Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/pallisersmodelho00pall_0 PALLISER’S MODEL HOMES. SHOWING A VARIETY OP Designs foe Model Dwellings s ALSO, FARM-BARN AND HENNERY, STABLE AND CARRIAGE HOUSE, SCHOOL HOUSE, MASONIC ASSOCIATION BUILDING, BANK AND LIBRARY, TOWN HALL AND THREE CHURCHES. TOGETHER WITH A LARGE AMOUNT OP MISCELLANEOUS MATTER, MAKING IN ALL A VERY VALUABLE BOOK POR EVERY ONE WHO CONTEMPLATES BUILDING. Tenth Thousand, The genius of the Architect, in his practice, unlike that of the Sculptor and the Painter, which may bejman- ifested in their highest forms almost single handed, and within the four walls of the studio, deals with, sterner materials, and has to wield not only the intractabilities of matter, but the even greater intractabilities of men’s adverse wills, and to move the apathy, and frequently the ignorance, of ill-constituted public opinion. — S ir M. Digby Wyatt. ■LflfSER, PALLISER & CO., ARCHITECTS, iidgepoet, Conn. ti American Cottaoe Homes, Palliser’s Useful Details, I’alliseu’s Specifications, Etc., Etc. Copyright 1878, by Palliser, Palliser & Co. L. S. PUNDEKSON, LITHOGRAPHER AND PRINTER, NEW HAVEN, CONN. PLATES FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY GEO. & CHAS. PALLISER, ARCHITECTS. CONTENTS. Hints on Building, . Page 5 Employment of Architects, a 13 Responsibility of Architects, 66 20 Cottage at Scooba, Miss., Plate 1 “ Birmingham, Conn., 66 1 “ Chelsea, Mass., and Newport, Ohio, . 66 2 “ West Stratford, Conn., 66 o O “ Litchfield, Conn., 66 4 Residence of R. R. Henry, Tazewell, Ya., 66 5 “ Albert Trinler, New Albany, Ind., . 66 6 “ Dwight Hotchkiss, Sharon, Conn., 66 7 “ N. Carpenter, Sterling, 111., 66 8 “ W. Coe, Stratford, Conn., .... 66 9 “ F. Egge, Bridgeport, Conn., . 66 10, 11 “ Rev. Dr. Marble, Newtown, Conn., 66 12 “ W. W. Woodruff, Mount Carmel, Conn., 66 13 “ Silas W. Gardiner, Lyons, Iowa, . 6 6 14 Pair of Houses near New Haven, Conn., 66 15 Residence of a Country Physician, 66 1G Pair of Houses at Bridgeport, Conn., .... 66 17 Residence of Frank H. Underwood, Tolland, Conn., 66 18, 19 Farm-Barn and Hennery, 66 20 Stable and Carriage-House, 66 21 School-House, 66 22 Masonic Association Building, 66 23 Bank and Library, 66 24 Town Hall, 66 25 Episcopal Church, 66 26 Catholic Church, 66 27 Congregational Church, ...... 66 28 PREFACE. • fc* r lST consequence of our increasing business, supplying parties in all parts with Designs, etc., we found it necessary to adopt a system for conducting this class of business, and with which to supply a want long felt, especially in the country, where Architects had done but little business, and the people had been obliged to plan their own houses or copy from their neighbors. This led us to issue the first edition (5,000) of Model Homes. These have nearly all been disposed of, having been sent into every State and Territory in the Union, and many to the provinces. In the first book the designs were very poorly given, on account* of their being wood-cuts. Even poor as they were, it was very highly valued by the general public, and this fact has induced us to issue a second edition, which has been entirely revised, and will be found a much more complete guide to the erection of buildings. All the designs in this work have been made by us in the past few months, and with one or two exceptions are now in progress of erection. They will be found full of suggestions for parties who intend building, as they contain the ideas and requirements of a number of different individ- uals, localities and site for which intended, and show what progress has been made in the last few years in American Architecture. THE AUTHORS. ' Bridgeport, Conn., July 1st, 1878. Hints on Building. “ When we mean to build, We first survey the plat, then draw the model; And, when we see the figure of the house, Then must we rate the cost of erection; Which, if we find outweighs ability, What do we then but draw anew the model In fewer offices; or, at least, desist To build at all? Much more in this great work (Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down, And set another up) should we survey The plat of situation, and the model; Consent upon a sure foundation ; Question Surveyors; know our own estate. How able such a work to undergo; To weigh against his opposite : or else We fortify in paper and in figures, Using the names of men instead of men : Like one that draws the model of a house Beyond his power to build it; who, half through Gives o’er, and leaves his part-created cost A naked subject to the weeping clouds, And waste for churlish winter’s tyranny.” King Henry IV., Act 1, Scene 3. One of the first and most important things to be settled in the erection of a home is a site, and it is not at all surprising that there are so many who never give the matter of location the first thought, further than, is it a good neighborhood; are there good neighbors; and is the price reasonable. To such we say this is all wrong and we speak from actual experience. John Jones who is a Real Estate Agent and has the sale of a piece of ground he wishes you to buy, will not point out to you the defects in the ground or anything that is detrimental to the property, but will fully explain its good points. The first thing to do is to find out what the nature of the ground is, as some locations are resisting — others soft and compressible to various degrees; is it made ground? for you must only build on firm and solid ground; or is it a sand and gravel bottom? Take a spade, dig down four or five feet and see for yourself what it is. If your cellar bottom is placed in a layer of hard pan, as we have frequently seen them, then the treatment of drainage should be different, so as to keep it dry; and while it makes a firm foundation for the building, yet sand or gravel is preferable on all accounts, for if the weight compresses the bed of sand and forces it to settle, the settling is regular, and hence free from danger. The alluvia formed by sluggish water courses that naturally How through the interstices of a hard or clayey soil are very injurious to the health of the occupants of a house erected over such ground; and in the erection of such great care should be exercised in the matter of drainage, so as to keep the cellar bottom dry and free from moisture; the foundation walls should 6 palliser’s model homes. descend below the cellar bottom sufficient to allow a drain to be laid on and around the outside of walls, and the bottom part of this drain should be one foot below the level of cellar floor: this drain should entirely encompass the building at a distance of a few inches from walls and the water as it sinks through the soil will be thus arrested in its progress by the drain and drawn off from the building, leaving the entire ground under your house free from moisture. This drain will carry the water where you wish, and can have branches connecting with roof leaders to carry off the waste water from the roof; also the necessary branches can be connected from inside, so as to carry away all surplus and waste water from all parts of the house. We strongly advise this method of draining all houses, no matter what the soil may be; and even if it costs a little more to put in the drains this way it is preferable to any other. The leader pipes from the roofs form a series of ventilating shafts for the drains, a feature that is desirable and necessary, as they will carry the gases generated in the sewer up above the roof of the house where it will pass away and do no harm ; care should be taken not to have any leader openings in roof near to or under upper story windows ; there should also be a running trap between the connection to the house and the sewer in main pipe; this should be put as near the house as practicable and a leader branch or vent pipe connected as near to it as possible — this for proper ventilation, as the trap is liable to syphon dry if not ventilated. A cellar bottom should be thoroughly cemented tight with cement con- crete, which should be not less than two inches in depth to obtain a good bottom, and should not be made of nearly all sand or gravel — as some ma- sons try to do, presuming to save cement — but should have a proper pro- portion of good cement thoroughly mixed in with it and properly laid. When the people who build homes have had the experience the writer of this has, and had to fight scarlet fever and diphtheria and grim death himself through the want of a proper system of sewerage, then they will perhaps begin to realize that this is indeed one of the first and most important things to be taken up in the planning and erection of a home, and one which will not bear a saving at the spigot and tvholesale waste at the bung hole. What is architecture ? What is anything ? If we look out of our windows what do we see; perhaps nothing but the verdant fields covered with their vegetation and dotted here and there with green trees, which at this time form a pretty and attractive picture to look upon, or we see perhaps a thickly populated district where little else is to be seen but brick walls, tin roofs, skylights to light down into bodies of stores where fine displays of fancy and useful goods of every description are seen, to meet the wants of all classes. The green verdant fields we see are the natural results of the sea- sons, which are regulated by the hand of the divine architect, and consti- tute the motive power whereby all living creatures on land move and have their being; the houses, walls', roofs and skylights we see are a necessity that we must have to shelter us from the wind and rain and allow us to see and act in places where but for them it would be cold and dark ; and as we look out and see these things, and reason, we find that these forms are an expression of our wants and thus have good reason for existence. As the ancients found at the commencement of the world that it was necessary to protect themselves from the wind and the rain and cold, they undoubtedly went to work with such materials as they had at hand and palliser's model homes. erected for themselves huts or tents, made probably with sticks or leaves, or perhaps mud, and as they progressed in civilization they thus were educating themselves to better supply their wants, and as one improvement was made it suggested another; and so on, ad infinitum, until we have now reached an era of civilization that one hundred years ago was never dreamt of, nor would have been credited. As the erection of the humble abodes in ancient times was a direct result of necessity, so it is now; and as the times have so changed and men’s ideas with them, we have architecture on an improved scale. If any one doubts this we advise him to betake himself to the woods, and look about and see what he can do with regard to housing himself with the means and materials found there, and no doubt in nine cases out of ten he would not do much better than the ancients did; and as it is a necessity that we should be housed and protected from the inclemency of the weather, it is through this necessity that we learn to reason and to apply our reasoning powers to each special case, for what answers one case will not do for another. There is no method, no receipt, no procedure that can be applied, for we must observe circumstances, facts, habits, climate and hygeian conditions as well as the individual wants of the occupants. And as the materials and means of execution are every day modified or changed, we must follow these variations, and a good, practitioner in the art must have a working power and independence of character, a thorough knowledge of business, enough energy and tenacity, and assert his authority — saying I will only accept this or that so far as I find them useful, and to serve my purpose; he must have character, and ascertain by his reasoning and working, and not allow himself to be seduced by attractive appearances; must express his thoughts clearly and reflect before speaking, and if nature has endowed him with genius, such will be— if his reasoning powers are properly applied — a splendid compliment to his faculties. But without reasoning, genius would only serve as a stumbling block and had better lay dormant. What has been done before our time must not be ignored, as it is a good acquired, a common store house filled with the reasonings and works of our predecessors, and which has been handed down to our own time for us to start from. Architecture is an art, and the true architect should so wield this art that it be but the faithful expression of the times as we see them, that the building may be in truth the envelope of that which it contains. To be a good architect is to be a good reasoner, and to reason well is to work well, for the one is subservient to the other. All the essential conditions must be thoroughly reflected on — the client’s needs fully known. Then the result can be placed on paper, for nothing must be left to chance; every function must know and fill its place, and every particle in value must be in relation to the whole, so as to render them intelligible to those who .execute them. This is what is commonly meant by Architecture. The simplest way to study architecture is by practicing it, and though many are taught to conceive and plan buildings that cannot be constructed, only on paper, under the shallow pretext of preserving high art, they soon tire of putting these conceptions on paper, when they see the success that attends the working and practical architect, whose buildings are daily growing more and more beautiful the more difficulties he has to encounter. Construction outside of a certain scientific and practical knowledge can only be studied by experience, a habit of reasoning and obedience to the 8 palliser’s model homes. rules of good sense, and lie who disdains this natural faculty under the pretence that it hampers inspiration, will always see his conceptions applied to paper where they hurt nobody; for to carry out such whims costs dear, and as practical men always exercise their reasoning powers and good sense in erecting a home, they then have a right to consider it inopportune and stop before they begin. There are a great number of people who, intending to build for them- selves homes, have an idea that only symmetrical houses look well. This class of people are to be met with almost every, day in the week in the experience of an architect who is consulted by a large number of clients, and we have frequently been very much tried in our patience and labors in preparing plans to suit the wants of such people, therefore rve now propose to have a few words to say to this class of clients. A close observer in travelling through the country towns and villages in almost every portion of our country, cannot fail to notice the sameness and monotony of most country residences, which are nearly all built after one order, and very frequently a large number in each village all just alike, presenting symmetrical aspects. There is the country house of say from 36 to 40 feet front; the front door in the center, two windows each side, two story high, and roof about pitch, with that same old box cornice — we presume they copied from what Noah had on the Ark. This matter of symmetry is a very grave question and one which may work well enough on large public buildings, but should have nothing to do with the design and arrangement of private dwellings. Fancy your building a house with the Sitting and Dining Room on the South side, to which you want bay windows ; and as the Kitchen comes on the North side, as it is necessary to have a symmetrical house, it must have a bay window there also, or else dispense with the bay on South side. There are undoubtedly a great many people who are willing to satisfy their vain pleasure of displaying outside, regular and monumental exteriors, by sacrificing the every day conveniences which are so essential to the comforts of a home. Symmetry applied to private architecture is an invention that has had its day and is completely run out, except in rare cases, where old fogyism holds the sway and rules supreme. The most convenient homes are those which are planned with a special reference to satisfy the needs of its occupants and so as to avoid all useless expenditures — and we might add these are the most pleasing in point of aspect, for the simple reason that they clearly show the purposes for which they are built. The ancients never troubled themselves about symmetry in their resi- dences; the houses at Pompeii are not built with any regard to it, and the villa or country house of which Pliny has left us a full description does not give us any appearance of symmetry. In designing homes we must follow the laws of common sense, and not sacrifice interior comfort for the satisfaction of displaying an outside show which is offensive to the cultivated eye. But let us have homes wherein nothing whatever is conceded to a false luxury and where harmony says that though here is a small and there a large opening to suit the interior requirements, they are so grouped and blended together that they produce a pleasing and picturesque exterior, and which when finished will cost us no more, as we shall have nothing concealed, nothing artificial, nothing useless ; all the details throughout, though modest, being direct results and a neces- palliser’s model homes. 9 sity of the structure and requisite to suit the needs of the occupants, so that the structure when built will always permit you to see its organs and how these organs work. This sort of construction, is the only satisfactory one to people of sense and taste, there being a good reason for it. In building, every detail is worthy of close attention and everything should be taken into account. In all things the way to avoid an evil is to analyze and search for its cause and to determine its effects, for we can only appreciate what is good by a knowledge of what is bad; so much so that in the absence of the bad we cannot admit that the good exists. And it requires a large experience to know what must be avoided in building, while if you are born an architect you will readily discover in what the good and beautiful exists; and if not, all the examples that the world con- tains will not give you talent. A sight of the finest achievements of the art may pervert the minds of some, if when they see them no one is there to explain how the authors succeeded in making them beautiful, because they avoided falling into such and such faults. An exact mind and experience is only acquired by long and tedious study, and the observation and experience aid us to recognize what is bad and avoid it; besides what is good in one place is bad in another, by reason of climate, habits, and the quality of the materials and their adaptability to this or that local circumstance. You cannot establish absolute rules in build- ing, since experience, reasoning and reflection must always intervene when building is undertaken ; all the special circumstances which come up in an architect’s career have to be dealt with and worked out in a certain method to solve the problem, and it requires no small amount of intelligence and ob- servation to work out these cases in a manner that no given rule ever yet invented could foresee. There is in every community a class of persons who sow broadcast their advice to any and every one with whom they come in contact who may be interested in the erection of buildings — men who have read and travelled and who know a little of everything, and whose opinions are greatly respected in their neighborhoods. These men always pretend to give a simple solu- tion to everything, whether politics, science, commerce or even the arts; they have themselves built houses, and were their own architect, making their own plans and contracts, treating directly with suppliers and super- vising the works — men Avho are by themselves regarded as infallible judges on every subject that comes up; they are honest, polite, and sometimes even generous to those who may, through interest or conviction, flatter their eccentricities. Such are some whose experience has cost them dear, and having had such misadventures are ever ready to try help snatch one — a brand from the burning as it were — and who are ever ready with “ Will you permit me a few remarks;” and they proceed after this wise: “Now really this all looks very nice on paper, and seems to be excellent; still, as I have seen and compared a good deal, I tell you frankly I don’t think that this is really just the thing for you ; excuse me, but do you see the size of this room? why, it don’t come in to suit carpets; now when I have built a house, I have always made it so as to fit carpets, and I should strongly advise the making of this room eight inches wider, so as to accommodate five breadths of carpet. Now this I think is an indispensible feature, as it never seemed to me right to turn the carpet under;” still, when you inform him that the floor in question is to be of hardwood with a border of darker 10 palliser’s model homes. wood around it, he is never taken back but still insists that the change should be made, as it may be carpeted sometime. “ Yes, there are some very good ideas in the plan, but I think if I were you I would throw those two small rooms into one and have one large room. I have seen houses something like this arranged that way; then I think instead of passing through this closet from Dining Room, to Kitchen, a direct communication would be better, as you would not have but one door to pass through ” — he never thinks Avliy there are two doors — “my house is that way and it is very handy” — perhaps so! “then I cannot say that I like this large roof — it seems to me there is too much of it ; now I would stop this part and flatten this porch-roof instead of running thte main roof right down, as it would not look so long; it is well enough for English houses, but it never seemed to me right to have it so here— -and besides, you seldom see such roofs here.” These men don’t know why such a roof is better for this climate than for England, nor does he see why you should be so foolish as to go and erect anything that is in accordance with what he does or has done; you must share his opinion or you do not know anything. You may be very inexperienced yourself in building, but if so your architect should know enough for both himself and you, and while your busy neighbor may ply you with his wholesale advice, you need not sac- rifice yourself to any whims or suggestions he may make. Never mind how much he don’t like your large roof, your gables, or your internal arrangements, if they are what you want; go straight ahead in the path you have marked out and let your advisers go their way; if they Avant their ideas carried out let them do it themselves at their oAvn cost — let them produce their oavh works of vanity erected for vanity’s sake, or for desires of their oavii misapplied talents, reaping the reward of their folly, which will only be admired by themselves for their own lives and then abandoned. Our experience has been very large Avith this class of advisers; we have stumbled across them in our professional path so frequently that Ave hoav have a formula ready to salute them Avith, and Avhile Ave firmly believe that Ave shall never agree Avith such, Ave presume they have a reason of existence and a right to be heard, and if they Avould always let those Avho know more than themselves hear them, Ave should have no fault to find. We feel it Avould be no trouble for us to fill a volume of 200 pages Avith advice given to our clients and criticisms of the uninformed. Only a Aveek or tAvo ago one of our clients, 1,500 miles away, Avrote us that he Avas not aAvare how many disinterested friends he possessed until he commenced building; almost every owe he met had something to say about Avhat he Avas erecting — people seemed to think he Avas spending his money to suit them instead of himself. When Ave forwarded him the drawings, &c., Ave put him on guard against his friends’ advice, and told him to go by the drawings and specifications and not to deviate from them, no matter Avhat advice he got, and if he wished any information to communicate with us. He has done this, and says he threw overboard seven tons of everybody’s advice and took only ours in the erection of his home; if he had taken most of his friends’ advice he Avould have built the usual large dry goods box with a flat roof; but the result is very different, and as the press in speaking of it says: “It is a pretty residence, and Mr. and Mrs. may Avell feel proud of their new and comfortable home.” palliser’s model homes. 