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 Backyard Brickwork: How to Build Walls, Paths, Patios, and Barbecues.

No comments about New Southern Classicism: The Residential Architecture of Barry Fox.

No comments about Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium: Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs) (Birmingham Byzantine ... Byzantine and Ottoman Monographs).

No comments about Designs for a Healthy Home: An Eco-Friendly Approach.

No comments about City by Design: Atlanta: An Architectural Perspective of the Atlanta Area.

No comments about The Castles of the Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany.

No comments about Bright Ideas: Sunrooms & Conservatories (Schiffer Design Book).

No comments about A Little Book of Miracles & Marvels (Little Books).

No comments about Means Forms for Building Construction Professionals: The Means Master Collection of Forms for Estimating and Project Management.