THE £150 COTTAGE.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."1 have just been studying the plans of the £150 cottage and the description of it which appear in the last number of the Spectator. As an ex-architect and a landowner who builds a good many cottages, I feel that, having seen these plans, I cannot let them pass without comment. It is of great importance to discover a really cheap type and plan of cottage ; but there are certain essentials which the practical man must not overlook in his search for cheapness. I am building cottages for labourers without a sitting-room; but I give them a kitchen that is a comfortable room, and not lopsided, as the one in the plan given by " S.,"—in it there is really no com- fortable place to sit at all. Then there should be a small range in the scullery; it is misery for the wife to be obliged to cook in the living-room ; there are months when a fire is unbearable in a crowded room. Another thing to remember is that a copper inside the house is often a cause of great dis- comfort from the volumes of steam it gives out, and I am strongly in favour of its being placed in an outhouse. When we come to "S.'s" bedroom plan it is deplorable. He gives three small rooms. Now three bedrooms are a necessity, but one of them at least should be of a fair size for a mother with a family to be able to have one or two cribs or small beds in the room with her. Rooms eight feet wide give absolutely no room for the bed. And bedrooms should be designed to have a proper place for the bed,—how seldom people think of this. It is not nice to have to put a bed across a fireplace or window, yet how generally this is the case. It is far wiser to spend a few pounds more and avoid such serious defects, which cause needless discomfort to those who have to live in these cottages. I find I can build a pair of good cottages without the defects I have pointed out for £350, and surely it is worth the extra £50.—I am, Sir, Sre.,
CHRISTOPHER TURNOR.
["S." informs ns that the wife of the occupant of one of the cottages, a woman of experience and of a superior class, describes the cottage generally as " the most comfortable she has ever lived in." She makes no objection to the lopsided room, but appears to like it. Though no complaints have been made in regard to the bedrooms by those who use them, "S." agrees that it would be better to increase the width of one by two feet and decrease that of the other rooms proportionately. This he intends doing if he builds again. We must not forget that £25 added to the cost of each cottage means at least £1 10s. a year more in rent.—En. Spectator.]
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