A Picturesque Villa in America

¶ This villa has been erected in the neighborhood of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and also at Ann Arbor, Michigan, with entire satisfaction to the gentlemanly proprietors. It contains all the apartments necessary to a refined and even luxurious mode of life, as well as the appendages requisite for the independent working of the household economy, which are really indispensable in the country.

Villa

Villa Interiors

¶ The hall A, picture 141, is entered from the veranda F, and contains the main stairs. It is worthy of remark, that all the principal apartments, the kitchen included, are reached from this hall without the necessity of making a thoroughfare of any room, or passing out of doors. The drawing room B is 18 by 31 feet, and is a fine example of a symmetrical apartment susceptible of a high style of finish. The veranda extending around three sides of it is accessible by lengthened windows, and affords a fine promenade around to the conservatory E, and to the tower situated at the rear of the main hall. C is a sitting-room, 18 by 25 feet, from which the conservatory is directly entered by a lengthened window. The dining room D is 18 by 25 feet; the kitchen E is 22 by 24 feet, furnished with range, sink, etc. The one-story building comprises G, a bake-room, 15 by 24 feet, containing an oven; H, the wash-room, 16 by 20 feet; I, a wood-house, 15 by 16 feet; and K, the ice-vault. A close inspection of this plan will enable the reader to perceive that a nmnber of minor appendages not described are included in this arrangement.

Plans

¶ The divisions of the second floor are very plainly illustrated by picture 142. The stair hall is denoted by L, and the four principal bedrooms by M; N is a dressing room for the two front bedrooms, and 0 a large closet to the adjoining bedrooms. A bedroom is denoted by P, and a bathroom and closet by Q and R.. The attic bedrooms are attained by a flight of stairs in the tower beginning on this floor.

Villa Construction

¶ The materials employed in the erection of this villa should all be of first quality and the workmanship done in the most careful, neat, and substantial manner. The nature of the design is such that its stability, when erected, depends on the firm adhesion and rigid qualities of the parts rather than on the gravitation of matter. It was originally prepared with a view to being erected of brick and roofed with slate, but might very properly be built of wood and covered with shingles.

Cost

¶ The cost of this design in the vicinity of Philadelphia, if erected with reference to the above hints, will not vary much from $8000 (1861 price).

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