The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1919)

.ON THE DESIGNING OF COTTAGES AND SMALL HOUSES


LOCAL . GOVERNMENT BOARD PLAN, TYPE Ilia (PAGE 2o)

agreement. The Advisory Committee on rural cottages appointed by the
President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1913, considered
this question of accommodation and sizes for cottage rooms, and published
the following figures wh ich may be regarded as desirable minimum, though
not maximum, dimensions :

House without Parlour.
Floor
areas in
square
feet.
Cubic
centents
in cubic
feet.*
House with Parlour.
Floor
areas in
square
feet.
Cubic
contents
in cubic
feet.*
Living-room
180
I4+°
Parlour
Living-room
120
180
960
H4°
Scullery
so
640
Scullery
80
640
Larder
24
—
Larder
24
—
Bedroom, No. 1 .
150
1200
Bedroom, No. 1 .
160
1280
„ „ 2 .
IOO
800
„ „ 2 .
120
960
» >> 3 •
65
520
» ,/• 3 •
IIO
880

Whether a bath should be included in a cottage plan, or omitted from it,
is a question that has exercised the minds of many people interested in the
problem of the small house. In theory there is no doubt that every dwell-
ing, however small, should have its own bath. But actual experience does
not always agree with theoretical conclusions. The cottage bath, con-
sidered from the practical standpoint, means an initial cost, and a standing
expense in fuel for maintenance. All who have made a study of cottages
and cottage folk know that in some cases the bath is never used, and oc-
casionally it is relegated to base purposes for which it was never intended.
* The cubic contents are computed by multiplying the floor areas by 8 feet, the assumed
average height of the rooms.

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