LB 3221 .R3 Copy 1 ^>=0 ' t > .M ^ BOOK OF DESIGNS ^ SCHOOL HOUSES, SUGGESTIONS AS TO OBTAINING PLANS, HOW TO HEAT AND VENTILATE SCHOOL BUILDINGS. By G. P. RANDALL, Architect. CHICAGO: KNIGHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS. 1884. V Below I give the reader a list of some of the prominent buildings for educational purposes designed by me, but this list only comprises a small part of what we call public school buildings that I have designed : Northwestern University, Evanston, III. Evanston College for Ladies, Evanston, 111. Ladies' College of Madison University, Madison, Wis. Mercer University, Macon, Ga. Academy of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, Mo. St. Mary's Academy, Leavenworth, Kas. Jefferson Liberal Institute, Jefferson, Wis. State Normal University, Normal, III. State Normal School, Winona, Minn. State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis. State Normal School, Platteville, Wis. Marshall, Mich. Clinton, 111. Atchison, Kas. Denver, Colo. Madison, Wis. Kankakee, III. Winona, Minn. Berlin, Wis. Litchfield, 111. OIney, 111. Galesburg, III. Red Wing, Minn. Aurora, III. La Porte, Ind. Plymouth, Ind. Menominee, Mich. Marinette, Wis. Dodgeville, Wis. Omaha, Neb. St. Paul, Minn. Elkhart, Ind. And several hundred Ward School buildings scattered over the country, South to the Gulf States, East as far as Pennsylvania and Vermont, West to Colorado, North to Minnesota, and within a radius of five hundred miles of this city a great many. H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, H gh School, 221 1 ^_^^^4±-^^ BOOK OF DESIGNS SCHOOL HOUSES, SUGGESTIONS AS TO OBTAINING PLANS, HOW TO HEAT AND VENTILATE SCHOOL BTJILDIJSTGS. / ,^^ / ./ By G. P. RANDALL , ARCHITECn ^. •'r'-~^^\ KNIGHT ( CHICAGO: & LEONARD, f m 17 PRINZES: 1884 (i 1884. L 1j O <,y % 1) CorYRiGnT, 1883, By G. p. RANDALL. TO THE PUBLIC. I distribute this pamphlet, gratuitously, for the purpose of advertising my business, and while this is directed more espe- cially to school boards and educational men generally, I would not have it supposed that my work is exclusively in this line of buildings, though I have designed both of school houses and churches probably five times as many of these buildings as have fallen to the lot of any other architect in the JSTorthwest. My business is largely, though by no means exclusively, on public buildings. I design hotels, private dwellings, stores, banking houses, — in short, almost everything for which the services of an architect are required. If in addition to the designing, clients desire my services in superintending the work, they can have them if within a radius of five or six hundred miles of here, and within that distance I can do it thoroughly and well, though I am aware that the general opin- ion among those who know little or nothing about it is, that at such great distances an architect cannot do such superintend- ing. This is a great mistake, for with a good contractor, the architect can always give the work all necessary superintend- ence if he looks it over once a month, which is the usual custom outside the city wherein is located his place of business ; and if the contractor proves to be a man who through trickery or ignorance does not do his work fairly, I always have a clause in the contract by which I can, if necessary, employ an in- spector, and charge the expense to the contractor. This will generally bring them to a sense of duty. But a visit of inspec- tion once a month, from and by an expert, will do more toward keeping the work going correctly, than the services of a dozen local mechanics or school directors watching it all the time. 6 noOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. this line conception in church architecture, and there is a man in New York who is herahling thi.s falsehood by circuhirs sent broadcast all over the country. He claims that the Taber- nacle, built in 1870, was the tirst church built in this style, but unfortunately for his unfounded claim to other people's "thunder," a stone tablet built into the walls of the Union Park Church says that it was erected in 1861). The cliurch was deemed so great a success in its conception tiiat Mr, Bowen, of the New York Indepeiide7it, came here and had drawings made of the exterior and interior, showing the new feature in church designing, had it engraved, and published, and scattered over Christendom, wherever the Iii- dependent was read, 1:25,000 copies of this improved church architecture. Since then Union Park Church has been the model that all have tried to equal. The 13a})tist Church, Grand Rapids, Mich., the Congrega- tional Church at Mansfield, ()., and Madison, Wis., and the Universalist Church, Minneapolis, Minn., are among the best churches in the country, and all modeled substantially atter Union Park Church of this city. The large Westminster Church,_ now building at Minneapolis, Minn., is from a design by Randall ct Miller, made some three years since, while Mr. Miller and myself were associated in business. Previous to the great tire, as well as since, I have designed an immense number of churches of all grades and sizes, that will compare favorably with a like number in any part of the country. I can make designs for small, cheap houses on the amphi- theater plan, as well as large ones. lUOGKALMIICAL. 1 am now (November, 1883) nearly sixty-three years old. I was born and raised a mechanic, my father having been a practical builder and millwright before me, which business I followed chierty till twenty-one years old. Then I commenced my architectural studies in the office of Ashar Benjamin, of BOOK OF DESIGNS FOE SCHOOL HOUSES. 