Building by a Builder; Practical and Economical Considerations for the Man about to Build (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1914 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV Those Plans ALADY of my acquaintance who enjoyed leisure, good taste and a competence confided in me one day in regard to the house she meant to build somewhere in New Jersey. "I haven't decided on my architect yet," she said; "but I've been looking at some of those pictures of English country houses and I'm perfectly charmed with them. The English certainly do know how to live Now I want one of those lovely, low-lying houses, where the walls rise right out of the lawn and the long, straggling roofs slope 'way down, with pretty little casements peeping out here and there. And I want one of those open halls with galleries and a fireplace with armorial bearings in stone over it, where I can serve tea every afternoon. I've found several delightful English houses that were really built of stone or brick for much less than 8s I had reckoned on; so there won't be any difficulty about that--especially as I want it all perfectly simple in detail." Though I sympathized thoroughly with the architectural tastes of my friend, there was only one thing to do. "Do you know," I asked, "that the charming way the houses rise right out of the ground is due to the fact that practically all English country houses are built without cellars? How would that go in New Jersey in winter? All right for Florida, I grant you. The lack of a basement excavation is possible because of the English habit of heating--or rather not heating--their houses with little coal fires in grates. Do you think you could get along without a furnace? If you had a furnace the great open hall with overhanging galleries would require to heat it in the winter months, when you would be serving tea inside, tons and tons of that furnace coal you already find to be such a drain on your purse--and think...