11 Let your architect do the thinking for you which you pay him for, and you will save time, trouble — and most of all, expense. “Gentlemen : “I have been advised by some of my neighbors to dispense with the stone foundation for my house, and to cement the sides of the ground to- form walls, starting the brick underpinning upon the ground. What would you advise me to do about it ? Yours, &c., W. J.” The above letter was received from a gentleman we had furnished with plans for a Cottage Home, and as we had given him full plans, working- drawings and specifications for construction, we could not understand what he was driving at, and we had to think twice before attempting to answer it. In the first place we came to the conclusion here is a gentleman who is troubled with the advice of his neighbors, which he probably thinks consid- erable of, who no doubt flocked around him like so many moths around a light, and he has no decided mind of his own, or else he would consult his drawings and specifications and be governed accordingly. We answered in this wise : “Dear Sir: “Yours of the 2d inst. is at hand and contents noted. In reply would say we never yet in all our experience heard of such a mode of con- struction as referred to in your letter, and should certainly infer that your neighbors are strange people to advise you to do any such thing and we should think very ignorant in these matters and incapable of giving advice. We will suppose that you construct your wall in this way and watch the result say for one year. It is now an excellent time to build, the weather is fine and building operations can be pushed to good advantage. You get your cellar dug, but do not dig close up to the walls, to avoid the dirt fall- ing in, and probably slope them to counteract this trouble. You level th top all around, so as to start your underpinning and run up the brick work from the ground line the proper height to receive the frame above. Well, this all looks very nice, everything going along pleasantly ; the frame is raised and sheathed and enclosed in good time, the floors are laid, partitions set, the walls plastered, and you proceed to and finish up the inside work; all still going along nicely, nothing to be seen amiss with the foundation walls, they are firm as a rock, no cracks in the underpinning visible, and you begin to prepare for and do the cementing in the cellar, all the time congratulating yourself what a sensible man you are to take your friends’' advice and save all that stone work, though it does take considerable cement to cement the sides ; why, how nice it looks ! Certainly you have a far more solid appearing wall than rough stone would make, besides it is pleasanter to the eye. You get your house finished, painting done, and now you are moving in, putting down carpets and getting everything set to rights gener- ally. All this time you have been busy as could be, and had no time to think further about your cellar walls; however Mrs. calls your attention to the door opening into the Parlor; it don’t shut and catch properly — would you just fix it; and upon examination you find it strikes the top corner of the casing. You think this strange ; why, it was all right a day or two ago; and while you are casting your eyes up to examine the door you notice a crack in the angle of the wall and ceiling on both sides 12 palliseb’s model homes. of the partition in the Hall and Parlor, which you think to yourself is only the natural result of a slight shrinkage of timber, and something that always happens in a new house; you get your carpenter to plane off the top ■corner of the door, the painter to touch it up and all is straight again — no, not exactly. There is trouble with the windows in the rear angle of the Dining Room — they don’t seem to fit as they did when you first moved in ; the sash locks bind and you cannot lock them. You begin to think the carpenter was not as particular about the fitting of the windows as he should have been. Of course this must be fixed, the windows must be locked ; and in the meantime you insert a stick from top of meeting rail of lower sash to lower edge of top rail on upper sash, as you have seen the carpenter fasten the windows before the locks were in place. Well, you wait a day or two and see your carpenter, he calls and looks at the windows, sees what is the matter and wonders how that came to fit so badly, as he fitted those very sash himself and knoAvs full well he did not leave them in any such state as he now finds them ; he takes out the sash, planes off the corners where they bind and makes them lock, although he cannot make the lock rails come together level as they ought to, yet they work all right, so that will do ; but stop! Mrs. says will he just fix the pantry door — it touches on the bottom and shuts hard; he lifts it off its hinges, eases it and replaces it. What he took off the bottom corner is wanting now on the top. Nothing like plenty of play you think — better have them small enough than be all the time troubled this way. Well, you think that now as you have the carpenter here you had better look over all doors, &c., and have a general fixing up; you go all over the first floor and fix a catch here and a bolt there, and then pass up stairs to find the two windows in rear gable over Dining Room don’t work as well as they might ; you fix them. This closet door, which is just over pantry door, seems to bind a little, and the door into front Chamber binds on the bottom. This door is over the Parlor door, and as it is hinged on contrary side to Parlor door, it binds on bottom in place of the top. Ton get everything put in working order, touch up your painting, then find you have considerable cracks .in the Avail; you get a mason and have them all fixed, and hoav you think you can be at peace and have no more trouble; you have often heard it said that the lumber Avill shrink .and cause Avails to crack, doors to sag and things to settle generally, and .suppose your house is no Avorse than any other in this respect. “ You commenced building in spring ; the summer is passed and the leaves fallen from the trees — you have had everything as you think made snug for winter; you start up your fires and all goes as merry as a marriage bell until Christmas morning, Avhen you come doAvn stairs and find you have three doors in your house that Avon’t open. They seem to be loose enough ■on one end, but really it looks as if they Avere grown in on the other end. Finally you succeed in prying them open, only to find they cannot be shut .again, and upon opening the window of your Parlor you find the sash lock very hard to turn, and Avhen it has been opened you cannot lock it again. It is impossible for you to understand what all this means, and it is such a bitter cold morning you cannot bother about it. Upon passing out of your front door you find that also troubled in the same way and don’t operate properly; the key turns hard in the lock, and Avhen turned you cannot relock the door. You don’t know Avhat has got into your doors and windows and with the thermometer at zero you don’t feel like investigating palliser’s model homes 13 the matter. Then what is it? Why, dear sir, it is Jack. Don’t you know him? Jack Frost; he has been in an elevating mood the last night or two, having now penetrated some 15 inches into the ground, and as he burrows into the ground he expands, and as there is only one way for him to grow, and that upwards, why up he comes, and up your house comes with him ; and as the verandas keep off a good deal of frost from walls, where they are so covered up, there Jack has not gone as deep; consequently one part of your house is raised somewhat higher than the others — hence the confusion among doors and windows. Things go on rising and falling, the doors shut and then they don’t, and you are all the time fluctuating with the weather, now up and then down. “ When winter is over and Jack is leaving for foreign parts, you are in a general uproar. The water soaks through your beautiful and economical cellar wall, the cement flakes off in big pieces, bringing with it large pieces of earth, the water is oozing and trickling into your cellar and your whole house is in a general dilapidated condition, roof leaking at chimneys, and you are entirely discouraged. At this time, one year from commencement of building, what have you ? a rickety tumble down house, not lit for man to live in and not safe. The way to avoid this trouble — the same old story we have repeated to our clients hundreds of times — is to keep both ears open; one to take in the advice from your neighbors and the other to let it out. Bead, mark, learn and inwardly digest the drawings and specifications we sent you. Go by them, deviating neither to the right or the left and the general result will be as directly opposite from the result as here described as it is possible to be— for as a sure foundation is the keystone of success in everything, so must every house have a sure foundation under it, so that all its parts when built will be retained in their proper position, and insure a harmonious working of the whole. Yours very truly, PALLISER, PALLISER & CO.” Employment of Architects. The American public only require to be shown what well qualified architects really can and ought to do for them, to appreciate and remunerate them accordingly. Verburn sat Sapieriti. When any one contemplates building, no matter whether it is a building to cost but $500, if he is wise he will consult an architect with reference to its design, construction, &c., and this is usually done, except with those who cannot be taught anything in architecture, or that other class who are igno- rant and think they cannot afford to pay an architect. If the latter is really true they certainly cannot afford to build. Some people have an idea that it is useless to employ an architect unless for an important building and that for ordinary dwelling houses a builder 14 pallisek’s model homes. is all that is necessary to carry out their wishes. But it must he remem- bered that a builder is not an architect and that he has no convictions unless in regard to the mechanical mysteries of his trade, where his employer ■cannot follow him ; and, not finding them in his way, is content to leave them uncrossed. The employer, knowing that the mechanic expects to be ■directed, does not hesitate to watch him and follow him up with instruc- tions. He ends by securing at least the particular things on which his mind is set; and if he fails of a good many conveniences and elegancies which the skillful adjustment of an architect would give him, he does not know it and so does not miss them. It is a well known fact that when a builder has complete drawings to Avork from, that he will save a large amount of time that he Avonld other- Avise have to spend in thinking up every detail of the work as it progresses, 1c say nothing of the time the employer would have to spend w i th him. The possible alterations in the work caused by advice from his friends or his study by practice, is money saved, by having a thoroughly studied and prepared design from which no deviations are made and which Avould enable the builder to go through Avith the Avork Avith the utmost despatch. Architects, like other professional men, come in contact Avith all sorts of ■clients. Perhaps the best are those who have in mind an ideal house, which they wish, Avith the assistance of an architect, to put into a tangible shape. ■One who has given the subject thought can easily describe the arrangement of rooms that would best please him, and Avhat adjuncts seem to him indis- pensible; and if he has a partiality for any particular style, the architect Avould be glad to know it. With this imformation before him, and knowing what the client Avould be willing to spend on the house, the architect can work understandingly ; and you may rest assured he Avill perpetrate nothing that Avill be in violation of good taste. When we say this it is understood that the architect is one of ability and standing and Avorthy his client’s confidence. Some people are in the habit of forming a vague idea of what they Avant, founded merely on Avhat they have seen, with such changes, omissions or .additions as their education and circumstances suggest; they give their ideas and instructions to the architect, while at the same time they impress upon him the necessity of adhering to a certain limit of cost, as if it were in his power to give them Avhat accommodation he pleases for their money, Avhen it can only buy so much material and labor according to their prices, and he can only exercise his ingenuity and judgment in such a Avay as to make the most of them. The architect at the outset identifies himself Avith his client’s interests; and they should not lose sight of their relative position. The architect should be frank and the client should give the architect his confidence the .same as he Avould his physician. If the sum the client is Avilling to invest is not sufficient to pay for the building that he requires and expects to have, the architect should tell him so ; and it is much better for the archi- tect’s interest as Avell as the client’s that the disappointment should be suffered because the project must be modified or abandoned than because it has involved an unexpected expenditure. There should be a thoroughly confidential relation between an architect and his client, a relation which is not like an ordinary business negotiation, but is rather like that of a legal adviser. It is to the client’s advantage to use the utmost freedom of con- palliser’s model homes. 15 saltation, and to take care that his work is not made less satisfactory by hurrying it, nor by taking for granted things that might be explained. There are many difficulties that might be obviated by the architect, and there are many that require the cooperation of the architect and client to remove. There are few persons who do not intend to build sometime in their lives, and people should always live in a home of their own, no matter how humble that home may be. Better only have two rooms to live in than be without a hearthstone of their own, leading a life which is destined to be fraught with all that lacks an interest in practical things, and leads to a life which is sure to warp and run into the quicksands of nonchalance and a don’t-careism for all occupation and responsibility of the home pleasures and comforts that surround the happy possessors of homes. The custom which is becoming a general one — for each one who contem- plates building to mark out some idea of the arrangement of rooms, &c., suited to their wants is a good one, and should be studied more by those about to build than is usually the case, and then submitting your ideas to your architect to be by him worked up into practical shape. If by making an effort to express in this way an idea you think good, or as inexperienced people often have it, perfect and cannot be bettered, you hesitate to submit this expression to your architect because he is better informed than your- self, in the fear of provoking jnore criticisms than praises, such would not be modesty, but a sentiment of ill placed pride that frequently deprives you of advice which could not fail to be valuable. When one has done the best he can he must not shrink from criticism, for that is the only means of finding out what is deficient, and consequently the best way to ascertain what is really wanting in the work. People cannot begin too early to discuss their plans and think the matter over before committing themselves to what they may wish otherwise when it is too late. The usual way of employing an architect is to wait till the last moment, and then tell him that the building must be completed by a certain short time. How much wiser it would be to commence consulting and planning six months or a year before building actually begins, study drawings and designs ; in fact educate one’s self to know what one does want, and as far as possible what one ought to want. Such a course would often result in discouragement. But even suppose that a man pays a considerable sum for advice, sketches, &c. ; and spends some of his time in artistic and practical study and discussion. We say suppose he does this, when, after all said and done, he concludes not to build ; has he wasted his time and his money ? Not at all. He has spent both in gaining a peace of mind and confidence in his convictions that are worth much more in comparison to the dissatis- faction that so often follows building, to say nothing of the increase of his general information and consequent enjoyment. How many men are saying at this time : “ If I build again, I should know better than adopt this or that, or plan or build in this way!” There are only two ways to avoid this disappointment — either to take the trouble to educate one’s self as we have suggested, or, as most Englishmen do, to select an architect on whose taste, ability and character you can rely, and let him alone. The former of these alternatives will not always prove successful, because there are those whose natural inclinations are not artistic, and again, those whose natural inclinations are not practical. 1G palliser’s model homes. The second alternative is undoubtedly the one for most persons to pursue, although it may be, that, however competent and tasteful an architect may be, he still may not produce a work that is to your taste. But, with few exceptions, is it not your taste at fault ? A person cannot be said to have an opinion upon a matter of architecture, any more than upon a composi- tion in music, Avithout more or less special study, according to the bent of his mind ; because architecture, like music, is an artificial art ; not pretend- ing to represent any natural object. In architecture taste i3 governed by several Avell defined excellencies ; and a building in Avhole or in part, is good or bad as a matter of fact, dependent upon no individual judgment. In the first place, there is the excellence of plan to meet certain requirements, which is indisputable ; and this is closely allied to the aesthetic ; for the best plan is that one which, while it fulfills the practical needs of the project, also admits of an artistic treatment, ex- pressive of the purpose. A plan may be admirably adapted to the purpose of a building, Avliile the building has no other merit; but this only sIioavs that another disposition should haA r e been made of the plan, retaining its fitness, Avliile it should be the most economical one consistent with mechan- ical and scientific principals. In regard to expression, there is the tradi- tional, the practical, and the sensual; sensual meaning the expression due to form and color, Avithout regard to the purpose, of the building. Sensual beauty in architecture, at all events, is not a matter of opinion. There are combinations and relations of form and color that are disagree- able to the eye for scientific reasons, and those reasons the same for Avhich some combinations of musical notes are painful to the ear; and combi- nations of form and color can be refined to the same extent that those of musical tones can be. There are millions of people Avho derive more enjoy- ment from listening to a hand organ playing a popular air, than they could possibly appreciate from hearing Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony; but do Ave doubt for an instant that this preference is clue to a lack 'of education or of a sense of music ? To judge of the practical excellence of an architectural design, one must unquestionably know something of materials, and their uses and possibili- ties, to determine Avhether the result has been achieved with economy and in the best manner. This excellence, then, must be a fact, and not an opinion. Then, as to expression; a building, or any part of one, should suggest its uses as far as possible; for it would be absurd, manifestly, to be unable to decide, even at the distance of half a mile, Avhich of three buildings is a church, a prison, or a dwelling house ; and, on a neai’er approach, the detail and disposition, external and internal, should carry out the first impression. These distinctions, again, can be refined act infinitum; and good taste should forbid an attempt to deceive, and should avoid shams and imposi- tions as an element of vulgarity. There are too many buildings assuming the air of Grecian or Roman temples, Avitli the aid of sham decoration that is as vulgar as false jeAvelry. Sham decoration may be made up of expensive materials, and still be sham as decoration ; for all decoration should be functional aesthetically ; that is, its use should be to emphasize the natural expression of the Avork. In short, if a building is founded upon the best plan for its purpose, its exterior and interior follow as a matter of course, either intimating the palliser’s model homes. 17 other’s dispositions, and explaining them ; the detail being confined to the explanation of parts, and being in some instances phonetic. Clients should bear in mind that the responsibility of saying they do not like that or this design can only be indulged in by those who have acquired a knowledge of the art ; and these seldom express themselves until they have endeavored to fathom the artist’s intention, knowing that a good work does not show itself in all its advantages at a glance, and that to condemn a work, without knowing why, is to confess one’s self a child in discretion. It is astonishing what ridiculous suggestions and objections clients will make when a design is being prepared for them. For instance, a case we had a short time ago. A client came to us to prepare him a design to cost $2,500; the floor plans were laid out and made to his satisfaction; then we made the elevations, but he objected to an open timber cornice on his house, because he thought it would look like what they always put on barns. We talked with him a long time, and after seeing other and more costly houses than his with the same finish, he concluded that we were right, and that if he had known at first what he learned by a little study, he would not have been so foolish as to make such an objection. This party also made many other objections, in some of which we showed him he was wrong, while in others our arguments were useless and he would have his own way. This is one of the many instances that has come under our notice, though they are of rare occurrence now-a-days. Finally, we ascertained where the trouble laid — it was with an old fogy of a carpenter who was to erect the building, and from whom our client was receiving his education in archi- tecture — from an ignorant village carpenter, who did not know how the cornice or any other part of the work — as designed by us — was constructed until he received the working details; all he knew was what he had done before over and over, and he had never studied anything outside of the village in which he lived, and in which the houses are made up of white boxes with green blinds. Such men as these are stumbling blocks in the way of architecture in the village and country, and we would strongly advise any one who intends to build to let such men severely alone. Had this builder been any sort of draughtsman, we presume our client would never have come to us, but would have had his builder scratched out his ideas on paper, or perhaps on a board, and then commenced building without any regard to taste or proportion or anything else; that is the manner in which many of the dwellings are erected throughout the country, and why we see so much bad architecture. Of course, in this way people have not to pay for the services of an architect, and some clients are apt to lose sight of the fact that a poor article can always be had for a small price. We have known instances where several builders, irresponsible and with- out credit, have been at work preparing drawings for the same person who was thinking of building, with the understanding that they were not to re- ceive any remuneration for their drawings, but they were simply doing this to try and get the work. This would no doubt be a good thing for the client, provided the drawings were of merit, as they would assist him in some meas- ure in getting his ideas and wants together; but we have to warn the public against such a proceeding, as no man can work for nothing, and if one of these builders should secure the work, depend on it he will make up for this in a manner that will not be noticed by the owner. 18 palliser’s model homes. Care should always be taken by parties who have buildings to erect, to ascertain the standing and character of the builder about to be engaged; it would be well to examine some of the work he has done, and question the owners of buildings recently erected by him as to the manner in which he did his business and work. When a competition for work is opened it would be well to allow only reliable builders — either of whom would do the work well — to estimate on the w r ork, but it is too often the case that the client gives every applicant a chance, especially those who have the reputation for turning out work at a low figure. One of these men, without capital and with little or no credit, is pretty sure to get the job, and the client sees only the difference in figures. And yet it is vain to hope that a builder will give his employers a dollar’s worth for ninety cents; he may contract to do so, but depend upon it, that as the grocer, who offers to sell coffee ready ground for less than he asks for the green berry, will supply us with anything but Java or even Rio. So the builder will contrive to cheat in some way to avoid a loss he would otherwise sustain — no matter how much he may be watched, frauds will be smuggled in by a man who is forced to make himself whole. The moment one’s back is turned, the foreman — like master, like man — puts in inferior stock where it can be speedily covered up, and scanty nailing where it cannot be detected till a future seasoning of the wood work reveals the fraud. Take for example the laying of a floor; one may examine the stock, and have the good separated from the bad; and when the work is done his eye may not be able to detect the introduction of any of the inferior quality, if the builder has been smart enough to lay it with the sappy side down. It all looks well, but how about the nailing? One comes in from time to time, suddenly and unexpectedly; the men keep on with their work, and put down the board they have just squeezed into its place, nailing it properly and as it should be. Another and another board is nailed in the same manner, but immediately one’s back is turned, one nail is made to do the duty of four or five. A client who expects the architect to have his design satisfactorily carried out by such men, expects him to make bricks without straw. We have had a great amount of experience with this class of builders, who have taken work for a less amount than it was possible to do it at, and with whom it was a terrible warfare all through, and consequently they give archi- tects a hard name because they are compelled by the architect or superinten- dent to do their work as they contracted to do it, and they lost by it, to the disadvantage of lumber dealers and others who furnished material, and to the utter disgust of owner and architect. Such builders are not likely to be recommended to others. We have taken down rod after rod of what appeared on the face to be a good foundation wall, for the reason that the mason had only used mortar on the face of the wall and had left the rest dry. Dishonest at heart, and this feeling intensified by the desire to get out of the job without loss, he and his men become lynx-eyed; and the moment they see any one approaching who would be likely to inspect their work, they hurry on the mortar and strive to cover up their tracks. We have no intention of crying down the honest and conscientious builder, who will do his very best whether he is doing work from an archi- tect’s drawings or trying to carry out his employer’s ideas; to such we hold out the right hand of fellowship, and say keep on in your path, do good work palliser’s model homes. 