BEDROOM PLAN
The Large Living Room.—In view of the gain to health of one spacious living room over the parlour plan, a number of these cottages has been built in varying design at Bournville, and no difficulty has been found in letting them. There has been, however, considerable discussion with regard to their convenience to the artisan in other districts where they have been introduced. Although cottages in the past had no third room, there having been, as here, one large comfortable room (often with the ingle nook) and a small kitchen at the back—all the accommodation really required—yet at the present time many artisans are not content without the useless parlour, which they appear to think adds dignity to the house, but which is used by them chiefly as a store-room for gim-cracks. There is, perhaps, a reasonable objection to a single large living room on the part of a particular class who let the front room to a lodger. Nevertheless, for a model village or a garden city it is strongly recommended that the plan should be adopted freely, and the preference for the useless front room in small cottages discouraged.
Total cost of the example given, including all extras, £268 per cottage.
Laying out of gardens, £10 each.
Cubical contents, 28,587 ft., at 4½d. per foot cube, £536, or £268 per cottage.
Instances of the last two types of cottages dealt with appear in the view given on Plate [iv].
PLATE XXI.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
PLATE XXI.
PAIR OF COTTAGES.
SEE PAGE [32].
The smaller cottage shown here is planned on similar lines to the foregoing, but with the additional accommodation of an attic, and bay windows to the two storeys. This is an instance of how a smaller cottage may be joined to a larger one in treating a corner site, the larger one on the corner giving importance to each road.