7 Boston. At the age of twenty-five and till tliirtj years old I was engaged in the engineering departments of the Yermont Central (now Central Yermont) and Eutland & Burlington railways, after which I came west and have been actively engaged in the practice of my profession ever since. In the construction of heavy buildings I have realized the advantages gained by my early railway and engineering prac- tice, and I have since kept up the study of that branch of my profession as a valuable auxiliary to my profession of architect. In later years I have made scientific studies my chief recre- ation, some of the results of which will be found occasionally outcropping in these pages. ADVERTISEMENT. In the past twenty-seven or twenty-eight years that I havk been doing business in this city I have designed a great num- ber of school buildings, more, probably, than have fallen to the lot of any other architect in this city, or in the Northwest, and from time to time, as I have found opportunity, I have pub- lished pamphlets containing cuts of such as I have thought would interest school boards, and be regarded by them as such models as 'they would like to copy. Those published heretofore have met with an unvarying success, and not only have aided school boards in determining what they wanted, but have made me, for my trouble, a fair return by a liberal increase of business in that specialty. Hitherto I have generally inserted only the perspective or exterior views, but in this one I have given the interiors also. Now, it should be understood that I cannot aiford to throw away so much time, money (some thousands of dollars) and labor for the benefit of school directors and school boards alone. It is only fair when having done this, and aided them so much in determining what they want, that they should reciprocate, by giving me their orders for architectural service in the construction of their buildings. The pages of this book are intended to show my ability, or want of ability, to design 8 BOOK OF DF.SIONS FOR SCHOOL HOUSKS. Buch buildings ; lience if school boards want my services, thoy must pcivc me a fair trial, and then if I do not succeed in making them what they want, they are at liberty to try some one else, but one at a time is sufficient. I am constrained to say this for the reason that school boards, like individuals, do not seem to realize the great expense of getting up such designs, but seem to understand that architects can do it for recreation or a |)astime. I have often found that after spending tifty or a iiundred dollars in designing a building, and perhaps weeks of valuable time, and, what is more, after making just such a design as they have said they- wanted, that some architectural tramp or *' local" professional would put in his claim, and by under- estimating the cost of his building, or by offering to make ,, ans for less than they would cost me, or by other means or ubterfuge which boards should not recognize, get the work iway from me. If boards do not find on these pages designs that exactly suit them, let them refer them back to me, and if I do not succeed in making what they want, then I will step down and let some one else try. But I do not send these pam- phlets gratuitously to school boards as their property further than as they are disposed to use them for the advancement of my interests. They are protected from illicit plunder by oovEUXMKNT (^oi'YKiGHT, wliicli covcrs uot only the text, but the plates and cuts as well, so that they may not be partially or wholly appropriated in any or all their parts without my consent. I will be obliged to any school boards into whose hands they may fall, if they will preserve them in the archives of the board, for the benefit of themselves and their future successors in office. It sent to mechanics or other individuals, or if they fall into the hands of such, they are to be subject to the same condi- tions. For the reason that 1 furnish such drawings at a somewhat reduced rate, and not wanting to fix prices on other ])eople'8 work, I do not name my commissions for such work here, but BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 9 will do so in each individual case, if the parties wanting plans will write me, stating substantially what thej want to build, the size or number of rooms in the building, etc. What DATA should be sent an architect when plans are wanted ? In ordinary plans for a school building, the architect will want a rough pencil plat of the lot, with dimensions marked on it, and a brief description of its general surroundings, and POINTS of COMPASS. Do not forget this latter. Then we want to know how many school rooms there are to be, with the number in a room, and whether seated with single or double desks. Give us also the general direction of the portion of the town from which the building will be most seen, and the principal approaches. State the nature of the soil, and whether dry or wet, and whether the ground or site is high or low as compared with the street or streets and other surroundings ; say if other buildings adjacent to the lot are high or low, and from which direction the prevailing winds blow. State the general character and quality of rubble stone to be used, and facilities for getting it; also it" cut stone and brick can be obtained. And, lastly, say about how much you expect the building to cost. Unless you select a plan from this book, the approximate cost of which is indicated in the book, I cannot be responsible for the cost of any buildings that I design only to indicate their general cost, and mainly for the reason that their actual cost depends on the judgment, or want of judgment, of the contrac- tors who build them. I do not build such buildings further than to do the work allotted by custom to an architect; but after making the design or sketches, so as to get the cubic feet in one, I can approxi- mate the cost as nearly as half a dozen contractors would estimate it in competition. To enable school boards to approx- imate the cost themselves, I will say that in the past two years 10 BOOK OV DKSIONS FOU SCHOOL HOUSES. good substantial brick houses luive cost from $2,500 to $3,000 per school room in all parts of the country. As a general rule, where labor and material are about at an average price, these buildings will cost about an average of these two prices. This is as near data as any architect or builder can give, and is sufficient for all ]n*actical purposes. Some jieople seem to think that an architect can make plans for a scliool building that will just meet the appropriation that a board may make, but this is a very grave error. It cannot be done without a great and unusual expense on the part of the architect. No architect of integrity will l)e idiot enough to undertake to guarantee the cost of a building nearer than this. But the data in this book will be found all-surticient and reliable for determining the cost of any