“Classic Old House Plan”, by Lawrence Grow

Grow, Lawrence. Classic Old House Plans: Three Centuries of American Domestic Architecture. Pittstown, NJ: Main Street, 1984. Print.

I’ve been looking for books of old house plans, in an effort to understand the original room functions of our 1913 3-up, 3-down farmhouse.  This book seemed to have good potential, especially when I read the preface, which said “Little attention is paid to… the commonplace”, and he promises to address that.  The first couple of buildings were neat, with not just floor plans, but elevations and sections too.  I couldn’t help but notice that the next two houses were, well, pretty grand… and on page 28 I threw down the book in disgust when I saw the house included a ballroom!  Apparently Grow’s ideas of “the commonplace” are still not as down to earth as mine.

The chapter on Gothic Revival was interesting as usual, but I’ve already read the original Downing book that his example came from, so there was nothing new for me.

Oddly, there is no bibliography.  Also no index.