There is a cellar under about half of this house—the kitchen and the dining-room. It should have a cemented floor, and numerous windows for lighting it. The part under the kitchen could be used for a laundry, that under the dining-room for coal storage and furnace. There could be an excavation under a part of the sitting-room for vegetable storage. “Why not put a cellar under the whole house? It would cost but little more,” has been asked many times. It is the little things, the smaller economies, in a building of this kind which makes the difference between an expensive house and a house of moderate cost. Every foot of cellar space beyond what is needed for actual use is a burden to the housekeeper. The arrangement has more to do with the number of apartments than with the amount of space. We have a laundry-room, a place for furnace and fuel, and a room for vegetables, which is about all that can be used. From the cellar we can go up the stairway and into the kitchen, from the kitchen to the second floor, and from the second floor to the attic.
It is a large attic, a place for large rooms if one should need them. Under any circumstances this attic should be floored. There could be no better place for general storage, and at times for drying clothes.
It seldom happens that two houses from exactly the same plan are built. While this plan has pleased many people, there are others who would not be attracted by it; who would not care to build this house as their home. The universal floor plan has never been made, and never will be. There are general principles running through all plans which are valuable, and if rightly understood will contribute to the improvement of the homes of the people.
[Fig. 13] is an elevation.
Cost, without appurtenances, $2,500, as per schedule “B.”