school-house building. ARCHITECT'S FEES. There is no one thing connected with professional service of more impoi-tance than that of what is the proper fee to be paid for full ])rofessional service of an architect. This fee, of course, presupposes that the architect is a man of mature years, and of suthcient age and experience to command the confidence of those who employ him. Till he acquires this knowledge and experience, the law that governs trade gener- ally will require him to take a back seat till such time as he is a peer of those who have already gained that more elevated station. For the twenty seven years that 1 have made a specialty of designing school buildings, J have been doing so much of it that it has enabled me to make a liberal reduction in this fee for this kind of work. This general fee, and the reduction, I have embodied in a general fee bill, which I will forward to any school board or individual on receipt of information of the extent and character of the work for which they want my ser- vices. I take this method of getting at it because I do not want to be instrumental in fixing the value of the services of mv brother archite(;ts, nor do I allow others to fix the value of BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 11 mine. Again, it costs at the present time to do such work nearly double what it did fifteen or twenty years ago, for the reason that builders have different methods at present from what they had years ago, and architects have to conform to and keep pace with the general improvement. I will say here, however, that the discount I shall make from the general price presup- poses that the drawings will be paid for within a reasonable time, say thirty days from delivery, for the margin of profit is too small to admit of unnecessary tardiness in paying for them. If, however, for any i-eason a school board is not prepared to pay as soon as this, other conditions or terms can be made. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF RUTTAN VENTILATION. When I commenced writing this pamphlet I intended to publish the details of the Ruttan Yentilation for the benefit of "all the world and the rest of mankind ;" in other words, intended to give a clear and succinct demonsti'ation and illus- tration of What I Know about Yentilation, but circum- stances and the advice of friends have modified my intentions, and hence I now propose to state the general peinciples only, mainly for the benefit of School Boards and non-profes- sional men, who, it is hoped, will be better clients as they come to understand what they need by way of ventilation in their school buildings, and by way of helping the profession- als to understand how to apply the details of this system of ventilation correctly. I shall, at no distant day, publish what I already have in manuscript, a complete elucidation and illus- tration of the Ruttan System in all its details, and a complete explanation of the application of the same to school buildings generally. The pamphlet referred to will be made to sell, and, though the price is not definitely fixed, it will be two to three dollars, more or less. The writer of this claims to have aided the successors of Mr. Ruttan in improving his system of ventilation in some or most of its essential details, and in eliminating from it some of its most crude and impracticable features with which it was encumbered when he left it. All I'J BOOK OK DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. these things will have their place in the forthcoming book mentioned. PRINCIPLES OF RITTTAN VENTILATION. The leading feature of the Rattan System of Ventilation is to introduce the warm air into the room through the floor or somewhere between the floor and ceiling, and exhaust it out of the room through the floor or through a perforated base, from whence in ])a.ssing out of the room it goes under the floor between the joists, which are raised on top by cross-furring them u]>, thus enabling the air as it passes from the room to move in any and every direction, crosswise as well as between the joists; and at some point under the floor it is taken down to the cellar in a flue or flues, where it is connected with an exhaust flue that takes this foul- air up and out of the building. This is sometimes designated as the downward exhaust prin- ciple. At other times it is taken from under the floor directly into an upward exhaust flue out of the building above the roof. This is regarded at present as the best practice, but this is Ruttan improved. HOW IT WORKS. The fresh warm air coming into the room at any point rises at once to the ceiling, and s])reads out in a level zone under the same. As this air flows into the room the exhaustion at the base commences and so long as the warm air is kept flow- ing the ventilation goes on automatically without cessation. An essential advantage of this kind of ventilation is that the warm air always at the upper })art of the room is continu- ally drawn by this exhaustive; power fVoin the middle and upper part, t()\vai-(l the outside ])eriphery and iloor of the room where the cold from the windows and wall surfaces is continually cool- ing the air by contact with these exposed surfaces, and then falling to the floor, if not at once taken out of the room through this perforated base, would slide along on its surface, forming BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 13 a zone of cold air around the children's feet. There is a double advantage in this, that the warm air is continually drawn toward the coldest part of the room, where it is most needed, while the coldest air in the room is drawn out as continually from a part of the room where it is least needed. It is often practiced by men who know but little about ven- tilating to let the warm air into the room by a flue or rather register in the floor or through a register just above the. base and then exhaust it out of the room via a register near opening into a flue somewhere in the room. I hardly need inform any intelligent man that this is not the way to ventilate a room satisfactorily, nor is this way of doing it, Ruttan Yentilation. It will only change the air a little in the middle of the room through the agency of a rotary current produced by the move- ment of the air going in and coming out