370 



HOUSES. AMERICAN COUNTRY-SEATS. 



nitude of effect; second, preservation of the 

 unity and beauty of the lawn, which thus re- 

 mains undistigured by spots ; and, third, con- 

 venience of the master and mistress. 



The present ideal of the American country- 

 seat, as cherished by the more progressive of 

 our architects, was expressed last year by one 

 of their number in the following words : 

 " Among architects orders for city residences 

 are now scarce, while country-houses till their 

 thoughts and crowd their boards. But the 

 modest cottage, built a few years ago to ' rough 



have cottages that would be mansions in Eng- 

 land, villas in Italy, or chateaux in France. 

 The ' cottage ' is an amiable deception, pre- 

 served to shield the roof-tree from the prevail- 

 ing shams and pretenses of nearly everything 

 else in American domestic life. In this one thing 

 at least our countrymen seem to be sincere, 

 above splurge, and to seek the beauties and 

 comforts that wealth can furnish with an honest 

 purpose. This growing taste for country life, 

 coupled with the increased knowledge and 

 higher cultivation of our intelligent people in 



TRAVIS C. VAN BUREN'S HOUSE, TUXEDO PARK. 



it in' through the hot days of the summer, 

 must be made a more hospitable home for to- 

 day. It must be snug and comfortable, with 

 broad hearth-stones and warm walls, for its 

 tenants, lingering on through the biting days 

 of late autumn and early winter. It is the 

 fashion to call these country-houses cottages ; 

 but the cottage exists only in name. The 

 cliffs of Newport, the rocks of Mount Desert, 

 the shores of Shrewsbury, and the beaches of 

 Westchester, Connecticut, and Long Island, 



all matters pertaining to art, has given the 

 architect of to-day a great opportunity to raise 

 the structure of an American style. The 

 American country-house is becoming more and 

 more distinctive, its character or plan more 

 developed, and its economics more suited to 

 our habits of life. The great heat of summer 

 demands shady porches and wide verandas; 

 the cold of winter snug corners and sunny 

 rooms two diametrically opposite conditions, 

 which must be reconciled under the same 



