Customer Reviews

Victorian House Designs in Authentic Full Color: 75 Plates from the "Scientific American -- Architects and Builders Edition," 1885-1894 (Dover Architecture)

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3 star:		(1)
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We ordered this book to give us ideas for building our own house in the grand old Victorian style. There are not instructions in this book, but it offers good illustrations, as well as floor plans for most of the houses pictured. Because the drawings are clear, they give a good idea of how some of the building was done, so it's possible to replicate them. We found it very helpful. The book is not technical, so it's entertaining for the average person to look at. The pictures are charming and enjoyable to browse through. The houses pictured are real, working houses that were built years ago. Through the floor plans, you also get an idea of the Victorian lifestyle. It really is a wonderful book to add to your library. It is a soft cover book

"Victorian House Designs in Authentic Full Color," edited by Blanche Cirker, is a visually delightful tribute to a memorable era in home architecture. This volume reprints plates from "Scientific American--Architects and Builders Edition," originally appearing from 1885 to 1894.

The book contains floor plans and elevations of both stand-alone houses and connected homes. If you love the fanciful vocabulary of Victorian architecture, you will find all of your favorite features on display here: eyebrow dormers, circular towers, covered piazzas, cantilevered balconies, complex roof lines, clustered fireplaces, Palladian windows, and much, much more.

The only drawback to the book is that some house elevations are not accompanied by floor plans; a few others are only accompanied by the plan of a single floor. But overall, this is a richly detailed celebration of some truly beautiful homes. If you are a student of Victorian home architecture, this book is a must-have.

If you are looking for explicit instructions on how to build a Victorian House this may not be the book for you, BUT, if you LOVE Victorian houses as much as I do, this is definitely the book for you!

This wonderful book features page after page, in FULL COLOR excellent, detailed drawings of these marvelous, period residences! And includes the floor plan of the houses.

Frankly I found the book a pure delight! Many of the houses are featured in a natural setting with a lawn and trees,

I would have preferred people not to be featured in the pictures, but that is just a personal preference..

The small figures are well done and are dressed in period clothing.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is the kind of picture book that I will be looking at over and over.

A delightful little book givint the reader great insight into Victorian architecture. Providing beutiful vision usingoriginal terminology that gives one the authentic flavor. Using Parlor instead of living room. Showing a sewing room and other such features. Peticularly interesting in the provision and in some others lack of provision of plumbing. Some have bathrooms and some don't.

An excellant book for the lover of architecture or of the Victorian period.

However, there is one awful drawback. And it is most dreadful. Some houses are not accompanied with floor plans. Examples being the beutiful house on page four. The Farragut clubhouse on page thirteen. The moderate cottage on page thirty one and the houses following to page thirty eight. While others have only one or two floors plans provided.

This could use a sequal to correct this defect and provide additional buildings for reader's enjoyment.

This is an excellent book of Victorian house perspectives, elevations and floor plans. There are a few perspectives of houses for which there are no floor plans, which is frustrating, but most have them. They are done in color, which is nice. The plans are not squeezed together, as the floor plans in the book of 1000 floor plans are, since each house has its own page. Some day I hope to find a book of Victorian house floor plans that includes the attic rooms.

This book has many floor plans and exterior elevation renderings. It's variety is what makes it worth the purchase. The floor plans, however, are mostly main levels, leaving upper floors to your imagination.

Purchased this book to help me with ideas for a quilt project. Will pass it on to my son who is an architect. He will enjoy having it on his library shelf.