and it is almost cer- tain to keep the air from being changed in remote parts of the room, and certain to keep the cold places remote from this moving current in an uncomfortable condition all the time. Mr. Ruttan's theory was to take the cold and foul air out at the floor or near it in small jets, so small that scholars sitting in the vicinity would not have their feet and legs chilled by the moving currents. There are some architects who exhaust the cold air out of a room by setting registers in the floor, with exhausting ducts between the joists leading to the outlets. This too, is wrong for the reasons just given, that the currents of air moving from every direction on or above the surface of the floor toward these exhausting registers would soon make the feet too uncomfortable to be tolerated. In a school room artificially warmed and ventilated, every care should be taken to get the fresh air into, and the cold and foul air out of a room with the least possible amount of air currents that would strike any portion of the body. There is another part of this process of getting fresh air in and foul air out of the room that mystifies people sometimes, that I will endeavor to explain. Persons sitting in the fresh air at every respiration vitiate a portion of the air by throwing off from the lungs a portion of carbonic dioxyde, or acid, a 14 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. poisonous gas thiit immediately mixes witli the fresh air; hence tlie latter soon becomes overcharged with it, so that it becomes foul and unfit for respiration. Now this difficulty is gotten over by diluting the bad air by the introduction of a large volume of moderately warm air into the room, and this dilu- tion is kept steadily going on as it necessarily must, and in this wav the air in the room is kept in a condition for respiration. Keep this one thing in perpetual remembrance whatever system of ventilating you are using, that ventilation is al- ways AT THE EXPENSE OF UEAT, and probably the expense in this system, as compared with others, is a rainirawm. It is claimed by some that the carbonic acid (dioxyde) gas, being so much heavier than common air, at once falls to the floor at every expiration, and that an advantage of the Ruttan ventilation is tliat, going to the floor, it at once passes out of the room witliout mixing with the pure air we breathe. It is pleasant to tltlnk this, if it be so, but when, at every expi- ration, we throw oft' this gas warmed to blood heat, it may be a question whether, instead of falling to the floor, it may not be light enough to obey the law of the "diftusion of gases," which o]ierates without much reference to their condition as to temperatures. Observation, however, has satisfied me that this gas in a cold state falls to the floor, but when thrown oft' from the lungs in a rarefied condition, or when it is the product of combustion, it will in this highly rarefied condition rise upward toward the ceiling, but when the room is allowed to cool it becomes heavy again by condensation and falls to the floor. A KOOM MUST BE HEATEU WITH WARM AIR IF WE WOULD VENTILATE IT. It is no unusual thing for a School Board, for the sake of economy, to order plans made for a house to be heated by stoves, but they "want good ventilation." Let us investigate this matter a little. A room to be ventilated must have its air warmed before it comes into the room. This is called in- direct radiation. The heat from a stove radiates to the sur- roimding objects, and will only radiate its heat in this way BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 15 when there is no intervening object between the radiator and the object to be heated. A slight percentage of heat is thus imparted to the atmosphere through which the ethereal waves pass that produce the heat. Thus we see that heating with stoves, as with coils of steam pipes set in the room to be heated, is to heat the air, whether pure or already fouled, over and over again, but this produces no ventilation. To produce ventilation, as has already been said, pure warni air must come into the room as the cold or foul air goes out. Hence with stove-heating, or heating with ordinary steam coils in the room, no ventilation can be had save any such as would be produced by the ordinary defects in the windows and doors, and leakages of this kind are very bad ventilation. Air in cold weather should never be allowed to come into a room in this way. It finds its way by its gravity to the floor, over which it spreads in a zone, and no room can be comfort- able where such a condition of things exists. As a general rule, in arranging the hot aie flues for a school room I aim to have their capacity a little in excess of that of the exhaust. In this way we get a gentle pressure in the room, which operates to keep the wind from driving into the cracks and crevices — the result of imperfect mechanical work in the construction of the room. 16 BOOK OF DK^SIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. MODE OF HEATING. To produce satisfactory ventilation does not, as some people suppose, require any particular method of generating heat. This may be done by the use of hot-air furnaces or by steam coils, as shall best suit the circumstances. A compli- cated building, like that of the St. Paul High School, for instance, on tiiese pages, is best heated through the aid of steam pipes, but a simple ward school house, with its school rooms one above another, can be heated as well by furnaces as with hot-air coils, and the same arrangement that will answer for one will be right for the other, as I construct such buildings. And here comes in the place where School Boards, unless they consult a competent architect, are certain to get misled in determining what heating apparatus they will use, for remember I have explained that to ventilate successfully requires a large volume ot warm air. It is seldom that a fur- nace can be found that will furnisji this air in sufficient quan- tity to both heat and ventilate. A heating engineer may pro- vide just the amount of heat and volume of air to heat the room to the proper temperature, and still twice this amount may, and probably will, be necessary to heat and VENTI- LATE the room, for however well the rooms may be provided with ventilating