Image: Olmstead house by Gervase Wheeler, 1851

Description: As written by Gervase Wheeler in 1851: The building is framed of wood-has a high pitched roof, and is substantially and thoroughly built. A large cellar of brick runs under the whole house, extending even under the verandas, thus making the building at all seasons thoroughly dry, and in the summer pleasantly cool. The occupant of the house, Mr. Henry Olmsted, required a building half farm-house, half residencewith rooms spacious, and entries convenient both to the domestic offices and to the residence part of the house; a sort of two buildings under one i'oof-a style of house in very frequent demand in the country. The illustration shows a perspective sketch fiom the southeast, taken by a daguerreotype from the building itself. It will be seen that the peculiar feature about the house is the extreme projection of the roof. In fact, the veranda is shaded by the main roof itself, the latter being supported by framing of a very simple and effective character on the end, and by posts, formed of studs put cross-way together, and cut and moulded top and bottom, at the sides. The sharp gable over the side is framed so that the construction shows externally -this being no shamn, but the actual framing of the roof within, the chamber ceilings of that part of the house being lathed upon the curved beamns that support the roof. The sides of the house are planked, and their joints covered with battens, the roof being 4 Page 74 74 RURAL HOMES. shingled. The heads of the doors and windows are protected from the weather by moulded labels, upon which the battens rest, and though the detail about the building is very effective, no ornamental work is any where introduced which does not serve some constructive purpose of design. leads into the entrance hall, No. 2, in which is the principal staircase of the house. Page 75 DESCRIPTION OF A COTTAGE HOME. 75 On the right is a sitting room, No; 1, which is fifteen feet by seventeen feet six inches. From the hall is a parlor, No. 3, sixteen by nineteen, in which is a large bay-window, and of which the French windows open upon the verandas on either side. Behind this, communicating with the sitting-room, is a diningroom, No. 4, which is also sixteen by nineteen, and opening fiom which is a large store-room, No. 7, fitted with shelves, and store, and china, and glass-closets, etc. No. 5 is a large kitchen, twenty-one by nineteen, and No. 6 is the scullery and sink-room. A back staircase leads up to the floor above, as shown on the plan, and on each side of it are large closets, one into the parlor, and the other into the dining-room. The kitchen has a doorwindow on its western side, so that entrance may be had without going through the house, and a similar' door, protected by a porch on the northern end of the scullery, which leads towards the farm-yard. The rooms on this floor are all spacious, their arrangement has been found extremely convenient by the occupants, and the plan will readily make it intelligible. The chamber floor is similar in its distribution to the floor below. No. 1 is over the sitting-room. No. 2, over the parlor. No. 3, over the dining-room. No. 4, a large chamber over the kitchen. No. 5, a long room over the scullery, etc., lighted on the east by a dormer-window on the roof. There are large closets in Nos. 2, 3, and 4, and a large additional one might be made from No. 1, over the entrance hall, unless, like Mr. Olmsted, the builder preferred the open, unobstructed, and cheerful light, obtained by leaving the end unoccupied. In a portion of No. 5, a bath-room might very easily be partitioned off, as the space is ample to allow it, and the nearness to the Page 76 e6 RURAL HOMES. kitchen below would permit the bathing apparatus to be supplied with water at a trifling expense. PLAN 4. The cost of this house may be stated at from twenty-five hundred to three thousand dollars, the margin being left for the amount of labor expended on the outside and inside finishings. As erected in Connecticut, its cost was nearly three thousand dollars, but the workmanship and materials throughout, were all of the highest quality, and the extensive cellaring before alluded to, might not by other builders be deemed necessary, and would, of course, if curtailed, reduce the expense. Its picturesque appearance attracts great attention, and as Page 77 DESCRIPTION OF A COTTAGE HOME. 77 creepers become trained upon the open tracery and posts of the frame in front, the cheerful aspect of its southern end will be greatly improved. Its style is Gothic-so far at least as the high roofs, the pointed arches of the tracery in front, and the character of the labels over the windows-determine any distinctive style. The whole is painted a deep cream color, the bold projections of the roofs, posts, and tracery, casting interlacing lines of shadow that vary the tint most beautifully, and for which reason a light tone of coloring has been chosen. These effects of light and shade would be lost if a darker background had been given as the color of the house. Pages: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/act7703.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext;q1=Architecture Full text: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/act7703.0001.001/78?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=Architecture
Title: Olmstead house by Gervase Wheeler, 1851
Credit: Rural homes: or, Sketches of houses suited to American country life, with original plans, designs, &c., by Gervase Wheeler, 1851. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/act7703.0001.001/65?rgn=full+text;view=image;q1=Architecture
Author: British architect Gervase Wheeler
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No