March 30, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



147 



vegetation, the yellows and whites of the soil, and the blues 

 and whites of the heaven. And in the roofs a clear, not heavy, 

 shade of brown has generally replaced the deep red of north- 

 ern countries — a tone which is not too pronounced to mate 

 with the lighter ones, but is welcome among them as giving 

 an accent of contrast and relief. If a bright red roof is 

 wanted in a southern climate, it ought to be a bright light 

 red — not the bright deep red of Holland, where a pale red 

 would seem too weak for Nature's tones, and a clear brown 

 would hardly tell in the landscape at all. 



Our summers in the latitude of New York are as warm as 

 those of southern France, and, indeed. New York actually lies 

 in the latitude of Madrid and Rome. Our winters, of course, 

 are very much colder ; but atmospheric conditions do not 

 change to correspond with isothermic lines ; and all the year 

 round, even in northern New England, we have vivid skies, a 

 pellucid thin atmosphere and a clear bright scheme of natural 

 color. Therefore, as our architects now know, the teaching of 

 the south, not of the north, of Europe should be followed in 

 the external coloring of our buildings. 



Much has been done to improve and vary this coloring during 

 the past ten or fifteen years. The streets of New York, for in- 

 stance, are no longer given over to the dark brown sandstone 

 and the strong red brick which used to rule supreme. Sand- 

 stones and limestones of paler colors, pale reddish, yellow and 

 light brown bricks, and even bricks which are almost orange- 

 colored, have been largely adopted, vastly to the increase of 

 beauty of effect. In Boston a quite bright red sandstone is 

 common, light brick is also much used, and Richardson's ex- 

 ample has been often followed in the matter of polychromatic 

 treatment. Of course, every result is not good ; but we can 

 note gradual growth toward true excellence in the color treat- 

 ment of our city buildings ; and, we are glad to say, white is 

 again coming into favor for buildings in the country. 



Once upon a time, of course, white was almost universally 

 used in such buildings. They were almost always of wood, 

 and whether they were simple box-like cottages, pillared Jef- 

 fersonian homes, or pseudo-classic or pseudo-Gothic churches, 

 they were almost always given a coat of pure white paint. 

 Then came a reaction, for which, we imagine. Downing was 

 largely responsible. His admiration for English rural archi- 

 tecture was rightly very great, and liis perception of thecrude- 

 ness of such architecture in America was naturally keen. But 

 in trying to reform the ways of his fellow-countrymen he did 

 not realize that under different natural conditions different ex- 

 pedients are to be advised. Many chapters in his Horticul- 

 turist, and many pages in his books on rural building, are de- 

 voted to decrying the use of white paint. After his day we 

 had a long reign of dismal hues — dark grays and sombre 

 browns and dusky yellows — which, if they did not always pain- 

 fully afflict the eye, did not give it pleasure or harmonize well 

 with the surrounding colors of nature. Later there came a 

 reaction, and in the days when villas were built in fantastic 

 forms and profusely adorned by the jig-saw, bright hues of a 

 wrong kind were applied, two or three, or even more, to- 

 gether, to add in tint to variety in form. 



But it was soon felt that decidedly too much variety had 

 been achieved, and another reaction came about. Painting 

 was largely dispensed with ; staining was substituted in a way 

 which sometimes gave a pleasing and naturally mellow look, 

 but sometimes revealed a mistaken desire to imitate the effects 

 of age ; or these effects were left to produce themselves : the 

 shingles which were generally employed instead of the long- 

 universal clapboards were left to "weather" into various 

 tones of gray, and merely the trimmings and shutters of the 

 house were painted. 



These last-named practices are still pursued, but paint has 

 come back again into greater favor, largely as a result of the 

 liking for " Colonial " fashions of building in which clapboards 

 are more appropriately used than shingles ; and, owing to the 

 same cause, as well as to a better understanding of the require- 

 ments of our atmosphere, clear light tones are generally pre- 

 ferred. We have come to see that our great-great-grandfathers 

 were wiser than we once thought when they painted their 

 stately Colonial houses a pure white or a pale yellow, and re- 

 lieved them with trimmings and shutters of a darker color ; 

 and also that the farmer who had liked his cottage white, prob- 

 ably merely because it looked cleaner thus, was unwittingly 

 more artistic than his descendant, who thought it more digni- 

 fied and refined to live in a dark gray house with a deep 

 red roof. 