apparatus, they will not ventilate if they do not have capacity to furnish the requisite quantity of warm air and keep it passing through the room in a proper manner. Many have been the failures in attempting to ventilate these buildings, because School Boards, as well as the architects they employed, were ignorant ot this one fact. There are a great many furnaces the venders of which will em])hatically declare that they are amply sufficient to do the work, and when it comes to trial, if they succeed in heating the building, the Boards are easily jiersifaded that the heating contractor has tillelane of the board, a much greater ])ortion of the beam will be absorbed and transmitted tlian if it impinge upon the board obliquely, but in either case a portion of the beam — depending upon its angle of incidence — will be absorbed and transmitted in accordance with the laws of convection, and the remainder will be reflected back into si)ace, or to the surround- ing objects, in accordance with the laws of reflection. When this beam has impinged upon the surface of this par- tition number one, that portion of the beam that is absorbed enters among the molecules of the wood, and sets them in active motion, one against another, and now, for the first time, our rays become heat. Before they impinge on the wood they are simply motion — a wave in the ether, similar to a wave on the surface of water, and these waves tliat are reflected oflp con- tinue as motion, and are only changed into heat when they find a lodgment in some material substance. We have now advanced to that point in our demonstration where we have our ethereal waves absorbed in the first surface (jf the first partition from which it is transmitted from molecule to molecule until the heat has found its way through the second surface of board number one, and this transmission is techni- cally called convection. At this second surface the heat is again changed into ethereal motion, and, again taking the form of a wave, it jumps across the intervening space to the first sur- face of the second partition. I have said that the distance across this air-space makes no sensible difference in regard to the transmission of heat, and for this reason, that it travels through its medium, the ether, at the rate of nearly 190,000 miles per second, hence, practically, the difi'erence of a few inclies, or feet even, is unimportant. We take our beam where we left it at the first surface of the second partition, but we find only part of it, for a con- siderable portion was reflected back from the first surface of BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 27 the first partition and lost. It is, however, sufficient for our present purpose to know that it has not entered the building. Our beam, or what is left of it, has been absorbed and again changed to molecular motion, — that is to say, heat, — and another part of it reflected back to the first partition, where it is again reflected in part, and the remainder is absorbed, and transmitted by convection to the first surface of the first board, and sent back into space as ether waves. That portion which has been absorbed by partition number two will be transmitted through this partition by convection, as through the first par- tition, and so this process goes on from partition to partition, until, if there be enough of them, the whole beam will be turned back and dissipated, and no sensible amount of heat will get into the building. If walls of brick, stone, iron, or other material are used that have a greater power for absorbing these waves and con- verting them into heat, a smaller portion of the waves will be reflected back each time, and a proportionately greater number of compartment partitions will be required. It has been claimed that the wider air-chamber is preferable to the narrower one, for the reason that the ray of heat emerg- ing from a given point divei'ges, and that its intensitj'- at the next surface on which it falls is inversely as the square of the distance. We admit the correctness of this principle, but we should not overlook the fact that the entire second surface of our partition, instead of giving offbeat waves at a single point, is emitting them at every point on its surface, and each and all of these diverging rays are crossing and overlapping each other, so that in fact the same amount of heat that leaves the first reaches the second partition, diminished only by a small absorption of these rays by the vapor in the air-chamber, which is quite too small to be considered in the general result. The advantages to be derived from a thorough understand- ing and a skillful application of these principles in the construc- tion of compartment walls by which to prevent the transmis- sion of heat through them, are very great. 28 BOOK OK DKSIGNS FOU SCHOOL HOUSES. Dl-.SKJN .\c>. 1. ( MoMtOK, W IS.) I'l.USl'Kl ri\ K BOOK OF DESIGTSrS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 29 EXPLANATION OF THE CUTS. The cuts or floor plans, and their corresponding j)erspec- tive elevations, form a variety of designs from which School Boards may often select or iind a set that will meet their particular case. If they do not find such an one or one that is exactly right, if they can find one that is nearly so they can Design No. 1. First Floor. send it to me and have it modified till it will be right. It accompanied by an order for full drawings and specifications, or if such an order follows the making of such modifications, no charge will be made for this work beyond that of the regu- lar commissions that I charge for such work, or the standard commissions less the discount, as elsewhere explained. 80 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. We will boi^iii this explanatir)n of plates with a six-room school housf now biiildiiii; at Monroe, Wis., at a cost of $13,8.51 exclusive of architect's fees and local superintendence. This Imildini; has six school rooms, lettered BBB on floor plans, three above and a like number on the first floor. D, on second flof)r, is a ])riiu'ij)ars ro<,m, or it may be used for a Design No. 1. Skcom) Fi.oou. recitation room, library or apparatus room, etc. If the latter, E is a case to keep the apparatus in. The outside walls of this buildiii<.