Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1894 — A PAIR OF HOUSES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PAIR OF HOUSES.

CAN BE ERECTED AT A COST OF 53,000. Thi* Double Boom Should Be the Property of One Man and He Can Rent Half If He Like*, or Improve According to Hl* Own Taste. A Model Home. Times, places and circumstances have at all periods been found to be good governors of parties who have, or may have had, real estate that they wanted to improve, and among the many ways that have yet been devised to produce a large amount of room at a small cost, giving the necessary accommodations to separate families, the double house undoubtedly standi ahead as far as economy is concerned; one lot is thus made to do the duty of two. one chimney, one wall and one roof doing likewise; and while we have

not fully made up our minds to accept the double-house system as a sure indication of the near approach of the millennium, yet we are willing to accept it as a nearer approach to the attainment of a home—even though it may seem to be only half a home—than that system, so prevalent in our country at the present day, of putting one family on a floor directly over another, the beauties of which is a theme poets never sing about; and while the double house has its many drawbacks, such as the owner of one-half painting the exterior white and the other brown, as is frequently the case, plenty of proof of which can be seen; or one adding a bay-window and enlarging, while the other is anxious to sell out on account of his neigbor’s disposition to be always making improvements, with which his pocket-book will not allow him to keep pace, and plenty of like trouble in the same spirit that we could enumerate, all of

which we know from actual observation and experience. The double-house should be the property of one man, as he can live in one-half and either rent the other or let itstand empty to suit his pleasure; can paint, tear down, and build up to suit his fancy; or can make both sides into one should his family wants demand it, and thus eventually convert it into a home; for we must say that the half-double house never yet associated itself in our minds other than as a mere stopping place, wherein we are waiting for the home that is to be, and sometimes never comes. The design here illustrated shows a neat and attractive front; and One which cannot fail to please even the most fastidious double-house critic, and if they are as numerous all over the country as here, they are legion. The halls are in the center of the building, stairs being placed back from front doors, which gives a roomy entrance—the stairs to cellar being under main stairs, and reached from the kitchen. Each half contains six good rooms, with bath-room, dress-ing-room, pantry, closets, etc., etc., with a large attic over the whole, which is divided by center wall running up to roof. The frame is a balloon, sheathed and clapboarded; roof, shingled on lath; underpinning of brick; inside blinds to bay-windows, outside blinds elsewhere, except cellar and dormer.

That it is accomplishing considerable for a small equivalent is fully Seen, when such a house as this is erected in a first-class manner, with all the Improvements, for $3,000. (Copyright by Palliser, Palliser & Co., N. Y.)

PERSPECTIVE VIEW.

PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR.

PLAN OF SECOND FLOOR