A Farm-House in the Swiss manner

"There is something peculiarly rural and domestic in the character of the Swiss farm-houses. Their broad roofs, open galleries, and simple and bold construction are significant of strength and fitness, in a country at once picturesque and pastoral. But there are striking defects in the arrangement of these farm-houses - such as that of having the stable in the cellars or basement, -- which no intelligent American farmer would tolerate in his dwelling. Our sketch...therefore can scarcely be called Swiss, in a strict sense, since we have purposely made it so simple in its exterior as to lose some of these details by which we most commonly recognise the Swiss chalet. But it retains those features best adapted to our wants, and while it forms an agreeable whole, it has nothing in its construction or details which an American farmer would reject from want of fitness or local truth." [Downing, 150-1.]