232 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1905 



The Monastery,' the House of Charles P. Searle, Esq. 



Swampscott, Massachusetts 



I HE very unusual house of Mr. Charles P. 

 Searle, at Philip Beach, Swampscott, Mass., 

 attracts attention both by the novelty of its 

 design and its very extraordinary situation ; 

 for much of the inner part of the house 

 overhangs the sea in a quite literal 

 sense, although the entrance front, embowered in large 

 trees, hardly suggests such a situation. The grounds are. 

 inclosed with a stone wall, whose plainly cut arches and 

 curved crest are repeated again in the forms of the entrance 

 porch. Placed as it is on a rock, the design of the house has 

 called for clever planning, with an adaptation to the various 



levels of the site and an economical utilization of the avail- 

 able area. The color scheme is quite unusual: the walls are 

 gray, the roof brilliant red, the latticed windows pea green. 

 The entrance porch is applied diagonally to the main struc- 

 ture, and faces a forecourt within the inclosing wall. 



The principal door opens onto a vestibule in green and 

 white, beyond which is the hall. This is a great, vaulted 

 apartment two stories in height, finished in a very unusual 

 and original manner. The walls are paneled to the springing 

 of the vault arches and colored French gray; the upper walls 

 are entirely filled with lattice work of pea green. There is 

 a large mantel of gray stone, with a carved overmantel with 



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" The Monastery "■ —The Entrance Front 



