The best way to learn about historic houses is to look at them closely, and the most fun way to look at them closely is to do a puzzle showing a wonderful historic house! So, we made a unique and interesting collection of Historic House Puzzles for you to enjoy!
The Victorians loved elaborate patterns, on fabric, wallpaper, carpet, tile, or in wood flooring. Advances in technology and transportation allowed elaborate wood floors like this to be cut and assembled on heavy canvas backing in factories to be shipped for installation in homes. Often called “wood carpets,” these floors could be produced at less cost than a custom fitted parquet floor made on site.
This parquet floor, possibly a factory-made wood carpet, is made with hundreds of individual pieces of three different hardwoods and dates to the 1880’s. It is located in the Smith House in Thomaston, Maine, one of 13 featured houses presented between the how-to chapters of “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners.” Flooring in historic houses is covered in detail in Chapter 14 of the book.
Click on the dashed box at the top-right in the puzzle box below to open the puzzle to full screen. In the top left, you can change the number of pieces (100 pieces is the default), toggle piece rotation, and change the background color. Then hit “OK” and have fun!