It may truly be said that the problem of the American farm-
house is still unsolved. For the building of new appropriate^
fann dwellings, there is almost no precedent to guide one.^
Most of the rural houses liow standing are failures as farm-
houses because they were not plauneil for farm conditions
In fact, many of them were not planned at all. They w«
THE MODERN HOUSE
9
merely built, and built iti ahout the followmg fashion: an >
outer shell was constnirtcd and roofed over, the inside was
divided into rooms, and somewhere a kitchen was attached.
If the house became too small^ more rooms were added to fit
the growing needs of the famil3^ With each addition to the
hotise. the kitchen retreated to tire rear of tlie structure, where,
Ia' hs verj' distance from the living-rooina, it confined the
housewife to her post of duty. As the family decreased in
numbers and helpers became few, the front part of the house
WES closed and home life was centered within the radius of
ihct kitchen and its activities*
Such of these okl structures as are soundly built are worth
replanning and equipping with running water, electric Ught^
sound floors, and a good heatinp: system. Alteration should
be undertaken only after the complete project has been worked
out on paper.
Id Fig. 5 is illustrated a rambling plan of the traditional
farmhouse of the upright-and-wing type previously described.
The original and the remodeled arrangement are shown in A
and B, respectively. The main faults of the old plan, A, arc
t^^o: first, the plan is deficient in correctly located hall space;
second, the distance fi-om the kitchen to the front of the house
is too gre^t. Since a person must pass through one room in
order to reach another, the whole floor virtually becomes a
passageway. This condition destroys privacy, interrupts work,
and entails much extni cleaning. The correct amount of hall
area placed in the heart of the plan would give separate entrance
to each room and would save the wliole house. Hall space
should be regarded as tlic developer of the jilan. If the plan
is compactly arranged and the hall centrally placed, great
service may he obtained from even a small allowance of hall
Fpa(*e, The presence of five, six, or seven doors in a room in-
dicates poor hall-plarming, and therefore poor house-planning.
It is well to remember that the number of doors in a room
diminishes in proportion to the excellence of the plan.
In plan B there is introduced enough central hall area to
pve direct access to each of the rooms. The kitchen is placed
(
"^^ C^-jD r\JK A
I
i
THE MODERN HOUSE
11
Btrally at the rear of this liallway. Tliis brings the kitchen
er the living rooms and shortens all working distances.
If the distances from the center of the kitchen to the center
of each room in plans A and B are computed, it is found that
the remodeled plan saves an average dustance of fifteen feet
a round trip over the old plan.
In the remodeled plan, such modern improvements as heat,
Ught, and running water have been added; closets also have
been provided. The wiiole |>Uin is now arranged so as to en-
courage wholesome hving.
Page 10
Presented as published in 1919. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
It may truly be said that the problem of the American farm-
house is still unsolved. For the building of new appropriate^
fann dwellings, there is almost no precedent to guide one.^
Most of the rural houses liow standing are failures as farm-
houses because they were not plauneil for farm conditions
In fact, many of them were not planned at all. They w«
THE MODERN HOUSE
9
merely built, and built iti ahout the followmg fashion: an >
outer shell was constnirtcd and roofed over, the inside was
divided into rooms, and somewhere a kitchen was attached.
If the house became too small^ more rooms were added to fit
the growing needs of the famil3^ With each addition to the
hotise. the kitchen retreated to tire rear of tlie structure, where,
Ia' hs verj' distance from the living-rooina, it confined the
housewife to her post of duty. As the family decreased in
numbers and helpers became few, the front part of the house
WES closed and home life was centered within the radius of
ihct kitchen and its activities*
Such of these okl structures as are soundly built are worth
replanning and equipping with running water, electric Ught^
sound floors, and a good heatinp: system. Alteration should
be undertaken only after the complete project has been worked
out on paper.
Id Fig. 5 is illustrated a rambling plan of the traditional
farmhouse of the upright-and-wing type previously described.
The original and the remodeled arrangement are shown in A
and B, respectively. The main faults of the old plan, A, arc
t^^o: first, the plan is deficient in correctly located hall space;
second, the distance fi-om the kitchen to the front of the house
is too gre^t. Since a person must pass through one room in
order to reach another, the whole floor virtually becomes a
passageway. This condition destroys privacy, interrupts work,
and entails much extni cleaning. The correct amount of hall
area placed in the heart of the plan would give separate entrance
to each room and would save the wliole house. Hall space
should be regarded as tlic developer of the jilan. If the plan
is compactly arranged and the hall centrally placed, great
service may he obtained from even a small allowance of hall
Fpa(*e, The presence of five, six, or seven doors in a room in-
dicates poor hall-plarming, and therefore poor house-planning.
It is well to remember that the number of doors in a room
diminishes in proportion to the excellence of the plan.
In plan B there is introduced enough central hall area to
pve direct access to each of the rooms. The kitchen is placed
(
"^^ C^-jD r\JK A
I
i
THE MODERN HOUSE
11
Btrally at the rear of this liallway. Tliis brings the kitchen
er the living rooms and shortens all working distances.
If the distances from the center of the kitchen to the center
of each room in plans A and B are computed, it is found that
the remodeled plan saves an average dustance of fifteen feet
a round trip over the old plan.
In the remodeled plan, such modern improvements as heat,
Ught, and running water have been added; closets also have
been provided. The wiiole |>Uin is now arranged so as to en-
courage wholesome hving.