19 and you will always be busy. The day is not far distant when responsible builders and good work will be employed more than they have been hitherto. There are a thousand frauds that are practiced by dishonest builders, who resort to every measure to enable them to underbid reliable and good men. It is the old story of trying to get the maximum of show for the minimum of outlay. Everything is cheapened, even the work of building dams to retain millions of gallons of water, which we know, if let loose, by the giv- ing-way of the wall, would carry loss and distress to hundreds of homes. We want to know from our own experience if it be possible for a horse to live on a straw a day, and to see if we cannot solve the problem that would make one dollar do the work of two. We say let such builders alone as you would an architect who has had no professional training, who is impracticable and of whose work you know nothing; then you will not be heard to say when the work is completed I would, have given two hundred dollars more to so and so — some one they know does good work — and had him do the work. We need not discuss the absurdity of an architect making drawings for approval by individuals, and yet we know of architects making sketches and drawings for parties under the alternative sometimes offered by quacks — no cure no pay. This is adopted by some architects in their daily practice, to secure their clients by a sort of trap. These same architects, when they hear of any one about to build, will flock around him and offer to do this, although they know that an architect has already been employed — while common decency requires that they should refuse to have anything to do with work with which another architect is engaged unless called in by him for consultation — and they will oft-times resort to the basest means to try and have the client dismiss the architect whom he has already consulted. It is needless to advise any one what to do with such interlopers, as any man can at once read their character. Fancy a number of physicians running to a house where some one is ill and acting in this wise. There are clients who think that they may try on architects as they try on hats, not expecting to pay for any but the one they like best. It is unneces- sary for us to waste time in showing the unreasonableness of this notion, and we regret that it is encouraged by what is called the ragged fringe of the profession. It is astonishing to see so many, who are otherwise intelligent business men, offering their architects every temptation to rob them, by driving bar- gains which a little thought would convince any one cannot afford a compe- tence. In regard to just remuneration for professional services, any man of busi- ness knows that to have your business conscientiously and properly attended to, one must engage persons who are honest and capable, and that such can- not be had for nothing. It must be remembered that an architect’s fees are earned rather more by the protection he affords his client, than for his design and working drawings, with their accompanying specification, though this latter is a most important document, and is too often inexplicit and danger- ously general in its provisions, entailing extras for which there is no excuse but the ambiguity of the description. In fact, it requires a thoroughly competent architect to draw up a complete specification — an exhaustive description of the work in every particular. Some time ago we were employed by a Committee to design a Church, and they informed us that an architect had offered his services for nothing, 20 palliser’s model homes. but even at that they said his services would have been dear. Also in the matter of a large public building on which we were engaged, an architect offered his services for 1 \ per cent, less than we were paid, and no doubt there are plenty of people ready to take a position without remuneration beyond what they can steal. So little does the public appreciate the difference in the skill and labor of one architect and another, that they often allow a paltry difference in charges of one-half per cent, of cost — a difference which he would think trivial in comparing the merits of two existing buildings if he were purchasing — de- termine the choice between architects, without regard to the qualification on which the whole success or failure of the building will depend. It should be borne in mind that it requires from seven to ten years of study and close application to be reasonably admissible to practice, and for this time and cost of preparation the architect is entitled to as fair a return as any invest- ment of time and money can be. If you get cinders in your iron, it is because there are cinders in the pay ; there is always good iron to be had. Our advice to every one who contemplates building is: secure the services of a really well-trained and capable architect, pay him properly and be guided by his judgment and experience — this will also be the advice of any one who is experienced in such matters, and others who regret that they built with- out such aid. Of course every one has their peculiar wishes to be provided for, and all these should be presented to your architect before he com- mences the design. Architects have their own ideas as to what form the building ought to take, and should be allowed to use their own cultivated taste, which it has taken years of constant study to acquire, and this should not be thrown away for any momentary caprice, which the client would be sorry for in the end. It is the legitimate claim of an architect, that his skill enables him not only to contribute his own ideas of comfort and beauty, but to satisfy the special wants of his client — to carry out his wishes, and even whims, if need be, more successfully than another, provided he is made fully acquainted with these wants and wishes; and the architect's claim is pretty generally acknowledged now-a-days where his profession is well established. Responsibility of Architects. The architect has far more to do with the health, and usefulness, and long life of the family which he shelters, than the physician can ever have, and he is in far greater degree answerable for its ailments and its weaknesses, and its early deaths. Pro bono publico. Who is responsible for the hideous structures which are daily erected throughout the country, staring good taste out of countenance ? The archi- tects are not alone responsible for the crudities that take shape under their palliser’s model homes. 21 hands. It is the client who is really to blame, in a majority of cases, for giving birth to these monstrosities; but it is the architect whose name is associated with them who has to bear the odium. Some one has said that nearly every man thinks he knows something about both building and finance. It is true, but the views of the wiseacre are not equally strong on both subjects; for, while he hesitates to invest his money without the advice of those who are more experienced in such mat- ters, he never questions his ability either to plan a house or to criticise a design. If he has sickness in his family, he does not presume to advise his physician as to the proper mode of treatment ; nor would he feel warranted in suggesting to his lawyer how to carry on an important suit; but, when it comes to house building, that is wholly a different thing. There he feels at home, and will have everything his own way. In his eyes the architect is but little more than one employed to carry out his views, and not to thwart him with suggestions of his own. How galling it is to the architect who is full of enthusiasm and ready to give his client his best, to be called upon to construct that which will be in violation of the simplest rules of his profession, to be asked to put up and father the crudities that even the owner will be ashamed of when they are criticised by his better informed friends! Men who ask these things are as set in their views as they are ignorant of the laws of harmony and propor- tion. You will hear people say, “ when I build my house I will have it as I want it or not at all.” The client has it as he wants it, the architect’s argu- ment being thrown away on one who thinks he is the better informed of the two; his efforts to lead his client into the right channels are wasted, and he sees now as he has seen before, and will see in the future, that he must do the work as laid out or throw up that which will be worse than drudgery to him, from beginning to end. He would be wise if he were to throw up his pencil rather than accept the blame which in a great part belongs to another. When will the world learn the truth of the adage “ He who would be his own architect will have a fool for a client ?” He who would trammel his archi- tect after he has given him his general instructions, would so dictate to him that the work when completed must of necessity be a hodge-podge, is as un- wise as he who calls in no professional aid. Nay, of the two the latter does the least mischief ; for he only holds up to the world the evidence of his own folly, instead of shifting the load to the shoulders of another. We are aware that a fraction of the public still regard an architect as a mere draughtsman — an artist perhaps, but a sort of necessary evil whose duty is to make upon paper the picture of a building. What do people realize of the actual responsibility which rests upon their architect or the extent to which their lives are in his hand? Talk of the responsibility of a physician: that is indeed great. If your friend falls ill he calls upon his good doctor to lead him back to health ; and if possible this is done: if not, one man dies. The physician was not responsible for the illness; he did his best to counteract it but failed, and he is not blamed. But suppose your friend, being in good health, takes tickets for himself, his wife and children, to the opening of some new room, hall or theatre, which an architect has built. He goes with hundreds, perhaps thousands under the excitement of the pleasure of an opening night. Does he, or any of that audience, realize for an instant what they have done — that they have placed 22 palliser’s model homes. their lives in the architect’s hand and he has accepted the trust. We know that if by some error or oversight of the architect, or had he miscalculated in this or that or the other direction, the lives of your friend and family, with scores of others, are not worth the price of their tickets. But do they know this ? Probably not ; and it may be a merciful dispensation of Provi- dence which blinds them to the fact. But ignorance or parsimony upon the part of those who are responsible for the erection of such buildings, leading them to trifle with their safety, to employ incompetent builders, or, if consulting an architect of ability, to restrict him or in any way limit him within the proper scope of his office is criminal. Many architects have allowed their judgment to be overruled by their client, for fear that they would lose their employment by insisting upon what they know to be right as a matter of construction or material, and many a building has settled or failed in some particular because the archi- tect had not the pluck to assert his locus standi, while the injury to his reputation is greater than if he had stood his ground, and lost his client; or, still more, if his client had left him and found an architect less scrupu- lous. In either case, when the failure finally occurs, his judgment and in- tegrity would be apparent, and would gain as much prestige for him as his having built the building successfully. In Prance an architect is held responsible to the whole extent of his means for work done under him, and this gives him an authority which his client is bound to respect ; while it insures his conscientious exertion. If this were the case in this country there would be less building accidents reported through the daily press, and the number of unqualified persons advertising themselves as architects would greatly diminish. One should no more employ an architect than he would a physician without knowing some- thing of his ability and standing. The profession of an architect is closely identified with that of public health, and as sanitarians in the construction of every kind of building, whether it be a stable, private dwelling or public building, the vastness of their responsibility is at once evident. “Died of a bad air.” IIow often these words might, with truth, be in- scribed on the headstones of both old and young. All that man can do to make our modern houses warm and air tight, is done, and then we kindle a monstrous fire in the cellar, so arranged that all the air we breathe must pass over plates of iron heated to a cherry red before it reaches us. Day and night it is the same. We are warm and comfortable, nothing freezes in the house; we have, nevertheless, taken a viper to our bosom that will certainly sting us. No man can rob his lungs of pure, fresh air, and not pay for it in bodily health. Pure air, and in large quantities, is as essential to our health and comfort as animal food and nourishing drinks. In our efforts to per- fect our creature comforts, we have not only shut out the cold from our dwellings, but, with it, the vitalizing air. The architect must see to it that the house he builds is so arranged that not only the temperature of the air in it can always be regulated — at least to such a degree as advancing science enables him to do — but also that the air be always fresh and pure. In its sanitary character architecture must, therefore, look to the combination of heat with pure air or ventilation. The architect in his relation to his client is either a practical sanitarian, or the reverse. palliser’s model homes. 23 Our forefathers knew nothing of diphtheria and kindred diseases, traced to what we term “ modern improvements.” Our plumbing and sewers, if not properly trapped and ventilated, will lead the poison into our dwellings, instead of removing it to a distance, where it can do no harm. It is only a few years ago that the whole British Empire was filled with anxiety on account of the illness of the heir-apparent to the throne — an ill- ness said to be due to imperfect drainage. To the same cause is attributed the death by plague in London of 100,000 persons, and in cities of our own country thousands die yearly by the same caflse. No nation can afford, by the untimely making of the graves of thousands of its producers, to lose its wealth and thereby its greatness. Dr. Chamberlain reports from a recent conversation with Dr. Richardson, acting Secretary of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts, that they never have a fatal case of scarlet fever or diphtheria without finding some cause for it in defective drainage, ventilation, or bad sewerage of the dwelling. The contents of the vault saturates the whole of the surrounding earth, poisons the springs and the wells, and finds its way in little currents through the interstices of the foundation walls of our houses: there it throws off gases too slight to attract attention, but too deadly to be inhaled by the inmates with impunity. The soil pipe is an improvement on this ; but if it be not tight in all its parts, if there be any imperfectly soldered or caulked joints, woe betide the man who sleeps near it; for the destroying angel is abroad, and will find him as surely as he lies down and rises up in an atmos- phere so charged with the germs of disease. He may not be conscious that the foe is near at hand ; for the leak may be slight, and during the day its effects will be neutralized, in part, by open windows and doors; and, more- over, as “evil communications corrupt good manners,” so the habitual inhaling of a noxious atmosphere dulls the senses; and they soon cease to detect the odor that would have startled them, had they not gradually be- come habituated to it. Any one may test this. Let him enter into a crowded and badly ventilated theatre or other public building, and he will take no more notice of it than the crowds who have inhaled carbonic acid gas enough to insure to each a raging headache for the following day. Of course a great many of these buildings are not built by architects at all, but by the “practical builders” who do so much of the had building the whole country over. There is only the excuse of public indifference to shield the modern builder in view of his almost universal disregard of simple and well known methods of wholesale house-drainage. He would consider himself blame- worthy if his roof leaked so badly as to destroy the wall paper of a single room ; but he expects no blame — he would often scout the idea that he should be blamed — for a condition of interior drainage which lays the whole household open to an ever-threatening danger. At present not a man in ten thousand — literally not one in ten thousand — cares or thinks anything about this matter, beyond satisfying himself that his house has as good plumbing as other people’s houses. His accustomed nostrils detect no odor — even where to one fresh from the country the very entrance hall is tainted with air from the drains ; and where he can neither see nor smell offence, he is quiet and content. He has yet to learn that the most serious danger is often unattended by any very marked warning to the senses. 24 palliser’s model homes. Where the battle rages fierce and long, are the dead and dying — but the plague and pestilence is not announced by the clashing of arms and boom- ing of cannon. The architect, who is the creator of the sanitary condition of the house, must supply to its drainage and water supply system, the same intelligent and educated skill which he now applies to its arrangement and beauty. Architects have not been held to any real accountability for these tilings, and the people themselves are thus far at fault. The demand creates the supply, and thus far it has been for handsome houses, or for cheap houses, or for convenient houses, and these have been supplied; the time is now at hand when the demand will be for healthy houses first of all. We say the responsibility of the architect is great indeed, but how much more is the responsibility of those who erect buildings without the aid of an architect? What is the responsibility, we ask, of one who sets his irrespon- sible and crafty builder at work to erect a building, which is usually the case when no architect is consulted, the owner only studying parsimony — although the fees of a competent architect are not so much additional cost as he thinks ; but on the contrary a saving of at least five times the amount. This builder knows nothing of design or the harmony of parts, neither does the owner who follows him up with his instructions, and they gather their ideas from this and that or the other which they have seen; fancy looking for a harmonious whole in a house built after this fashion. The builder will turn an arch, and build a wall above it, ignorant Avhether it will stand or fall when the centre is struck; while his brother will frame together a combination of timbers, innocent of any positive knowledge whether his structure when finished will bear a locomotive, or fall of its own weight ; and the plumber who has so much to do with the health of the occupants, will get the impression that a cheap job is required, and no one will take any interest in how he does it, and the whole of the work will be scamped from beginning to end, and the question arises will this building be fit for occupancy of man when finished, and should not something be done to prevent the erection of buildings that will be a lasting injury to society. It is very much to be deplored that in many of our cities the public has delivered itself over a willing victim, body and soul, to the speculating builder. Stupidly housed in ugly, inconvenient and monotonous brick boxes, with holes cut symmetrically in them, the public stays contentedly until a fever breaks out or frost sets in. Then, however, it immediately raises an insensate howl against the architectural profession, which was never consulted, because sewer gas was laid on to and fresh air carefully kept out of its dwellings, and because all the pipes were left exposed to the elements. We have no desire to claim infallibility for the capable members of our profession, but will remind our readers that where such things occur as we have here referred to, usually an architect was not at all concerned, or if there was, he was probably limited in the scope of his office. palliser’s model homes. 25 A permanent home should he built with care and planned with a special reference to the wants and necessities of the family, it should he neat and attractive and in harmony with the lives to he spent under its roof. A house or stopping place may be all external show, with the larger part of the conveniences omitted internally, thereby cheapening the cost, and which enhances the chance of many birds filling the nest for a short time, and ultimately the place becomes the half-way house between nowhere and home. Let us have permanent homes, built in accordance with the times and of modern styles, homes where the manly virtues may grow strong and flourish, and which our children will ever remember in after years with pride. It is quite surprising what a number of people there are who will get about half a dozen hieroglyphics on a piece of paper and then think they are all ready to commence building, and that there is nothing more to do but put hands to the work. But, softly, how about the lettering and figuring of plans ; are the sizes of all rooms figured out, the frame, the location and size of all doors and windows ; where are the specifica- tions, the details of execution, the contracts and a host of minor things which must be properly prepared and attended to, if your building affairs are to be conducted in a practical manner, for as sure as the com- pass is indispensable to the mariner to steer by, so are the plaDS, specifications and details, requisite for the builder to work by to obtain satisfactory results and to reach the goal of proper construction and harmony of parts. It is on the architect that the public must rely for the proper construction of their buildings. It is only a penny wise and pound foolish policy that says : “ Do not employ an architect.” People who have tried to be the architects of their own buildings have instead been the architects of their own misfortunes and emptied their pockets. A simple suggestion from a competent architect is sometimes worth his fees. The intelligent public are convinced that architects who have had every advantage by their training and experience can meet their wants with practical contrivances and arrangements for their comfort, and that they can do this better than anybody else. An architect is one who prepares the plans, conceives the design, draws out the specifications ; in short, supplies the mind ; the builder is merely the mason or carpenter. The builder is, in fact, the machine ; the architect, the power which puts the machine together and sets it in motion. The faculty of inventing, designing and giving shape to conceptions so as to make them living realities, is a talent as indispensable in the true architect, as a thorough knowledge of the strength of materials and the proper and most economical mode of their use, and any one who dabbles in architecture without these talents is an amateur, and an amateur architect is the worst of all amateurs, for he not only builds struct- ures that are hideous, but also wastes people’s money. Do the public want good architects ? Men show but little care to get the best that are to be had. An architect should be thoroughly practical and know how to use material with economy, so as to carry out a proper construction in building and not waste material, and consequently his client’s money. An architect is a confidential and responsible adviser. Children and fools should never see anything half done. Critics of architecture will hate a thing with all their might, but they cannot substantiate their dislik- ing by telling one why — simply because they don’t know and are not versed in architecture. These kind of critics are heard a good deal now-a-days and it seems as if every one were critics, though they don’t know the first principles of what they are talking about. It requires the same training to choose a design that it does to make one. When people ask you as to what you are doing, say to them what the Japanese said when asked about the building they were erecting at the Centennial — “Wait, till comes time, you then see?” John Smith was building him a boat, and every one who came along and saw what he was doing found fault with it and offered their suggestions. Some said it was too shallow, others too deep, and so on. Finally Mr. Smith got mad and informed bis friends he was building the boat for himself, and if after he was through they would call on him he would be huppy to build one to suit them all and then he would chop it up. People want to live in more comfortable and attractive houses than they used to, and the designs shown in this book pleasantly indicate their demand. 