Looking Around: Transitional Plans

Hello Friends! Today we’ll be talking about the detached houses that marked the period when the railroads were just beginning to expand, and resources started reaching more and more remote locations. Sure, railroads and streetcars were expanding, but modern mass-industrialization was still working out its kinks. Thus, transitionary. This period occurred for most localities between 1800 and 1860. Plans from this period would remain popular well into the 1910s, though the later four-square and bungalow plans would soon overtake them in popularity. 

Working and Middle Class Houses in Georgia. Photo by W.E.B. Du Bois. Public Domain.

Working and middle class houses from this time-period were still relatively plain, and would remain so until the 1890s, when mass-produced architectural details made intricate Victorian ornament (previously only available to the elite and their rambling Queen Anne homes) accessible to the working man. (Of course the elites hated this and decided to move on from the Queen Anne to the Arts and Crafts styles.) 

Increased access to lumber in more remote areas like the Midwest via rail meant the days of sod, logs, clay, and other local materials were coming to an end. Access to high quality and plentiful lumber supplies materialized as a shift from heavy hewn frames of log cabin fame to lightweight and efficient balloon framing techniques. 

Balloon framing ensured that a large number of houses could be built more quickly and efficiently. As the technique became more common more people were able to build more house for less money.

Balloon Framing. Public Domain.

However there were still divisions between working and middle class housing. From 1800-1860, extended porches and rooms with differentiated uses (e.g. separate kitchen and dining rooms) were common middle class features. Later, the distinction between working and middle class housing was whether or not one had indoor plumbing in either the kitchen or an indoor bathroom. 

The Plans

Thomas Hubka separates transitional common houses into three main groups of plans: Side-Gable, Parlor By-Pass, and Victorian/Expanded Side-Hall Types.

Side-Gable Plans

Side-Gable plans are exactly what they sound like: A house with a prominent side gabled roof. They also go by “Temple-and-Wing, Upright-and-Wing, or T-Plan. Of course, no one can agree on which of these terms to use. 

Simple One-Story Plan from Lumberman’s Plan Book 1909. Public Domain.

One-Story Side Gabled House. Photo by W.E.B Du Bois, 1899. Public Domain.

1 ½ story Side-Gabled House in Nebraska, c. 1890. Public Domain. 

A unique feature of early Side-Gable plan types is that the kitchen is usually located in the side-facing “wing” of the house (in the image above, the mass on the right), whereas the front facing gable (two story mass, Left) housed the living room (most common) or a bedroom. Through the years, the kitchen moved towards the rear of the house. 

Expanded Side-Gable

This is the most common layout of 2 (full) story Side Gable homes, common as farmhouses all around the country, but particularly in the Midwest and Great Plains. 

Extended Side-Gable plan, Kansas. The porch and extension are both later additions. 

Parlor By-Pass Plans

Parlor By-Pass plans are called such because the parlor is “By-Passed” via an entry leading to the second room, usually a dining or sitting room that also housed the staircase. This variety of house is common in first-generation suburbs in Rust Belt cities. Their simplicity made them common amongst both working and middle class neighborhoods. 

1 Story Parlor By-Pass plan, Lumberman’s Plan Book 1909. Public Domain. Note how the front room (Living room) is bypassed by the entry into the dining room, though it is common for the porch to enter into both the living and dining rooms. 

Two-Story Parlor By-Pass plan. Sears, 1912. Public Domain. Note the entry into the dining room to which the staircase is attached. In this drawing, the side-gable is overemphasized. 

Early Parlor By-Pass farmhouse in Nebraska. Photo c. 1890s. Public Domain.

A prototypical IRL Parlor By-Pass home in Cleveland, a city with a large number of the plan type. 

“Victorian” or Queen Anne Plan Types

These plan types were most common amongst the middle classes rather than the working class. While the upper classes enjoyed heavily ornamented versions of this plan, its unadorned and often boxy cousin was built in many first generation suburbs. Technically, it is an elaboration on the side-hall plan from last week’s post. Because this house type was commonly built by the upper middle class, it was one of the first to feature full bathrooms and often electricity. 

These house often feature side gables and a pyramidal roof, AKA the prototype for what we know now as a Nub. 

Radford 1903 typical Victorian plan. Public Domain. Note the jutted out dining room and “sitting room” which often materialized on the exteriors as side gables. Note the second story bathroom as well. 

Radford 1903 Elevation. Public Domain.

The abandoned bones of a Victorian plan farmhouse in North Dakota. Public Domain. Note the side and front gables combined in a pyramidal roof. 

Victorian-Plan House in Missouri. Public Domain. Many second-story porches are usually additions from when houses have been subdivided into apartments. 

Expanded Side-Hall Plans

These plans are very common. They are essentially the same as the Side-Hall plans from last week, but with the kitchen attached to the back of the four main rooms. 

Expanded Side Hall house in Idaho. Public Domain. Note how the rear of the house goes three rooms deep. It’s difficult to say whether or not a house is an extended side hall or merely a side hall by looking only at the front. If the roofline continues along the full depth of the home, it is likely an Extended Side Hall.

As we can see in this installment, the our everyday houses are getting larger and more technologically advanced, with increased room differentiation. As mass-production technology further improved during the late 19th Century, more and more features made their way into the hands of more and more families, as we will surely see in next week’s post! Be sure to also stay tuned for next Thursday’s Montana McMansion! 

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Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs in this post are publicly available and are used in this post for the purposes of education, satire, and parody, consistent with 17 USC §107. Manipulated photos are considered derivative work and are Copyright © 2017 McMansion Hell. Please email kate@mcmansionhell.com before using these images on another site. (am v chill about this)

References:

Carter, Thomas, and Elizabeth C. Cromley. Invitation to vernacular architecture: a guide to the study of ordinary buildings and landscapes. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2008.

Gottfried, Herbert, and Jan Jennings. American vernacular buildings and interiors 1870-1960. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009.

Hubka, Thomas C. Houses without names: architectural nomenclature and the classification of Americas common houses. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2013.

McAlester, Virginia, and A. Lee McAlester. A field guide to American houses: the definitive guide to identifying and understanding Americas domestic architecture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.