Read Ebook: Remodeled Farmhouses by Northend Mary Harrod

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Scarcely less vital is the condition of the cellar. Is there dampness, caused by lack of ventilation, by bad walls, or by some inherent moisture? Some of these old houses have a well in the cellar; this should be drained off and filled up. But if there is an actual spring of water, as not infrequently occurs, either move the house or abandon it. Bad walls can be cemented and waterproofed. If the trouble comes from lack of light and air, it may be possible to cut larger window openings. Most old houses were set too low, however, and it is frequently an advantage to raise them. This requires sound underpinning, or the expense will be great.

While considering the subject of dampness, it is well to examine the roof and see how much it leaks under the moss-grown shingles. If it is an old house that is in tolerably good repair at the present time, it may be that under some previous owner the roof fell into decay, and rains soaked through. Look for signs of this, for it will mean weakness in timbers and plaster that must be guarded against. Examine the boards of the roof to see if they are strong enough to permit the laying of new shingles.

The chimney is another important matter to investigate. In old houses which have not been used for some time, the bricks often deteriorate and become so soft that they crumble at the touch. This would necessitate the not inconsiderable expense of rebuilding the whole chimney, unless it is so large that a second smaller one may be inserted within the old. With the huge fireplaces of other days, whose yawning mouths were often capable of holding a ten-foot log, a metal flue is frequently used in the remodeling. It is surrounded on the outside, between itself and the old chimney, with concrete, which renders it entirely safe from danger of fire.

A glance should be given also, in this inspection, at the condition of the floors. If they are not level, it indicates defects in the timbers underneath. The boards themselves are often so rough and laid with such large cracks that it will be necessary to lay new floors. Notice, too, the condition of doors and windows; whether they are straight and true enough to be used again, or if others will have to replace them. Tap the plaster here and there to see where it is loose and to what extent it must be renewed.

These are the tests that indicate whether the old house is worth buying and what will be the essential expense to make it habitable. Sometimes one or another defect is so severe as to make the venture foolish; again it can be remedied by resort to strenuous methods. Not infrequently the drawbacks of a bad cellar and a poor location are at once overcome by removing the house altogether to a new site. This is practicable when the building is sound in structure and an inexpensive operation if it is small.

That was the proceeding which Miss Mabel L. Kittredge undertook with an old fisherman's cottage that had stood for many years on the shores of Cape Cod. It was a simple little building, dilapidated and weather-beaten, and quite unsuggestive of a summer home. But its very quaintness and diminutive size attracted her attention, and she determined to investigate it. The owner was willing to part with it, just as it stood, for eighty-five dollars, not including the land.

The location was not desirable, and it was decided to "fleck" the house, as is the colloquial term on the Cape for preparing a building to be moved. It was taken apart and floated across the water to its new foundations in South Yarmouth. Here it was "unflecked" and set up facing the harbor and the cool breezes from the ocean.

The original building, erected in the early part of the nineteenth century, was a small, shingled structure, thirty by twenty feet, with a straight gable roof rising from the low stud of the first story. Its proportions were not at all unpleasing, and the placing of the several small-paned windows was particularly agreeable. There was a kitchen shed attached to the rear.

When it was set in position in the new location, additional windows were cut, a small porch built at the front entrance, and a second shed attached at right angles to the kitchen wing. In the second story, a broad flat-roofed dormer with three windows increased the interior space, without seriously altering the straight lines of the roof. The effort to retain the original simplicity of line is also evident in the porch roof, which follows closely the wide angle of the gable ends of the house.

The original interior was cut up into a number of small rooms, the partitions of which were removed, with the exception of those dividing off a bedroom at the rear. This left one good-sized apartment, which was fitted up for living and dining-room combined and made a most delightful place. The stairs were built at the left, along the rear wall. A group of three windows was cut here to give extra light and air, and the manner in which they have been handled is interesting. On account of the position of a heavy supporting beam, it was impossible to make these new windows the height of the original ones. The effect of this was ameliorated by placing a shelf directly above the group of three and extending it across the wall to meet the old window. A number of interesting pieces of china placed on the shelf give it a character and weight which thus carries the eye along from one opening to the other without any consciousness of the break in height. This is but one of those ingenious methods by which remodeling is made successful.

