8o 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1913 





Garden front of the house of Mr. Edmund B. Osborne, at Montclair, New Jersey 



A Country Home at Montclair, New Jersey 



By Alfred M. Evans 

 Photographs by T. C. Turner 



HE home of Mr. Edmund B. Osborne, at 

 Montclair, New Jersey, may be regarded as 

 an example of the modern English country 

 house adapted to American conditions and 

 requirements. The many well-planned chim- 

 neys, the broad wall spaces and roof sur- 

 terraces, and above 



faces, the 



all, the casement windows with 

 their Gothic details, have much 

 in common with the domestic 

 work of English architects to- 

 day. 



The beauty of the exterior of 

 the house is a strong argument 

 for the wider use of the hollow- 

 tile covered with rough cast 

 plaster or stucco of which its 

 walls are built. This material 

 is, of course, absolutely fire- 

 proof, and the rough texture of 

 its walls affords a certain depth 

 of surface which is wonderfully 

 attractive. Ivy is being trained | 

 upon the gray background, and 

 many vines climbing the walls 

 add greatly to the attractiveness 



of the house, whose wall spaces need this English feature. 

 It is not always easy for an architect to persuade a client 

 that a house may possess more than one "front," but in 

 this instance it may be said that there are three, for at one 

 side the windows look out upon a broad terrace, while 

 the rooms at the opposite side of the house overlook a 



circular garden walled in with 

 a tall hedge and arranged in 

 formal fashion with many 

 flower-beds and narrow paths 

 which radiate from a fountain. 

 The carriage entrance and 

 porch which are approached by 

 a drive are still elsewhere and 

 this part of the house's ex- 

 terior is so defined by walls 

 and tall shrubbery that it af- 

 fords practically another fagade 

 and an entirely different view of 

 the building. 



The entrance by which a vis- 

 itor is apt to enter is through a 

 vestibule placed directly beneath 

 the main stairway, which here 

 assumes a dignity and import- 

 First floor plan ance which are in keeping with 



