Omaha daily bee., 1912-09-08
WORRIES OF HOME BUILDERS
Many Details in Modest Modest Cot
tage Same as in Large Residence.
FLOOR PLANS MUST COME FIRST
Great Number of People Make Com
mon Mistake of Fitting Interior
to Pretty Elevation-Other
Building News.

= ' gr l.
Although there are so-called cottages
( at. Newport and Bar Haroor which cost
ns4cc09, $4,000 or 100000, you will not please
3 tfse average American by calling his hum
lie abode a cottage. says Robert C. Spen-
Ger in the Architectural Record If it
isn't bungalow it must be house, Cor,
as the draughtsman outlines it on the
pans, a ''residence'0, although il may
represent an outlay Of not over 5000 or
S4.C9a It has seven rooms and bath
+. and is a full two-storled structure, The
bedrooms are not in the roof space 1t
t-has hot air heating system. a laundry
in the basement with pair of soapstone
. tubs hot and cold water supply. and in
49s cases out of 500 1t is very interest
ing little tlnder box Of building, except
Is the man who calls it home
But you must not suggest to him that
it is merely a cottage.
:, A little roll of blue prints carefully put
away in the back of his bookcase drawer
bears the testimony of the village archi-
eot-builder that 1t is residence Tor
MIR Reuben Bird, ESQ.,, with heavy accent
on the esquire" OF course it's a house
not cottage. Only the very well-to-do
can afford to be humble % cottage
dwelIers."
Then, how about these little houses?
They ought to be discussed here, since
the greater includes and Is often but an
expansion and ampliflcation of the less.
The average small house Is primarily
box with a. lid to coverlit, pitched four
Il ways ana called a.. hip roof, or pitching
two ways and sgabled,. These are the main
b determining elements Of Its solid shape
or mass. s#x
J, It's mass, its color dncluding material
s and texture and its subsidiary details
such as wings. porches, bays, openings
dorrners, etc, in thee order named are
\ the, important factors in giving to the re-
4 sulting composition pleasing. harmoni-
.ous effect or an awkward, clumsy ana
foolish appearance.
In the designing of house, as in the
designing of larger buildings, the tioor
;, plans should precede and must be the
hasis of the structure for two reasons
In tllea first. place, the planning OF .
house Is essentially pracucal pfopiein
ana the Arrangement of the rooms must
conform to the possibilities or demands
of the site, the practical needs OF the
oyyner or his family and in the case OF the
house Of moderate cost economy lnvolv-
,,,e the elimination of the waste or httie
used SPACE, must be kept constantly IN
view At the same time it is usually
nossible to meet the foregoing oemanos
almost equally as well in nunoeF u
different ways. In a given case tne par
! st;cular way will 3be determined by the
4, s,,arsounal prediieetions4 Of the owner or,
/. ftosne more exact, the likes and sdislikes OF
the 3owner,sy wife. who will In pine cases
= ,.oiit 5of ten after the preliminary arfanse.
ss " ;,,,tants have been made the arcnltect
= & +he real client while the nominal heaa
IN ithe family gets reaay % pay the biHs
All or5 II can for ai new ddal in ease the pius
,y5,b soo far hey i'd the more sqrsless ri~so
ss appto alton i !sts 5SEs,s;' Ss,;ss '.~
1 382.b a "a, q Must BE Com Portable
,s,Sa Nof matter how charming may De lhe
exterior to passerby nor how attrac-
+i,,e and honelike the principal rooms u
4 49, srests who come to admire, the archl-
tccts work will not be well Done = ~
utmost in the way Of comfort ana hSao'e
convenience be. not given the owner ~ ~.
his money, whether the house cost so'vUVO
o- so5 nm In either case it is propanie
+ho+ tbe appropriation will be stretched
"a its elastic limit, IL not beyond ana ING ING
architect never knows until contracts arg
signed Just what modulus of elaspelty, %
assign to oiassheuse hRijding appropfiatlop'
some owners are almost frank son' tnis
noint While others are governed by the
widesprsadsbelief that bills of extras and
other unforeseen, contingencies VIII orine
the final cost of any house to more tnah
double the price originally set as a hni''
For a very small house. whichtas reaily
usreIy a cottage and which may cost
anywhere from 5000 to $6,oOo the chiei
diffcu,ty of the problem lies in eliminat-
ing waste space without losssof desiraole
s5and necessary features.
a Unless plans Of the first and second
floors cant be worked out which are
3 mutually satisfactory to the architect
and his client, il IS really unnecessary to
make any elevations or other exterior
sketches whatever. For broadly speak
ing, a plan is an elevation The expert
eY1ced designer knows, at@least in gen
eral way, whether his plan will yield a
mass effect which will produce pleasing
or at least an inoffensive exterior ano
he will always have in mind the general
character Of his design as he de-
velops HIS little plan. Yet many arehi-
tects who ought to know better make
pretty, freehard sketches for exterior
without, a definitely conceived plan, and
try totfit plan to a pretty picture. thus
reversing the natural and logical order;
A vetya clever man may do this, but ne
is working backward nevertheless and
placing the cart before the horse.
5Body simple Rectangle.
In a,weIl designed house the main body
of the building is simple rectangle
variedSin the case of the cottage only by
such srninor features as bays and porches
or, possibly q small wing.
Next TO the floor plan in determining
mass is the. scheme Of roofing. very
important, factor, the character Of which
viii be fixed partly by practical and
.partiys BY aesthetic, considerations. The
pian ana the roof scheme are also inter
Aependent, particularly in the story and
a half steep root or the gambreIled cot
tage.
In the typical small house we have Ions
ago got rid of the old petty. cramped, un-
livable plan with its separate little par
lor" and sitting" room or its parlor
and library, in more dignified terms