The large, old-fashioned fireplace is the center of interest in this room. At the right of it is a china closet with mullioned glass door, and on the left two narrower closets are found in the paneling. A new hardwood floor had to be laid, as the original one was in bad condition. The wainscot and woodwork throughout the house was unusually good for such a small and unpretentious structure. After the former layers of paint had been removed and the wood thoroughly cleaned, it was finished in white. The walls, scraped down to the original plaster, were painted in a soft green flat-coat that was delightfully fresh and cool.

Back of this large room was a small hallway leading into the ell at the back. At the left, space was taken for a bathroom.

The kitchen was kept practically the same as in the old house. The rough stud and rafters were stained a dark brown, and the boards of the roof whitewashed. The walls were plastered to the height of the stud. A modern stove was attached to the old chimney flue on the outside of the building. The exposed uprights provided an opportunity for convenient shelves to be built for the various kitchen appliances.

Up-stairs the entire floor was thrown into one room, instead of making several small, stuffy, sleeping apartments. The dormer which was cut in the front added not only to the light, air, and space of the room, but gave an opportunity for a most attractive window-seat to be built beneath the broad windows. The old, wide boards of the floor were in good condition and kept intact. The walls were plastered to the ridge, exposing the heavy tie-beams. Along the walls under the eaves, sets of drawers were built into the woodwork, thus obviating the necessity of having chiffoniers or chests of drawers to consume already limited space. The rough bricks of the chimney, which breaks slantingly through the floor near the center of the room, are not concealed. Instead, they form a rather decorative feature in the little apartment, and about the four sides of the flue shelves are built which serve as a dressing-table and a desk.

The furnishings of the whole house are delightfully simple and suggestive of the quaint Colonial period when it was built. Tables and chairs, pictures, mirrors, and china are interesting heirlooms that have been handed down in the family of the owner and preserve the spirit of the little cottage as admirably as do the various alterations which have made it so modern and habitable.

THE CURTIS HOUSE

The great charm of Colonial farmhouses lies in the simplicity of their appearance. Many dilapidated, weather-beaten old buildings, long neglected by an indifferent community, are really little masterpieces of harmonious line and good proportion.

The style of the roof tells much about the age of the building to the initiated, and its line is easily the most important factor in the appearance of the house. The pitched roof is one of the oldest types and was used long before our country was discovered. This roof slopes away from the ridge-pole on both sides, thus forming a triangular area, the angle at each end of which is called a gable. In the early days, the pitch was built very steep to accommodate the thatching with which the roof was covered. As shingles came into use, the slope gradually flattened, and the age can be roughly judged by its angle.

The gambrel roof appeared before the eighteenth century and was commonly used in New England farmhouses. Each side of this is made up of two distinct pitches, which have no rule to govern their relationship. A somewhat later development was the hipped roof, in which the gabled ends were flattened, making four flat sides sloping from the ridge-pole. This was used when no attic chamber was needed. In the more pretentious Georgian houses, the top was flattened, and a wooden balustrade put around it. These roofs are generally shingled and practically never painted; the soft gray color they attain in weathering is sometimes imitated in stain on new shingles.

The addition of a wing or ell brought up a new problem in roofing, and it is this point that demands most serious attention from the remodeler. The old builders have not always been successful in preserving the unity of the roof line that is so essential to pleasing design. Whenever it is possible, the new roof should be made a part of the old, and the lines of one should run into those of the other. The pitch of the two should be practically the same. The same type of roof must be used over all parts of the building, although it is occasionally permissible to have a pitched roof on an ell when the main roof is a gambrel.

Where a veranda is added, its roof line must be carefully studied and made to seem an original part of the building, not something stuck on as an afterthought. This problem of keeping the lines of the different roofs in harmony is a vital one, and nowhere is there greater demand for ingenuity and thoughtful treatment.

The question of dormers is also important. When it is desired to have a second-story porch or sleeping-room, the dormer often supplies the solution of this difficult problem. The earliest ones were merely a flattening of the pitch of the roof, and this is the type that should be used when it is necessary to add a dormer to the older farmhouses. As the Georgian details were developed, the gable-roofed dormer was used with the cornice moldings of porches and door frames. These dormers were high, with a single window often having a semicircular head. They were usually combined in groups of three and connected with each other by a balustrade.

