Historic Home Plans ... the start of a new venture for me, your blogger, Antonio Bettencourt.
Traditional homes have long held a fascination for me, as they do for so many of us, not only for their intrinsic beauty, but also for what they reveal about the lives of the people who lived ... and live ... in them... for what they tell us about our past and ourselves. Eventually I plan to create a commercial site, where I will be selling construction drawings of my own traditional home designs. My house plans will be based on actual examples of traditional house plans.
In the process of working towards this long term goal I've been doing a lot of research on the traditional styles that have flourished here in the USA, over the passage of the last three centuries. I've found many interesting resources, some more accessible than others. My goal with this blog and with my sister site, HistoricHomePlans.net, is to share these resources with all who are interested in learning more about what makes our traditional, historic home styles so distinct and unique.
The Historic American Building Survey is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in first hand information on historic homes. The HABS is a part of the Library of Congress and a repository for thousands of architectural plans, measured drawings of historic homes. Over the last roughly 100 years countless individuals have gone out 'in the field' and measured buildings in all 50 states, created architectural plans and deposited them with the HABS. It is a real treasure trove of historic house plans, as well as drawings of many other kinds of structures such as bridges and industrial buildings.
These historic home plans are available to all, through the HABS website. But they are in rather akward formats that don't readily lend themselves to perusal on a computer monitor. So I have been making copies of these home plans, making the necessary formatting changes and arranging for the printing of these home plans on large format sheets (18"x24" or 24"x36"). These are the sizes of the original architectural home plans, the 'blueprints'. I am making these beautiful, large scale prints are available for purchase through eBay, and eventually, directly through my HistoricHomePlans.net website as well. If you are interested in seeing the plans I presently have for sale please visit my eBay seller page and view my "items for sale", which you will find just below my photo.
As I discover and develop these resources further I will be posting information on this blog. So please come back and visit often. On at least a weekly basis I expect to be writing short posts about specific historic homes, with photos and home plans. I am doing this for your enjoyment and to encourage a deeper understanding of traditional American architecture.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post your comments to me. To avoid spam posts I will be moderating all comments. So they may not show up right away. But be patient. I will certainly get to your comments within a few days. I welcome hearing from you all and look forward to reading your insights as well as sharing my own with you.
Historic House Plans ... homes that have stood the test of time... homes that reflect our unique American history, this place, its diverse climates and material resources, the blends of cultures from all over the world that have come together to make this country a great country... These are some of the things I will be writing about soon.
Peace, happiness and good health to you all.
Antonio
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