694 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in various parts of it pine, spruce, cedar, 

 oak, cypress, birch, maple and perhaps 

 other woods. 



The architect's duty, then, is to know 

 just where and how each piece of wood 

 is to be used and where each will give the 

 greatest wear, where it is best fitted as a 

 medium for carrying out the design (as 

 white pine for delicate curving or mould- 

 ings) and what can be used to insure the 

 least yearly expense in upkeep and repair. 



A good example of successful design 

 coupled with good construction i.= found 

 in the William R. DeVries house, designed 

 by Mr. Bernhardt E. Muller, of New York 

 City. 



In its exterior design and in its plan, the 

 house is extremely interesting. While 

 built along Colonial lines the design is not 

 so strictly Colonial as to be oppressing in 

 its imitation of the original type but is 

 simply a free, modernized and, as one may 

 say, humanized design following old lines. 

 The triple casement window, for instance, 

 is decidedly non-colonial, but it indicates 

 to us the presence of a bright, open and 

 airy living room and the three windows 

 above this seem to suggest that the owner's 

 bedroom in back of them and that it, too. 

 is a cheerful and airy room. 



The entrance porch is nearer the origi- 

 nal style, however, and it is interesting 

 to note how much is gained in general 

 softness and interest in the design by the 

 use of generous planting around the house 

 as shown in the photograph of present con- 

 ditions as compared with those before the 

 plants had grown. 



The DeVries house cost to build about 

 $15,000. In plan it is practically the same 

 as the Warner house, designed by the 

 same architect and also illustrated here. 



At an earlier period of architectural 



An attractive vista, givine a suggestion of the 

 harmonjr of architectural and landscape treatment 

 of the DeVries home. 



practice in America the house would have 

 been built of the same material throughout. 



At present the knowledge and selection 

 of wood is an important part of architec- 

 tural education. And it is of equal inter- 

 est though the knowledge is not of such 

 extreme importance to the person who is 

 building or eventually will build a home 

 of his own. And it might be said paren- 

 thetically that this latter class includes, or 

 should include, every man and woman in 

 America. 



In addition to being an example of good 

 suburban house planning the DeVries 

 house is of interest because of the fact 

 that it illustrates the results of careful 

 study made by the architect of the sorts 

 of wood best fitted for every detail of the 

 house. 



In this study some conclusion may have 

 been reached which will not be generally 

 accepted without differences of opinion 

 here and there. And it must be recognized 

 that various considerations such as condi- 

 tions of climate and exposure and the sup- 

 ply found in local markets will cause 

 changes to be made in many instances. 

 But the results are as a rule those ac- 

 cepted in general practice. They show us 

 if nothing more, at least how many details 

 the architect must consider in the build- 

 ing of a house. 



As a result of his study of lumber, Mr. 

 Muller has found it advisable to call, in 

 his specifications, for not simply one or 

 two, but for at least ten different varie- 

 ties of wood to go into the construction of 

 this particular house. 



White pine he considered the most sat- 

 isfactory and least expensive material for 

 the exposed exterior detail. This includes 

 window sills, casings and sash, the cor- 

 nice, the entrance door and porch as well 

 as the main porch and the entire cornice. 

 The exterior walls and roof are shingled 

 with white cedar shingles, those on the 

 wall are twenty inches long and twelve 

 inches to the weather, whil%the roof shin- 

 gles are sixteen inches long and are ex- 

 posed four and one-half inches to their 

 length. 



The entire framing, including the joists, 

 headers, studs, beams, roof rafters, sheath- 

 ing and also the rough (or under) flooring 

 is of spruce. 



Finished floors differ in various parts of 

 the house. In the main rooms they are 

 oak. The kitchen and pantry floors are 

 maple, while the rooms on the second and 

 third floors and the porch floors are North 

 Carolina pine. 



How carefully the subject must be gone 

 into is demonstrated in the cast of the 

 windows where such fine distinctions are 

 made in specifying as that while the sills, 

 casing and sash which must meet extreme 

 exposure are to be of "clear, sound, well- 

 seasoned white pine" the jambs and parting 

 strips are to be of "comb grained southern 

 yellow pine well-seasoned and free from 

 pitch and other imperfections." 



In his study of structural wood the archi- 

 tect soon finds that conditions vary quite 

 sharply in many important respects in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. Most import- 

 ant of these, perhaps, for present consid- 

 eration, is the kind and quality of lumber 

 grown in the immediate section of the 

 country in which the house is to be built. 



In the instance of the present design it 

 will be seen that important variations would 

 be necessary from Mr. Muller's specifica- 

 tion to meet climatic considerations and 

 to obtain the best materials available in the 

 local markets at the least cost, if it had 

 been built in California, or in the Lake 

 States, for instance. For building in the 

 New England states the arrangement of 

 structural woods as specified by the archi- 

 tect would be most satisfactory and eco- 

 nomical in all respects. It is not suggested 

 as a general specification, however, and 

 would hardly apply in other sections of the 

 country. 



As an example of the importance this 

 knowledge on the part of the architect, it 

 will be noted that while North Carolina 

 pine is specified in this house for the 

 floors only, by referring back to the article 

 on Building Bungalows which appeared in 

 the April 1917 number of the magazine, it 

 will be remembered that in the case of the 

 two bungalows at Southern Pines, N. C, 

 designed by Mr. Aymar Embury, of New 

 York city. North Carolina pine was used 

 throughout for the reason that it was the 

 best and most economical material for use 

 in the location in which the houses were 

 built. 



For the present house, it will be seen that 

 if the place of erection were the Middle 

 West, the use of spruce for the framing, 

 studding, rafters, etc., would call for a 

 material which is not usually carried by 

 dealers outside of the New England mar- 

 ket. By substituting southern yellow pine, 



Doorway of the DeVries house, showing the per- 

 fect lines of the portal and the simple -efTective- 

 ness of the growing plants. 