26 palliser’s model homes. Plate I. COTTAGE AT SCO OB A, MISS. In a Southern climate the requirements for houses, either great or small, are very different from what they are at the North. Special attention must be paid to keeping cool in summer rather than warm in win- ter; therefore the rooms must be large and the ceilings high. Cellars are not among the requisites. Neither is it necessary in some parts to build solid foundations, there being no frosts to get clear of ; and in some instances houses are set on logs stood on the ground. In this case the frame is supported on brick piers, and a large open space is left under the floor, which is properly prepared so as to keep down damp. It will be observed there is no Kitchen provided, the cooking being done in a small out-house provided for that purpose, so as to keep the heat out of the house as far as pos- sible. It is, however, necessary at some seasons of the year to have a fire, and for this purpose a large open fire-place is provided in the Parlor. This fire-place is built of brick, with an arch turned in it, and the brick breast continued up; the brick being left exposed in the room, and in this fire-place it is intended to burn large logs on the hearth. The second story or loft is merely a lumber room and air space between the roof and rooms below. The arrangement of the windows is one of the principal features in the design. The lower sashes are arranged to slide into the walls, and the transom sash to swing. In this way the whole of the windows can be opened instead of half, as is usually the case. The rooms are all well supplied with windows, and from their arrangement, if there is a breeze, a good draught will be obtained. The front Porch is arranged with a seat on each side, so that one may sit out of doors, and yet be in the shade, which is a very desirable feature. This Cottage was designed for the residence of a laborer on the estate of J. A. Minniece, Esq., at Scooba, Miss., to be built of yellow pine throughout. Cost, about $500. We also give on this plate A COTTAGE AT BIRMINGHAM, CONN, designed for a workingman of large family, and is a neat little Cottage, and well adapted for the purposes intended and the requirements of its occupants. The first floor contains Living-room, Kitchen and Bed-room, and on the second floor four Bed-rooms, with the necessary closet room. There is a cellar under the whole. Interior finished in a plain manner, and painted in tints. Color on exterior are : clapboards, light slate ; trim- mings, light brown, and trimmed up with red ; blinds, olive green. Cost, $900. We have always maintained, and shall continue to do so unto the end, that any structure, no matter how inexpensive, intended as a dwelling place for civilized people, should be designed by a skilled man, and should bear the marks of good design. Good design in architecture, as well as elsewhere, costs no more than bad in the construction. Plate I. 28 palliser’s model homes. Plate II. COTTAGE FOR A MILL HAND AT CHELSEA, MASS. This is a very attractive design, and intended to give ample accommodation at a low cost for an ordinary family. The cellar is placed under the Kitchen and Hall, which was thought in this instance to be sutficient to meet all requirements, though it is generally considered, in the Eastern States at least, to be poor economy not to have a cellar under the whole house, as it only requires about one foot in depth of additional stone work to secure a cellar, it being necessary to put down the stone work in any case, so that it will be beyond the reach of frost. The Kitchen is without a tire place, the cooking to be done by a stove, which, if properly contrived, is a very effective ventilator, and preferred by many housekeepers for all Kitchen purposes. The Parlor and Dining-room or general Living-room are provided with the healthy luxury of an open fire-place, and we know of no more elegant, cleanly and effective con- trivance for this purpose than the one adopted in this instance; they are built of buff brick, with molded jambs and segment arch, and in which a basket grate or fire dogs can be placed for the desired fire, and in this way large rooms are kept perfectly comfortable in cold weather without heat from any other source. These fire-places are also provided with neat mantels constructed of ash, and which are elegant compared with the marble- ized slate mantel, which is a sham, and repulsive to an educated taste. On entering nearly every house in the land we find the same turned walnut post at the bottom of the stairs with tapering walnut sticks all the way up, surmounted with a flattened walnut rail having a shepherd’s crook at the top; however, in this instance it is not so, but the staircase is surmounted with an ash rail, balusters and newel of simple, though unique design; and now that people are giving more attention to this important piece of furniture, we may look for a change in this respect. The house is supplied with a cistern constructed with great care, the Kitchen sink being supplied with water by a pump, and there is no more easy method of procuring good water for all purposes of the household. For a compact, convenient Cottage with every facility for doing the work with the least number of steps, for a low-priced elegant Cottage, we do not know of anything that surpasses this. Cost, $1,200. Mr. E. A. Jones, of Newport, Ohio, is also erecting this Cottage with the necessary changes to suit points of compass. Such a house as this if tastefully furnished, and em- bellished with suitable surroundings, as neat and well-kept grounds, flowers, etc., will always attract more attention than the uninviting, ill-designed buildings, no matter how much money may have been expended on them. It is not necessary that artistic feeling should have always a large field for its dis- play ; and in the lesser works and smaller commissions as much art may find expression as in the costly facades and more pretentious structures. Plate IT. 30 palliser’s model homes. Plate III. COTTAGE AT WEST STRATFORD, CONN. This handsome little house is near completion for E. R. Tomlinson, and for a com- pact arrangement of plan cannot be beat. There is a splendid cellar under the whole house, arranged for the storage of fuel and other purposes; a well has also been put down in the cellar, which with the cistern supplies an unlimited amount of water at the Kitchen sink through the aid of a pump. The attic is very spacious, and will be found very useful as a place for drying clothes, or should it be found necessary at some future time two rooms could be finished off, which would be almost as good sleeping rooms as any in the house. There is but one chimney, which is so placed that it can be used from all the rooms on First floor; the stair-case is also placed in a position to be easy of access from all parts of the house; two doors are placed between the Hall and Kitchen, a feature which cannot fail to commend itself. The windows in the Hall and stair-case are filled entirely with ornamental and stained glass, as are also those in the attic; the other windows in the house have the lower sash glazed in two lights of ordinary glass, while the upper sash has a white light in center and small colored lights on each side. The interior is finished in a very pleas- ing, yet economical manner, the casings of doors and windows are trimmed with a back mold, though they are not mitred at the angles as is usually done, but a square block, ornamented with sunk work to be picked out in color is placed in the corner, and the molding cut square against it; this is a decided improvement on the monotonous mitred back mold which we see in nearly every house. The rooms are all of ample accommo- dation to meet the requirements, and each chamber is supplied with a good closet. The exterior is very striking, the front gable is very handsome, and is a free-render- ing of what is known as the Queen Anne style of architecture; the front veranda and especially the hood over entrance is very pretty — in fact this is one of the prettily designed Cottages, which will always attract attention. An architect designs a building with special reference to the colors to be used in painting, and as color is the life of design, his instructions in this respect should be minutely followed if the desired result is to be arrived at. This cottage is painted Venetian red, trimmed with Indian red, the chamfers, cut and sunk work being picked out in black, making it very effective and showing the detail boldly. The cost is $1,4GQ, and we doubt if there is any one who can show a prettier house, either in arrangement or appearance for the same price. Blessed are they who have homes ! Let every man strive to own a home. Plate III. 32 palliser’s model homes. Plate IV. COTTAGE AT LITCHFIELD, COHN. This is a neat seven room Cottage, designed to fill a narrow lot at a small cost. The house was designed to face the West, and the south side was made the most attractive; the front veranda is one of the features of the exterior, and is very simple and chaste, yet elegant. Besides the two floors in the main house, there is an attic over the Kitchen extension which may be used as a stow-away. There is also a good attic over the main house, and a cellar under the whole house. The room marked Parlor is to be used as a general living-room, hence it is provided with an open fire-place and a neat hardwood mantel, and the interior throughout is finished in a plain neat manner. The wants of people are so unequal, and their opinions so varied by the circum- stances under which they are formed, that it is the most natural thing in the world for any one to take up a plan and suggest innumerable changes and additions, always forget- ting the unalterable condition of price, situation and object which restrained the archi- tect while working it up. To prepare a design regardless of expense is an easy matter compared with that of devising one that gives the largest amount of accommodation within a fixed limit of cost, and in all our long experience we have never found a design that would meet the requirements of different individuals without some changes. Two of these Cottages are erected at Litchfield, Conn., by Messrs. Devoe and Hills. Cost about $1,050. The cost of a house depends in a great measure on a properly studied design, which does not consist alone in the arrangement of rooms, etc., but involves a careful study of construction ; a saving can be made by a proper distribution of timbers as well as by the most economical arrangement of rooms — in fact, good or bad management produces the same results in building operations as in any other pursuit. People will take up a work on architecture, and select a house that comes about their wants, which the book says costs $2,000, and that is just the amount they can com- mand for building. The house is ordered, the alterations named, and put in the hands of the best mechanic to execute it, and he goes ahead; he is not restricted except by the book, and the author of it is a man of reputation. The builder has not any specifications or details of execution to be governed by, and therefore piles on the agony, as it is not considered good policy for him to make suggestions so as to decrease the work, and when the $2,000 is expended you find the building half done, and an additional $2,000 neces- sary to complete it. This is not the proper way to conduct one’s building affairs, but to get the plans and details properly prepared, and then ascertain what it is to cost before going ahead — then the result will be satisfactory. 1‘late 1 1 34 palliser’s model homes. Plate V. RESIDENCE OF R. R. HENRY, TAZEWELL, V A. There are many things to be taken into consideration in the designing of houses for different parts of the country. This Cottage is of a form that is compact and in every way available, the rooms are large, have high ceilings and at the same time afford every convenience in their arrangement, making them desirable for a family of refined tastes and moderate means. It is built of wood, though in favorable localites it would be better still of stone or brick, and if suitably surrounded with tasteful landscape embellishments, will make a snug, pretty, and attractive home. One can by the exercise of appropriate taste, produce the right kind of an impression in a house of this character. It should become a part of, and belong to the acres which surround it ; it should be an indispen- sable accessory to the place itself, and the grounds should be laid out and embellished in such a manner that the whole combination impresses one with harmonious beauty, and not, as is too often the case, seek to make up for the deficiences in the grounds by elabo- rate expenditure and display about the house. A true appreciation of a country or suburban home will not tolerate slovenly, ill- kept grounds, and no house exhibits its true value unless there is a harmony in its sur- roundings. If this be attended to, a high degree of effect can be produced in houses of very moderate cost ; houses that shall be roomy, warm, substantial and in every way agreeable to their occupants. The glass throughout is common sheet without color, but the dividing up of the up- per sashes gives character to the whole ; the plain treatment of the exterior is more than made up by the beauty of the internal arrangements, which the plans fully explain. Architecture is young in this country, and we have to look to the mother country for many of our ideas ; but because we do this we need not follow their custom in building our small houses, but we must meet the requirements of climate and habits; therefore the arrangement of rooms is entirely different, and we add verandas, which are valuable appendages on account of it being pleasant to sit out of doors. This house is substantially built and contains the modern conveniences ; there is no water closet, but an earth closet is provided in connection with bath-room, which is pref- erable; cost about $1,900.00. Plate V. 3 G palliser’s model homes. Flute VI. RESIDENCE OF ALBERT TR INTER, NEW ALBANY, IND. The first edition of Model Homes contains a design, No. 22, very similar to this, and from which the ideas in this are worked up, with the addition of another room on each floor and another bay-window and a change in the detail on the exterior — in fact there is scarcely anything left to remind one of the other design ; and it is often the case that people will examine a plan and will say that is just what they want, with such and such changes, and when the necessary changes are made to suit their ideas there is nothing left by which one can recognize anything of the first plan. The roofs are all slated, which is decidedly the best and cheapest — when we take everything into account — method of roofing besides being elegant; and in favorable localities can be laid for $8.00 per 100 square feet of surface. For a person of moderate'means, wishing an elegant home with the interior comforts and conveniences it contains, we can with confidence recommend this design. It is suit- able for any part of the country except the extreme South, and the owner of such a house will find that its money value is far above that of a square box of the same capacity, and it costs but a trifle more than the ugly packing boxes that some people seem bound to erect in opposition to all artistic ideas, which are constantly developing in this country. In some instances we have known houses of nice design, properly managed, erected for less money than these square boxes giving but the same amount of accopimodation, and which a great many people seem to think it is necessary to build if they would do so cheaply. Usually too little attention has been paid to roofs and chimneys of houses, and they appear to have been treated as necessary evils, instead of their being made, as they should be, both useful and ornamental. A flat roof for this climate can hardly be called useful, as the action of the heat and cold on it will be more than likely to open the seams of the flat roof, and the force of a sudden shower will find its way through, sadly to the detriment of the interior decoration, as well as to the comfort and the commendable equability of temper of the inmates. In our northern climate we should have steep roofs, so as to readily shed the heavy rains and snows, and we think this Cottage is well protected in this respect — the floor plans we think need very little explanation, as they fully explain themselves ; cost about $2,200.00. Simple things become beautiful and attractive by an art inspiration. Interiors and exteriors retain their old forms substantially, but they put on new faces when touched by the real artist, who sees his work completed in his mind when he begins to plan, and so is enabled to produce a harmony throughout. Plate VI. 38 palliser’s model homes. Plate VII. RESIDENCE OF DWIGHT HOTCHKISS, SHARON, CONN This is a large, convenient and plain house and well adapted to the requirements of a farm residence, and yet in a farm house it would seem as though of all places this is the one where we should find large fire-places. These could have been added with very little additional expense, but instead we have what the owner desired, a single flue and the walls furred out to make a show of a breast — what we should call a sham. Mr. Hotchkiss is undoubtedly a modest man, as when he erected his house he left off the front gable and kept the front of the building unbroken, as he was afraid his neighbors would talk if he built something different from what they had. By doing this Mr. Hotchkiss undoubtedly ruined the design and decreased the value of the building at least $500.00, spending his money to please his neighbors. We have no doubt but what the house will be painted white, although we did not in our specifications call for it to be so, yet it is in keeping with the style of painting in the same locality, and if there is anything to mar the landscape it is this white abomination. We regret to say these things, but feel as though to be perfectly fair to our readers we should state some of the faults in our designs, and give our experiences, so that people who intend to build may avoid falling into these faults. The veranda is a pleasant feature, and is very useful besides being ornamental; the Sitting Room is the finest room in the house, both on account of its size and the view that is obtained from it ; the milk room and wood shed, which are necessary appendages to a house of this kind, are located in the rear and are convenient of access from the kitchen and exterior, and are covered with a separate roof, being only one story in height. There is a cellar under the whole house built of stone found on the ground; cost $2,900.00. Some people will procure plans and specifications and then set their builder to work, being too parsimonious to furnish him with details of construction to enable him to properly carry out the design, and which is a veiy important matter, as what is the use of getting a good design if it is not to be carried out. Several such cases have come under our notice, and in some instances the builders have obtained details and paid for them, but it is generally the other kind of builders who get such work, and they are apt to estimate with much more liberal figures when they can carry out the designs as they please. One case of this kind in particular, came under our notice, and after the build- ing was completed it did not represent the drawings in any particular except the general form, the design being fearfully butchered and the detail all changed by the builder, who in some instances got the owner’s sanction to change, persuading him that what he was going to do would be better, and would cost him, the builder, more, but that he would make no charge to the owner. The house which cost but $1,800, would have been worth $500 more had the design been properly executed. 40 palliser’s model homes. Plate VIII. RESIDENCE OF N CARPENTER, STERLING, ILL. The rear extension of this house was the previous residence of Mr. Carpenter, con- taining but two rooms, and was put in the present position to answer the purpose of Kitchen and Pantries — the roof, &c., being entirely new to correspond with the new house. The rooms on the first floor have all open fire-places, each being provided with a neat ash mantel. The Library is an excellent room, with good front and side views, and the veranda is reached in an easy manner via windows from this room, making it a pleasant retreat in hot weather. There is a variety of outline in the exterior of this house, which cannot fail to give a picturesque and pleasing appearance to the whole. The chamber above Library pro- jects slightly beyond the face of the octagon bay, and the peculiar manner in Avhich the sides are supported is odd, but gives the appearance of stability and firmness, the con- struction being perfectly sound. The upper sashes are filled with stained glass, all round the sash being very small lights of different colored glass, and the center light has the figure of a flower in white on blue ground. This manner of treating windows must be seen to be appreciated; and no blinds are used except on the lower sash, and when the blinds are closed, it gives a mellow tone to the light of the interior. The back hall is reached by side porch, and the bath-room is placed so that any one coming into the house can step into bath-room, and prepare their toilet before entering the main house; the second story rooms are full height, and there is a well-lighted attic above. A laundry is provided in the cellar ; also provision is made for the storage of fuel, etc. Cost, $2,500. There are no blinds on this house, and we should like to know of what use they are. To our mind, they are neither useful or ornamental. They are forever rattling on the outside, and always in the way of curtains on the inside, and where we have mullion windows, they must be kept closed or they are in the way ; and if we use outside blinds, they are forever in the way of adding a bit of detail here, and a hood or a balcony there, which would add greatly to the effect of the whole. The only blinds that are fit for use are rolling Venetian blinds ; they slide up and down, and are out of the way, and will cover the whole or a part of the window, as required ; but these are a little more expen- sive, you say, than ordinary inside blinds, but we can find a substitute which is equally as good — we can make a shade of heavy cloth, to roll up by pulling a cord — or, better still, slide it with rings on a bar. These shades should fit the window, and hang flat and straight, or nearly so. The material may be cheap and coarse, and offers an excellent opportunity for embroidery, where it would show to good advantage. Rich browns are the most available colors, which might be either coarse jute cloth or burlaps. Then there is an endless variety of materials which may be used, according to taste and depth of pocket. Blinds can be better left off, and replaced by something which will be far more pleasing to the eye, and serve the same purpose. 