The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-15
AMERICAN HOMES.
OUR CLIMATE TO BE CONSIDERED
WHEN WE BUILD.
Some Things Which We Must Do With
out-Trees and Wall vines-Old Country
Seat Remodeled - Drainage - Material.
Locality-Style.

out-Trees and Wall vines-Old Country
Seat Remodeled - Drainage Material.
Locality-Style.
1t is amusing to hear a man or woman who
has crossed the ocean ridicule our country
dwelling houses and compare them with the
picturesqueness of the English cottage, of
the German farmhouse, the vine-grown walls,
the windows projecting from the roofs, the
low height, the shadow, the quiet tone about
them and the irregular form They would
give all the staring, formal villas Of this
country for one little ivy grown or red-roofed
cottage in English hawthorn lane, or a
green German valley. But experience teaches
that a country's architecture is, to a large
degree, a necessary fruit and outcome Of its
circumstances We have peculiar and diff
cult climate here and must, first of all, con-
slider it in our building. There is the heat of
the tropics in the summer, and the almost
Arctic cold in the winter. We cannot have
low houses here, for the rooms would be in
tolcrable in summer. Low, sharp-gabled
cottages, with dormer windows I'm the roof,
are, no doubt, picturesque, but they mean
hot chambers under the roof and low. close
sitting rooms. Even if an air chamber be
secured between the roof and the bed room,
still the upper rooms, in such nights as we
have now, would be almost uncomfortable.
We must have houses high between floors
and the bed room well separated from the
roof.
TREES AND WALL VINES.
Then another element of the picturesque is
the deep shade and thick vines overclamber-
ing the walls. But our experience shows that
sun and air are indispensable for health in a
house, and we are compelled more and more
to plant trees at little distance, securing
shade by piazzas or balconies and allowing
the sun free play on roofs and walls. A mod
crate use of wall vines Is, of course, permitted
under these conditions, but any excessive
draping with ivy or creepers breeds insects
and increases dampness The constant liza
bility to malaria, of course, modifies all our
modes of building and compels us to admit
and air. Indeed it will be noticed now
in England that all the country houses are
built much more i'm the American or French
style than formerly, with airy chambers,
high stories and mucn openness to the sun,
and summer balconies for shade.
The regular form of English houses is a
historical feature, result of growth. 1t ap-
pears here sometimes where an old country
seat has been enlarged and remodeled, and
Is wonderfully attractive. / live in such q
house, and while enjoy it and am proud of
it, 1 must confess that it is exceedingly incon-
venient- 1t requires great expense in the
care, lighting, warming and drainage The
cheapest of all houses is the square house, and
most people build with small means in this
country, they naturally adopt this, some
modification of this form. These old and ir-
regular English villas, it should be remem-
bered, have become nuisances under modern
sanitary ideas. Their drainage is execrable,
and they are often nests of typhoid fever.
DRAINAGE THE FIRST THING.
In this country the first thing for a house.
holder to consider, before all ornamentation
see to it that his water pipes and drain pipes
are well protected from the frost, that the
traps are close, and that the outflow is unim-
peded. In all small households it is the part
of wisdom to place the water pipe behind the
kitchen chimney, which is always warm and
to have but one angle and no cross pipes to
any bedroom So fatal are the return gases
from a drain, that it is safer to keep up the
old country custom of bowl and pitcher in
the bedroom, and obtain all the water from
but one place, the bath room, which should
he entirely separated from the bedroom. 1t
is believed by physicians that one of the most
prolific sources of diphtheria and all foul-air
diseases is the return gas through the Croton
water drains
In regard to material, it is doubtful if any
thing is more suitable for this climate than
wood with 'brick filed in" This is dry and
warm. But in every locality there are pecu-
liar, and often beautiful, building stones,
which could be combined with wood in the
Swiss chalet style with very pretty effect.
Yet small house builders will find that every
deviation from the ordinary style is expen-
sive Stone alone seems often damp and, for
some unknown reason, not so completely
water tight. n red roof is a very pretty feat
ure, but ii of tile or slate it is expensive, and
if of shingles, exposed to rot. 1t seems pity
that the modern black and blue slate is so
houses. Piazzas are the great necessity in
this climate, and the prettiest feature in our
architecture. They should not, however, be
built on the south side of the building, and
ON the west should not be so broad as to ex-
clutie all winter sun. A balcony for an open
air breakfast would be an exceedingly pretty
feature in our best villas.-Boston Budget.