well. ”