i8 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1905 



The House of Sherman Evarts, Esq, 



Plainfield, New Jersey 



HE house of Sherman Evarts, Esq.. at Plain- 

 field, N. J., is the subject of these illus- 

 trations. The building is square in form, 

 and the detail is of the Colonial style. A 

 feature of importance is the terrace extend- 

 ing across the front and terminating into a 

 piazza at either end. The detail of the front entrance is par- 

 ticularly good, and its broad doorway, with its narrow win- 

 dows on either side glazed with leaded glass in an old Colo- 

 nial pattern, its fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals, and its 

 massive pediment which 

 surmounts the whole, is 

 excellent. The house is 

 built with a red brick 

 underpinning and a shin- 

 gled exterior of natural 

 cedar shingles. The trim- 

 mings are painted white. 

 The hall, which is a 

 central one, is trimmed 

 with white pine treated 

 with white enamel paint. 

 It contains an ornamental 

 staircase of Colonial de- 

 sign, with a broad land- 

 ing and a paneled seat, 

 above which there is a 

 cluster of stained glass 

 windows shedding a soft 

 and pleasant light over 

 both the upper and lower 

 halls. 



The living-room i s 

 trimmed with chestnut 

 stained and finished in 

 a dark Flemish brown. 

 It has a beamed ceiling 

 and a baywindow with 

 paneled seats. The fire- 

 place is built of pressed 

 brick, laid in red mortar, 

 and the whole is finished 

 with a mantel. The 

 walls are covered with a 

 dull green burlap with 

 good effect. 



To the right of the en- 

 trance is the library, 

 which is trimmed with 

 pine and painted black, 



while the walls are covered with crimson burlap, the whole 

 finished with a wooden cornice. There are bookcases built 

 in and extending around the room, and an open fireplace with 

 pressed brick facings and hearth, and a very good mantel. 



The dining-room is treated with white enamel, and has a 

 bluish-gray wall covering above the paneled wainscoting, 

 which is finished with a wooden cornice. The room is oc- 

 tagonal in form, and in order to make it a complete octagon 

 a china closet has been built into one corner and provided 

 with leaded glass doors. The open fireplace is built of brick, 



A Colonial Doorway 

 House of Sherman Evarts, Esq., at Plainfield, New Jersey 



and has a mantel ol Colonial style. The butler's pantry is 

 fitted with all the best modern conveniences, including a sink, 

 dressers, drawers, etc. The kitchen ami its dependencies are 

 also well fitted in a similar manner. Special care has, 

 throughout, been lavished on all the mechanical equipment. 



The second floor is trimmed with white enamel paint, and 

 contains four bedrooms and two bathrooms, besides two ser- 

 vant bedrooms and bathroom, which have been placed over 

 the kitchen extension. The bathrooms are treated through- 

 out with white enamel paint and are furnished with porcelain 



fixtures and exposed nick- 

 elplated plumbing. The 

 third floor contains two 

 bedrooms, trunk room 

 and a children's play- 

 r o o m. The laundry, 

 heating apparatus, fuel 

 rooms, etc., are placed in 

 the cellar. 



It is quite easy to see, 

 from this rapid descrip- 

 tion, what is the element 

 which makes this house 

 at once agreeable and 

 comfortable. This is, 

 without doubt, its sim- 

 plicity. It is a straight- 

 forward direct design, 

 unencumbered with un- 

 necessary architectural 

 details, yet conceived in 

 quiet taste. 



The doorway forms 

 quite naturally the chief 

 ornamental feature of 

 the entrance front. There 

 is, indeed, nothing else; 

 for the windows are with- 

 o u t emphasized treat- 

 ment, although the group 

 of four on the living- 

 room side is in pleasant 

 contrast with the single 

 window placed in the 

 front wall of the library. 

 This window treat- 

 ment of the first story is 

 the single instance of 

 variety in the whole win- 

 dow scheme. Those of 

 the upper story are quite symmetrical; the central windows 

 while different in shape and design from the others are direct 

 expressions of the interior. The dormers in the high slop- 

 ing roof once more carry out the idea of simplicity which is 

 the predominating quality of the design. And this is true of 

 the whole house ; the massing of the parts, the broad sweep of 

 the porches, the ensemble, is eminently simple and direct. It 

 is obviously a livable house. 



Mr. John P. Benson, architect, Windsor Arcade, Forty- 

 seventh Street and Fifth Avenue, New York. 