1*1 ate VIII. 42 palliser’s model homes. Plate IX. RESIDENCE OF W. COE, STB A TFORD, CONN In the plans of almost every house there is more or less to commend or condemn. Some of course are much nearer perfection than others. When a plan takes such a form that it will answer in many places for exactly the same purpose, we may with truth call it a model; and in this case we think we may be justified in calling this a model farm house. The rooms are all of good capacity and conveniently arranged, and the principal rooms have an open fire-place; sliding doors are placed so that the Parlor, Sitting-room and Hall can he thrown together on special occasions, a feature which is always appre- ciated. The Dining-room is reached from Kitchen through lobby, which is fitted up with press and drawers. In this way two doors are between Kitchen and Dining-room and Hall, so that the fumes of the Kitchen are kept out of the main house. The Hall is wide and spacious, and gives a stranger on entering an idea of hospital- ity; the spacious veranda gives ample space for the occupants to enjoy nature, and at the same time be suitably protected from the glare of the sun. The main house has two full and high stories, and a high attic, in which good rooms can be obtained should it be necessary. This house has the conveniences that are usually to be had in the country ; the bay window is a nice feature. In fact it is a model home for the farmer, and a splendid house for the amount of money expended, viz., $2,406, for everything complete except cellar walls, which were built by owner with stone on the ground. In looking over this design, it will seem hard to believe the fact that we had great difficulty in persuading our client not to alter the exterior design. He wanted a flatter roof and box cornice; in fact, a house just after the same idea as others in his locality. We asked him to investigate, and see for himself how houses were being built, and see what they looked like ; and we informed him to examine a house recently built, no larger than his, which cost nearly $10,000, which in some respects was treated similar to his. After he had examined and studied the work that was being done, he was con- vinced that we were right, and that his objections were the result of ignorance on the subject. It is just this want of knowledge that we have to contend with every day. Having occasion to be in Stratford a few days ago, we observed that this house was being painted entirely different from what we specified it to be. The prevailing color was white, with dark trimmings, chamfered work in gables, etc., being white, and in fact the whole effect was spoiled. The colors specified were : for clapboards, light sage; corner-boards, bands, etc., buff; chamfers and cut work, black; but were entirely dis- regarded. This is what we call consulting a physician, and then taking our own or some one else’s physic. It requires as much judgment and taste to paint a house, so as to bring out the de- tail, and give the desired effect, as it does to design one. Plate IX. pr Dl/\r()BER' cdAfVj&ElFl /Z-Ct/S'-O jo^ESSItJ^j /2-i'xiS.C H F^QDK'j 44 palliser’s model homes. Plate X and XI. RESIDENCE OF F. EGGE, SEASIDE PARK, BRID GEPORT, CONN. This is the most charming Cottage we have ever seen, and a great many people have said this; it is also our model six-room Cottage. Contains all the modern improve- ments and conveniences, at a modern price. The underpinning is laid with red brick of even color, and trimmed with bands of black brick and tile. These brick are laid in red and black mortar. It will also be seen that the underpinning extends up to first story window-sill, and the window-sill and water-table are one, and which is thought by some to be an odd feature. The roofs are slated with the best black slate, with clipped corners, making a very handsome roof. The interior is the main object of consideration, and is simply elegant, and is in correct keeping with a greater refinement of taste, and a higher degree of aesthetic cul- ture, than anything we know of in this part; and while it requires a boldness to assert an honest preference for pine or ash, finished in their natural colors, over the futile attempts at imitating walnut — as the crowning boast has been all black walnut — in this case the whole of the inside work is finished in natural wood, being filled. The pine is equal to maple, and black walnut is cheap in comparison with it. There are no mouldings or paint on the interior, the doors and architraves are finished as shown in view of Living-room, the chamfers, sunk work, etc., being picked out in black. The mantels are of ash, also the side-board, with black chamfers, etc., the fire-places being built of buff brick, with moulded jambs. The toilet and bath-rooms are finished in ash. The stained-glass work introduced in all the windows abovettlie transom is a new feature for this part, and one which is to become very popular in all domestic buildings from this time forward. Such houses erected in the suburbs of our cities would add very much to the value of the ground they stand on, and pay a handsome rate of interest on their cost, better than any other class of building investments, as the supply falls far short of the demand. Business men and others wishing to reside out of the city need just such homes as this, and we wonder capitalists and real estate owners do not make money for themselves and others by erecting such tasteful, yet inexpensive, suburban homes. In former times a house like this would be painted white, but we are glad to say that much improvement has of late been. made in this respect; but unfortunately this taste for white, to a certain extent, still exists. It requires a nice and cultivated eye to determine the colors most appropriate and effective for the exterior of a house, and de- pends entirely on its size, form, style, etc. A good design may be entirely spoiled by the colors used in painting, and the beauty of the landscape is often marred by a white house with green blinds. This Cottage is painted a warm red, the trimmings being darker than the ground work, and the chamfers and sunk work are picked out in black ; the sashes are painted a dark yellow, giving the whole a most striking and effective appear- ance. The story of the beauty of this Cottage has been noised far and wide, and hundreds of people have visited it — some who were intending to build having come a hundred ^Plate X. 46 PALLISER’S MODEL HOMES. miles to see it and consult us. Such cottages as this are the stimuli that is to work a revolution in domestic architecture, and sweep away ever}'thing that is ugly and per- nicious to the eye of the cultivated. A builder, who came from the country about one hundred miles, was incredulous when told the interior wood-work was pine, and he immediately bet a hat it was maple, and left it to us to decide, and lost. An Englishman on first seeing it exclaimed : “ It’s a nice ’ouse ! It would make a nice ’ome for h’any man.” It is the Cottage par-excellence, and possesses a beauty far beyond the houses gener- ally seen belonging to persons much higher in the social scale, and has been coveted by those who could purchase it fifty times over. The whole of the work and materials are first-class in every respect. Cost, $2,775.00. When this Cottage was being designed the owner did not dictate to us how we should place the rooms, or how the exterior or interior should be, but left it entirely to us — and, therefore, he has something to his and everyone’s liking. A house of effective design and convenient and artistic interior will add, independ- ently of its cost, to the value of the property which surround it, and is often what secures the purchaser. And it is the same with houses to rent. We have known houses of the same cost, have a difference in rental of fifty per cent., simply because one was built without regard to taste, comfort, and convenience, and the other thoroughly designed by an experienced Architect. A thing of beauty is a joy forever Plate XI. 48 palliser’s model homes. Plate XII. RESIDENCE OF REV. DR. MARBLE, NEWTOWN, CONN. This house commands a particularly fine view from both sides and the front, and is situated in one of the pleasantest country towns in New England, the hotels of this town being crowded during the summer months with people from the cities. The exterior design is plain, yet picturesque, and at once gives one an idea of ease and comfort. The roofing over the Ilall and Sitting-room is a particularly fine feature, and the elevation of the rear is very striking, the roof over porch being a part of the main roof. The interior arrangements are very nice, the Hall being spacious, and in it we have an easy and handsome stair-case of plain design, constructed of Georgia pine; the newel extends up to ceiling of first floor, while the other two posts extend up to ceiling •of second floor. In all country houses one of the first things to be aimed at is to secure ample stair-cases, and until a man can afford space for an easy ascent to a second floor lie should stay below ; and to-day we find in houses, where there is no necessity for it, stairs that are little better than step-ladders, making a pretence of breadth at the bottom with swelled steps, and winding the steps on approaching the floor above, thus making a trap for the old and for the children. The corner fire-place between Parlor and Dining-room is a feature we indulge in to a great extent in these days of economy, sliding doors and fire-places, although we some- times have clients who object to this, thinking it would not look as well as when placed in center of side wall ; but when they are asked how this and that can be provided for with the best and most economical results, they readily give in. There is no water-closet in the house, but an Earth-Closet is provided in the rear Hall, which is thoroughly ventilated. The Dining-room is a very cheerful room, and the Kitchen is reached through a pas- sage also connecting with side veranda. The pantry is lighted with a window placed above press ; each fire-place is furnished with a neat hard-wood mantel, and the Hall is finished in Georgia pine, the floor being laid with this material, and finished in natural color. The exterier is painted as follows: Ground, light slate; trimmings, buff, and cham- fers, black. Cost, $2,925. The sight of this house in the locality in which it is built is very refreshing, and is greatly in advance of the old styles of rural box architecture to be found there. When people see beautiful things, they very naturally covet them, and they grow discontented in the possession of ugliness. Handsome houses, other things equal, are always the most valuable. They sell the quickest and for the most money. Builders who feign a blind ness to beauty must come to grief. riate XII. 50 palliser’s model homes. Plate XIII. RESIDENCE OF W. W. WOODRUFF, MOUNT CARMEL, CONN. This design was carried out by the owner, Mr. Woodruff, and is a very neat and attractive home, and as it was necessary in the arranging of this plan to obtain the required amount of room and conveniences at a given cost, the exterior had to be very plain and simple in detail to allow it. The front faces the west. Thus we have a south view from four rooms on first floor, and a front view from Dining-room. The front veranda is wide, and arranged so that a group can sit out upon it with ease ; the hall is eight feet wide, with an easy flight of platform stairs leading up to floor above, the platform or landing being on a level with floor over Kitchen wing, making two risers more up to floor in main house. There is a cellar under whole house, the Laundry being under Kitchen. The stairs to cellar are placed under main stairs, and reached directly from the Kitchen. The wood-shed is a convenient feature to all country houses, and should always be connected with Kitchen; the refrigerator is built in pantry, with an opening into wood-shed, through which to put the ice into tank; the connection from Kitchen to Dining-room is through the large china-closet, which is fitted up with shelves, press, table, etc., and makes a perfect but- ler’s pantry. The Parlor and Dining-room are connected by sliding doors; the Dining and Sitting-rooms have open fire-places, with hard-wood mantels ; the Sitting-room has a hard-wood book-case built into recess to right of mantel, and the bed-room connected with Sitting-room is a good room, and provided with two closets and a stationary wash- bowl. The second story contains four large chambers, with an abundance of closet-room, a good servant’s bed-room over Kitchen, and a large bath room ; hot and cold water is sup- plied to all wash-bowls, sink and bath. There is also a large attic over the second floor, capable of being finished off into two or three rooms if desired, and yet have enough for storage. The roof is shingled, and the exterior walls clapboarded ; the interior finished in pine, which is filled with Crockett’s preservative, the cut and incised work being picked out in black. The estimated cost of this house is $3,000, and is a good example of what can be done for that sum, as the general arrangement is such as to show consid- erable variety on the exterior, producing an architectural effect only obtained by the natural combinations and workings of the constructive part of the structure with the least expenditure of labor and detail in design. This is one of the most attractive homes for the amount expended, and for the country is all that is desirable in every respect. Plate XIII. 52 pallisek’s model homes. Plate XIV. RESIDENCE OF SILAS W: GARDINER , LYONS, IOWA. The simplicity of plan, and the simple manner in which the design expresses it, is fairly shown in the picturesque exterior here illustrated ; its constructive features are fully represented in the gables, cresting, finials, chimneys and porches. The house stands on a brick underpinning, and is a good example of one of the half-timber and tile designs of the Jacobite period, though, unlike its prototype, shingles cut to a pattern are substituted for tiles from the second story up. The first story shows what has the ap- pearance of a timber construction, although it is only formed in the ordinary manner of finishing frame buildings, by continuing the belts through and connecting them with angle-boards, being clapboarded with narrow clapboards between, in the customary man- ner on frame buildings, the frame being first sheathed, then covered with water-proof paper. The second story is arranged so as to form a hood over the first, being furred out by a moulded cornice about eight inches, at which the shingles are curved outwards. There is also a similar cornice and curve at the head of the second story window casings, coming out flush with the window casings, which project six inches, thereby giving a deep recessed window on the inside. The first story windows have stained glass transom lights, which are filled with foliated centers and gothic borders in leaded frames, which lend a charm to the interior not otherwise obtainable. The floors in vestibule, conser- vatory, bath-room and dining-room are of ash and walnut ; the doors have pine styles and rails with butternut pauels ; architraves of butternut, with pine door-stops and jambs, architraves having cut-work, picked out in color; inside blinds of butternut ; trimmings of real bronze. The work on second story all pine ; and the whole of the wood-work throughout, including hard-wood floors, finished in natural color of the wood with Crock- ett’s preservative. The mantels are of hard wood, in design corresponding with the interior finish. The plant cabinet is placed on the south side, and connecting as it does with both Sitting-room and Dining-room, makes it very desirable, and renders it an easy matter to keep it warm. The general plan suggests itself as being very economical, there being no waste of room, as everything is fully taken up and used to the best advantage. The attic room over Kitchen and Scullery will be found useful for storage. The roofs are shingled and painted black. The exterior walls are painted — body of the work Venetian red and trimmed with Indian red, and cut-work in black; sash cut in with yellow; pauels under veranda floors, yellow. The cost of this house as built was only $3,000, and certainly is a model of neatness, and a great change from the stereotyped style of the buildings gen- erally erected in Western towns. If a private house is built without the services of an architect, it is the general and candid acknowledgement afterwards that a great mistake had been male, and how many things could have been improved by the employment of a skilled man Plate XIV. SecofJi] 54 palliser’s model homes. Plate XV. PAIR OF HOUSES NEAR NEW HAVEN, CONN. Times, places and circumstances have at all periods been found to be good governors of parties who have, or may have had, real estate that they wanted to improve, and among the many ways that has yet been devised to produce a large amount of room at a small cost, giving the necessary accommodations to separate families, the double house, ‘undoubtedly stands ahead as far as economy is concerned; one lot is thus made to do^the duty of two, one chimney, one wall and one roof doing likewise; and while we have not fully made up our minds to accept the double-house system as a sure indication of the near approach of the millenium, yet we are willing to accept it as a nearer approach to the attainment of a home — even though it may seem to be only half a home— than that system so prevalent in our country at the present day of putting one family on a floor directly over another, the beauties of which is a theme poets never sing about ; and while the double house has its many drawbacks, such as the owner of one-half painting the exterior white, and the other brown, as is frequently the case, plenty of proof of which can be seen in this locality ; or one adding a bay-window and enlarging, while the other is anxious to sell out on account of his neighbor’s disposition to be always making improvements, with which his pocket-book will not allow him to keep pace, and plenty of like trouble in the same spirit that we could enumerate, all of which we know from actual observation and experience. The double house should be the property of one man, as then he can live in one-half, and either rent the other or let it stand empty to suit his pleasure ; can paint, tear down and build up when it suits his fancy, or can make both sides into one should his family wants demand it, and th\is eventually con- vert it into a home; for we must say that the half double house never yet associated it- self in our minds other than as a mere stopping place, wherein we are waiting for the home that is to be, and sometimes never comes. The design here illustrated shows a neat and attractive front, and one which cannot fail to please even the most fastidious double-house critic, and if they are as numerous all over our country as here, they are legion. The halls are in the center of the build- ing, stairs being placed back from front doors, which gives a roomy entrance — the stairs to cellar being under main stairs, and reached from the Kitchen. Each half contains six good rooms, with bath-room, dressing-room, pantry, closets, etc., with a large attic over the whole, which is divided by center wall running up to roof. The frame is a bal- loon, sheathed and clapboarded; roof, shingled on lath; underpinning of brick; inside blinds to bay-windows, outside blinds elsewhere, except cellar and dormer. That it is accomplishing considerable for a small equivalent is fully seen, when such a house as this is erected in a first-class manner, with all the improvements, for the sum of $3,000. Plate XV. 56 palliser’s model homes. Plate XVI. RESIDENCE OF A COUNTRY PHYSICIAN. Within a radius of fifty miles from this point, taking as a center the present position of the pen, there lives a Doctor, one of those men who it is necessary to call in at stated times to help us gather our scattered roses ; or when, at certain periods, it is strictly necessary to have him to stand by as a good friend, tried and true, one who never looks into the regions of grim despair, but is ever ready to lift us up into the light of restoring hope ; in fact, one of nature’s noblemen, who we learn to look up to in our childish faith when the aches and pains are racking our weary heads. Such an one was our Doctor. He owned a lot ; it was a good large one, not the city lot, 25x100, which is hardly large enough to breathe in, but a two-acre lot. This had a frontage of 150 feet on the south, thereby giving ample room for the well-kept lawn, whereon the Doctor intended to take some muscular exercise during the spring and summer months in toying with the lawn- mower. The Doctor did not want a large house, but a good, plain, country house wherein his family could live and he could pursue his daily avocation, as far as his busi- ness went, without interfering with the privacy of his home. He must have the follow- ing rooms on first floor: Parlor, Sitting-Room, Dining-Room and Kitchen, with all neces- sary closets and other conveniences, front and back stairs, a Reception-Room for patients, a Consultation-Room and a Laboratory ; a drive porch for everyday use, and a spacious front porch and front veranda if it could be done. He must be able to pass in at any door and out at the other without disturbing any part of the house. All rooms on first floor to have open fire-places, and as many on the second floor as possible ; five good Bed-rooms, Bath-room, plenty of closets. Cellar under the whole house and Laundry under Kitchen. The matter of drainage to be properly arranged, and there being a run- ning stream in the rear of lot, the Doctor congratulated himself that he would not live on sewer gas. Yet the drains must be well ventilated and a trap placed in main pipe just clear of the house. This, the Doctor said, if good for nothing else would keep the rats from entering the house by the drains. The house to be heated by steam heater placed in the cellar, the necessary provisions for which were to be made, together with store and vegetable cellars, coal and wood aud a water-closet, which must be ventilated into one of the chimney flues, and also have an outside window. All the above are em- bodied in the design with the exception of Sitting-Room, which at the specified price could not be done, so we made the front Hall into a Sitting-Room, which the Doctor says is truly beautiful, and the best and most useful room in the house. Here is the open fire- place wherein the wood fire glows cheerfully upon the hearth, and round which it is so pleasant to gather. The mantel is built of wood, with a large hood over it and a clock built in it. The walls are wainscoted, ceiling finished in wood, giving an old-time wel- come and an hospitable appearance to those coming in to visit the family, and that which should be felt on entering any house, no matter how humble it may be. The staircase is of ash, and well-lighted from above through a stained-glass window in roof, which gives a mellow light to the rear of Hall. The entire finish of Hall, Parlor and Dining-Room is in ash, the balance being in pine, and all finished in its natural color and beauty. The Doctor said he wanted no paint, no graining, but his pine was to be pine — his ash, ash. No deception was to he put in his house and he has got none. Here our Doctor knew what he wanted. He had studied his wants for years, and when the time came for building he only had to give his problem and there was no trouble to work it out, as the plan plainly speaks for itself. This home is not an expensive one, but a home in every sense of the word, where the homely virtues daily grow stronger, and the true, manly acts of kindness, charity and good feeling toward all men are the ruling principle. The cost of this house without heating is only $3,300, a proof that no country Doctor can afford to be without a real live breathing place. riate X VI. 58 palliser’s model homes. Plate XVII. PAIR OF HOUSES AT BRIDGEPORT, CONN. These houses are built on an odd-shaped lot, thus giving us an opportunity to design two houses adjoining, and yet independent and separate from each other. The entrances are entirely separate from each other, while they occupy the same relative position to each house. Under each front porch there is an entrance into basement, which in the rear is entirely out of ground. In this basement on the front is a large Dining-room, and on the rear a Kitchen, with pantry and china-closet between. There is a cellar under basement for heating purposes, fuel, etc. By a careful study it will be seen that these houses are extremely simple in the ar- rangement of the rooms. In fact, it bears out this idea of simplicity all through. The rooms on the first floor are large, and arranged to make a good disposition of the furni- ture. On the second floor the dressing-room over hall can be used as a child’s bed-room in connection with the family chamber, being connected with each other by means of a sliding-door. A room is provided in attic for servant. The interior, finished throughout, is in a plain, neat style ; mantels of hard wood ; and altogether they are very desirable dwellings, which cannot fail to rent readily, and pay a good interest on the outlay. The whole effect of the building is very happy. The shadows, which go far to produce a fine effect, in this case lend themselves to the whole in a pleasing manner. Cost, $3,350. It is astonishing what a number of people will commence building, and plan their houses as the work progresses, which is probably one of the worst ways of conducting one’s building affairs ; and a case came to our notice a short time ago which illustrates some of the disadvantages of building in this way. A gentleman, two thousand miles from us, went to work to build his house ; got the cellar up and ready for frame, but when he came to plan the first floor, there were many things he did not know how to arrange so as to have them satisfactory. There were fire-places to get in, sliding-doors, stairs, etc., which puzzled his brains no small amount, and he finally gave it up, after spend- ing considerable time and study on it ; sent on to us for full drawings, details and speci- fications — sending his sketches, and informing us what he wanted. We comprehended Ms wants in a few moments, and by our long practice were enabled to make the desired arrangement which the amateur could not find by long study. This gentleman says if he had carried on his building without our assistance, he would have made a bungling mess of it, but now he has the most picturesque and convenient home in the town, and that he is not an architect, and never could be. Flute XVII 60 palliser’s model homes. Plates XVIII. and XIX. RESIDENCE OF FRANK II. UNDERWOOD, TOLLAND, CONN. This country residence embraces many novel and good features of exterior variety and interior compactness and convenience. The workmanship and materials throughout have been of the best description, the materials being purchased by the owner and the work done by the day, and no pains have been spared to make it first-class in every respect. The interior arrangement is very complete and unique, the Hall being finished in Oak, Parlor in Maple, Library and Dining-Room in Ash, all the fire-places having hard- wood mantels of handsome design. The conservatory is a pleasing feature of the first- floor plan, and is accessible from the Dining-Room through a casement window; access is also obtained in a like manner to porch in rear of Dining-Room. A clothes-shute is arranged from second floor to soiled clothes-closet in Laundry, an arrangement that is appreciated by every housekeeper. Stained glass is used in all the windows above transoms'. Roofs are slated and ridges covered with red terra cotta cresting. The interior wood-work is filled with Crockett’s Preservative. The heating is done by indirect radiation, steam being brought into cellar from the Underwood Belting Company’s Factory. Cost about $4,500 00. The cost of a house is the one thing desirable. Every one asks what this and that will cost, and a great many people who have started out to build without first ascertain- ing what their building would cost, have been very much deceived when all the bills have been received and the amount aggregated. We know of one instance where a gentleman, some years ago, was erecting a large residence by the day, and did not have any idea when he commenced what it was likely to cost ; and long before the structure was completed he had paid out over $30,000, and was so disgusted with it that he would not keep any further account ; and to-day this house which cost so much money could be duplicated for $10,000. This is what we call bad management. However, as times are at present there is likely to be but very little of such. It is reasonable to suppose that any one without building experience who undertakes the erection of a building in this way, unless there are special circumstances governing the case, will have to pay for the knowledge he will gain. A business man wants to know, after his ideas are put into a tangible form, how much all this will cost in dollars and cents, without any extras or additional charges whatsoever, and it is right and proper that every one should look through all the links and complications that require the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. And no one who starts out with the intention of spending $4,000 in the erection of a dwelling and winds up with three times that amount will be likely to think they have used much judgment, and will try and shift the blame on some one else. But it is one of those things that time will place where it belongs. A building will vary in cost of construction according to locality, and will also depend greatly on the business management. 