# New Replica Historic House Plans - Link: https://www.oldhouseguy.com/new-historic-house/ - Published: 2022-12-23T10:53:28-05:00 - Author: Ken Roginski As families grow homeowners may require extra space. An extra bathroom, bedroom, etc., is needed and adding onto a historic home may be difficult or impossible. If an addition is not designed correctly it can destroy the integrity of the design and sadly become a Frankenstein house. **Realizing a family’s needs are changing and it is time to MOVE to a more suitable house is commendable.** We are merely stewards of a house passing it on to future families as preserved as we can. As John Ruskin stated [“Old Buildings are Not Ours . . .” ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/john-ruskin/) So, while** “_Old House Living” _is not for everyone**. A new old style house can be built with New **Reproduction House Plans that can be modified without harming history.** ![blue print for historic house](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/wp-content/uploads/ 2022/12/blueprint-300x300.jpg) ## A New Old-House is a Great Idea. A wonderful option for these families and anyone that loves the style of a vintage home but still would like to incorporate their own thing is to build a new house. You may want a house to be [built like an Old English Cottage.  ](https://hookedonhouses.net/2019/03/19/fig-tree-cottage-tamborine-mountain-au/) You can still have that Queen Anne Victorian style you love built new without any fear of any negative impact. You will not be one of the homeowners in the article [Death of a Cottage ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/cottage-additions/). See how the slightest changes build up over the years. [⌊new construction farmhouse⌉⌊new construction farmhouse⌉[ Although this house looks like it was built in 1880, it is actually new construction. Plans are from Southern Living. If you really look close there are a LOT of design problems with this house that even I did not notice. See the comments section for a readers critique that is spot on. ## Beware of a Bad Interpretation of a Historic House Today there are many Victorian Revivals and Craftsman Revivals being built, but most I see are design by [architects that have no clue on what to do ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/contemporary-victorian-design/). I review many drawings for new period houses. Some are very well done but many just look like clowns. Different styles are combined, and proportion and balance is not considered. Current construction is stitched together with semi-traditional pieces of architecture. There are just enough traditional pieces thrown in to make it look vaguely traditional at first glance just as Frankenstein looked vaguely human at first. **Traditional architecture and Classic design is no longer taught to architects today** so we really can’t blame them for a bad design. Unfortunately the burden falls on you the client, that must know better. Don’t worry, there are [Historic Preservation Architects ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/modern-architects-and-historic-preservation/) with the traditional design training available. They can design a 100 year old looking dream house to fit your new needs and you don’t have to worry about messing up a real historic house. ![victorian revival](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/contemporary- victorian-design-problems-600x4101-600x410.jpg) New badly designed Victorian Revival. ## What Clients Designing New Construction Usually Do. A client may first draw up a floor plan and find pictures of houses they like. They then bring this to an architect to interpret their needs and preferences into a design. The architect then draws up an elevation and floor plan for a new house. This is when the client will contact me to review the elevation. Correcting design problems is not always easy. It can be like fitting a round peg into a square hole. It will also be an extra cost by the architect for any revisions of his/her mistakes. **The biggest mistake made today is to begin designing a house on the interior.** Never do that. The result is an unbalanced mess on the exterior. **ALWAYS begin with the exterior!** As all old homes you can tell what rooms are where from the exterior but not so much with new homes. Still even with the best plans, **the builder can easily modify them to cut his costs without you even noticing.** When I worked on projects at the New Jersey Historic Trust, the architect was required to oversee the work of the builders and sign off on each phase. While this provides the homeowner with assurance it also costs the homeowner an additional fee. Having an architect interpret your interests increases your costs. **One way to reduce this cost is to purchase already made plans.