362 



HOUSES. AMERICAN COUNTRY-SEATS. 



of the Elizabethan, the Jacobean, and the 

 Francis I styles, and which he asserted to be 

 "our vernacular style." The present disposi- 

 tion of our leading architects is expressed in 

 the words of a correspondent of " The Ameri- 

 can Architect" for February, 1884, who ad- 

 vises his fellow-artists to leave " Queen Anne 

 to the grandmammas of the profession it goes 

 well with tea and toast." 



When Mr. Edward A. Freeman, the his- 

 torian, was asked to write an article on the 

 more recent achievements of American archi- 

 tecture, he declared that the city of Albany 



had pleased him most of all ; but " What," he 

 asked, ' k should be the architecture of the 

 United States i. e., the architecture of an Eng- 

 lish people settled in a country in the latitude, 

 though not always in the climate, of Italy? 

 Should it be the Gothic of England or the Ro- 

 manesque of Italy? " To the American archi- 

 tect no such dilemma presents itself. The 

 range of his vision is wider. 



The exterior color of country-houses is be- 

 coming darker, the aim being to subdue the 

 effect to that of the trees and hills, and to sil- 

 houette the edifice against the sky, thus setting 



COL. ANDREWS'S HOUSE, CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



