File:American homes and gardens (1911) (17969912030).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (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

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
November, 1911 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 389
Text Appearing After Image:
The top-cover for the open automobile will be much appreciated when driving leisurely on sunny days, and also in using the car on days when one is obliged to travel great distances and to weather storms of rain, snow or sleet is interesting to note that a tire will last much longer in the country than in the city. It is said that fully two hundred miles of travel may be had over country roads against one hundred over city streets, crossed as they are with a multi- plicity of car tracks, enforcing long stops and sharp turns, and the skidding incident to the present methods of street sprinkling. The lights which an automobile carries are a most im- portant part of its equipment. One should select, if possible, electric headlights, with a battery-charging dynamo, for the increased cost will really prove to be an investment paying a dividend in convenience and increased efficiency upon the amount of the expenditure. Many country dwellers would turn seriously to a consider- ation of investing in an automobile were they not frightened away from it by what they imagine to be the excessive cost of maintenance and repairing, not taking into consideration that the size of the bill for repairs is usually an index to the manner in which the motor car is operated and cared for. It is truly remarkable how little repairing is required with the automobile that is carefully handled, an ounce of pre- vention in the matter of driving being worth a ton of cure after reckless speeding. The makers of any reputable motor car construct their automobiles upon the "honor" plan, and therefore the machines may be depended upon to last, especially as the automobile has long since passed out of its experimental stage of being merely a noisy, rattling curiosity. Highly important in the maintenance of a car is the man- ner in which it is housed. Architects and builders have ex- erted their ingenuity in evolving the best types of garages for country homes. In American Homes and Gardens many of these have been pictured from time to time. The best arrangement in planning a garage is to place it where it will harmonize with the general architecture of the build- ings to which it is adjacent, thus adding to the beauty and symmetry of the composition line of the assembled out- buildings. For this reason the garage, as a general thing, should be designed in the style of the house itself, and it should be placed with an idea of keeping it apart, as far as possible, from the dwelling. One particularly successful example of this grouping of buildings comes to mind. It was that found on a country place, the house being one of twenty rooms, the outer walls covered with rough hand- made shingles which had been stained to a silver-gray. Numerous chimneys of stone were necessary to the house, and the whole dwelling was almost covered with Boston ivy, which had been permitted to grow directly upon the shingle walls—an arrangement which, though somewhat harmful to the life of a frame building, yet produced a homelike effect. The service buildings, garage and other out-build- ings were placed away from the house, the space between being connected by a roof to form an arcade. This made, in effect, one building of the group of buildings, broad and low in appearance, and following the lines of the site. The whole place was carefully planned and had the environment of beautiful grounds, the result of generations of planting. Of course, this particular country estate is one of consider- able cost, but it was a distinct and pleasing contrast to others I have seen, where the final appearance of the grouping of the out-buildings was not taken into account, and even in this instance the same principles apply to the plans for a country home for the man of moderate means. As insurance

Note About Images