The exterior walls of the first houses were made of heavy boards laid vertically on the framework, without studding. Before long, the wood was laid horizontally, each board overlapping the one below it. This clapboarding and siding was used without interruption through all the various changes in other details. Much later, the shingle was adopted for the sides of the house as well as for the roof. A larger shingle, however, was used on the walls, with a wide exposure of surface. These were made of pine or cypress.

Although the walls of most old houses follow a straight line from one story to the next, there was a type, copied by the colonists from the buildings of the mother country and used somewhat freely before the Georgian era, in which the second story extended beyond the first. This overhang was generally used only on the front and back and not on all four sides, as in the European counterparts. The girders and cross beams were framed into the second-story posts, which frequently ended in an ornamental knob or drop, as it was called. The gables, too, occasionally had a slight overhang. In altering a pre-Georgian house, it is therefore permissible to make use of this overhang feature, and it may solve some otherwise knotty problems of required extra space.

A house which shows unusually clever handling of these points is situated in the little village of Charles River, not so many miles outside of Boston. Within the last few years, this locality has been opened up, and many modern homes have been built and farmhouses remodeled. They are situated along charming woodland roads and seem to nestle in their picturesque surroundings. This particular one stands on the road from Boston to Dover, invitingly shaded by graceful elms that have watched unnumbered generations pass. It suggests to passers-by a typical, seventeenth century farmhouse, ingeniously remodeled, through the plans of the late Philip B. Howard and F. M. Wakefield, architects of Boston, into a twentieth-century summer home. This old farmhouse was built in 1647 and was of the rectangular type, built about a central chimney, with four rooms and a hall on the lower floor. When Mr. Frederick H. Curtis selected it for his home, it had already been materially altered from the original simple structure by various succeeding tenants. And many of these had not added to its charms. The exterior was most uninviting in a vicious shade of red paint with white trim. In front was a small lattice porch entirely out of keeping with the architecture of the house. But in spite of all these unattractive features, there was an insistent appeal about the old place that made it seem worth venturing to restore.

The first problem which presented itself was that of interior space. The difficulty lay in enlarging this space in such a way as to provide the needed room and at the same time maintain the harmony of the exterior lines. The original four rooms had been added to from time to time by former owners by means of the customary ells at the rear. The house was two and a half stories high, with a straight, pitched roof starting from the top of the second story. In the rear there was a two-story ell and a one-story addition behind that, with an outside chimney. Each of these was increased by one room, so that space for a laundry was added in the lower floor and for servants' quarters in the second. The chimney was kept on the outside above the laundry roof and built up to the required height. This second-story extension overhangs the old kitchen wall by about eighteen inches on one side and on the other runs into an entirely new wing, whose roof line joins without a break to that of the old ell. The roof of the main building has been extended in the rear, following its straight line to the top of the first story, as was frequently done in old houses. This brought the lines of the main building and the rear ells into greater harmony and provided space for an outdoor living-room on the first floor. A flat-roofed dormer was thrown out above this on the second floor and turned into a sleeping-porch. The lines of the several roofs have thus been kept remarkably simple, considering the great amount of space which has been added.

On the opposite side of the house a new wing has been added to the second floor, parallel to the main building and at right angles to the ells in the rear. The front part of it has a pitched roof following the angle of that on the main building, and the rear has a flat roof on a very low stud. This provides three additional rooms on the second floor. It has been built over an outdoor breakfast or morning-room on the first floor, and the kitchen has been widened under it.

At the front of the house, the flat-roofed entrance porch was removed, and one more in keeping with the Colonial period built in its place. This has a gabled roof, supported in front on two simple columns. The back part of it is closed and forms a small vestibule, with old-time oval windows extending on each side beyond the gabled roof-line. There are two benches in front, also beyond this line and protected by vine-grown lattices and small, extending eaves. The floor is paved with brick.

These comprise the major changes to the exterior; but new shingles were put on the old roof; the dilapidated slat-shutters were replaced by blinds of solid wood, with a diamond cut in the upper panel after the old-time fashion; and the ugly red paint was changed to a soft Colonial buff.

