Are these houses appropiate for a 1920-30ish game in the Americas?

[Bergh]

Are these houses appropiate for a 1920-30ish game in the Americas?

Both from Sarissa.

Ranch House


Plantation House with Porch and Balcony

[Wirelizard]

I'd say so, yeah. The Ranch House in particular could, with the right paint job and some landscaping around it, be plonked down nearly anywhere up to modern upscale suburbs and look right at home.

[marianas_gamer]

Yes, these will work well.
LB

[Cory]

As has been pointed out, both would be fine. One aspect of the 1920's in the US would be 19th century buildings, many of which would be what people think of as old west in style. Just make them run down with greying wood and they will fit in fine as well.

[CPBelt]

Both work. Paint the "ranch house" white. I think they are being a bit off using "ranch," which most of us think as a one story house. It's more like a farm house. Now you also need  barn.    The "plantation" house is a bit odd for a name, it looks more like a poor person house or something in a small Southern town. Ah, those crazy Brits and their names for American housing.  

[Bergh]

will this barn also be appropriate?

[Elk101]

I'm fairly sure gambrel roofs were in use in America from the late 17th century onwards with lots of examples still around, especially from the 19th century. I have a mate who lives in one of the oldest houses in Rhode Island and if I recall correctly it has a gambrel roof and so does the large barn-like outhouse. I'm sure our American LAFers will be able to confirm or deny!  There's some good knowledge on American buildings on this forum, I've found some of the discussions very interesting indeed.

[LidlessEye]

Many North American barns - even modern ones - have a gambrel roof, so it's certainly a good choice.  Plus Lovecraft seemed obsessed with them, considering the number of references in his work, so you'd be remiss not to have one in your scenery collection!

On the naming of the Ranch House: there are numerous old ranches (and farms, for that matter - architecture doesn't really vary between the two) in my neck of the woods with houses that look just like that.

[timlillig]

The Ranch house looks very big for a typical house.  It seems more like a small mansion or big plantation house.  However, it looks like it could have conceivably been added on to or even constructed from pieces of two older buildings.  Those were two common methods of making larger houses in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The second story porch on the plantation house is uncommon but not unseen outside of the south, but other than that it is a good typical house and I think there may even have been a Sears kit house that looked very similar.

The barn is incredibly common.  As has been said, that model would be comfortable representing almost any time and place in the US.

Overall, lots of styles of buildings are appropriate for the time.  There were housing booms in the 1890s and 1920s, which brought in their own styles that mixed with remaining older buildings.  Reusing, renovating, and even moving existing houses was common for the period.  This can be seen today in most towns that have existed for 100 years or more.

[Bergh]

Thanks for input people, I ask because I as you can think want to use the big "ranch" as something of minor mansion, for a skirmish, its going to half the board effectively. It only got one story, which make it practical for gaming, something which are essential. Some building look nice, but they are essentially not playable or interesting.

I have almost nu idea what's "Americana" and style or periods of buildings in 1920-30ish.

I live in a 110+ years old brick building, in a town with its roots to before America was discovered, and I can within walking distance visit and GO INTO stoneage burial tombs with are older then the pyramids. Its kinda hard to imagine the "Lovecraft Country" for me, so many thanks for your help. and please lets continue to comment.

[religon]

The first is a lot more useful IMO. It looks more like Folk Victorian or just Vernacular Architecture (Folk, I-House) rather than ranch. Folk Victorian was very popular in residential areas across the US until the mid-teens. They were built afterwards, but became less popular mainly due the the cost of craftsmanship...they had very intricate wood detail on the eaves and such. The model would be very large and impressive. Most such houses were/are smaller. Many survive today.

For a ranch style house, I have an O scale K-Line (Lionel) L Shaped Ranch house (6-21388) that is more representative. In the US, ranch residences are mostly postwar. They tend to be in suburbs. There were some actual working ranch houses much earlier, but these would have been isolated in the rural West.

I think the model plantation house looks like an atypical example of an I-house. One of the better representations of modest plantations would be "Plantation Plain" style. Most that I have seen have chimneys on the ends rather than the interior. They often have a kitchen/shed off the back and a porch with a mud room on the front. The Beaver Dam House example is typical of a small plantation house. (Check the photos out.)

http://www.midwayplantation.com/

Three major plantation house variants:

Those like Beaver Dam out in the countryside surrounded by assorted rustic barns, outbuildings, barns and slave quarters.
Styles varied. Many began as simple wooden houses or log houses with a dogtrot down the middle. The plantation nearest my boyhood home was an Anglo-Greek Villa! In the 1920' and 30's many would have been run down and well out of town.

Big plantations in the Deep South with columns and landscaping...think Tara from GWtW. Many were Greek Revival, Federal or Georgian.

The third type would be in some of the largest Southern cities. Most had a wealthy neighborhood that wealthy people built plantation style mansions. Styles were all over the place. New Orleans, Charleston, Savannah, Memphis, Raleigh, Richmond, Atlanta, and Montgomery are some such neighborhoods I've visited. While I haven't visited, I think as far north as Baltimore has such architecture.

If I was to use the Sarissa kit for a pre-Civil War structure, I would think of modeling a chimney or two on the sides and not using the supplied chimneys. Even so with the 2-tiered porch, I'm not sure it would look right in the 20's or 30's. A small porch and stoop would look much more typical.

[fastolfrus]

We picked up some American covered bridges (possibly Sarissa) that look good.

Also for a barn, we got one from Warbases:
http://war-bases.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home

It isn't listed on their website but if you drop them an email they are usually friendly

[frogimus]

Here is a search that might help
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1920%20american%20house&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=1920%20american%20house&sc=0-17&sp=-1&sk=

Rural homes didn't usually have a full upper story (unless the owners were well to do). A lot of 2-story houses had the upper floor under the roof gable. In the Midwest, the dormers were usually shed style roofs.  Also, common folk would have had simple box construction or renovated dwellings from the mid to late 1800's.

In cities, the Craftsman period ran from about 1905 to 1930.

the first picture would be usable for a very influential family. The second would be found more in the south.  The barn could work for most areas.

Some of the simple Russian WWII houses would work too. Just shy away from thatched roofs and decorative moldings.

[Calimero]

Even today there's plenty of houses like Sarrissa's "Ranch" house around the town I grew in (The Eastern Township in the province of Quebec)

[religon]

This house looks more representative than the one with two balconies, but is mid-1800's. I still think the chimney's may be in unusual places.