The enclosed lower balcony porches of the Charlton house 
is an adaptation of the Dutch Colonial and is particularly 
suitable for a Long Island house, since here the Dutch in- 
fluence was very strong in the early days of New York’s 
history, and even to this day some of the 
most interesting of the original old 
Dutch homesteads and farmhouses are 
to be found remaining. ‘The gambrel 
roof of the Woodruff house is the chief 
feature of what has come to be known 
as the Dutch Colonial style. It is inter- 
esting to note that it is wholly unknown 
in Holland, and it is thought that the 
thrifty Dutch in Colonial America in- 
vented it in order that they might have 
a house of one story and a half still 
containing space almost equivalent to 
two full stories, thus avoiding the tax 
levied in those days upon all two-story 
buildings. In the Woodruff house the 
roof is so high in pitch that two floors 
are made possible within the gambrel, 
and the necessary dormers have been 
so treated that they do not interfere un- 
duly with the horizontal lines which are 
so essential to architecture of this 
character in attaining right proportions. 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Plans of the house of J. W. Charlton, Esq. 
The roof comes down over a broad piazza, in which 
respect it is precisely like the roofs of some of the old Dutch 
houses not far away from its location, and the wings, which 
A house of unusual dignity for its proportions, at Westfield, New Jersey 
A corner of the well-planned dining-room, Charlton house 
February, 
1912 
Lr Ae . > 
Se) Se Pe FS WO a 
are necessary, preserve the roof lines, that make the entire 
exterior consistent and harmonious. 
house carries out to a great extent the Dutch idea. A very 
The planning of this 
broad hall divides the floor area and 
opens at one end upon the broad en- 
trance piazza, and at the other upon an 
equally broad terrace. A home of this 
kind in the old days contained a few 
very large rooms, rather than a great 
many small ones, and here the rooms, 
although sufficiently numerous, are very 
large—living-room and dining-room be- 
ing the full depth of the house. Here 
the rooms open into each other by wide 
openings, and from the dining-room one 
may see across the hall into the broad 
living-room, and then through other 
Openings into a wide piazza flagged 
with brick. 
The planning of the upper stories is 
quite as pleasing—large, spacious bed- 
rooms, plenty of baths, and a large sit- 
ting-room, and over all is still another 
floor with ample quarters for servants. 
No effort has been made to adhere to 
the Dutch style of interior treatment, 
but the woodwork has been carefully planned, ornament 
sparingly used, and the simplicity of furnishings, together 
with the unusual size of the rooms, produces the useful 
eS 
End of the living TooH in the interesting house of C. C. Beard, Esq. 
