Timber Framers Guild Forums General Barns and Traditional Timberframing First Period plans/blueprints.....where to find?

I am interested in building a first period home in the mid-atlantic/DC area but I am not sure where to find plans and/or a reasonable architect with timber framing experience/insight who could create them.

I want to build a two story home, roughly 45 x 35. Reclaimed barn construction is a thought, though I would rather at most of the house be new.

thanks
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

What is "first period" and does this relate to a particular house style ?

Regards

Ken Hume

Hi Ken

Hmm, as I understand it, "first period" is the term often associated with the earliest of established colonial architecture....from about 1620 to 1720-1730 or so. Basically the 17th century, but extending somewhat into the first few decades of the 18th.

I hope to do a lot of the work myself, but I am not an architect/engineer so I need some assistance creating plans that would pass inspection. To those ends, my primary goal is to maintain as much authenticity as possible, such that HVAC, plumbing, elec, are all shrewdly disguised, camouflaged into the structure.

cheers
Drew

Hi Andrew,

You could do no worse than check out "The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay 1625 - 1725 by Abbott Lowell Cummings as this contains details of many "first period" houses including the oldest standing timber framed building in New England - The Fairbanks House (1637), Dedham, Mass.

Regards

Ken Hume

Something to look at, thanks Ken.

Happy New Year btw

Hi Andrew;

I am not an architect but I am experienced with ancient houses. I would enjoy helping you design a first period house. A number of people have built them, but I do not know of any "stock" plans to follow.

Other excellent books with great first period details are:
http://books.google.com/books?id=uKQgAAA...p;q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=xW1NAAA...mes&f=false

Also the White Pine Series may provide some interesting details, including measured drawings!

http://books.google.com/books?id=EbMAAAA...p;q&f=false

If you are in an area with building codes than it will be tricky since stairways and window openings in these houses are nowhere close to code-compliant.

Are you talking about a first period house from New England or one from the south like Virginia?

Jim

Hi Jim,

I downloaded a pdf version of the first two listed books above by Isham & Brown from The Internet Archive. For some reason I never seem able to download books from Google. The books that you reference are quite early (1908) in terms of their content and style and are a veritable treasure trove of building recordings which does indeed provide details of timber sizes, layout, etc. of first period East coast buildings.

I did my masters dissertation employing a similar styled book by architect Ralph Nevill on Old Cottage and Domestic Architecture in SW Surrey (1889), using his book as a benchmark from which I undertook a desk and field based research project to determine the size and extent to which buildings change over the centuries. This book can be downloaded from :-

http://www.archive.org/details/oldcottagedomest00neviuoft

as can the others that you referenced above by searching for Isham & Brown.

More links like this please.

Regards

Ken Hume

Interesting book. Thanks Ken.

Other classic American books are:

Domestic architecture of the American colonies and of the early republic By Fiske Kimball
http://books.google.com/books?id=ApwsAAA...own&f=false

These are not free, but they are classics:
Anything by Frank Cousins such as:
http://books.google.com/books?id=75oaAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Frank+Cousins%22&hl=en&ei=L1xFTeraLoL2gAf1p8neAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Anything by Robert Blair St. George:
http://books.google.com/books?id=PcT9nDI8Q-wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22robert+blair+st+george%22&hl=en&ei=H11FTZHLHIrZgQeuoKiUAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

or anything by Henry Chandlee Forman such as:
http://books.google.com/books?id=AK0yAQAAIAAJ&q=inauthor:%22Henry+Chandlee+Forman%22&dq=inauthor:%22Henry+Chandlee+Forman%22&hl=en&ei=jF9FTYXlN4_rgQfHp5GHAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBQ


If you have a good idea of what you are looking for, the Vernacular Architecture Forum maintains a searchable bibliography currently over 26,000 books and articles:
http://filemaker.umw.edu:591/FMRes/FMPro?-DB=VA%20Bibliography.fp5&-Lay=Layout%20%231&-Token=25&-Format=ZTableVw.htm&-Error=ZErr.htm&-Findall


That should keep you busy!

Jim

Someone I have worked with often and admire is John Mumaw. He lives in Floyd, VA and currently serves on the TFG board of directors. Some years back, we worked together on building a residence modelled after Poplar Forest (Jefferson's summer home. It turned out really well.

Good luck.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the HABS/HAER collection of the Library of Congress. (Historic American Buildings Survey)

Accessible online, it is a fantastic and comprehensive resource including many early homes, many with detailed drawings - some right down to moldings and hardware.

<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/>

Pete