Rural Architecture | Page 8

unnecessarily large and expensive buildings, they
become an absolute drawback to its value in either event. An expensive
house requires a corresponding expense to maintain it, otherwise its
effect is lost, and many a worthy owner of a costly mansion has been
driven to sell and abandon his estate altogether, from his unwillingness
or inability to support "the establishment" which it entailed; when, if
the dwelling were only such as the estate required and could reasonably
maintain, a contented and happy home would have remained to himself
and family. It behooves, therefore, the American builder to examine
well his premises, to ascertain the actual requirements of his farm or
plantation, in convenience and accommodation, and build only to such
extent, and at such cost as shall not impoverish his means, nor cause
him future disquietude.
Another difficulty with us is, that we oftener build to gratify the eyes of
the public than our own, and fit up our dwellings to accommodate
"company" or visitors, rather than our own families; and in the
indulgence of this false notion, subject ourselves to perpetual
inconvenience for the gratification of occasional hospitality or
ostentation. This is all wrong. A house should be planned and
constructed for the use of the household, with incidental
accommodation for our immediate friends or guests--which can always
be done without sacrifice to the comfort or convenience of the regular
inmates. In this remark, a stinted and parsimonious spirit is not
suggested. A liberal appropriation of rooms in every department; a
spare chamber or two, or an additional room on the ground floor,
looking to a possible increase of family, and the indulgence of an easy
hospitality, should always govern the resident of the country in erecting

his dwelling. The enjoyments of society and the intercourse of friends,
sharing for the time, our own table and fireside, is a crowning pleasure
of country life; and all this may be done without extraordinary expense,
in a wise construction of the dwelling.
The farm house too, should comport in character and area with the
extent and capacity of the farm itself, and the main design for which it
is erected. To the farmer proper--he who lives from the income which
the farm produces--it is important to know the extent of
accommodation required for the economical management of his estate,
and then to build in accordance with it, as well as to suit his own
position in life, and the station which he and his family hold in society.
The owner of a hundred acre farm, living upon the income he receives
from it, will require less house room than he who tills equally well his
farm of three, six, or ten hundred acres. Yet the numbers in their
respective families, the relative position of each in society, or their taste
for social intercourse may demand a larger or smaller household
arrangement, regardless of the size of their estates; still, the dwellings
on each should bear, in extent and expense, a consistent relation to the
land itself, and the means of its owner. For instance: a farm of one
hundred acres may safely and economically erect and maintain a house
costing eight hundred to two thousand dollars, while one of five
hundred to a thousand acres may range in an expenditure of twenty-five
hundred to five thousand dollars in its dwelling, and all be consistent
with a proper economy in farm management.
Let it be understood, that the above sums are named as simply
comporting with a financial view of the subject, and such as the
economical management of the estate may warrant. To one who has no
regard to such consideration, this rule of expenditure will not apply. He
may invest any amount he so chooses in building beyond, if he only be
content to pocket the loss which he can never expect to be returned in
an increased value to the property, over and above the price of cheaper
buildings. On the other hand, he would do well to consider that a farm
is frequently worth less to an ordinary purchaser, with an extravagant
house upon it, than with an economical one, and in many cases will
bring even less in market, in proportion as the dwelling is expensive.

Fancy purchasers are few, and fastidious, while he who buys only for a
home and an occupation, is governed solely by the profitable returns
the estate will afford upon the capital invested.
There is again a grand error which many fall into in building, looking
as they do only at the extent of wood and timber; or stone and mortar in
the structure, and paying no attention to the surroundings, which in
most cases contribute more to the effect of the establishment than the
structure itself, and which, if uncultivated or neglected, any amount