A Victorian Housebuilder's Guide: Woodward's National Architect of 1869

An insightful little book on the construction of these beutiful homes. However it does lack complete floor plans. Otherwise a delight for those interested in architecture or this wonderful period.

Titling this book, "A Victorian Housebuilder's Guide" is a bit off the mark. It would be better titled, "A Victorian House Buyer's Guide". It includes great illustrations showing both elevation and dimensional views, floor plans with dimensions that are larger than most, specification lists for the carpenters, masons, and plumbers, and some sectional views for some details. What it lacks is more of those sectional views to educate you as to how these things were built. Overall this book is better than some, but not as good as it could be.

Dover's edition of Woodward's National Architect is and excellent resource for those who wish to know what went into building those 1870 period Victorians. It is interesting from many perspectives- historical, aesthetic, and even chemical! The Victorians used a surprising amount of lead in their homes- in their paint and in their pipes. The book contains many illustrations as well as instructions for contrators and even a suggested contract! One of my favorite illustrations are the two pages of Victorian mantle designs towards the end of the book. Great for someone needing to restore, reconstruct or replace a mantle from that period. Most are in the Eastlake style. I would say it would be more useful for someone restoring a Victorian home, but the historical tidbits do make for an interesting read for anyone curious about how those beauties were created.

This reprint of "Woodward's National Architect of 1869" is the earliest example of its kind I've seen Dover bring out yet. Like all the Dover paperbacks, it's technically excellent, well bound, printed on sturdy paper, and clearly reproduced. What makes it valuable to me is the era it focuses on. There are plenty of plan books dating from the mid-'70's onward, but these transitional years aren't so well covered.The only thing that keeps me from ranking it at four stars is that it is somewhat "lumbered" (pun intended) with carpenter's and mason's specs explaining how the houses are to be built--something most historians and architecture mavens aren't likely to find very useful. This means it includes only 20 designs, plus a rich assortment of architectural details in the back of the book. For the most part these are what we would call "middle-class" houses--not too big, not too small--plus an icehouse, a boathouse, a scholhouse, and a tidy family stable, and wouldn't seem out of place in any community, East or West, in the land. This is a book that would be useful to the researcher as well as the casual lover of Victorian architecture.

This is one of the better Victorian pattern books reprinted by Dover. It consists of 100 plates covering designs from small homes to a large brick mansion, and several auxilliary building designs. The book also includes several example contracts for finishing some of the homes; with carpenters', masons', and plumbers' specifications. The designs themselves are fairly detailed; with cross sections, interior, and exterior details. One of the best features is the superimposed cross sections on fretwork details; showing how many of these complicated peices are constructed from simple boards.If you are intrested in Victorian buildings, for whatever reason, I suggest buying this book. Although not exstensive the the number of designs covered, only twenty, it offers one a good source of information. This book is far more detailed than the later Woodward's also reissued by Dover, and most later pattern books. If you enjoy the books by Vaux or Downing you should find this a nice addition to your library.