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Replicating a House Design Without Original Plans

ravyn

Hi team,

I've got a problem, my wife and I are looking to build an approximate replica of my grandparents old house - however the house was built in 1960 and the plans no longer exist.  And to make matters worse, the house itself no longer exists.

Any ideas on how we would even set about replicating the layout of the house?  We have plenty of photos, but not much more than that.

Many thanks,

Ravyn

 
Mar 19, 15 7:40 pm
SneakyPete

This sounds like an excellent job for an architect. If you contact your local AIA chapter (or look online) they can point you in the direction of one who would be interested in talking with you about how to recreate (and improve upon) your desired house deign.

Mar 19, 15 7:42 pm  · 
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Carrera

1960 may be too far back, but depending on where you are the original plans may be archived by the building regulation department, and tax records often have perimeter dimensions….someplace to start with your architect.

Mar 19, 15 9:20 pm  · 
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citizen

Pete, you really are Sneaky.

Mar 20, 15 12:10 am  · 
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ravyn

@Carrera - I spoke to the local council who basically said that they didn't have the plans or dimensions.  I wish I could have gone down that path.

@SneakyPete - Thanks!  I shall!
 

---

Without original plans what sort of reference material would be the most helpful to an architect? 

Many thanks,

Ravyn

Mar 21, 15 1:36 pm  · 
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Carrera

Ravyn, I claim to be able to replicate a floor plan of any mid century home just by looking at the exterior windows, pretty predicable stuff, bet any architect could do that for you from your photos.

Mar 21, 15 1:46 pm  · 
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awaiting_deletion

the photos would be enough and if there are any period related homes possibly in the same  subdivision (if applicable) still standing you could essentially tell your Architect to compare the real dimensions of the remaining built structures with the photos, etc...maybe gain access....

as Carrera says he could make the plan from the photos, and many architects could figure that out as well.

Mar 21, 15 2:25 pm  · 
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threadkilla

If you can, write a narrative of how you remember the house - details about what made living there memorable/important enough to cause you to want to recreate the house now. How the rooms felt, how you would move around the house, where things were stored - that sort of thing. This would hopefully help your architect to guide the design in areas where the photos might not be enough.

Mar 21, 15 6:58 pm  · 
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geezertect

As said, propert;y records should give you the perimeter dimensions.  Photos will tell you the exterior materials.  Sketching out the room arrangement as best you can remember.  Drawings for a fifty plus year old house will probably be impossible to find unless it was some kind of high end custom and you can find out the builder or architect.  But, they are probably both dead by now.

In the end, the house will probably not feel like you remember.  If you are trying to recapture your childhood memories, you should prepare for disappointment.  As Thomas Wolfe said, you can't go home again.

Mar 21, 15 7:06 pm  · 
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Volunteer

But William Faulkner said: "The past is never dead. It is not even past."

Mar 23, 15 6:22 pm  · 
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curtkram

my past has passed.

Mar 23, 15 10:11 pm  · 
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Do not dwell in the past

do not dream of the future

concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Mar 23, 15 10:53 pm  · 
 · 

Do you have photos. The more photos of it, the better. Another is look at Sanborne fire insurance map, if you are lucky, you might have a relative profile and approximate size.

1960s, city records are probably submitted into state archives or lost for good. However, you may look to historic / heritage museum and see what they might have because they may have more photos that shows the house. Your best start is family photos. You can roughly estimate dimensions by using components of relatively known scale like doors which will likely be 32" wide for interior doors and 36" wide for exterior and 6'8 to 7'0 tall opening.

If it is built in the 1960, it is probably ranch style so it is possible to ascertain its plan typology as there is common formulas. If it was a tract developer, they may very well possibly still exist or you can track through the records and some research follow through who they are today. It is possibly construction variant of a stock plan that they have. You can then through photos determine the variations. 

Where may this be located. In part your memory of the place will often be close but photos archives is your best bet. I think many of us (architects. building designers, etc.) can help discern some dimensions using our knowledge of construction systems used, material, components, etc. It would take time. 

Scan the photos into a computer and we (architects, building designers, etc. and not just those of use on this site) can take a photo that is near orthographic and basically get a orthographic projection and get some approximate dimensions from elements and then can figure out the rest. It won't be easy and nor perfect but we can probably get fairly close. 

I recommend finding someone experienced in historic buildings research, an architect/designer familiar with dealing with finding documents on buildings existing or no longer existing. The methods would be similar to even older buildings.

Preferably someone local to you and the house that no longer exists that you can work with. If you are not local to me, it would be very difficult for me to go to the places and do the research but it isn't always impossible but it can be incredibly difficult if their is very poor record keeping available so photo scraps is your best visual record you may have. 

Mar 24, 15 2:27 am  · 
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As I and others have said, I didn't look at what others said when I wrote my prior post ----- photos is going to be your best records and your recollection of room layout unless you can find information that leads you to copies of the plans. Chances are, those are lost.

A question you may ask is how close of a replication do you really want. The feel or an exact. It is easier to design something new that draws from the old house for inspiration but it would be something you may want to do that matches your needs not needs of your grandparents in the 1960s. It isn't like you want to live in the 1960s exactly. You have contemporary living needs that the original 1960s house would have accommodated for obvious reasons.

There is something characteristic about the original house that you want to recapture in the spirit of it in the new house so that is something you'll need to communicate and understand with your design professional.

Mar 24, 15 2:35 am  · 
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Step 1. Get the photos together

Step 2, picture the house as you remember it and sketch out room layouts in relation to each other. Keeping an note or arrow pointing to the direction of the front of the house from the street. 

Organize photos of each room. 

There is probably a great room/living room

Possibly a dining/breakfast room

kitchen

one or more bathrooms

a number of bedrooms

likely a garage. Often the garage is located near the kitchen but not always. 

Keep in mind how you remember it and how the photos depict because the photos are more likely the most empirical evidence you have.

If you can reasonably visualize where the windows and doors are besides what the photo indicates, that will be helpful for you.

Mar 24, 15 2:44 am  · 
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Volunteer

He was born in the summer of his twenty-seventh year, going home to a place he had never been before... John Denver

Mar 24, 15 8:07 am  · 
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