The Garden Entrance and the Home-By phii M.Riley, 2^ 



GATEWAYS AND FENCES THAT FIT INTO THE HARMONY OF THE HOME AND BLEND WITH THE PLANTING 

 OF TREES, SHRUBS OR HEDGE— SUGGESTIONS FOR THE USE OF WOOD, IRON, CONCRETE, AND BRICK 



ONE day last summer I was walking 

 through a quiet, beautiful street 

 of a New England village where 

 year-round homes and summer 

 residences stand side by side, when suddenly 

 my companion exclaimed, "I think I could 

 tell something of the character of those who 

 own the homes along here by looking at the 

 gateways!" And he did; for I knew many 

 of those men and women myself. 



A gateway, like a doorway, is at once a 

 barrier and an entrance; some gateways are 

 narrow, austere, forbidding; others, broad, 

 beautiful, inviting; some give no glimpse 

 of what lies beyond, seeming to repel and 

 dare any one to open them; others restrain 

 trespassers but disclose a hospitable door- 

 way beyond with protecting hood or porch. 

 This is the spirit we admire in the famous 



A gate of light iron work on simple lines makes an appro- 

 priate portal to a garden of formal informality 



old gateways of Salem, with their posts 

 hand-carved by Samuel Mclntyre, the 

 master craftsman of his time. For the 

 popular Colonial or Georgian style of house 

 we cannot do better than look for inspira- 

 tion in his splendid designs which offer a 

 wealth of suggestion; they have not been 

 excelled, and are at once substantial, grace- 

 ful and of excellent proportion. Built of 

 white pine and painted white, they are in 

 excellent condition after weathering the 

 storms of a century and will last for many 

 years to come. Cypress would have been 

 equally satisfactory had it been available 

 locally at that time, while Norway and 

 Southern yellow pine are also well suited 

 to such use. 



In several old towns, now become cities, 

 and noted for good architecture, such as 

 Salem, Portsmouth, Germantown, Phila- 

 delphia, and Charleston, there is ample 

 precedent for fences, gates and gate-posts or 

 piers of wood with houses of brick or stone. 



Wrought iron fences and gates with brick 

 or stone piers are always appropriate about 



Fancy ornamental gate of wrought iron supported by piers 

 of masonry may be used without planting 



brick and stone houses, yet a certain cold- 

 ness about them cannot easily be overcome. 

 The old-fashioned picket fence, with its 

 square or round vertical members thrust 

 through borings in a top and bottom rail 

 and the whole set upon a base running 

 along the ground is pleasing alone or 

 backed up by a privet hedge. Through 

 slight variations in the detail of rail, base 



SI!: 



typical New England Colonial gate of wood painted 

 white is fitting for the frame house 



Dignified yet inviting combinations of stone and brick 

 Er~£ : T with harmonious planting. Ornamentation in keeping with 



% ??? ct7] t he house be y° nd 



and design of the picket tip a remarkable 

 degree of individuality can be secured. In 

 suburban districts, however, it is a splendid 

 idea for several house owners to agree 

 upon one style of fence along the street. 

 A frequent change of fence is disturbing, 

 and a really good design deserves consider- 



36 



able continuity wherever two or more houses 

 in the same style or similar styles permit. 



There are two interesting exceptions to 

 the conventional rule with respect to 

 Colonial fences. One consists of a fence 

 and posts at the various entrances, but 

 no gates; the other, of a privet or other 

 hedge instead of the fence and posts at the 

 entrance with or without gates. Which- 

 ever course is pursued the gate-posts are 

 square, with either moulded panels upon 

 the sides, plain or enclosing carved detail, 

 or else with plain or fluted pilasters and 

 often Doric or Ionic capitals. Mouldings 

 are carried about the top in such a manner 

 as to form architrave, frieze and cornice, 



Colonial wood gates at Salem, Mass., in which the sweep 

 of the larger ones is carried into the smaller 



A simple treatment of brick and wood without curved cr 

 rounded parts. Garden gate at Medford, Mass. 



