1 comments about Garden Houses and Privies: Authentic Details for Design and Restoration.

1. Excellent collection of privies constructed from 1700 to 1875. The author has done his research and while the detailed drawings are the main focus, the text is interesting. I wish there were more of it as the subject is a bit off the beaten path. The book is a great resource for homeowners, architects or builders really interested in incorporating accurate historical elements in residential construction.

1 comments about Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont (Buildings of the United States).

1. What you get here is the architecture of Virginia and the expertise (and lovely writing style) of Richard Guy Wilson. Really, what else could you ask for? The ensemble of structures covered here is diverse and distinguished. The critical skill of the author is unmatched. As far as architectural guides to historic structures go, this is about as good as they get. A truly outstanding ensemble of historic structures skillfully analyzed by THE authority in this particular field. I only wish he'd gone further west. Winchester! Lexington! Roanoke and Lynchburg! And of course, little Fincastle. There's so much left to be done!
   
   Three cheers for the comprehensive survey of Richmond, a gem of historic architecture.

No comments about Munich: Architecture & Design (And Guides).

No comments about England:: A Guide to Post-War Listed Buildings.

1 comments about The Great Chicago Fire.

1. If you're looking for a solid, factual, textbook-style, book on the Chicago fire, this work probably isn't for you. With chapter titles such as "Reluctant Modernism, The Past a Present", "Derrick Time, Architecture, Memory and the Poetics of Ruin" and "Wright's Piano,Imagining the New Chicago", this book deals with the authors opinion of the societal and intellectual effects of the fire. For example, "...Chicagoans... indulged the apocalyptic rhetoric occasioned by the fire and to an extent were even flattered by it,...reluctant modernists who would gladly face the present as long as it was safely anchored in the past." (page 57, paragragh 1) The good point about this book is that it is filled with pre and post fire pictures of Chicago. That's the only reason for the two stars.

5 comments about AMERICAN COUNTRY BUILDING DESIGN: Rediscovered Plans For 19th-Century American Farmhouses, Cottages, Landscapes, Barns, Carriage Houses & Outbuildings.

1. If you have an interest in house plans from times gone by (perhaps you'd like to build a modern home with old plans to get that special quality that only old fashioned houses possess) this book is a great resource. I have read the majority of the victorian era (1840-1900) house plan books which are available (Bicknell's Victorian Buildings, etc) and found the plans in those other books to be so fanciful and so devoid of useful details (i.e. dimensions, materials lists, etc) that they were of no use except as inspiration. This book still does not offer the level of detail that you would need to build a modern home from the old plans, but the plans it provides are more practical and were created by everyday folks who wanted to build a comfortable, smoothly-functioning home that still possessed style and grace. If you are looking for the reason why old homes seem so comfortable, this book will provide the practical explanations of why those old designs still work today (i.e. hallways centrally located provide efficiency and ventilation). This book is a good buy.



2. There was a nice range of different types and styles of buildings, but VERY sketchy information. Just wasn't quite what I was looking for.



3. This is a cool book. My wife and I are buying a 10 acre farmette with an abandoned 1880's style farmhouse, that believe me is in very rough condition. We are planning to renovate the house and construct an additional second story/wing.
   
   This book compiles many different architectural floor plans from the early to mid 1800s. By reading this book, we have a better appreciation for why the house was designed the way it is. For example, the small room off the kitchen on the main floor we determined was actually a "birthing" room (or nursery). Most of the bedrooms were upstairs but this room was on the main floor not only for easy access during the day, but also for warmth (the kitchen generally being the warmest room in the house). You will also note as you peruse through the various plans that room layout was constrained by the need to have access to the chimney/fireplace in selected rooms.
   
   It makes truly fascinating reading. There are several narrative descriptions of the room layouts as they were published in the mid-1800s, giving the viewpoint of the layout in terms of life in that era. One thing that could improve the book is additional narrative for some of the plans from their original published magazines (and why I give it only 4 stars).
   
   Our house did not have a bathroom when it was built, and most of the floor plans in this book do not either. This is not a book for those who are looking for a "new" plan that has an "old" look to it. Most of these plans would just not work well in this day and age (who needs the dairy table room and the ice house off the kitchen anymore?). But it may give you ideas on how rooms were traditionally laid out more than 100 years ago. It is more of a "fun" book than a "working" book, but for our purposes, as we delve into our restoration, it really makes enjoyable reading as it gives a window on architectural design at the turn of the century.



4. I was very disappointed in this book. Ever since I learned that the house I grew up in was built in 1752, I've been fascinated with early American architecture, particularly old farmhouses, outbuildings and barns. I was hoping to discover the original floorplans for some of these sprawling farmsteads I've seen through the northeast and midwest. None of the houses included in this book look like any of the farmhouses I've seen. What about the huge two-story farmhouses meant to hold the dozen or so children farm families had in order to work the farm? Most had a large central hall at the entrance with a large staircase. Some had the kitchen in an ell so the whole house wouldn't be heated by the wood cook stove in the summer, or even had a separate summer kitchen. There is no mention of saltboxes or sprawling capecods with the sheds that connected to the barn. Plus every barn shown has the animals housed on a floor below ground level! Most of the old barns I've seen house the animals on the main level and have a loft for the hay. If you're looking for original floorplans of old houses you're familiar with, look elsewhere!



5. This was exactly what I was searching for....a history lesson on how to properly plan a site for a home with ancillary buildings on anything over an acre.

No comments about Savannah Renaissance.

No comments about Cape May's Gingerbread Gems.

2 comments about Barns, Sheds & Outbuildings.

1. This is a direct reprint of an 1881 classic, with an informative new forward by Castle Freeman. Halstead selected some of the most popular published designs from over two decades of the farm journal, The American Agriculturist. Designs include barns, stables, carriage houses, animal shelters, corn cribs, ice houses, spring houses, dog houses and bird houses. This book is still an inspiration for country builders.



2. Although this book was quite informative it was not what I was looking for as it is lacking the tecnological side of building barns, sheds etc. It is written with reference to a previous time period--I did not find this book very useful for today's building and planning of such structures.

No comments about Lee's Building Maintenance Management.