The narrow entrance hall, opening directly on the stairs, has not been altered. In the stairs, however, an exceedingly interesting treatment has been introduced, made necessary by the plan of the rooms above. On the first landing a doorway was cut in the chimney wall, and stairs built up the center of the chimney between the two flues. These give access to a small hall in the rear, connecting the several bedrooms. The door that leads to these stairs, at the foot, is a "secret" one; that is, it is covered with the wall-paper which surrounds it and fits tightly into the wall without framing woodwork.

At the right of the hallway the parlor and dining-room were thrown into one long living-room, and a pleasant triple window was cut in the rear wall looking out upon the veranda. The fine old woodwork about the fireplace was restored to its original beauty with many coats of white paint. The hand-hewn beams in the ceiling were uncovered from the casing which had hidden them, and the wood rubbed and oiled. The floor was found to be in good condition and, after the placing of additional boards where the partition was removed, was merely scraped, filled, stained, and polished. A semicircular corner cupboard in a reproduction of an old style, its shelves filled with interesting specimens of seventeenth-century pewter, gives character to the room. The walls were finished in a soft shade of burlap, and the old mahogany furniture, chintz covers, rag rugs, and simple scrim curtains preserve the delightful atmosphere.

On the opposite side of the hall is the library or den. This is unchanged, except for the white paint and the quaint Colonial wall-paper. Willow furniture is used.

Back of this, and extending across to the living-room, is the dining-room. The beams show the position of the original walls and indicate the way in which the room was enlarged. This leaves the fireplace at the side of a sort of alcove and so, to balance it and give importance to that end of the room, a china closet was built across the corner. An unpaneled wainscot, with simple baseboard and molding at the top, runs around the room, the new part matching the old. The woodwork is all white, including the encased beams, which here were not in a condition to be exposed. The upper walls are covered with a blue and silver grass-cloth that strikes an effective color note behind the mahogany furniture. In this room is a good example of the use of modern reproductions of Sheraton chairs with a genuine old sideboard.

Glass doors lead from either end of the dining-room on to the two verandas. Both of these verandas are really rooms without walls, as they have been incorporated so completely within the lines and framework of the house. The one on the side of the house in front of the kitchen is used as a breakfast-room, and many of the other meals are served out here in the open air. That in the rear of the living-room is a delightful spot on summer afternoons and evenings. Both of these porches are thoroughly screened and fitted with framework in which glass sashes are placed during the winter.

On the second floor there are four bedrooms and a bath in the main part of the building, with a sleeping balcony leading from one of them. This is protected with screens and awnings and furnished with hammocks and reclining chairs. In the wings there are three servants' rooms and a bath. All of the rooms have been fitted up in a quaintly simple style that is thoroughly in keeping with the period of the house, the low ceilings, and fine woodwork. In some of the rooms there are valuable old pieces of furniture, a four-poster of the Sheraton type, and a highboy with details of the Queen Anne period. In another room modern white enamel furniture has been used, but it is so simple and straightforward in design that it harmonizes entirely with the atmosphere of the room engendered by the old fireplace and chimney cupboard, the thumb latches on the doors, rag rugs, and an old-time wall-paper figured with stripes of morning-glories and daintily poised humming-birds. In this second floor, the old iron hardware has been largely used in strap and H and L hinges, latches, knobs, and shutter fastenings.

Throughout the lower story, modern brass knobs and key plates reproducing an old Colonial pattern have been used, securing greater convenience and safety.

Hot-air heating has been installed and electric lighting. The outlets, however, are all in the walls or baseboard sockets, so that there is no conspicuous inconsistency in the atmosphere, and lamps and candles are also used throughout the house.

GREEN MEADOWS

The architect of to-day has an advantage over the master builder of long ago in that he is able to grasp all ideas that were introduced into the old house and can restore it without losing the spirit of the original in either the exterior or interior. The wings and ells which were added by succeeding tenants often bear little relation to the main building and must either be torn down or harmonized in some way to preserve the unity of the completed design. The general plan of the house and the arrangement of the rooms should be carefully observed before the house owner and architect undertake the task of remodeling. Too many houses are disappointing because a study has not been made of the different types and periods of old houses, and the result is a mixture, neither one thing nor the other.

Old Colonial houses were always built on the rectangular plan, as this provided the greatest amount of enclosed space with the least expenditure of labor and material. They were also constructed about an axis, and it is essential for the remodeler to determine what that axis is before making any alterations.

