Customer Reviews

Victorian Cottage Residences (Dover Architectural Series)

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"Victorian Cottage Residences" is a comprehensive book of twenty-something floor plans, mostly of Victorian houses (obviously) both large and small. For those into landscaping as well, this book is doubly wonderful; otherwise the advice on the apple trees is probably better skipped. However, for anyone who's even remotely interested in old homes or houses in general, this is a fantastic book to check out.

A.J. Downing set the style for country suburban Victorian Cottages and gardens along the Hudson River in the 1830's and 1840's. All of his "cottages" featured fireplaces and architecturally important chimneys, usually with decorative chimney tops. Borrowing from painting and fine arts, Downing had definite opinions about color and appropriate use of materials. Provocative and interesting reading this book of cottage and garden plans and sketches is well worth reading. He set a standard for early Victorian architecture. - Jim Buckley

The book arrived promptly, but frankly, we were disappointed. We live in a Queen Anne Victorian dating back to 1886. It was built by gentlemen from New England, and when we toured there last fall, we saw many houses similar in architecture to ours here in Southern California. However, none of the illustrations in the book are similar. The pictures are not of cottages but of elaborate mansions. Still, the book holds useful historical information.