^ are ])lain brick, with brick partitions in the base- ment and studded partitions in the flrst and second stories. The dimensions of the school rooms proper are 25x33 feet, calculated for sixty-four scholars in a room at double desks. The school rooms have each two closets, C, C, one for boys BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 31 Design No. 3. Perspective. 32 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL ITOUSES. and the other for girls, all finely lighted, and the school rooms will be finely ventilated if properly heated. They get this building erected at a minimum cost, and for the location it will be a good house if well built. It has no tower, belfry or bell. l)i:siGN No. 2. FiKST Fi.oou. This is a dosigu for what is e([uivalent to a five-room house intended for the village of Almont, Mich., but was not built on account of its expense. It was intended for a high school, and lias a large room, 15, on the second floor for the BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 33 liigh school proper, wliicli room is larger than the others, and has a recitation room adjacent, with an apparatus closet, E, oif from it. It also has a principal's room, C, with the usual clothes closets for the sexes. It is provided with two rear Design No. 2. Second Floor. entrances also, for the purpose of separating the sexes as they go to the back yards. This house has its tower in front to the east ; also a side entrance fronting on a side street and looking toward the town. The room, C, on first floor, is for an oiRce for the meeting of the School Board. 3 34 BOOK OF DESIGNH FOR SCHOOL nOUSES. UjisicjN No. 3. PEUSrECTivK. (Not built.) BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 35 Owing to its unexpected cost, on account of an unusual cost of getting material on to the ground, there being then no rail- way facilities there, it was abandoned, and another design has since been made for it and adopted. By enlarging the board room and making a school room of it, and a school room of the recitation room over, it would be a first-rate six- room house. Design No. 3. First Fi.ook. 3r, BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Desipi Xo. 3 is for Ji four or six-room house, and may be built a four-room house at first and afterward have two more rooms at the rear, makiui; it a six-room house wlien complete. Design No. 3. Skconu Fi.ooh. It is a tliornuOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. l)Kyi(!.N Mo. 4. I'KUM'i^crn !■;. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 39 Design No. 4. First Floor. Design No. 4. Second Floor. 40 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. all right. It has a central iiall, in wliich the scholars will hang their clothing, and from it a stairway to second story. It has two rear doors, one for each of the sexes, by which to go to their respective back yards, and a double entrance at the front. There is but one line stack, the large one in the center to be a ventilator, and the smoke Hues on each side for each of the rooms. In each story one of the tines will have to cross the hall. These smoke flues on either side of the ventilating flue will warm it and help to give it some current. The second floor is subdivided differently from the first, but can be made into two ordinary sized rooms, like the floor below, if desired, in which case the stairs would land in the main hall ; there would be a principal's or teacher's retiring room at the front, and the projection at the rear could be dis- pensed with if desirable. Such a house would probably be built for from §7,000 to $8,000, though it has not been estimated. Design No. 5. (Not built.) This design is for a two-room frame building and one story high, and by a good builder has been estimated to cost com- plete about $4,300. It is a very cheap building, and, as I think, a very neat and tasteful one. The arrangement inside is simple. B B are school rooms, A the hall, along the sides of which, and the low partition inclosing the stairway to cellar, the children can hang their clothing. There are two rear doors, one for either sex, and the stairway outside these rear doors and the doors should be separated by a high and close board partition that should lead to and separate the privies at the rear in like manner. From the- stairs along each side of this fence should be walks leading to the privies, and to make this part complete these walks may be covered and inclosed on the outside with lattice, so as to partially screen the scholars as they go to and from. The fence, walks and privies are not included in the estimate named above. • BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 41 Design No. 5. Perspective. 4 '2 BOOK OK DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. A slight modification of it would allow of another and third room to be built at the rear, thereby making of it a three-room house. At the rear end of the hall is a ventilating flue that will ventilate both rooms, the warm fresli air entering the rooms through the registers in the floors and near the teacher's plat- forms, D D. Dekign No. 5. F'looii Pi-an. In the hall, in front of the ventilating and smoke flues, is a drum. The building is supposed to be heated by a furnace in the cellar, the smoke pipe from which would come up through the floor and into the lower end of the drum, and be continued from the top of the drum up and turn into the small tine in the stack, which is the smoke flue. In this way the hall would be nicely warmed with the waste heat from the furnace. A nicer BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 43 arrangement than this could hardly be conceived for a small school house, and when we take into account the extreme in- expensiveness of the building — but a little over $2,000 per school room — and the exterior neatness of the building, which can always much excel that of a plain brick building, it seems strange to me that School Boards do not oftener build of wood instead of brick. In the manner in which I should build this house it would be quite as warm and substantial as a brick building. The chief diiference between the two mate- rials would be that a frame building must be kept painted, and this involves some expense, but the interest on the differ- ence of cost of brick more than of wood would