In the earliest days, the chimney was the center of the building and dominated the plan. The various rooms opened around it, so that as many of them as possible could have a fireplace from the one chimney. It was consequently a huge affair and occupied about three fourths as much space as one of the rooms. In the first plans, there were usually but two rooms, a kitchen on one side and a parlor on the other. Later, a room was built in the back for the kitchen, and a third opening made in the chimney. The narrow stairs were built in at the front to fit into the chimney space and generally ascended with two landings and turns at right angles.

As a late development, about the time of the Revolution, four equally large rooms were needed, and this one chimney was divided into two and placed on either side of the center of the house, so that in each of the main rooms there was a fireplace opening front or back from one of the two chimneys. This arrangement altered the position of the stairs, and stairs and hall became the central axis of the house. The proportion of the space allotted to them, however, remained about the same as when the chimney had occupied the center. This accounts for the wide Colonial halls, which are such a charming feature of old houses. The stairs were built along one side, the length of the hall, often a perfectly straight flight without turn or landing, and the hall was frequently cut clear through to a door in the back, which formed a rear exit to the garden. The Georgian houses at the end of the eighteenth century were commonly built on this plan.

There was one other distinct type, in which the fireplaces in the four corner rooms were in the outer walls, and four separate chimneys were built. The central hall and staircase retained their same dominant proportions, but a second cross hall was sometimes built, dividing the house from end to end.

To all of these types, additions were frequently made, as the family increased, or new owners took possession. The extra space was not acquired by enlarging the main building but by adding an ell in the back at right angles to the original structure, or a wing at the side, parallel with it. These additions were attached to the house by their smallest dimension, as that obstructed the least amount of light. They were smaller than the main part; many were but one story in height, and those that were two had a lower stud, so that the original building would remain the important feature in the whole.

After examining the old house from this point of view, consider the new uses to which it will be put and determine what changes will have to be made. Sketch the entire plan out before commencing an alteration, and then endeavor to see if the proposed remodeling is practical from a structural point of view, and if it harmonizes with the original spirit of the old building. Mark out in each room the position of windows and decide where new ones may have to be cut in the rearranged interiors. Study the fireplaces and find out whether the proposed removal of a partition wall will throw them out of balance in the rooms, and what you can do to counteract it. Pay particular attention to closet room, for in the old days it was given too little consideration for modern requirements.

Draw rough plans and put your ideas regarding every possibility down on paper; it is surprising how many new suggestions will occur as each scheme is worked out, and there is a fascination in seeing how much can be fitted into a given space. After the work is begun, unforeseen conditions will crop up and necessitate changes in the project, as well as disclose new opportunities, but a greater part of the planning can be done beforehand.

A roomy, old, New England farmhouse near Hamilton was recognized by Mr. George Burroughs as a fertile subject for development into a beautiful country home. It was situated in the heart of rolling country and surrounded by wide stretches of grass land, from which the estate was named "Green Meadows."

The original house, separated from the highway by an old wall of field stone and an elm-shaded dooryard, was built in 1786, and it is curious to note that no deed was ever recorded. It was the usual type of farmhouse, constructed about a central chimney, two and a half stories in height, with an unbroken roof line. Subsequent owners had added wings at each side instead of the more customary ell at the rear. One of these wings is of brick, which indicates that it was probably not built before the middle of the last century, but although the two building materials seem incongruous in the one house, vines have so overgrown this wing that the red glimpsed through them and contrasting with the white walls of the house is very attractive.

The only important alterations in the exterior appearance of the house were in the addition of the long veranda across the rear and the alteration of the frame wing at the right. The old structure was found to be in too dilapidated a condition to restore, but it was reproduced in all its exterior details and joined to the end of a new wing attached to the house and a trifle broader than the old. Two hip-roofed dormers add to the space in the second floor and permit the construction of attractive servants' quarters.

The frame of the entrance door in the center of the front fa?ade is a particularly happy example of the simple Georgian style used in the better class of farmhouses of that day. Its flat pilasters and well-proportioned cornice illustrate the restraint and refinement in the work of even the average builders.

The door itself opens into a small hallway, restored with fresh white paint to all its original beauty.

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