Thomas Jefferson once wrote,
"Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down one, of my
favorite amusements."
I
couldn't agree more. In fact, if I were more mathematically inclined,
I would probably be an architect and not a librarian. For years I have
scribbled on reams of paper and built castles in the air, but my 12
acres in Missouri gave me the first opportunity to really build
something I had designed. For months I made drawings and models,
trying to design something I liked that we could afford to build. I wanted
something relatively simple in plan and facade, suitable to the area,
but with a touch of whimsy. The drawings on this page show a couple of
my ideas. The one constant in all the designs was that the basic frame
would be a pole structure of one sort or another.
Even the most un-skilled
carpenter can manage to cob together some sort of pole building, improve it bit by bit, into a comfortable and suitable home. Pole
buildings are extremely flexible and forgiving of small errors in the
laying out and general construction.
Once we bought
the shed and built that first addition, the plans began to shape
themselves around the existing building. I discovered that I
wasn't allowed to build under the power lines, which meant I couldn't
build to the south. All through the winter of 2000, I worked on
variations of one l
shaped plan that would give us 3 good bedrooms, a dining room, as well
as a great room for living and entertaining. I also wanted to put the
bathroom and kitchen in one area to save on plumbing. I intended to
heat the whole place with fireplaces . There were also provisions for
a guest building, a drive through loggia (a sort of glorified car
port), and a separate room for all my dogs.
