Customer Reviews

Cottage Architecture of Victorian America

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My reason for purchasing Cottage Architecture of Victorian America might be different from others.

I had no plans to build a Victorian House. I simply am in love with big, old houses. I adore looking at them in person, photographs, or drawings.

The black and white drawings in this slim volume are excellently done and quite detailed. It made me long for more.

For those who are interested, the book also shows floor plans,front and side views of the house, and details regarding the various designs used on doors and windows. It also tells exactly how to build one of these marvelous "cottages," even referring to things past, such as cisterns, and pumps in the kitchen.

The "cottages" are quite large, more what we, nowadays, would think of as mansions. All the houses are at least two stories. They feature such things as dormers and bay windows and porches, all the things that so delight the heart of a lover of Victorian architecture. I know I was delighted with this book.

"Cottage Architecture of Victorian America," by E.C. Hussey, is an unabridged republication of "Hussey's National Cottage Architecture," which appeared in 1874. The book contains clear, crisp perspective drawings and floor plans for a number of home designs. The houses range from small cottages to fairly large 5-bedroom homes.

The designs depicted seem to represent mostly the Italianate and Second Empire styles of Victorian era architecture. Some of the features readers will see in these pages are Mansard roofs, low-pitched gabled roofs with decorative brackets, bay windows, towers, decorative roof cresting, and covered verandas.

The book also contains pages with fascinating close-up renderings of various design details. This book is an excellent choice for those who have become enchanted by the romance of Victorian home architecture.