346 



AMERICAN. H.QMXS AND GARDENS 



October, 1913 



The garden front of the country house of Mr. Thomas H. Kerr, near White Plains, New York 



A Country House of the Villa Type 



By Henry F. Mathews 



HE prospective builder of an out-of-town 

 house is apt to approach its planning by 

 carefully studying the various types of 

 building, examples of which are available. 

 A bewildering variety of styles are well rep- 

 resented so that one may compare the beauty 

 and advantages of an English manor house of the days of 

 Queen Elizabeth with the desirability of a French chateau 

 of the XVIII century, and the advantages of both these, 

 and many other types, may be weighed against those of the 

 various American Colonial styles. 



Many particularly beautiful country houses are being 

 built after the Italian villa type, more or less modified. 

 This manner of building lends itself wonderfully to Ameri- 

 can conditions and especially to our American climate with 

 its excessive heat of Summer. This style of architecture 

 originated in a land where provision must 

 be made for homes which offer cool and 

 shaded interiors from the fierce heat and 

 glare of an Italian Summer and much the 

 same quality is desirable in a country home 

 to be occupied during the heated months of 

 an American year. Moreover, the villa type 

 seems to be equally suitable for a very large 

 residence and for a cottage of modest size, 

 and it may be built of materials of widely 

 different kinds and cost, including almost 

 everything from shingles to marble. 



The vogue of building with concrete and 

 stucco in various forms has no doubt in- 

 creased the popularity of the Italian style 

 for such construction is especially suited to 

 broad wall surfaces and the rectangular The 



fenestration which enter so largely into this type of de- 

 signing. 



Near White Plains, New York, is the country residence 

 of Mr. Thomas H. Kerr, a particularly happy and pleasing 

 example of the use of Italian models adapted to American 

 conditions, for its interior is so cleverly arranged that it af- 

 fords space and the ample variety of arrangement necessary 

 for comfort during the Spring, Summer and Autumn when 

 out-of-door life is to the fore, leaving nothing to be desired. 

 White Plains is a pleasant old town about which cluster 

 many associations of revolutionary days. It has the ad- 

 vantage, moreover, of being reasonably close to New York 

 and upon the outskirts of the town are many country homes 

 of the first importance. The home of Mr. Kerr includes 

 grounds of sufficient extent to entitle it to be called a farm 

 even though its activities do not include all of those which 

 are popularly supposed to belong to farm life. 

 Within these spacious and ample surround- 

 ings, Messrs. Albro & Lindeberg, the archi- 

 tects of the estate, have placed a beautiful 

 home which many people consider one of the 

 very best of the long list of successful country 

 houses which these clever architects have de- 

 signed. 



The residence and its immediate depend- 

 encies are arranged in one compact group 

 where the broad and very graceful expanses 

 of roof are dominated by well-placed and 

 very carefully designed chimneys. The plan- 

 ning of the estate provides for the placing of 

 the garage somewhat close to the house, and 

 by arranging the space between as a service 

 terrace yard walled in by a stucco wall about eight 



