Victorian House Plans by a Woman

By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide

Pictured here is an artist's rendering of an 1847 plan by Matilda W. Howard of Albany, New York. The Committee on Farm Dwellings for the New York State Agricultural Society awarded Mrs. Howard $20 and published her plan in their annual report.

In Mrs. Howard's design, the kitchen opens to a passageway leading to a dairy room, an ice house and a woodhouse. The arrangement of the rooms - and the provision for a well-ventilated dairy - were designed to "combine utility and beauty, as far as practicable with the labor-saving principle," Mrs. Howard wrote.

Could Frank Lloyd Wright say as much?

Next: Mrs. Howard Explains the Second Floor of her Farmhouse >

Introduction: Forgotten Women Designers >

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• Mrs. Howard's Farmhouse Design: Beauty and Utility Combine
• Mrs. Howard's Farmhouse Design: The Second Floor
• Mrs. Howard's Farmhouse Design: The Cellar
• Mrs. Howard's Farmhouse Design: The Dairy

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