1'late A V 1 11 62 pallisek’s model homes. Where parties have their work executed by the day instead of by contract they will evidently save money, provided they are good managers, and have some one on the works to drive the men that are engaged, as it is well known by those familiar with workmen, that when they know the work is being done by the day, it is impossible to get them to do as much work unless they are drove. Some mechanics will tell you this is nonsense, but we know from experience it is not. A man may say that he will do just as big a day’s work no matter which way he may be employed, but he will do the most when working by the job. Any master mechanic of experience will tell you the same, as he knows very well that if he does not keep his men to work, but allow them to do about as they please in this respect, that he will be unable to stand it and compete with others. Several of the large manufacturers contract the whole of their works in the shops, simply because they can get so much more work done for the money by contract than they can to hire the men by the day. Some say that work is better executed when done by the day. It may and it may not. In some cases we have known it done badly, and the owner, rather than go to the expense of having it changed and made right, has said let it go; and some mechanics are liable to do things wi’ong, especially when they have no one to look after them, as a contractor, whose interest it is to have the work done right the first time, as otherwise he will have to be at the expense of making it right. A first-class builder of some years ago, now retired, in a conversation recently informed us that his opinion was that half the builders of the present day did not know how to estimate on work, as when he built his residence he could not get a reasonable esti- mate; therefore went to work and had it done by the day, superintending the work him- self, and in this way his house cost him $4,500 less than the lowest estimate he received. A case or two in the last few weeks came to our notice, which convinced us that this is true to a certain extent at least. We prepared drawings, etc., for a public building for a country town, to come within a certain appropriation, but when estimates were handed in from local builders they all exceeded the amount considerable; therefore, builders from the city, a few miles distant, were allowed to estimate, and their bids all came within the amount appropriated. There being considerable art work in the design, the local builders did not know its worth and did not take the trouble to find out; and as one of these builders was on the Committee, new plans were ordered and made so that the local builders could do it. Another similar case, that of a party in a village, secured from us a design not to exceed a certain sum in execution; but his village builders did not seem to understand the design, and when they had estimated he found he would have to modify it. But the idea struck him to send to a city, one hundred miles away, and get a couple of first-class- builders to estimate, men of standing, and who were known to do good work ; and in less than two weeks one of them had the building under way, and the local builders were very mad at losing the work. When estimates on a building run from $28,000 to $15,000, and the lowest does the work and makes money, somebody don’t know their business, and on all work there is a, vast difference between the highest and lowest bid. Plate XIX. c e:LL a r 64 palliser’s model homes. Plate XX. FARM BARN, AND HENNERY. The illustration on opposite page gives a correct idea of a country farm barn, which will interest those who are agriculturally inclined. To the farmer it is one of the most important things how he shall house his stock, and provide storage for his grain, fodder, etc., and yet do it in an economical manner; and the many farm barns that are to be seen, with their chopped up and checkered appearance, indicate that this matter has not had a proper amount of study and forethought. The farmer goes on and builds a little at a time, never thinking or looking far enough ahead to know what his wants really may be when his farm is being worked to its proper capacity. If you own a farm, and intend to be a good farmer, start out with a determination to have only suitable farm buildings, such as will look well from your neighbor’s house. Let your barns look like barns, your houses like houses. We would not for anything have your barns be mistaken for houses, or your houses for barns; for such things we have seen, and it makes us feel as if there was a screw loose somewhere. Barns should not be built for show. They should of course be made to look well, and be pleasant spots in the landscape, and built in the most substantial manner possible — should be arranged to save as much labor as possible in the care of the animals that are to be housed and fed in them. Let them be well ven- tilated and lighted, properly floored ; the stone-work of the foundation thoroughly built, not dry, but laid up in good cement mortar. Don’t invite the rats, as they will come without. And it has always been a mystery to us why the farmers have not, in a general way, been wide awake enough to their own interests to properly house their fowls, instead of letting them run wild over the whole place, and roost on wagons, carts and agricultural implements when not in use and stored ; to let them lay their eggs where they please, and then have the pleasure of hunting for them, and often finding them at a late day — such certainly must be the case, else why so many bad eggs amongst those “ nice fresh country eggs.” Chickens are one of the most profitable adjuncts to any farm, and it is a very easy matter to keep them where there is a number of cattle to feed. The Hennery here shown was carried out as an addition to barn at hill side farm, New Milford, Conn., owned by Egbert Marsh, Esq., and shows Mr. Marsh’s ideas of what a well- regulated Hennery should be to make it both a pleasure and a profit. As the shed below is a necessity in connection with barn, and a roof indispensable, the only additional ex- pense is the floor, one side and ends, with the interior fittings, to make a Hennery which will accommodate easily one hundred to two hundred. The floor should be tightly boarded, then covered with a coat of boiled pitch and tar, on which spread soil two to thi’ee inches in depth. This will give an excellent scratching and wallowing ground. The windows all arranged to slide sideways, the openings on outside being covered with wire netting ; the feed bin built so as to hold several bushels, and arranged to take care of itself, by constructing the bottom so as to empty into a small trough into Hennery, in front of which is placed a perch ; the chicks to feed in space adjoining marked chickens, which is enclosed by pickets, open enough for them to run through. Nest boxes are ar- ranged in tiers, one above another, and loose, so they can be taken through into nest-room and emptied, and for setting hens, turned around and fed from nest room. The fatten- ing room is arranged so as to be darker, and will be found desirable for fattening poultry for market or home consumption. A running stream of water should be so arranged as to always supply fresh water in Hennery, and which should be had in barn for cattle. This could, as in this case, be brought in a pipe from a spring in the hill-side, a short distance above the barn, and which not only supplies the bam, but the house with a never-failing supply of clear spring water. The run from Hennery is so arranged that the fowls can be either let into shed or directly out of doors. This run being hinged on top, and oper- ated by weights and a cord, is controlled from feed room, thus completely shutting off the Hennery from floor below, when required. The arrangement of stalls, as here shown, is convenient, and cannot fail but be suggestive for those interested in such matters, while the conveniences above cannot fail to please, as the facilities for driving right in with a load from either side is what should always be had in a barn of this class. This barn is, of course, capable of many changes to suit individual wants, circumstances and locations, and is far from costly ; and there are farmers who could, with very little trouble, put up their own barns, if they would only wake up to a full realization of their own capabilities. Plate XX. 66 palliser’s model homes. Plate XXI. STABLE AND CARRIAGE HOUSE. This design was prepared for erection in connection with the proposed residence of Mr. E. G. Burnham at Sea Side Park, Bridgeport, Conn., and is arranged to suit the re- quirements of individual wants, as well as the peculiarities of the site. There is a cellar built under carriage house, which will be found useful for the storage of vegetables, roots, etc., and the carriage house being arranged to drive through, makes it very con- venient for every-day use, as well as utilizing the room. The shed is designed as a shel- ter for horse and carriage, so that the horse can be fed noon times without unhitching — a very convenient arrangement for a business man, who has little time to spare in the middle of the day. The two stalls and box-stall give ample room for two or three horses, while there is room enough for three carriages. On second story is provided a man’s chamber, liay-loft and feed room — the feed bins being built into position, and having shutes down to stable below. The building is of wood, frame sheathed, and lower or first story clap-boarded and shingled above, roof slated. The ventilator is connected with stable below by means of wooden vent pipes, and thoroughly ventilates the whole building. Harness room has an open fire-place, the chimney running up through man’s room on second floor. The hay- racks, mangers and stable fixtures are of iron. Water is supplied on first floor, and the manure is dropped through the trap, as indicated on plan, into a pit built for that pur- pose, and which is accessible from exterior. The carriage house is ceiled on sides with Georgia pine; the timbers overhead dressed and chamfered. The harness room is fitted up with the necessary hooks, pins, etc., for hanging and storing harness. The whole built in a first-class manner at a cost of $850, and makes a neat building for the purpose, and one which is in harmony with its surroundings. Plate XXI, 68 palliser’s model homes. Plate XXII. DESIGN FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING. This plate shows a design for a good, solid, plain public school building, designed for the town of Milan, Mo. That it is somewhat out of the ordinary run of the every day French roof architecture we are fully aware ; and in drawing the plans for this building we have had quite a difficult problem to solve. The general dimensions are 55 by 70 feet; first and second stories having each 14-feet ceilings, while the Assembly- room on third floor has a ceiling 16 feet 6 inches in height. The materials are hard- burned brick, relieved with bands of black brick ; window-sills, lintels, water-table and underpinning of stone ; the roofs all being slated, floors all lined and deadened, walls built hollow with two inches air space. The design is very simple, and thoroughly constructive in all its parts ; the cornices consisting of brick brackets, and surmounted with a wooden gutter, lined with metal. The school-rooms are arranged so they have an abundance of light, are well-ventilated and easy of access, and though all are in close proximity to, yet are in a measure isolated from, each other; being divided by brick partition walls, the transmission of sound from one room to another is effectually prevented. The entrances are placed in front and rear, and consist of spacious stone steps, with brick porch on front and slated hood on rear ; the vestibules opening into a hall 16 feet wide, which contains a wide and easy stair-case, leading up to floors above. This hall is convenient to all rooms, and the advantages it possesses, running as it does through the building, are at once obvious, as the unequalled ventilating facilities it affords render it one of the best features of the plan. The Basement is reached by stairs under the main stairs, and is used for heating and play-room purposes, which is well lighted, ven- tilated, etc. The vestibules on front and rear are easy of access, passing through which we reacb the main hall, from which the three school rooms open, also the hat and cloak rooms for each. The sides of the school-rooms are wainscoted to the height of window sills, above which are placed black-boards. A teacher’s room is placed between the two smaller school-rooms, and a class-room is provided in connection with the larger room, also a teacher’s room, which is reached from the rear vestibule. Ventilating flues are carried up in the four chimneys, and as these run up above the roof, superior draughts are obtained. Ascending to the second floor by the spacious and easy stairs, we have a large lecture room, two school-rooms, hat and cloak rooms, a teacher’s room and appara- tus room, all connected with the hall. On third floor is a room 27x42 feet, with a ceiling 16 feet 6 inches high, well lighted and ventilated, which at times would be found indispensable for exhibition purposes, as it is admirably situated, and easy of access from all parts of the building; and the four walls of this room being required for a support to roof, it will be seen no extra expense is added in getting this room, while the space around it serves as storage and for ventilating purposes. The bell tower speaks for it- self, and is not only useful, but gives a greater prominence to the building. This is a common-sense school building, and one that gives all that it is possible to do for the amount of money expended, as the whole of the detail is simple, everything being hone«t, practical and substantial. Cost, $8,000.00. Plate XXII, 70 palliser’s model homes. Plate XXIII : MASONIC ASSOCIATION BUILDING. This design was prepared for erection at Milford, Conn., for the Masonic Lodge at that town, and is a well-arranged building for the purposes for which it is intended. The ground floor makes a very large and commodious store, being well lighted, ventilated, etc. The front platform and show-windows are covered with a slated hood, serving as a protection to the goods displayed from the weather, as well as sheltering the entrances and show-windows to the store from the heat and storm. The side front door is arranged so as to divide the store in two if required, as it was considered an excellent place in which to arrange the post-office on the right hand side of centre entrance. There is a cellar under the whole building, with a stairway from store placed under main stairs, and also an outside entrance on the rear, which, as the building stands upon a corner lot, is very convenient and easy of access. The entrance to lodge rooms is placed on the side front, and is thus isolated from the store. This entrance is protected by a cosy porch, over which the second story is extended, making the necessary recess for organ in lodge room. The lodge room, with its ante-rooms, closets, etc., will at once be seen, by those who are initiated in the mys- teries of Masonry, to be all that is desirable, and arranged to suit the requirements of a regularly constituted lodge of A. F. and A. M. The east end of the lodge room is very neat and effective, the recess behind the W. M. having a circle head, with the round stained glass window placed in the upper part, in which is worked the all-seeing eye, and other appropriate emblems. The other windows have transom lights, filled with stained glass, in which is worked such designs as are emblematical of Masonry. The wood-work is all in pine, finished with Crockett’s preservative, chamfers and cut-work black. The lodge room ceiling is 16 feet high, the two sides being cut off with the slope of the roof, which forms an excellent surface for the brethren artistically inclined to show what they know about fresco-work suited to such a place. The stairs leading from Tyler’s lobby extend up to a large room over the ante-room and preparation room, whose ceilings are 10 feet 6 inches high, arranged for storage purposes, and which will be found useful to accom- modate the paraphernalia required in working the degrees of a chapter. Some of our Masonic friends may say there is something wanting, which always goes with a lodge room for a chapter. To which we would say: be not alarmed ; all this has been thought about and provided for ; and we would say to those requiring such plans that there is here room for everything required in working every degree known to Masonry in a man- ner suited to the requirements of a lodge of this kind — and we speak understanding^ and from experience. The construction throughout is of wood, built in the most thorough manner; hard- pine floor in store; lodge room floors double and thoroughly deadened; frame sheathed and covered with heavy felt paper, and the roof is of black slate, with ridges of terra cotta; tower finial of iron. The cost of this building complete is $3,000; and we think that no country town having a lodge of Masons can afford to be without such a building as this, as by owning such a building, they are fulfilling one of the tenets of Masonry, be- sides being a monument of the taste, spirit and liberality of its founders. 72 palliser's model homes. Plate XX ir. DESIGN FOR A COUNTRY BANK AND LIBRARY. This design shows a good study for a Bank and Library, suited to the requirements of a small country town. The first or ground floor contains the Banking-room, which is large and spacious, and adapted to the wants and requirements of both National and Savings Bank. The business room is reached by a separate entrance through a tiled vestibule. The vault is very large, and should be built upon a solid granite foundation, interior lined with a steel case one inch thick, next to which should be granite stones one foot thick, doweled together with steel dowels, then outside of this, one foot thick with best hard brick, laid in Portland cement; the doors to be double, with heavy iron vestibules, grouted in with Portland cement, the top covered with railroad iron, on which place a floor of granite thoroughly grouted, etc. A guard room could be here placed between the Bank-vault and the Library -vault. This room could be reached from Lavatory, and by having an opening over vault door, the guard could control the entrance. The private office would be found very useful for Director’s meetings and private business generally. The cellar contains the necessary room for heating apparatus, fuel, etc., and is reached by a stairway from Director’s room, having no outside entrance. The side-wall desk in business-room is an indispensable feature in all banks, and the settees placed each side of front windows would be found very convenient during business hours. The bank counters, fittings and finish on this floor to be of ash, filled. Floors of hard-wood with a neat border. The second floor contains Library, Reading-room, etc., and is reached by a separate entrance and an easy staircase. The delivery-desk being placed in the position shown, renders it easy for those requiring books, etc., to get them without entering reading- room, and the librarian can thus see all who come and go as well as see into the read- ing-room. The work-room is required for unpacking, covering and labeling books, etc., while the vault makes an excellent fire-proof room in which to store valuable papers, or be used for town records, etc. The reading-room is a pleasant room, and with its open fire-place, in which a wood fire can be burnt, would be a pleasant place to while away an evening in reading. The book-room is neatly arranged so as to store about seven thousand volumes, the alcoves containing the books being well-lighted. This floor throughout to be finished in pine in the natural color, with cut and incised work picked out in color. The stairs of hard- wood. The floor of hard-wood. The first story is brick and stone construction, the upper story being shingled ; roof covered with black slate. Such a building as this is an ornament to any town, and certainly is a paying invest- ment as it is by no means expensive, the whole of the work to be done in a substantial manner at a cost of $ 6,000. Plate XX 11 74 palliser’s model homes. Plate XXV. TOWN HALL. Here is a study for a small Town Hall, suited to the requirements of a country town of from four to five thousand inhabitants. It has often seemed to us, in our professional journeys through numerous country towns in different parts of the country, that there was a lack of interest on the part of the inhabitants in those things which so often tend toward the public good — morally, intellectually and otherwise. There should be in every town the public building, in which all should take equal delight and pride. This building should not be a wooden, tumble-down, flat or mansard-roofed dry goods box, neither need it be an attic in some building, the lower part of which is used as a Store- room for kerosene or any other equally combustible material, but should be a real solid, substantial brick building, which should be built in a proper manner, the floors fire- proof — not built in that slip-slop fashion that old fogies always prefer, the wooden beams and floors forming beautiful flues for the devouring flames to creep through, thereby at all times rendering such buildings perfect man-traps. The roof should be a feature of the building, and not, as many suppose, be made to appear as small as possi- ble, as if it was something to keep out of sight. In the design here illustrated it has not been the aim to produce anything but a good, plain, honest building, suited to the require- ments of a country town. The basement is reached by front entrance directly under main entrance, and the floor of porch above forms a covered porch for basement en- trance. The hall is large and spacious, and communicates with Court-room, Heater- room and Firemen’s Sitting-room, also Hall of first floor by a flight of easy stairs. The fire-engine room is large, and has two large doors suitable for running in Engine and Hose Wagon, and connecting as it does with Sitting-room, makes a convenient arrange- ment. The chiefs office is connected with court-room and has an outside door. Four cells are provided, in which to stow away at times the refractory individuals who insist on being in hot water. The room connected with chiefs office is arranged for the recep- tion of lady and aristocratic prisoners, as delinquent Bank Presidents and Cashiers, In- surance Officers, etc. The first floor contains Court-room with Judges’ and Jury room, Town Clerk’s office, with a large fire-proof vault in which to store away the town rec- ords, two good offices which should hold Lawyers enough to do what legal business is necessary to be done in a town of this size. The hall is spacious and communicates directly with offices and court room, and has a broad and easy staircase ascending to the large, high Hall above, the whole of which is in one room for assembly purposes. Such a Hall as this is capable of being fitted up and answering for everything required in a country town, as a caucus meeting, or a theatrical performance, for private parties and public balls, Church fairs or even minister’s donation parties. This Hall would be a source of revenue that would almost run the entire building, and would be a source of continual enjoyment to the citizens of the town. The building is thoroughly ventilated throughout. The outer walls built of good, honest red brick in colored mortar, with stone basement, water-table, sills, steps, etc. The roof slated. The first and second floors of rolled wrought iron beams and corrugated iron arches, filled in with cement concrete, on which is bedded the sleepers the hard pine floors are laid on. The interior finish to be of hard-wood, in a plain and suitable manner. Cost about $12,000.00. Plate XX V. palliser’s model homes. y G Plate XXVI. EPISCOPAL CHURCH. This Church is erected at Stafford Springs, Conn., and is built on one of the most peculiar sites imaginable, being on a triangular corner lot, situated on a side of a hill, which brings the whole of one side of basement out of ground and the opposite side, where Drive Porch is, on a level with the Church floor. The basement is built of Mon- son granite laid in irregular courses, with cut sills, lintels, etc., the area copings and steps being of cut granite. The basement gives good Sunday-School rooms, with a ceiling of eleven feet, and is so arranged as to be thrown into one room by means of sliding doors. The stairs from basement to floor above are convenient and easy of ascent, and gives room underneath for a water-closet, and the room under Tower is used for fuel. The windows in basement are filled with diamond glass with stained borders, set in leaded frame-work. The ground floor or auditorium is 31 x 53| feet in size, and will seat 225 comfortably. The ceiling is finished with open timber and plastered panels, the win- dows all filled with rolled Scotch C-tthedral glass of handsome design, the chancel win- dows and rose window in front being very handsome. The fittings are all of pine — seats finished in natural wood and have black walnut rolls on backs. The chancel is of good