File:American homes and gardens (1909) (17533052533).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar61909newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
February, 1909 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 47 of a strictly structural kind. Yet the photographs show how thoroughly interesting a house can be which is designed on this principle, and in which each part has some definite work to do and does it in a thoroughly satisfactory way. Take the entrance front, for example, which is, in a sense, the rear of the dwelling and is not seen until one is almost at the door. At one end is the service wing, the lower story of which is hidden behind a cement wall, faced with trellis work, a clever and ornamental device that thoroughly shuts off this portion from the main part. The windows in the second story are dropped below the level of the others, and the narrow string of the main portion disappears against the window. The adjoining window in the upper part of the southerly panel opens on to a balcony with balustraded rail- ing, which, in a larger form, is found again on the terrace front; while at the extreme end of the front is a single large round arched opening, glazed and screened, that admits one to a covered porch. It is easy to perceive from this analysis, that the funda- mental principle of this design was utility and convenience. Where windows of a certain kind were needed and demanded by the interior plan they were placed where convenience dic- tated. Yet there is order and form in this front; for the rectangular windows are of identical dimensions, and every
Text Appearing After Image:
The living-room and library is an apartment of immense cheer and charm frame of the first window in the service end. The small panel over these windows is not repeated elsewhere. Here, then, is a distinct differentiation of a portion of the house that leaves no hint unuttered as to its purpose and destination. The lateral surface here is divided into three unequal parts by no less a utilitarian feature than the leaders which descend from beneath the eaves, and which are a distinctive feature of every front. The windows of the second story give the key to the irregularity of the design. The northerly section contains two windows, the southerly four, while in the central panel is the entrance doorway and a large two-story round arched window that lights the stair- case. The doorway itself is eminently simple and is protected with a marquise, above which the round light of the central opening appears, while on each side is a narrow slit-like part Is held In place and harmonized by the roof and cornice with which the house is crowned, a roof of strongly project- ing eaves supported on brackets. The somewhat severe treatment so deliberately exhibited on the entrance front gives way, on the terrace front, to a more ornate and symmetrical development. Exactly this sort of development was to be looked for here, and very stately and beautiful this front is, which is actually the most conspicuous part of the house, quite conspicuously visible from the driveway and the adjacent lower country. In the center is a loggia of three graceful round arches, the sup- porting columns In the center being coupled; it Is vaulted within and paved with tile, the flooring extending out on to the lawn of the terrace with which the whole front is sup- ported. The division of the wall by leaders obtains on this

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