I 12 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1905 



6 — The Stuffed Owl upon the Mantel-Shelf is Perhaps the Best Feature 



No. 3. I can not recommend finishing more than the top 

 member of the stair rails in mahogany. The mahogany rail 

 in No. 3 is a bit heavy, but we shall not be hypercritical upon 

 a minor detail when that detail is the only disappointing 

 one. 



Much less agreeable to look at is the American hallway 

 we have exemplified in No. 4. There are, happily, no scarves, 

 as in No. 2, but there are two befrilled piano lamps and other 

 extremely mediocre intrusion both in furniture and archi- 

 tectural detail. Avoid piano lamps, as you should all house- 

 hold impedimenta. 



Equally as expensive as No. 1, and quite as carefully 

 thought out, is the Jacobean hall, also belonging to an 

 American estate. (See No. 5.) I believe this hall to be the 



8 — An Interior in Kent, England, in which Simplicity is Likewise Strenuous Simplicity 



7 — Strenuous Simplicity 



most beautiful hall of its class in America. At Blickling 

 Hall, in Norfolkshire, there is a very similar gallery, but it 

 is not so successful either in its proportions or detail as this 

 hall in America. 



A typical average hall of the modern American dwelling 

 is presented in No. 6. The stuffed owl upon the mantel-shelf 

 is, perhaps, its best feature, because the combination gas and 

 electric chandelier looks cheap and tawdry, and were it 

 lighted would burn up any percentage of historic atmosphere 

 there might be in the place. The chimney-piece is a regular 

 hand-me-down, catalogue mantel, no doubt, stained, when the 

 rule is never to stain anything unless it be shingles or timbers 

 on the outside walls of a house. There might be a note of 

 hope in the Governor Bradford armchair, but even this piece 



of furniture is not loyal to its 

 professed antecedents, for it 

 has not their good lines. The 

 lines have been narrowed 

 and pinched. The legs and 

 arms of the other chair are 

 in better design, but these 

 are spoiled again by the 

 Sixth-avenue-sidewalk back. 

 Then, of course, the center 

 table has neither family nor 

 ancestor. 



No. 8 represents an in- 

 terior in Kent, in England. 

 I wish to give the reader 

 credit for sufficient knowl- 

 edge of good interior archi- 

 tecture, not to enumerate 

 and point out the particular 

 excellences herein presented. 

 It is the air of simplicity 

 without being strenuous 

 simplicity; for strenuous 

 simplicity, however com- 

 mendable it may be in pub- 

 lic life, is not to be com- 

 mended for the home. The 

 hall shown in No. 7 is a 

 crowning example of stren- 

 uous simplicity. The home- 

 like effect, however, has 

 been sacrificed by a severity 

 that is almost extreme in its 

 artificiality. 



