Old-Fashioned Houses, Drawn by an Old-Fashioned Draftsman
I’ve been drawing buildings for most of my working life. I started back when drafting meant a drawing board, T-square, triangles, pencils, and erasers. Long before CAD became commonplace, a draftsman learned to understand how a building went together by drawing every line by hand.
My early drafting training included U.S. Navy extension courses in the 1970s. My first civilian drafting work was with a land surveyor, and over the years I continued learning the trade, eventually working under a licensed architect for about six and a half years.
I’ve also taught drafting, both in the classroom and through online drafting courses. When computer-aided drafting came along, I made the move from the drawing board to CAD. But I’ve never forgotten what I learned at the board.
That’s part of the reason this website is called DraftingBoard.us.
Why Victorian and Queen Anne Houses?
I’ve always appreciated the character of older homes, especially Victorian and Queen Anne architecture.
These houses weren’t just boxes with roofs over them. They had character. Porches, towers, bays, steep gables, decorative trim, interesting rooflines, tall windows, and other details gave each house its own personality.
Unfortunately, many beautiful old house plans survive today only as illustrations, old book plates, catalog pages, or incomplete drawings. They may show us what the house looked like, but they don’t necessarily provide the kind of drawings someone would want if they were seriously considering building the house today.
That’s where DraftingBoard.us comes in.
My goal is to take the character and appearance of these classic houses and develop practical house plans around them.
Preserving the Old While Accommodating the New
I’m not interested in taking a beautiful Queen Anne house and redesigning it until it looks like every other modern house in the neighborhood.
The purpose is just the opposite.
Where practical, I want to preserve the appearance and architectural character that made these houses special in the first place.
At the same time, we don’t build houses exactly the way they were built 100 or 125 years ago. Building materials have changed. Construction methods have changed. Electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems have changed. Building codes have certainly changed.
Families live differently today, too.
So these plans may incorporate modern construction methods and practical interior arrangements while retaining as much of the original exterior character as reasonably possible.
In simple terms, the house should still look like the old house.
These Aren’t Just Old Plan Scans
There are plenty of places on the Internet where you can find scans of old house catalogs and historic floor plans. I enjoy looking through them myself.
But DraftingBoard.us has a different purpose.
The plans offered here are professionally drafted plan sets intended to provide substantially more information than you would get from an old catalog illustration or historic floor plan.
Depending upon the particular design, a plan set may include floor plans, elevations, foundation information, building sections, roof information, construction details, and other drawings necessary to describe the house.
Each design is different, so always check the individual plan description to see exactly what is included.
A Word About Building Codes
Building codes vary considerably from one location to another. They can also change over time.
For that reason, no stock house plan can reasonably guarantee approval in every city, county, or state in the country.
Before construction, you should have your plans reviewed for the requirements of your local building department. Depending upon where you live, your jurisdiction may also require modifications, engineering, energy calculations, site-specific foundation design, or the seal of a licensed architect or engineer.
That’s normal with stock house plans, whether they’re Victorian, Queen Anne, Colonial, Craftsman, or contemporary.
My objective is to give you a good, professionally drafted starting point.
From My Drafting Board to Yours
DraftingBoard.us is a small operation, and I intend to keep it that way.
I’m a draftsman, not a big house-plan corporation.
I’ve spent decades drawing buildings, studying construction, teaching drafting, and working with homeowners and clients. Over the years, I’ve completed hundreds of architectural drawings for new homes, businesses, additions, and other projects.
DraftingBoard.us gives me an opportunity to combine that experience with something I particularly enjoy, bringing classic American house designs back to the drafting board.
If you appreciate tall windows, broad porches, interesting rooflines, towers, bays, gingerbread, and the unmistakable character of Victorian and Queen Anne homes, you’re in the right place.
These houses belong to another era.
That doesn’t mean we can’t build them today.