Bicknell's Victorian Buildings

Just about any of the many Victorian plan books reprinted by Dover is an excellent investment, but this is one of my top favorites. Within a single slender volume you'll find houses ranging from tiny "cheap" cottages (they could be built for $750) to a pair of opulent $30,000 mansions (an 18-room Mansard and a towered 19-room Gothic masonry "farm house"). There are also carriage houses and stables (from a two-stall, $500 board-and-batten back-yard style to a sprawling cupolaed masonry version), schoolhouses with two and six classrooms, churches from village to cathedral size, two dignified courthouses, a jail with keeper's quarters, and elevations (though unfortunately no floor plans) of several "business blocks" (store-and-office buildings). If you've ever wanted to get an idea of the kinds of buildings among which our small-town Victorian ancestors moved, this is a great book to start with.

This book was initailly published with the intent of allowing a builder to construct an entire town. Therefore, there are examples of single family houses (mostly), apartments, duplexes, churches, barns, and commercial buildings. Most elevations have floor plans attached as well as ornamental detail for the elevations. An interesting aspect of the book is the inclusion of contracts for constuction- if only things could be that simple again! I recommend this book for victorian architecture lovers.