264 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1 9 13 



the mark of the adze still in them, the stout oak and cedar 

 pegs pinion the joists and low hung rafters, now bronzed 

 and mellowed with age, but as sturdy and strong as when 

 first cut from the virgin forest. Here, despite the fact 

 that more than 200 years have passed over its head, the 

 room remains precisely the same as when Payne was a boy. 

 Here we know past all imagining, he must have played as 

 all boys have played in attics since attics were made. Out 

 of the tiny window he must have looked on the pink 

 blossomed orchard and drank in deep draughts from the 

 sea. 



We are glad he had such a home, for every home is 

 sweeter because of it. We are glad he wrote the song, for 

 the world has been enriched and ennobled by it. "We raise 

 monuments to all virtues," writes a friend, "let us keep 

 this one sacred to that little heaven upon earth which shines 

 through the gloom of so many darkened lives like a 

 beacon light. John Howard Payne is not dead, so long 

 as Home, Sweet Home is sung, his will be an ever-living 

 presence." 

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A CLUB COLONY OF HOMES AND GARDENS 



( Continued from page 24-5 J 



Latin country from which the architecture was borrowed. 



But though Water Witch may ocasionally imitate the 

 architecture of alien lands it has a history quite its own, for 

 it was in this neighborhood that J. Fenimore Cooper placed 

 the scene of his novel, "The Water Witch," and at the foot 

 of the hill the ruins of the old villa, "Lust in Rust" (Pleas- 

 ure in Idleness), is still to be seen. It is interesting, too, 

 to know that this property, together with Sandy Hook, was 

 sold to the Hartshorne family by the Indians who re- 

 served for themselves the rights to come to Sandy Hook to 

 gather the beach plums and catch weakfish. 



Places are like people in that one cannot really know them 

 on short acquaintance. A member of the Water Witch 

 colony will tell you when the birds return in Spring, their 

 names and the songs they sing and how lovely the arbutus 

 is in April. He will point out the dogwood trees which in 

 May are covered cloud-like with white blossoms and show 

 you where the laurel colors the woods in June. 



The peace of the surrounding woods adds to that sense 

 of security that comes to dwellers in high places, and only 

 twenty miles away the light from the tower of the Singer 

 Building shines out reminding us of the City that slumbers 

 not nor sleeps. 



IVY COURT 



( Continued from page 250) 



face while others are quite smooth. The entrance door 

 is a detail which has marred many an otherwise good ex- 

 terior, but here they are well designed and treated in a 

 most artistic manner, and they add tremendously to the 

 appearance of the facades. 



All of the houses have entrance vestibules, which do 

 away with the unsightly makeshift stormdoors, which are 

 so frequently seen in the Wintertime, when a country house 

 has not been provided with a vestibule. 



The question of out-of-door living during the Summer 

 months has been solved by the open terraces, after the 

 Italian fashion, or out-of-door living-rooms, and a few 

 of the houses are provided with both. Such an arrange- 

 ment is far better than the old-fashioned covered verandas 

 which ran across the front of the house, and kept the sun- 

 light from the principal rooms during the Winter months 

 when they most needed it. 



The out-of-door living-rooms are designed so that they 



are really part of the house, and they, as well as the 

 terraces, are paved with red Welch quarry tiles. They do 

 not have that objectionable detached appearance, and can 

 easily be enclosed with glass in Winter so that they can 

 be used all the year round.. 



The floor plans in the houses are much the same and pro- 

 vide for a vestibule, hall, living-room, averaging 14x24 

 feet, dining-room, pantry, and kitchen on the first floor; 

 four bedrooms and a bath on the second floor; and two 

 servants' bedrooms and a bath on the third floor. All of 

 the modern conveniences in the way of lighting, heating 

 and service, such as one naturally expects to find in modern 

 houses, have been installed. Ample closet room, dear to 

 the heart of the housewife, has been provided, and some 

 of the bedrooms have two closets. All of the rooms are 

 rectangular which always greatly facilitates the problems 

 of interior decoration and the placing of the furniture to 

 the best advantage. 



The house shown at the top of page 250 is an excellent 

 type of small house of fireproof construction. Its archi- 

 tecture has been greatly influenced by that of the villas of 

 Italy. The stucco is very light in color which effect was 

 obtained by mixing marble dust with the cement. The roof 

 is of red tiles. Variety is given to the design of the facade 

 by the arched and sunken panels which frame the French 

 windows and the entrance doorway. Various colored tiles, 

 having a matt glaze, have been imbedded in the stucco in 

 a simple arched design, and in the center has been placed 

 a medallion of colored marble. Another Italian feature 

 is the tile-paved open terrace in front of the house which 

 is readily accessible from the living-room, through the 

 French windows. A long cement bench adds to its attrac- 

 tiveness, and evergreen trees in terra-cotta vases flank the 

 entrance door. The living-porch is connected with the 

 dining-room and is paved with tiles. It can easily be en- 

 closed in glass and makes an ideal breakfast room at any 

 season of the year. 



The exposed woodtrim and shutters are painted a blue- 

 green, and the well designed leaders add to the general 

 good effect. 



The house illustrated on page 249 is of rough cast 

 cement, with a slate roof of green and purple slates mixed, 

 just as it comes from the quarries, and laid like shingles. 

 The shallow baywindow in the sitting-room, with its sloping 

 roof and many-paned windows, is an attractive feature, both 

 as viewed from within as well as from the exterior of the 

 house. The lattice to support the climbing vines gives a 

 decorative quality to the facade, which one would not think 

 could be obtained in such a simple manner. The little iron 

 balcony on the second floor is an attractive detail, another 

 feature reminiscent of the Italian villa. 



In front of the house is an open paved terrace edged 

 with clipped box. 



This house is of gray stucco with woodwork and shutters 

 of dark brown. 



The perplexing question of how to design a double, or 

 semi-detached house, that will have unity of design and not 

 look like two detached houses simply clapped together, has 

 been satisfactorily solved in the double house illustrated 

 on page 248. This house is of gray stucco and the ex- 

 posed woodwork has been painted buff. The treatment of 

 the roof lines is wonderfully successful and holds the design 

 of the house well together; the roof lines of the wings being 

 repeated over the two covered verandas. The wrought iron 

 balconies, supported on iron brackets, add distinction to 

 the doorways and break up the monotonous front of this 

 double house successfully. 



The solid entrance doors, with their strap hinges of 

 wrought iron and the little opening near the top, are all 

 that an entrance door should be, for they have the appear- 

 ance of being firm enough to keep people out as well as in. 