keep the frame building well painted. If built of brick the details of the exte- rior would have to be changed some, but generally the aspect of the building could be kept about the same as this. An- other room on the back side would not injure the appearance of the building at all, whether of wood or brick, but would rather improve it. With a sufficient depth of lot two rooms might be added to it, thus making a four-room house, and all on the ground floor, with no stairs to climb, which are the bane of our modern school houses. There is at the present time a decided leaning toward the construction of school buildings of one story, and it is very seldom at the present time that I get an order for plans for a house more than two stories in height. School sites are not so scarce in this vast country as to make it necessary to con- struct a building to exceed two stories in height. The general opinion that a large building must necessarily look low and " squatty " if but a single story in height, is a mistaken one. And even if this were the case we cannot afford to sacrifice our children — the health of our daughters — in running them up and down stairs to get to and from their school rooms. 44 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. OKsKiN >;<>. G. (.Mauinkti i;, Wis.) PEHsri-XTn k. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 45 This is a high-school building at Marinette, Wis., not yet quite complete inside, but it will cost about $21,000 when finished. The floor plans show very plainly the interior ar- rangement of the rooms, which are about the usual size and all finely ventilated through a main ventilating shaft on the " m B III ^ \— ff 1 ■ 1 ■ ■ • - F p \ 1 ' Design No. 6. First Fi^oor. south front. Its main front is to the north, looking toward the Menominee River and toward the village of Menominee on the other side of the river. This building is a frame covered with boards set diagonally and then veneered with brick outside the boarding, so that it has the appearance of a brick building. 46 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Tliere are wardrobes for botli sexes attached to each school room. Adjacent to the principaPs room on the second floor tliere is a room marked D, that is the principal's j^riva^e room, and which may be used for library, apparatus room, or even a Design No. G. Second Fi.oou. recitation room, if one shall be needed. Its foundations are laid well of rubble stone and in cement mortar, and the cellar floor is of coTicrete, as in all the school houses I build. Design No. 7. (Dodgeville, Wis.) This is a high-school building designed for and built at Dodgeville, Wis., at a cost, as nearly as I recollect, of about $20,000. BOOK OF DESiaNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 47 Design No. 7. Dodgeville, Wis. Perspective. 4S BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. One peculiarity will be observed in the interior arrange- ment of this house, that the wardrobes, instead of being small rooms, as in most of the others, are simply a series of boxes on each side of the teacher's dais and the Hue stacks, which boxes are about 2x2 feet square, made up with board parti- tions of narrow matched boards, at the back, overhead and underfoot, the floor being raised one step of about seven inches above the main floor. On each side and the back of Design No. 7. Fiust Floor. these there are three to five strong iron " school house '■ hooks, on which the children hang their clothes. Each closet is about five and a half feet high, and covered with a neat panel door in froTit witli ])roper fastenings. These closets are so situated as to be under the immediate control and view of teacher and sch<»lars all the timi", hence trumps and other out- siders cannot get in to steal the clothing, nor can there be much disorderly conduct among the vicious boys and girls, if there ixn' such. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 49 On the second floor there is the liigh-school room proper, B, which is considerably larger than the other rooms in the building, and off from and adjacent to this is a recitation room, E, and connected with them are the girls' dressing room, F, and-bojs' dressing room, G. There is also the room D for an apparatus room, museum, etc. The principal's office and teacher's retiring room is marked H. Together it is thought Design No. 7. Second Floor. to be a very fine arrangement for the High School Depart- ment in a building like this, and worthy of being duplicated by others. It has two flights of stairs from first to second floors, which are very easy, as are all stairs that I design for such buildings, making the "rise" generally six inches, while the "run," as it is called (the measure on the strings or horse), is seldom 50 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Dkskjn No. 8. (Piioi'iiKTSTowN.) Perspective. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 51 Design No. 8. First Floor. Design No. 8. Second Floor. 52 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. less than twelve inches. Young scholars — girls in the years of their greatest danger to future health, or approaching their teens — can go up such stairs without injury, and aged people can get up such stairs with small eftort, but this is a part of these buildings tliat seldom has the consideration due to its importance. Design No. 8. (Proplictstown.) This is a four-room school house, two rooms above and two below. A glance at the plans will show that it has a central hall from the front to the back doors. At the rear it will be noticed that there are three outside doors, one of' which opens to the cellar stairway for the special use of getting fuel and ashes in and out, etc. The short flight of stairs leads down to the outside doors, where the sexes divide and each goes to his or her back yard, which is divided by a board fence as shown. There is an attic stair by the side of the teacher's retiring or principal's room indicated by the letter C. D D are dress- ing rooms. This house was designed for a plain, tidy and inexpensive building, and its cost was not far from SlO,000. At first the contract was let with the bell, inside blinds and perhaps the concrete floor in cellar omitted, and for $7,800, but I think that after getting all these things in it came very nearly to $10,000 ; at least it ought to have cost that much. But it is a good house, and a very popular one with school men. Design No. 9. (Petersburg, 111.) This is a design that can be built first with four rooms ; secondly with six rooms, and, if still more are needed, two more rooms can be added in the vacant corner on the back side, thus starting with four and ending with an eight-room house. This manner of building in sections will especially fit the convenience of School Boards in a growing community, and where the groioimj propensity more than keeps pace with the finances. As shown in the perspective elevation it is a very fine- BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. .).