Wood Frame & Plaster House

¶ A plaster house upon which wood has been liberally used.

Plaster House.
Front of the house showing effect of porches with wooden balustrades.

¶ We have always found the combination of rough finished plaster with plenty of exterior woodwork to be very attractive, and this house is a good example of the way in which we relieve the severity of the plain plaster cast. The design of the house is not as straight and massive as is usual with the Craftsman cement or plaster houses, yet it is very simple, and the exterior features are such as to make for great durability.

Plaster House Plans

¶ The foundation of the house as shown is of very hard and rough red brick as to the visible part. Should this brick not be easily obtainable or too costly in the local market, a quarry faced, broken-joint ashlar or some darker stone would be very effective with either gray or green cement. As to the woodwork, we would suggest cypress, which is inexpensive, durable and beautiful in color and grain when finished according to the process we describe elsewhere in this book. The color under this treatment is a rich warm brown which, when used for the half timber construction, window framings and balustrades, would look equally well with plaster either left in the natural gray or given a tone of biscuit color or of dull green.

Wainscot.
Detail drawing showing construction and placing of wainscot, door, staircase and landing.

¶ Some idea of the interior woodwork is given in the detail drawings. A great deal of wood is used in the form of wainscoting, grilles and the like, and the whole scheme of decoration and furnishing naturally is founded on this use of wood. It would be best to treat the upper walls and ceilings of the hall, living room and dining room alike, as the object is to give a sense of space, dignity and restfulness to the part of the house that is most lived in and this effect is best obtained by having no change in the background. The rooms open into each other in such a way as to suggest one large room irregularly shaped and full of recesses, and any marked difference in the treatment of the walls is apt to produce an effect of patchiness as well as the restlessness that comes from marked variations in our home surroundings.