size, having robing-room connected, which is reached from outside, and contains wardrobe, etc., the organ being placed on opposite side. The construction throughout above basement is of wood — roof slated with black slate and cut bands — and the whole exterior of wood-work is painted, the body Venetian red, and trimmings Indian red, with the cut-work, battens, etc., black. These colors, with the picturesque surroundings, form a pleasing picture to the eye, and one which should be seen to be appreciated. The cross section gives an idea of the interior at Chancel. This Church cost $4,500 complete, and is one of the neatest church buildings for the money that it is possible to get up. CROSS SECTION. I 'late XXVI. 78 palliser’s model homes. Plate XXVII. CATHOLIC CIIURCIL This design is suited to the requirements of a country parish, and is designed to ac- commodate 300. In preparing this design it was necessary to produce a building which could be erected at small expense, and in a country town where only certain building materials were to be had at reasonable prices. The walls are of brick, laid up fourteen inches thick, with a two inch air space; the stone trimmings to be of granite found in the neighborhood. The walls are kept low as possible, and are pierced with wide windows, filled with stained glass in leaded frames. The roof is open-timbered, giving plenty of height and ventilation. The gallery is placed over the front end, which is reached by means of stairs from vestibule, gives ample room for organ and choir, and is well lighted by rose window, while the tower is arranged to contain bell, or even a peal of bells if desired, which can be rung from gallery floor below. The side porches to auditorium, also to vestry room, make these entrances desirable, as they are protected from the weather. The lower part of these porches are of stone and brick construction, while the upper portion is of wood; the roofs are all slated with Bangor, Pa., slate; the brickwork laid up with red mortar, with belts, arches, etc., in black mortar, and the joints of stone-work finished in black. The interior fittings all of pine, filled and finished in natural wood, and cut-work picked out in color; walls wainscoted four feet high, on a level with window sills, and the ceiling panels tinted an ultramarine blue, with stencilled stars in chrome yellow ; the side walls a light drab, with a foliated stencil border over wainscot ; the altar rail of ash ; and the entire building finished in a good and first-class manner. Cost, $7,000. We are aware of the custom that is prevalent for those building Catholic Churches to copy from what they have seen elsewhere, and this must be the reason for erecting so many country Churches of poor design ; and we would say that in preparing this design it was our aim to give something entirely different from the every day Catholic Church, yet such that would meet all the requirements of tbe Catholic service ; and though llie Catholic Church to-day has the same requirements as it had five hundred years ago, it is no reason why the problem cannot be solved by the architect, and all the traditions of the great days of the Church still be preserved without turning to his books, and copy- ing something to resemble its predecessors of years ago ; but he must work with the ma- terials at his command, combining them so as to form a harmonious whole, and suited to the requirements of the form of worship ; and to do this, and obtain real progress, it is necessary to work out new ideas to suit each separate case, and the various materials employed should be treated without any show of deceit, but let wood be wood, brick, brick, and plaster, plaster. Let the construction be visible and sound, and the decora- tion employed be guided by the simple desire of avoiding all shams, which will increase the beauty and effect of the edifice, and fill the souls worshipping therein with religious emotion. Plate XXVII. so pallisek’s model homes. Plate XX T III. CO NGRECA TIOJSFA L CH UR CH. This design was prepared with a view of erection on a peculiar site in a prosperous and growing country town, site being somewhat long and narrow, one corner of which rounded off to a sharp point on the rear portion of the Church, and the peculiar lay out of the plan was deemed necessary to carry out the problem and to suit the site. The building is unique in design and finish, and successfully fills the demand of the modern ecclesiastical structure suited to the form of Congregational worship. The plan is very compact, and so arranged that by rolling Venetian blinds to close the openings, the audi- torium, or Church proper, and the Chapel can be thrown together, and the Chapel and Parlor, being connected with sliding doors, can be thus opened into and used as one ; and the Kitchen in connection with Parlor makes a desirable feature, and one which cannot fail to be appreciated by all Congregationalists. The auditorium proper is an octagon with two long sides, the organ being placed behind the pulpit, and all seats ra- diating from the pulpit, gives each and every one an equal opportunity to see and hear; the doors on either side of the pulpit lead to choir and minister’s room, both of which are connected with a hallway having an outside entrance ; here also is provided a toilet- room, containing closet and bowl. The main entrance is placed in the angle of audito- rium and Chapel, and connects with each, while the circular apse contains the stairway up to bell chamber above. Over this entrance the tower rises to a height of ninety feet, and is arranged so as to hold a peal of bells, if desired. At either flank of the octagon the walls are pierced with doors or windows, and the windows are filled with stained glass ; and as the outside walls are kept low, the principal light comes from the clere story windows, and with the open-timber roof and stained glass the interior effect is very striking, adding much to the apparent height of the interior. The interior finish of ash; the walls above wainscoting to have a dark tint, and above a lighter shade. The Church body to be built out of a dark granite, found in the immediate neighborhood, laid in irregular courses, level beds and plumb joints; the belts, sills, etc., of light granite, with •drafted margins ; roofs covered with black slate. Cost, about $10,000, in favorable locality ; accommodation, 500. The octagon must become in time both common and popular ; for when it is prop- erly treated, it can be made to satisfy all the laws of good taste and the requirements of a Church, which will make those who worship there feel that they are really in the house of God. Plate XX VIII. ■ iw $ f ~. ip l-'fS ,( i'. , -A $ if 1*^ *jj£ -NjoisVd 82 palliser’s model homes. Rooms 5, G, 7 and 8, People’s Savings Bank Building, 328 Main, corner Bank Street, Bridgeport, Conn., U. S. A. It is desirable for parties who contemplate building to obtain the greatest amount of room, with the best architectural effect for the amount of money expended, and to ac- complish this they should secure the services of a competent architect, one who has made such things a study and pursuit for years, and has used every means to become familiar with it in all its detail. The parties for whom the building is to be erected should care- fully study their wants, and give their ideas to the architect to be worked out by him; he can then prepare a complete set of drawings, details and specifications. The pro- prietor knows just what he is going to have before the building is commenced, and he feels the assurance that there can be no misunderstanding with his contractor, as the architect’s drawings and specifications serve as a mediator between the owner and con- tractor, to remind the former what to require, and the latter what his agreement is to perform. Care should be taken by clients not to place too many restrictions on the architect- how he shall do this or that, and make a mere draughtsman of him; but after stating the price, it would be well to say what room is required, and give him your ideas on the matter; and you may be sure that everything will be added to the building which can be, internally and externally, that will enhance its beauty and usefulness. When parties communicate with us, they will please give the following particulars and any and all the ideas they have on the subject which they may deem of importance. 1. The amount you will expend on the building to make it complete in every particular. 2. Prices of material and labor in your locality. 3. Nature of ground, size and shape of lot, and in which direction the building will front, also principal side. The best way is to send a rough draft of the lot, with points of compass, and indicate where building is to be placed. 4. What material will be used in construction? Wood, brick or stone? Give full par- ticulars where material can be obtained, and state which can be had most conven- iently and economically for the several purposes. 5. Particulars of other buildings near it, if any. 6. Number and what rooms are required on each floor; heights of ceilings, and number of floors; also give particulars of any special disposition to be made of any of the rooms on account of scenery, views, or otherwise. 7. What the building and rooms are to be used for. 8. From which direction are your most severe winds and storms. 9. Give particulars of locality and character of the grounds and surroundings, and any special circumstances to be considered in the design, and in the location and ar- rangement of rooms. 10. What improvements are required, such as heating, hot and cold water, bath, gas, water-closets, etc. 11. Outside finish — Porches, Tower, Bay-windows, Verandas, etc , etc. 12. Have you any public water works? Do you require Cisterns to receive water from roof, or what provision must be made for water service? Also give full particulars of drainage. palliser’s model homes. 83 13. What fence and out-buildings are required? 14. Name any work and materials you wish to do or supply, so that they may be men- tioned in specifications. Write your name and address legibly, giving your post-office, county and State, and write your own name at the bottom of your letters. After receiving particulars, anything that will interfere with the proper arrangement of the rooms, and the carrying out of a suitable design, will be brought to your notice, and we shall correspond with you until everything will harmonize. We do not wish to send out designs when we think they will not give satisfaction. Correspondence invited from those who contemplate building, which will always receive our prompt and careful attention. When we are employed by parties at a distance, we make sketches of floor plans, and usually with this we send a small free hand sketch of the Elevations. These are returned, with whatever alterations or corrections they wish made. Then we finish up the draw- ings, details and specifications, etc., as required for the builders to work from. Parties who wish to employ us, should not wait until the last moment, but should open corres- pondence with us two or three months, or even more, before they wish to commence building. Our charges for services, are for full working plans, all detail drawings for exterior and interior work and fittings, specifications and forms of contract, two and a half per cent, on cost of erecting and completing building, and where parties are unknown to us, one-quarter of said charges usually accompanying the order for preliminary sketches, and as a guarantee of good faith. In addition to above rates, one per cent, is charged when elaborated sketches and perspective in line or color are required to be made previous to making full working plans; also one per cent, additional when there is a large amount and variety of elaborate interior wood work and fittings to design in detail for first-class dwellings, mansions, etc. For preparing complete bills of quantities of materials, a charge of three-quarter per cent, is made. For superintendence, one and one-half to three per cent., according to the require- ments, or by the visit by special agreement for inspecting the work to see whether con- tractors’ payments are due or not, and that he is fulfilling the conditions of the contract- When required, we furnish our client with a competent and reliable Clerk of Works to be constantly on the ground superintending the construction, and which is very neces- sary in case of large or intricate buildings. For designs in detail of Furniture and Interior Decorations, ten per cent, on cost. For buying material and appliances required in building and furnishing, such goods in all cases being bought at best wholesale trade rates, a charge of five per cent, is made. For appraising and valuing, charges are made according to time occupied and cir- cumstances. Traveling expenses and surveying in all cases are charged in addition to above rates. Charges are based on the total cost of actual execution and payment of full value, but previous to ability to arrive at the proper and full cost, the approximated intended cost is used as the base on which to reckon charges. 84 palliser’s model homes. It is our constant aim to please our clients, and we usually succeed. Our long prac- tice lias convinced us that it is quite as easy to satisfy parties with our designs when wc never see them, as in any other way. When parties correspond with us in regard to procuring designs, we are always prompt in answering their inquiries; but oft-times peo- ple have written us simply to get our ideas, and not pay for them. To all such we would say that our time is valuable, and we sincerely wish they would not trouble us. We mention this fact, because we have received scores of letters, and answered them, when the parties really never intended to employ us, but simply steal our ideas. Now our ideas are for sale, and by this means we live, and it is a pleasure, as well as a liveli- hood, to assist people to build artistic, convenient and beautiful homes. Perhaps if architects were rich — they seldom are— it would be sufficient compensation to them to assist people as far as possible with ideas; but as they are not, they are obliged to com- bine pleasure and profit in a way it is seldom done, except in architecture. If you have a case at law, you take it to a lawyer, but you expect to pay him well, and it never enters your mind for a moment that he will do anything without being paid. It is much the same with architects as with lawyers, yet many think that the least they can get a design for is so much made. This is a great mistake and is admitted by all intelligent men. It is impossible to get anything for less than its value, and at the same time have it prove satisfactory. It is but a very small design that will occupy a week’s time in its study, and the proper preparation of the drawings and specifications. We shall be very glad to hear from all persons who intend to build, and wish our services, and we will serve them faithfully. Our aim is to please our clients, and to give just as much for their money as possible. It may seem a curious fact, but to design a small cottage, and get the most for a limited cost, is a much harder study than to design a house to contain so many rooms, and have this and that, where we are not limited to cost. Our drawings are made on vellum, so that they will stand wear and tear; are thor- oughly lettered, figured, and made plain as daylight. Also, any one can understand our full-size working drawings. The specifications are always made complete in every par- ticular, and are furnished in duplicate, for builder and proprietor, as are also our forms of contract; and all instructions are given our clients in the most complete way, to ena- ble them to have the design properly executed, and their building affairs satisfactorily conducted. To those who need our services, we would say that our aim at all times is to produce what will in every way give satisfaction, and our services, advice, etc., are rendered in full confidence that they will do so. You will do us a favor by showing this book, or speaking of it to your friends and any one in your locality who intends to build or is otherwise interested. We have the honor to be yours most respectfully, PALLISER, PALLISER & CO., Architects. 85 DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED BY FR. BECK & CO., Cor. Seventh Ave. and Twenty-ninth St. , NEW YORK. IN OUR For the coining season, will be found a reproduction of the most Choice and Expensive Fabrics Of European design and manufacture, among which appear quaint old Dutch and Venetian Leathers, Antique Metals and Velvets, AND THE Woven Tapestries So much used in former times. We offer a decided novelty in the . GENUINE VELVETS, Which can he hung like wall paper and which, in softness of tone and delicacy of shading, richly decorated as they are with antique designs stamped and raised upon their surface, cannot be excelled. Onr unusual facilities for producing these richer fabrics have also been turned to good account in the cheaper varieties of Paper Hang- ings made by us, which represent, to an astonishing degree, the same beauty of design and coloring, thus placing truly artistic effects within reach of the lowest prices. The preparation of suitable designs for Ceiling Decoration Has been made a matter of special consideration. To insure harmony of detail, we will, if desired, attend to the entire work of Interior Decoration, For which we employ the best talent, and to which wo give our per- sonal supervision. 86 PALLISER, PALLISER & CO., IlCIItlCfS, BRIDGEPORT, Coma., TJ. S. .A. PREPARE DESIGNS, DRAWINGS AND SPECIFICATIONS For Every Description of Buildings for Erection in any Part of the World. Also, give Special Attention to the Remodeling of Existing Structures, and the Designing of FURNITURE, INTERIOR DECORATIONS AND MONUMENTS. Consultations on all matters pertaining to Building, Drainage, Sanitary Work, Ventilation, Machinery, Valuations, &c., &c. CAN REFER TO UPWARDS OF ONE THOUSAND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BUILD- INGS ERECTED IN ALL PARTS OF THE WESTERN WORLD. NiCS, If anyone wishes to employ us, we shall he pleased to hear from them, and will undertake to serve them in the best, most careful and faithful manner; but it is usually expected that inquiries will be accom- panied with stamp for reply. During the past two or three years we answered, at considerable cost in time, postage, etc., several thousand letters of inquiry from people everywhere, who omitted to enclose stamp; and, in a great many instances, these inquiries were of little account. We have no desire to be troubled for nothing; though, as a matter of courtesy, we answer all letters promptly, and shall continue to do so. It matters not whether our clients reside in the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts or New York, near to us or 3,000 miles away — distance is no obstacle — we can serve them equally as well, as hundreds in every State and Territory in the Union, Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Brazils can testify; and wherever our designs are carried out clients are pleased, press and public extol on the art and conveniences, being the wonder and admiration of every one; and builders everywhere are unanimous in their statements that they are the best they were ever engaged to execute and that the drawings, specifications, and all the instruments of service are rendered in the most thorough, complete and practical manner for them to work from, and to enable them to put the work together without the slightest error, and everyone may certainly rest assured that we shall not, at this stage of our practice, do a service in any manner that will not give the fullest satisfaction. Our study is faithful service for our clients’ best interests. NEW WORKS ON CARPENTRY, BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE. Palliser’s Useful Details (just published, April, 1881), 40 plates, size of each 20x26 inches. Working drawings to large scales which are indi- cated on each plate; 1,100 designs, representing every description of modern architectural detail. In flexi- ble cover. Price $3. Every Architect, Carpenter, Builder, Woodworker, Stair-Builder, Sash, Blind and Door Maker, Cabinet Maker, Mason and Plasterer, should get a copy of this valuable work. Vol. II. Palliser’s A nierican Cottage Homes. Will be ready in Spring i 1882. 64 9x12 plates, modern designs for every ’description of American Cottages, giving plans, elevations, per- spective views; also full details on 64 6x9, or half plates, together with specifications, form of con- tract, descriptions, etc., etc. All entirely new and original designs, and a com- plete volume in itself, dealing with the subject in a most full and comprehensive manner. P» 1 User’s Specifications for frame or brick buildings costing from $500 to $5,000, will be ready Spring, 1882. Price per copy (including two forms of contract for building), 50 Cents, or $4 per dozen. Practical Stair Building and Hand Bailing, and The American Carpen- ters’ and Joiners’ Guide. The construc- tion of Stairs and every description of Carpentry and Joinery plainly and fully explained from the' very foundation, so that even the apprentices may under- stand. Concise, original and reliable methods — thoroughly tested, simplest yet devised. Stair rails constructed with smallest possible material and la- bor, and with fewest lines and complications. All fully illustrated on a large working scale; also, numerous details for stair and other work. This is undoubtedly the book for every carpenter and stair builder to possess, and will be issued at a price bring- ing it within the reach of all. Will he ready in Spring, 1882. 1 1ST PREPARATION. Palliser’s Modern Dwellings and Picturesque American A reliitecture. Strong in illustration. Designs for every description of city, suburban, town, country and seaside dwellings, as cottages, villas, mansions, blocks, etc. Latest styles, best and most original designs. The best Ameri- can work on Architecture ever issued, and especially valuable to people about to build. New and recent designs erected 1882 and preceding year, exact cost given for each, locations, etc. An elegant work on building at a very moderate price. REVISED AND IMPROVED EDITION JUST PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER, 1880. (New Edition is Issued as often as Every Two Years.) PALLISER’S SPECIFICATIONS, CONSISTING OF Masons’, Carpenters’, Painters’, Slaters’, Tinners’, Plumbers’, Heaters’ and Gas Pipers’ Specifications for brick or frame Buildings costing $5,000 and upwards. Invaluable to Builders and those who design buildings, as by their use they will save hundreds of pages in writing and copying, besides having a more complete, full and prac- tical specification than is usually written. Those who write specifications will find a full reminder of everything requisite in the erection of such buildings to which they apply, and parties not used to specifying for work, will find them worth twenty times the cost. These specifications are complete in every respect ; blank spaces are left for everything that changes with the difference in class and cost of Buildings, as sizes of timber and other material, in fact, everything not shown on plans. Where the buildings are inexpensive and require no slate roofing, plumbing or heating, pages can be closed up or cut out, and by drawing the pen through a single word or by adding a word in writing, a desired change can be made. Builders can read what they are required to do with greater facility than they can manu- script, and are less liable to make errors, and therefore, execute the work better. NOTICES OP THE PRESS. The first example within our knowledge of a fairly complete set for brick buildings as well as those of wood, and it is high but deserved praise to say that with the proper amount of additional matter to suit the peculiar- ities of particular buildings, for which ample spaces are left, such Specification can easily be made as thorough and full as the most scrupulous architect need desire. The whole work shows throughout the hand of thoroughly experienced architects, and not only experienced in a certain class of work, but in a great variety of processes and modes of finishing. The plumbing specification is nearly a model ; and that for boiler and steam fitting is a particularly useful addition to the whole.— From the American Architect and Building News. In the department of plumbing and sanitary matters we are glad to see details embodying the design of thorough work ; every particular being so arranged as to insure the dispersion out of harm’s way all sewer gas or noxious emanations — From the American Engineer. The work of thoroughly experienced architects, com- plete in items, logical in arrangement, and amply pro- vided with blank spaces for entering additional matter to suit the peculiarities of buildings. — From Carpentry and Building. Are invaluable to architects and builders.— From the. Publishers Weekly. They have unquestionably received great attention in their preparation and are comprehensive and full. — From the California Architect and Building Review . A form for use i n making contracts for building, being complete and practical specifications covering all essen- tial points. Blank spaces are left for details, which change with the difference in class and cost of houses, suen as sizes of timber and parts not shown on plans. Messrs. Palliser, Palliser & Co. have done the public, and mechanics especially, great service in preparing these specifications, which obviate a great deal of writing and tend to prevent errors by making all the points perfectly clear. — From the Scientific American. No architect or builder who sets a value on his time or labors would think of writing up a specification for four times the amount asked for a printed blank. — From the Builder and Wood Worker. They are adapted to the plans of any and every one , since the pen can readily be drawn through superfluous details, save much trouble in making contracts, and when once used will not be readily discarded.