> Design No. 9. (Peteksburg, III.) Perspective, 54 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. looking design, and moderately cheap. If a similar arrange- ment of plans, with a more simple exterior design, like No. 8, for instance, would suit better, it can be made. The object in cutting through the main cornice for the windows was to save expense of four or five feet of wall, and consequently a corre- sponding amount of waste room in the attic is saved by doing Dksign No. 9. FiusT Floor. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Di) it, nevertheless the economy is not great because it increases the work in the roof. It, however, makes a more picturesque appearance outside. It can be worked either way in making plans for it. The main front east, with side entrance on the south, is the best as to frontage. Design No. 9. Second Floor. 58 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Di.sKi.N iS'o. 10. (Mavwikih, 1 I.I... iiol yd Imill.) PKUsiMarn !•;. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 57 This is now building at Petersburg, 111., as a four-room house, omitting the rear rooms, hall and stairway, so as to include just the simple parallelogram, for $11,600, exclusive of heating, which costs a little over $500 more. Had the six rooms been built it would have cost about $17,000. Besign No. 10. First Flook. C C are clothes closets. If liked better these closets can be small, like No. 7, or they can be like either of the others without any serious modification of the plans. For a good six-room house see Design No. 13. 68 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOK SCHOOL HOUSES. Design No. 10. (Maywood.) This is a design made in 1880, but has not yet been built. It is for a ward-school building, and thougli an excellent de- sign it possesses no special points of interest over any other for an eight-room school house. Design No. 10. Skoond Floou. Its cost would not probably vary far from $20,000, $22,000 including heating and ventilation. It will be observed that its roof has a lower pitch than some of the others, but in this respect it loses in picturesqueness of effect when viewed exter- nally. This, however, should not bo a reason for condemning it, because in making drawings for it tlie roof could be raised. Generally the steep roofs are most admired. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOK SCHOOL HOUSES. 59 Design No. 11. (Menominee, Mich.) Perspective. 60 BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. Design No. 11. (Menominee, Mich.) This is a design that has been built at Menominee, Mich., and in a slightly modified form at Plymouth, Ind., and else- where. It is a design that was originally made without refer- ence to placing the scholars so that the light would reach the DKbKiN Xo. 11. FiusT Flooh. scholars over the left shoulder. After this improvement had been discovered the teachers' daises were changed in this ESIGNS FOIl XllOOL IHHSKS. I'l.ATTKVILLK (MTV IIAI.L. The cat L) is tlie City Hall at Platteville, Wisconsin. This building is r)OxlOO feet, and has a bas'ement, iirst and second stories and a gallery in the hall above the second floor. In the basement is the heating and ventilating apparatus. The ground at the rear' of the building is several feet lower than at the front, and has two or three rooms foi' fire engines and apparatus, each of which is entered at the rear. On the main or first floor, at the front, are two offices for city clerk and attorney, respectively. Then there is a city or nninicipal coui-t room, and back of these a jury i-oom. ticket ofhce and dressing rooms, main entrance hall, stairway, etc. On the second fiooi- there is a large hall with gallery on three sides, and stage on the fourrli, designed for social par- ties, lectures, operas, etc. !S. M. STEPPIENSON IIOTP^L. The next in order is cut E, or the S. M. Stephenson Hotel. at Menominee, Michigan. This is a substantial brick building of about fifty rooms, contained in three stories and a cellar, ft fronts on Main street with its back side toward the bay or lake, from the rear of which are suspended galleries wluM-e guests may enjoy the lake breezes in the hot weathei- of sum- mer. This hotel, though not large, has been pronounced by trav- elers a "gem." It is provided with the modern improvements of a first class hotel, such as bath rooms and water closets, ample in number, has good drainage, gas, is heated by steam, etc. The office has its fioor laid of marble tiles, including the porches in front, and is some seventy-five feet deep. At the rear of the office is a very fine dining room that overlooks the bay, which, at this point, is some twenty miles wide. 'I'hougli plain in its exterior it is nevertheless a first- class conntry hotel in all its ajipointmiMits. BOOK OF DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. 85 86 BOOK OK DESIGNS KOli >( H•_* HOOK OK DESIGNS FOR SCHOOL HOUSES. the iialk'i'v t'l mix with th;it hitlow, hrtorc ir<)in<^ (h)\v"ii thi' main stairs. At the roar of the lJllihlill^,^ in eacli of the corners, are spacious tlil rooms, such as kitch»'n. parjoi'. dressinii; rooms, etc. Tliis eiuls oui" series of miscellaneous designs, but we have still a great many others, and shall be making more from time to time in the usual routine of business. Persons wanting to build a fancy officer building, or a ])anking house, in the city or country, will do well to call at our office, or open corre- spondence in regard to such. ^ RUTTAN VENTILATION IMPROVED. F1.00K Flan. REFERENCE LETTERS. WAy Warm air flues. V, Ventilation flue.