AboutRichard Taylor, AIA Expertise Ask me about all aspects of house, remodeling. , and room addition design and construction. Ask me about historic homes, renovation, and restoration. Ask me about materials and techniques, and about how you can get the best value for your design and construction dollar. Ask me how you can make your home a very special place. I can't, however, answer specific structural engineering questions in this forum - that's something you'll need on-site observation for.
Experience I own a five-person residential architectural firm, and have been designing custom homes, remodelings, and room additions across the country since 1983. Check us out at Richard Taylor Architects and RTA Plans. I have written and been published extensively on the subject of residential architecture.
Organizations American Institute of Architects, City of Dublin Architectural Review Board, City of Dublin Planning and Zoning Commission, American Planning Association, Past Editor of SPLASH (a software forum), Past Editor of Open Directory Project, Boy Scouts of America
Education/Credentials Bachelor of Environmental Design (Architecture) Miami University 1983
For more about home design, check out my blog at Richard Taylor Architects Looking for great Luxury Home House Plans? Try ours at RTA Plans.
We are building Italianate style house with belvedere. Shingles are going on today. I am trying to keep the house as authentic as possible withouth breaking the bank. Can you recommend any books or websites that will help me in designing the house inside and out? Ex: What types of faucets go with that style? Stair post newels? I have researched the web a bit but everything is scattered and not very clear. Attached is a 3-D picture. Thanks for your help.
Answer Heather - thanks for your question!
You're off to a pretty good start, but there are a few things you need to change on the exterior to make it more authentic. First is the shutters - extremely rare on Italianates, and never "colonial" shutters. Second is the windows - a hallmark of Italianate design is tall, narrow windows. You've got Colonial window proportions on there now. Italianates were designed to look tall; squatty windows like those are inappropriate.
Third is the front porch - again, go for the verticals. Get rid of the shingled hipped roof, go with a very low-pitched metal roof, and raise the entablature as high up as you can.
Finally, the color scheme. White and yellow is a colonial palette, these homes were typically darker, bolder colors (even though many have been repainted in lighter colors in the last few decades).
The best resource for Italianate exteriors is McAlester's "A Field Guide To American Houses". For original drawings of first-generation Italianates, look for Andrew Jackson Downing's pattern books from the early 20th century (some are available at Dover Books online). Dover also has lots of other pattern books, you can probably find one about Italianates (and they're cheap, too).
I don't know of any books for the interiors, but you should look at www.period-homes.com and www.oldhousejournal.com. Both of these websites (and magazines) has extensive resources for period fixtures and details.
Hope this helps,
Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtastudio.blogspot.com
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