— From the American Bookseller. It treats of all parts of a building, from the founda- tion to the finish, and throughout shows evidence of great care and forethought and is evidently the work of expe- rienced men. — From the Metal Worker. Any one who means to build had better get them and read them than to trust to an impromptu manuscript. — From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. It is standard in all particulars, no chance of omitting important parts as there is in written specifications. — From the Iron Age. . Every Architect in the country should use them. Every Builder should have these Spec- ifications and become acquainted with their contents. Those who intend to build should get a set and study them. The principal Architects use them in their practice. The forms of contract are the Stand- ard and cover fully all the points, and have stood the test everywhere for past seven years. Printed on one side of sized paper 9x14 inches in size, suitable for filling in blanks with pen and ink, handsomely bound in paper cover with fastenings, etc., for pocket use. Price 50 cents per set, including two forms of contract, or $4.00 per dozen. Forms of contract for building, 5 cents each or 40 cents per dozen. JPnlliser’s Specifications and Building Contracts are endorsed by thfi leading Architects and Builders in the United States and Canadas. Specifications by the quantity at $15.00 per hundred copies, and Contracts (including bond) at $2.50 per hundred copies. These Contracts (revised April 1st, 1881, are highly commended by all the Architectural and Building Journals printed in the English language, and the Architectural and Legal professions pronounce them perfect in all particulars and what has long been wanted. They are applicable to any part or division of building work or sub-co ntracts. We can furnish any book or periodical on Architecture, Building anil Mechanics pub- lished in this or any other country. In fact, we can furnish any kind of book published. NEW WORKS on Building and Architecture issued by us every Spring and Fall. Circulars with full list of contents of our publica- tions mailed to any address. PALLISER, PALLISER & CO., Bridgeoort, Conn. ¥l\e Work lotted oi\ Sfdl^itedtufe. The best, cheapest and most popular work ever issued on Ar- chitecture— two hundred and sixty drawings— a $10 hook in size and style for $5 which is much too low, yet we have determined to make it meet the popular demand, to suit the times, so that it can be easily reached by all. PALLXSER’S AMERICAN COTTAGE HOMES. Illustrated by 40 9x12 plates, containing 50 designs of Modern Low Priced Cottages and \V orkingmen’s Homes, suitable for erection in city, suburbs, village and country, in the North, South and West. Gives plans, eleva- tions, perspective views, sections, details, specifications : also descriptive letter press on back of each plate, form of contract, etc., etc. Invaluable to every one who contemplates the erection of a house, and there arc few who do not intend to build for themselves a home sometime in their lives. It is the book for the people, and no one can afford to neglect it. Title page, Plate 1.— Perspective Views of De- signs 1, 2, 3, and 23, also plans and Perspective View of a handsome brick and timber Cottage of 9 rooms. Design 1, Plate 2.— Plans and Elevations, 11 room 114 story Cottage, cost $1,500. Design 2, Plate 2.— Plans and Elevations, 6 room 1 } 4 story Cottage, cost $800. Design 3, Plate 2.— Plans and Elevations 5 room 114 story Cottage, cost $800. Design 4, Plate 3.— Plans and Elevations, G room 114 story Cottage, cost $700. Design 5, Plate 3.— Plans and Elevations, 6 room 2 story Cottage, cost $900. Design 6, Plate 3.— Plans and Elevations, 2 room 1J4 story Cottage, cost $325. Design 7, Plate 4.— Plans and Elevations, G room 2 story, 2 family Cottage, cost $1,000. Design 8, Plate 4.— Plans, Elevations and Per- spective View, G room 2 story Cottage, giving two different sets of plans for same Elevations, cost $875. Design 9, Plate 5.— Plans, Elevations, Perspec- tive View and Details, 6 room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,400. Design 10, Plate 5, Plans and Elevations, 4 room 1 14 story Cottage, cost $G00. Design 1 1, Plate 6.— Plans and Elevations, 6 room 2 story Cottage, cost $850. Design 12, Plate 6.— Plans and Perspective View, 4 room 1^ story cottage, cost $375. Design 13, Plate 7.— Plans and Elevations, G room 2 story fire-proof Cottage, cost $1,150. Design 14, Plate 7.— Street front of 5 fire-proof Cottages. Design 15, Plate 7.— Plans and Elevations, 5 room, 2 story fire-proof Cottage, cost $850. Design IB, Plate 8,— Plans and Elevations, 6 room 2 story Cottage, cost $860; Design 17, Plate 8.— Plans and Perspective View, 4 room, 2 story Cottage, cost $9t0. Design 1 8, Plate 9,— Plans, Elevations, Perspec- tive View and Details, G room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,500. Design 19, Plate 10.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, pair brick and timber Cottages, 5 rooms each, cost $1,400. Design 20, Plate 11.— Plans and Elevations, 7 room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,700. Design 21, Plate 11.— Plans and Elevations, 7 room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,600. Design 22, Plate 12.— Plans, Elevations, Per- spective View and Details, pair of Cottages, 7 rooms each, cost $1,200. Design 23, Plate 1 3.— Plans and Elevations, 7 -oom 2 story Cottage, cost $1,300. Design 24, Plate 14.— Plans, Elevations, Per- ective View, Details, Tower and Day Window jttage, cost $1,700, G rooms, 2 story. Design 25, Plate 15.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 6 room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,600. Design 26, Plate 16.— Plans and Elevations, 7 room 2 story Cottage, cost $2,000. Design 27, Plate 17.— Plans. Elevations Per- spective View and Details, of two family Cottage, cost $2,500. Design 28, Plate 18.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, pair 8 room Cottages, cost $1,850. Design 29, Plate 19.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, G room 2 story Cottage, cost $2,300. Design 30, Plate 20.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, pair G room 2 story Cottages, cost $1,350 each. Design 31, Plate 21,— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 8 room 2 story Cottage, cost $1,950. Design 32, Plate 22,— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 7 room 2 story timber Cottage, cost $2,900. Design 33, Plate 23,— Plans, Elevations, and Perspective View, 8 room 2 story Cottage, erected at Memphis, Tenn., cost $1,500. Design 34, Plate 24.— Plans and Elevations, 8 room, 2 story Cottage, cost $3,000. Design 35, Plate 25.— Plans, Elevations, Per- spective View and Details, 9 room 2 story Cottage, cost $2,800. Design 36, Plate 26.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 7 room sea side Cottage, cost $2, GOO. besign 37, Plate 27,— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 7 room Cottage, cost $3,500. Design 38, Plate 28.— Plans and Elevations block of 4 brick houses, (Jueen Anne style, 9 rooms, bay windows, cost $2,400. Design 39, Plate 29.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, pair 7 room 2 story Cottages, cost $1,200. Design 40, Plate 30.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 11 room Country house, cost $3'200. Design 41, Plate 31.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 7 room Country house, giving two sets of Elevations and Perspective Views for same floor plan, cost $3,100. Design 42, Plate 32.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 6 room Cottage, cost $2,500. Design 43, Plate 33.— Plans and Elevations, 9 room Country house, cost $3,300. Design 44, Plate 34.— Plans and Elevations, 8 room Cottage, cost $3,000. Design 45, Plate 35.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 7 room Summer Cottage, cost $8,325. Design 46. Plate 36.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 13 room 2 family house, cost $3,750. besign 47, Plate 37.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 8 room brick and timber Cot- tage, cost $4,000. Design 48, Plate 38.— Plans and Elevations, 9 room Country house, cost $2,600. Design 49, Plate 39.— PJans and Elevations, pair brick houses, 12 rooms ehch, cost $3,100. Design 50, Plate 40.— Plans, Elevations and Perspective View, 9 room timber Cottage, cost $3,500. One quarto volume, printed on heavy tinted plate paper, handsomely bound in half leather, with side stamp in gold. The value of this work to builders cannot be estimated, as it contains designs for just such houses as they are called on to build every day in the week. There is not a builder in the country who can afford to neglect this book. Sent post-paid to any address on receipt of price, $5. Address the Publishers, PALLISER, PALLISER & CO., Bridgeport, Conn. I* Iron Age, “Palliser’s American Cottage Homes” is a work ■which invites and merits careful examination. Its authors are evidently accomplished architects, with the comparatively rare gift of common sense. In its pre- paration tney have recognized two things which are often lost sight of by the architect who makes or col- lects a series of designs for publication : that the masses of the people cannot afford to build elegant houses, and that those who must content themselves with comparatively inexpensive homes want them of good proportion, effective design and tasteful, though simple, ornamentation. During the past few years the public have learned that truth and beauty, good taste and artistic excellence, are not the exclusive posses- sions of the rich. The workingman’s cottage or the modest suburban home of the business man in moder- ate circumstances, may as well be neat and attractive externally, and convenient in internal arrangement, as ungainly and comfortless. It is with this fact in mind that Messrs. Palliser have selected their examples of American cottages. We have carefully examined every one of the fifty designs, and find in them much to com- mend and little to criticise. In every case they seem to be well adapted to the wants of those for whom they are intended, from the workingman’s cottage or modest farm house, costing less than $1,000, to more preten- tious sea-side and village dwellings, costing from $2,500 to $4,000. These prices include the modern conve- niences usually found in the best houses of the classes to which they belong, with abundant closet room and a common sense interior arrangement, utilizing the avail- able room to the best practical advantage. In no case have the authors striven after effect merely, and it is evident that they have not sought to advertise them- selves by a scries of pretty pictures. The idea of the book was to show that it is possible to combine beauty and convenience in cheap homes. We are glad to be able to commend this work so warmly. It is just what has been needed ; and we hope in a subsequent volume Messrs. Palliser will show how comparatively inexpensive houses may be adapted for decoration at a cost within the means of those who are not able to gratify to an unlimited extent a cultivated artistic taste. American Jlookseller. The new book of architectural designs prepared by the Messrs. Palliser, and handsomely published by them under the title of “ Palliser’ s American Cottage Homes,” is excellently adapted to the times in every respect. In the first place the book itself contains fifty designs, and costs but $5, which makes it a price within the reach of every carpenter who, perforce of his situa- tion, is his own architect. Then, the designs them- selves are adapted to the wants of to-day, to wit, a tasteful home at a moderate price. In the plans given in this book, there are none for homes costing over $3,750, and there are many for homes costing less than $1,000. This is exactly what is wanted. The carpenter remote from a city needs just such a book to refer to or to exhibit to his customer, so that the latter can give his orders in an intelligible manner. The much desired economy in these structures is not, however, obtained at the expense of beauty — every one of the designs, even the very cheapest, is pleasing to the eye. Following the ideas laid down by Messrs. Palliser, the builder is sure to obtain a pretty result. Another result aimed at by the authors is the convenience of internal arrangement. Many a good house has been spoiled by having the needed closet room omitted. All this has been carefully studied by the practical and ex perienced gentlemen whose namesare on the book, and the owner or working builder who selects a design from this work, will be sure to secure all the elegance, con- venience, and economy in the erection of a house as is possible. The book, us before intimated, is elegantly put forth ; iB in quarto shape, and there is with eacn perspective view a side and front elevation and ground plans, so that no one need be at a loss to fully under- stand the designs. American liuilder. The Messrs. Palliser, to whom we have been indebted for many of the most attractive designs which have appeared from time to time in the liuilder , have ven- tured on publishing a book. It is, perhaps, not the best time to publish any book of a standard character, and books of architecture, good, bad, and indifferent, do so abound, and are so persistently pushed, that it requires courage, and a conscious sense of deserving well, to enter the ijs;ld against them. However, if any book will sell, this ought to. It is thoroughly practi- cal, the designs are most carefully drawn, witn details given in many instances in the completes! wav. There Is a freshness and originality of style which is very taking, while the range of prices for the houses de- picted in the plates is low. T’here is an economy of space and ingenuity in planning which cannot bu-t commend themselves to the intelligent builder, while the suggestiveness of the drawings (insisted on as it is by the authors, who show how easily their designs can be modified to suit special circumstances) is such as greatly to enhance the value of the work. The Messrs. Palliser are especially happy in their treatment of roofs, and the effects produced by some of their combinations are exceedingly picturesque, while, as is shown by the estimates given, this beauty of appearance can be secured at the most moderate rates. Fifty designs are given in forty plates. Such a book demands a hand- some setting, and it is, in point of fact, very neatly and solidly bound as a large quarto, in dark green cloth and dark red half morocco, with the title in gold letters on the cover. The title-page itself is a marvel of delicacy and taste. We can heartily recommend the work to our readers. We do not exaggerate when we say that no builder of a cheap class of houses, who wishes to make money by making them beautiful, can afford to be without this valuable work. It is full of suggestion from cover to cover. Scientific American. This firm is doing valuable service in its frequent publication of copiously illustrated works containing designs for dwellings which are not only moderate in price but in accordance with a constantly improving popular artistic taste. American village architecture has long been remarkable for lack of beauty, chiefly perhaps on account of the rapidity with which new towns spring up in this country, and the necessity of building at low cost. Now that the best architects do not think the planning of a workman’s cottage unwor- thy of their skill, we may look for the application of better principles both in construction and exterior ap- pearance. The present work is a notable instance of what may be done toward adapting really tasteful and new designs to the exigencies of moderate outlay. Here are fifty designs, each giving the necessary plans, elevations, and perspectives of cottages, none costing more than $4,000 to erect complete, and ranging from that figure down to as low as $325 for a very neat two- room one and a half story dwelling. All are tasteful, many picturesque and elegant. They are intended for the country and look rural, which is much more than can be said of the ineffectual attempts to imitate French city architecture on a reduced scale, which of late years many architects have made in planning country homes. Full forms of specifications and agreements are given, so that the reader has only to select his design and make a contract with a builder to have it constructed. Tolland County ( Ct .) Press. Palliser, Palliser & Co., the national renowned archi- tects, have issued their work on “Illustrated Cottage Homes.” It contains cottages suited to every taste, ranging in cost of construction lrom $325 to $4,000. A work alike valuable to builders and to any who have in view the-erection of a house, many of the plans being susceptible of slight changes that will adapt themselves to any taste. Most of the plans shown have been built from, aud many of them duplicated many times over. All are practical— the creation of a well-known firm of successful architects. Onequaito volume, printed on heavy tinted plate paper, handsomely bound in half leather, with side stamp in gold. Price, $5. manufacturer and liuilder. This .book meets an actual demand for practical de- signs for low and medium-priced houses adapted for the majority of the people. The designs are graceful and practical, the plaus convenient, and the details given for construction are sound and at the same time economical. The time has passed when people think that tasteful designs and convenient plans must neces- sarily be more expensive ; the examples given by our prominent architects have proved that much money is thrown away in constructing ugly, illy-proportioned buildings, while, at the sumo expense, beautiful and well-proportioned structures can bo erected. At the same time, this publication proves how interior con- venience is perfectly compatible with exterior beauty, another point which lias been doubted by mnnv, be- cause of the failures of some architects to provide in exteriorly beautiful structures the interior comforts often experienced in old-fashioned and ugly residences. Publications of this cluss are the stimuli which are working a revolution In domestic architecture, which wo earnestly hope will, in the course of time, sweep away all that is ugly to the eye, and so improve the public taste to the standard required to appreciate the truly beautiful. 90 PERTH AMBOY TERRA COTTA CO. 170 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. MANUFACTURERS OF Architectural Terra Cotta, AND BUFF FRONT BRICK. Continental Stained Glass Works, 3STo. 16 CHAPMAN PLACE, ( Opposite City Hall), BOSTON, MASS., MANUFACTURERS OF smuts® GLASS FOR MEMORIAL WINDOWS. CHURCHES, HALLS AND PRIVATE RESIDENCES We can exhibit to our patrons many fine designs and samples of both Modem and Ancient styles in Rolled and Antique Glass. 13^" Can refer to buildings everywhere, for -which we have furnished Art Glass: Churches, Banks, Stores, Offices, Dwellings, &c. THE FINEST ART WORK AT MODERATE PRICES. SPECIAL DESIGNS PREPARED. CARSTENS & KRAUSS. 91 W. D. & A. S. NICHOLS, MANUFACTURERS OF MARBLE, MARBLEIZED SLATE AND HARD WOOD MA GRATES, FENDERS, OPEN FIREPLACES, ANDIRONS, FIRE SETS, COAL YASES, Etc. QUARRIES & MILLS, POULTNEY, Vt. 73 HUDSON ST., ( Opposite Worth Street), INTZEV^ YORK. FACTORY 157 and 159 E. 128th St., N. Y. IMPROVED MORTAR BLACK, EXTRA PERMANENT JET BLACK, WARRANTED, Is being used in the construction of the following Buildings : Boston and Albany Iiailroad Depot, New England Manufacturers' and Mechanics’ Institute, Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, School-House, South Boston, School-House, Egleston Square, Mason’s Bloclc, Liberty Square, Boston, AND MANY OTHERS. No dust, grease or anything to annoy. Being a pulp or paste, is easily mixed, and it improves the Mortar and is highly recommended by the leading Architects and Builders. MANUFACTURED ONLY BY George H. Morrill & Co., 34 Hawley St., Boston, Mass. BRANCH, 25 ROSS STREET, NEW YORK. SEND FOR CIRCULAR OIVINU FULL PARTICULARS ANI) DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 92 GRAFF & COMPANY MANUFACTURERS. THE HOT BLAST TUBULAR FURNACE Has gained a wider popularity for great heat- ing power, cheapness and economy in con- sumption of fuel than any medium priced furnace in this country. A very strong argu- ment in favor of the “Hot Blast” is the fact that the Board of Fire Commissioners of New York City have, (after a thorough test of its merits,) ordered this furnace put into their En gihe Houses. To the dealer we say, look to your own inter- ests, and at once secure the sale of this Fur- nace. To the consumer we say, that with more money than will buy the “Hot Blast,” you can- not buy as good a furnace in every particular. Hundreds of references given on application. THE METROPOLITAN WROUGHT OR PLATE-IRON FURlf A.OE, FOR ANTHRACITE OR BITUMINOUS COAL. Had we space in this book we should be glad to give a full description of this su- perior Furnace, and, at least, make men- tion of other popular Furnaces of our man- ufacture. As we cannot do this in the space allotted to us, we ask you to send for our descriptive Catalogue, which illustrates all the Furnaces of our manufacture, and also, contains much valuable information on the subject of heating. Bear in mind that we make a specialty of heating large Public Buildings, and that we will take pleasure in furnishing information, or in giving esti- mates on appplication. GRAFF & COMPANY, METROPOLITAN. 208 WATER STREET, Three Sizes. Portable aud Brick-Set. NEW YOR!K. HOT 15 LAST. Five Sizes. Portable and Brick-Set. 93 THE SMITH & EGGE MFG. CO. Lafayette Street, corner Allen Street, BRIDGEPORT, CONJNT. Contractors with U. S. Government for Mail Locks. Alsi Manufacturers of Serai! Machine, Piano and Orp Loch. D.S. Mail Ms, Fine Brass Ms, Sewini lacMne Locks, Plano Loots, Organ Loots, Giant Pailocts. Special hnclcs made to order for Mailroads and others. Sewing Machine Hardware, SMALL HARDWARE, Lilt Metallic Goods, MADE TO ORDER, BASIN AND BATH TUB CHAINS. Button Hole Attachments, Rapid Transit Mouse Traps, Patented Inventions, Tools, etc. “Giant” Metal, Automatically Made, Sash Chain, And the attachments required for hanging the sash. Prices and samples of Chain sent on application. Adopted by the Commissioners for the new Capitol at Hartford, Conn., the new City Hall, Provi- dence, R. I., and for new State, War and Navy Department Building at Washington, D. C., and other U. S. Buildings. The only Suitable Article to hang Plate Glass, : MANUFACTURERS OF 1 U. S. Mail Locks , Treasury Locks , Giant, Seal and Register Padlocks . Also the Celebrated Kinsman Door Lock. Universal Button-Hole Attachment, makes a splendid button-hole, and can be applied to different Sewing Machines. THE “ RAPID TRANSIT” MOUSE-TRAP, Catches more mice than any other trap in the world ; is always set and never out of order. Estimates on cost of patented inventions made, and special attention given to the manufacture of the necessary tools 94 JAS. G. DOUGLASS. Preft E. MINTON TATLOE, Swp' t of Manufacture. W W, LYON, Sec'y and Treas. WILL TEEEELL, Ass't Sec'y and Treas. THE UNITED SUITES ENCAUSTIC TILE C0„ INDIANAPOLIS, IND. MANUFACTURERS OF ENCAUSTIC & GEOMETRICAL TILES For Laying - Floors in Public Buildings, Banks, Churches, Theatres, Halls, Vestibules, Billing Booms, Bath Rooms, Etc. : ALSO : glazed and bnaxiblbb tiles. For Wainscotting, Hearths, and Interior Decoration. Inlaid Glazed Tiles for Furniture, and Stove Decorations, a Speciality. Designs and Estimates furnished on application. Office and Works: Cor. Seventh St. and C., I., St. L. & C. R. R. For several years past we have used and sold a large quantity of this Conductor and it is acknowledged by Archi- tects and Builders to be the best Expanding Pipe in use. It is the only Conductor that was awarded the Medal at the Massachusetts Charitable Me- chanic Exhibition, Sept., 1881. E. B. Badger & Son. Send for price list. NEW ENGLAND AGENTS, E. B. Badger & Son, 63 & 65 Pitts St., Boston, Mass. The IRWIN & REEER PATENT Expanding Wafer Conductor, MANUFACTURED BY THE ffy ~ . £}. S. S. Conductor Co. LIMITED, 4 7 Federal St., Allegheny, Pa. The Standing Seam al- Ioavs of an easy and secure fastening, keeping the pipe far enough from the walL to make any overflow from the cave pipe or head, run down the spout, and not the wall; and will open, in case of freezing, so as to prevent bursting, and still remain double-locked and water tight. 95 RUSSELL & ERWIN MF’G CO., MANUFACTURERS OF BUILDERS’ HARDWARE, Brass and Iron Wood and Machine Screws. FACTORIES : New Britain, Conn. WAREHOUSES : New York, 45 and 47 Chambers St. Philadelphia, 425 Market St. Baltimore, 17 S. Charles St. Our goods are sold by the leading Retail Hardware Dealers throughout the country. 96 BROWN BROTHERS, Patent Seamless Copper House Boilers. These Boilers are Superior to any other in the Market for the following reasons : They are ABSOLUTELY SEAMLESS, being made from solid drawn Copper Shells without Brazing or Riveting, which renders leakage im- possible. They are GUARANTEED NOT TO COL- LAPSE, being supported inside by a Spiral Cor- rugated Rib, and are tested at 225lbs . INTERNAL PRESSURE to the square inch. Are the handsomest Boiler made, and will last a lifetime. Send for Circular and prices. MANUFACTORIES: SALESROOMS: W aterlmry, Conn. 80 & 82 Chambers St., N. Y. OFFER THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING MACHINE MIXED AND MORE THOROUGHLY INCORPORATED. THEY ARE ALSO NOT LIABLE TO FADE, AS NO UMBER IS USED. THE HANDSOME TINTS, ETC., BEING PRODUCED FROM YELLOWS, REDS, BLACKS, WHICH ARE MORE PERMANENT. WE USE NO BENZINE. AND NO SICKNESS RESULTS FROM THE USE OF THESE PAINTS. SEND FOR LARGE SAMPLE CARDS SHOWING THE PREVAILING TINTS FOR COTTAGE AND VILLA PAINTING. QUALITY OUARANTEED. JOHN LUCAS & CO., PHILADELPHIA. 4 factories , jg- GIBSBORO, N.J. WM. E. LUCAS, No. 89 MAIDEN LANE. NEW YORK. ASK YOUR DEALER WM. E. LUCAS, NEW YORK. 3 j%^- 1 ~'S $y* r