Turn-of-the-century House Designs: With Floor Plans, Elevations and Interior Details of 24 Residences

Grand houses, tiny bedrooms (with single beds, heaven forbid a full sized bed was used in a 100 years ago home!!) and 1 tiny bathroom. But you get your pantry and servants quarters, maybe even a stable connected to your kitchen. Good bathroom reading!

I bought this book for my granddaughter, who is interested in house design. We thoroughly enjoyed going over the floor plans and discussing what they told us about lifestyles in the past.

I've collected several Dover editions on Victorian dwellings (cottages, seaside bungalows and urban townhomes) , some by Comstock and some not, and each one is a time-traveling treasure. I've been fascinated with turn of the century architecture since building the card-stock 3D models by Dover publications years ago and (now as a home-owner) all the little details are wonderful to see sketched in true Charles Dickens fashion. Well recommended!

Beaux plans et belles illustrations! Je me suis laissée prendre par le terme "inexpensive homes" parce que c'est selon nos critères d'aujourd'hui, c'est quand même de grandes maisons avec beaucoup de détails décoratifs extérieurs. Les livres sur les maisons en catalogue de Sears ont des modèles plus abordables. J'aurais aimé que chaque plan soit daté, ce qui n'est pas le cas. Beau livre pour ceux qui aiment l'architecture ancienne.

A reprint of Comstock's 1893 publication SUBURBAN AND COUNTRY HOMES, 24 architect-designed houses are shown with drawings showing plans and at least a general perspective view. Sometimes additional exterior elevations are shown as well as an ocassional interior detail view. A short text accompanies each along with an estimate of the cost to construct, usually around $5,000. Perhaps to keep construction costs down, most of the houses are all-wood. Influences of the movement that came to be known as the Shingle Style are indicated along with the influences of the Arts & Crafts style, and the Colonial Revival. Although the intent might have been to showcase the work of the architects, the book could also have been used as a jumping-off-point for speculative builders and contractors who took the minimal design information and went on from there (just like home plan magazines of today). Manhattan architects are William A. Lambert, E.G.W. Dietrich, Manly N. Cutter, George Martin Huss, Frank W. Beall, Creighton Withers, A.L.C. Marsh, Stanley S. Covert, John Brower Jr, and E.R. Tilton. Brooklyn architects are E.L. Messenger and Otto J. Gette. Also included are Newark, NJ, architect Charles P. Baldwin, and Montclair, NJ, architect Theo. Hopping. Other areas of the country are represented by architects A.W. Cobb of Winthrop Highlands, MA, L.S. Buffington of Minneapolis, MN, McCurdy & Pulis of Denver, CO, and John Calvin Stevens of Portland, ME.This book also includes two articles with home-building advice. "Suggestions On House Building" by A.W. Cobb follows the manner by which an architect would advise his client during the process of designing a house, interesting as well as largely applicable today. "How to Plumb a Surburban House" by Leonard D. Hosford is more interesting from a historic point of view.As each of the houses was actually built, it would have been most interesting to follow up with photographs both period and current (if still extant) and to have a bio on each of the architects. Perhaps these comments would inspire Volume II. But as is, this book is a handy and economical reference for preservationists looking for documentation of home building during this period.