The natural tone which weathering gives to shingles of good 

 quality is rarely inharmonious except where the air is strongly 

 impregnated with salt, and portions of the house therefore get 

 an almost absolutely black color that is certainly not desirable 



But, as has been said, we realize now that shingling is not ap- 

 propriate with every style of house, and is usually best on 

 those of relatively modest size and aspect. There are many 

 cases when painted clapboards are much better. 



Of course, a white house, standing by itself in a glare of sun- 

 light, is unpleasant to look upon close at hand, and makes an 

 inharmonious spot in the landscape when seen from a greater 

 distance. But this is a trying situation for any house to oc- 

 cupy ; when it must be borne with, stone or brick, of not too 

 deep a color, is a better material than wood ; and if wood must 

 be used and staining is not desirable, then the best thing is to 

 choose some tint which is nearly, but not quite white, — a pale 

 yellow or a delicate, not slaty, shade of gray. But even a very 

 large house can be white if it is surrounded by trees, for their 

 shadow will temper its glare. Indeed, a white house thus 

 shadowed makes, we think, as a rule, a more beautiful effect 

 in our landscapes than any other. There were recently exhib- 

 ited in this city a number of pictures by Mr. Leonard Ochtman, 

 painted in Connecticut, and representing pastoral scenes. In 

 many of them the main feature was a white house, or group 

 of houses, accompanied by umbrageous Elms. The artist had 

 not in any degree toned down the color-scheme of New 

 England summer nature, or tried to mitigate the whiteness of 

 his buildings ; yet the effect of his canvases was eminently 

 harmonious, and one felt that the color-scheme would have 

 lacked a most desirable note had the houses been anything 

 but a true white. The pictures of many other artists have, in 

 recent years, shown us similar things, and we can discover 

 them for ourselves if we know how to use our eyes when we 

 are actually looking at American landscapes. Notice, for in- 

 stance, if you ascend the Hudson River, which of the houses 

 on the hill-sides look best, and you will decide that it is almost 

 always the white ones. None looks better than the old Cats- 

 kill Mountain House, perched up on its steep bluff with a line 

 of forest behind it. Compare its effect with that of the dull- 

 colored Kaaterskill House not far away, and you will be glap 

 that its original color has not been changed. 



Indeed, there may be cases where a house can stand apart 

 from trees and yet look well if painted white. This, I think, 

 is when it stands on the edge of the sea, with strong blue color 

 below it, and probably stretches of brilliant white beach to sup- 

 port its own whiteness. Certainly we should not want the 

 color of our whitewashed lighthouses changed. It is this color, 

 quite as muchas theirconspicuous simple forms, which makes 

 them such welcome additions in any sea-shore view. A 

 further proof of the appropriateness of white in our climate 

 is the beautiful effect that sails make when seen against the 

 shore. We have been foolish enough to imitate the architec- 

 tural coloring of Holland under our very different skies ; but 

 at least we have never felt that our fishing-craft, yachts and 

 sail-boats would fit better into the landscape if their sails 

 were stained with those brownish and deep yellowish tones 

 which harmonize so well with Dutch shores and skies and 

 waters. 



Of course, to cover a house with painted clapboards is not 

 the only way of having it white. We might well inake a more 

 frequent use than we do of plaster and stucco in their various 

 forms, and a half-timbered house with stuccoed panels of 

 white would often look admirably where one all of white would 

 be too glaring. And tlien there are limestones and marbles 

 among more costly materials. 



Even if absolute white is not chosen, and naturally I do not 

 recommend that it should be used to the exclusion of all other 

 colors, care should be taken to get a tone that is neither too 

 deep nor too strong. Very pale yellow is often the best possi- 

 ble color, while, in the same situation, a deeper yellow would 

 look crude, a neutral tint would be ineffective, a harsh brown 

 or gray would conflict with Nature's scale of color, and a deep 

 red roof would only make matters worse. Gray, if it is light 

 and pure enough, is a very good color, too, especially when 

 relieved by white trimmings and very dark green blinds, and 

 is, indeed, perhaps the best color for houses which stand in 

 exposed situations. It may be so chosen as to give practically 

 the same effect that the weathering of shingles produces under 

 tlie best climatic conditions. 



Brick, in very pale yellow tones, is an excellent material for 

 country houses ; and, of course, any color that can be applied 

 to wood can be given to bricks as well, and many of them are 

 better than the strong red which once seemed their only 

 natural hue. Very successful in color is a large old brick man- 

 sion in the neighborhood of Boston which for generations has 

 been painted a clear and distinctly lavender gray, the painter 

 never being allowed to mix the tint without one of the family 

 standing by to see that he does not get it too dull and impure. 



New York. M. G. Van Rensselaer, 



