Bicknell's Victorian Buildings
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By the 1880's, American architecture had turned to a heavily formal, almost grandiose style, forsaking the more delicate ornamentation and graceful line of the previous decade. Just prior to the shift, A. J. Bicknell & Co. published a handsome volume of contemporary designs, plans and specifications for a wide range of public and private buildings from many parts of America. Their intention was to feature a complete village which could be constructed at moderate cost; in fact they published one of the last inclusive documentations of that style of mixed Gothic, Romanesque and classical cornices, pedestals, spires and gables known as "Victorian."
Forty-five buildings of all sorts — cottages, villas, suburban houses, town houses, a farm, a jail, courthouses, banks, store fronts, churches, schools, even stables — are portrayed in beautiful architectural drawings of scaled elevations and floor plans. Large-sized details show the principal corners, panels, railings, arches, finials, window and verandah sections; scales range from 3/32 of an inch to the foot for the elevations, to 1/2"/1' for the details.
The designs come from architects in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and were built in many large and small communities. Along with the private homes and standard public buildings, there are plans for the first completely fireproof courthouse (built of marble and cast iron) in the United States, at Macoupin County, Illinois; the Bay County Courthouse in Bay City, Michigan, may also be numbered among the noteworthy inclusions. A three-story home in this book, with four bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, parlor, verandah, hall, portico, and cellar (with servants' quarters, if necessary) cost, at that time, $5000 to build; a series of specifications, both general and particular (for carpenters, plumbers, painters and masons) and sample contracts (with provisions for bad weather and striking workmen) offer some idea how such buildings were possible at such prices.
The detailed measurements and specifications provide modellers, miniaturists, set designers, woodworkers, or even full-scale builders, with the information necessary to recreate these designs. Historians of architecture, home restorers, anyone who delights in the felicities of American Victorian, will find this book a superb primary source of authentic building style.
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Bicknell's Victorian Buildings - A. J. Bicknell
1878.
PLATE 1.
THREE DESIGNS FOR CHEAP FRAME COTTAGES.
Fig. 1. Front elevation of cottage with hip roof.
Fig. 2. First floor plan, containing three rooms and porch. This design can be built for $750.
Fig. 3 . Elevation of cottage, suitable for plan of Fig. 1. Cost $1,000.
Fig. 4. Front elevation of cottage, containing six rooms.
Fig. 5. First floor plan of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6. Second floor plan of Fig. 4. Cost $1,200.
The designs on this plate are drawn on the scale of one-eighth of one inch to the foot.
PLATE 1
PLATE 2.
DESIGN FOR A FRENCH COTTAGE.
LYMAN UNDERWOOD, Architect, 13 Exchange Street, Boston.
The front elevation and floor plans of this cottage are perhaps, sufficiently explicit. It is simply but conveniently arranged for a small family. It is intended to be built of wood, and painted to harmonize with the surroundings. The stories are ten and nine feet. The elevation is drawn to a scale of eight feet to one inch, and the floors sixteen feet to one inch. The cost under ordinary circumstances would be about $3,8oo.
PLATE 2
PLATE 2B
SPECIFICATIONS.
SPECIFICATION of the Materials to be Furnished and Labor to be Performed in the Erection and Completion of a Wooden Dwelling-House, according to a set of plans, shown on Plate 2, furnished by L. Underwood, Architect, 13 Exchange Street, Boston.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
The size of the house and the size and arrangement of all the rooms, etc., are to be as shown on the plans, which are to be considered as a part of this specification; and which, with the writing and figures thereon, together with the detail drawings, are to be adhered to in every respect. The figures in all cases are to take the precedence of measurements on the plans.
EXCAVATION, STONE WORK, &c.
The contractor is to do all of the excavating for the cellar, drains and cistern, dig well, etc., and to put in the cellar and bulkhead walls, build foundations for piers and chimneys, and to do all the stonework necessary to receive the frame. The cellar and bulkhead walls are to be 18 thick at the bottom and 14 at the top, built with stone laid in cement mortar, and are to be carried up to the proper height to receive the sills. The cellar is to be 8’ 6
deep in the clear of the joists. There is to be a dry well, 4 in diameter at the bottom and 2 6 at the top, and 6’ deep, built where shown on the plans. The walls are to be of stone laid dry, carried up to within 18
of the top of the ground and covered with fiagging stones. There is to be a 5" vitrified earthenware drain pipe from the waste-pipe to the sink, to the dry well, provided with a stench trap. The cellar wall above the grade is to be built of large stone, with an even face on the outside. The joints are to be well pointed and drawn. There is to be a well located as per plan, and bricked up with a 4’ wall of hard burned brick, laid in cement and is to be covered with flagging