** Below is a listing of companies that offer replica historic house plans.  If not very authentic, they are at least acceptable replicas of historic styled homes. The job does not end here unfortunately. You may still need an architect for any modifications. **Having these plans and an architect does in NO WAY promise a nicely designed historic building.** [⌊historic house plans⌉⌊historic house plans⌉[ Historic house plans. Remember that since WWII the course work did not include training in Traditional Architecture. Actually it was frowned upon especially since Hitler was a big fan. This is where the hatred of traditional design as people loved and were accustomed to began. Unless your architect is certified as a Historic Preservation Architect, good luck! **Watch the video below to see how a homeowner and an architect designing a house can go wrong.** you really should subscribe to this! Brent Hull also designs and constructs traditional homes with top quality and authenticity. His craftsmanship cannot be compared to any others. Here is the link to Hull Building. ## Historic House Plans for Free: Back in the day there were catalogs and plan books that a homeowner would choose a house from. Builders were well versed and understood design – far from the idiots today. Go here to see listing of [catalogs of historic home photos, plans, architectural features, and a lot of other stuff. ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/catalogs/)  The following is a listing of architects that produce authentic designs. I have not worked with any of them so please do your homework and be careful. You can always run a design by me. **Remember, the interior of a house is never designed before the exterior. **It’s easy to tell those that are for the facade will look confusing. (not in any order) [⌊bungalow style home⌉⌊bungalow style home⌉[ [The Bungalow Company ](https://thebungalowcompany.com/) Period Craftsman, Bungalow, Farmhouse, Foursquare, Garage plans [⌊historic revival⌉⌊historic revival⌉[ [Southern Living House Plans ](https://houseplans.southernliving.com/) Small, medium, and large homes. Craftsman, Farmhouse, Victorian HOWEVER – it has been brought to my attention by a reader that the reproduction house shown above has some major design problems. I will still keep Southern Living listed here but you really have to be careful.  Not sure? Just send me the link and I will take a quick look – hopefully a better look than what I did for the 1880’s house above! [⌊colonial design⌉⌊colonial design⌉[ [Classic Colonial Homes ](https://classiccolonialhomes.com/) New England style Colonial, Saltbox, Gambrel, Cape, etc. [⌊front gabled late victorian⌉⌊front gabled late victorian⌉[ [Home Patterns ](https://homepatterns.com/collections) Arts & Crafts, Bungalow, Farmhouse, Tudor [⌊foursquare⌉⌊foursquare⌉[ [Historical House Plans ](https://www.houseplans.net/historical-house-plans/) All sizes and styles including mansions. [[ [Early New England Homes ](https://www.earlynewenglandhomes.com/) Colonial, Cape, Saltbox etc. [⌊arts & crafts homes⌉⌊arts & crafts homes⌉[ [The Plan Collection ](https://www.theplancollection.com/styles/arts-and-crafts-house-plans) Many styles. Arts & Crafts seems the best. Not all are original but mostly a revival style. [⌊antique home plans⌉⌊antique home plans⌉[ [Antique Home Style Plans ](https://www.oldhouseguy.com/catalogs/) This is an Old House Guy listing by year, a variety of authentic archived catalogs etc. You will find catalogs on furniture but also many home brochures that you can get ideas from and more importantly to study to make sure they house you are building is correctly designed. There are also builders catalogs to get a closer look at what was available at that time. [⌊greek revival⌉⌊greek revival⌉[ [Allison Ramsey Architects ](https://allisonramseyhouseplans.com/) A variety of replica historic homes all sizes. [⌊storybook homes⌉⌊storybook homes⌉[ [Storybook Homes ](http://storybookhomes.com/) Currently not taking on any new projects. [Here is the link ](https://web.archive.org/web/20160314041227/http:/storybookhomes.com/order/) to what they offer although it is temporally down. [[ [Bungalow Roots Architecture ](https://www.bungalowroots.com/) Building new Bungalow dream homes. [[ [KJM Design Studio ](https://www.kjmdesignstudio.com/) I have seen astonishing plans by this architect and was shocked how perfectly authentic his work is. Highly recommended. ## Historic Buildings For Sale to be Moved to Your Location. There are houses that unfortunately must be moved or demolished. [Check out this listing here. ](https://historic-architecture.com/historicbuildings.html)