March, 1912 
Mr. 
The attractive stucco house of a ee ee 
Tank Wethrell, 
AMERICAN HOMES AND’ GARDENS 81 
Des Moines, Iowa, which was designed by and built for himself 
An Architect's Residence 
By Robert H. Van Court 
N planning a house for someone other than 
himself, an architect is often obliged to make 
concessions dictated by the preconceived 
ideas of the owner-to-be, and must, from 
necessity, often depart from his own. When 
it happens that he can plan and build a house 
for himself, an architect then has an opportunity of giving 
expression to his most cherished views as to what a house 
should be to form the setting of a home. 
Mr. Frank Wethrell, of Des Moines, Iowa, has built the 
think of this, as the house is so delightfully placed amid 
well-grown trees. Evidently in building this house its owner 
had in mind its use as an all-the-year residence, and its de- 
sign carries out a frankly direct simplicity that is one of its 
chief attractions. 
The entrance path of brick, one step up. from the flag- 
stone sidewalk, leads to a brid terrace and-to a quaint en- 
trance-porch, unusually well designed, in front of which a 
trellis has been placed, which another season will find vine- 
covered. Three steps of brick lift to the porch floor, from 
small house for his own oc- 
cupancy here illustrated. It 
may be assumed that it em- 
bodies his ideas of what a 
suburban house of its size, 
for the Middle West, should 
be, and, aside from its at- 
tractiveness, is doubly inter- 
esting from this point of 
view. The Wethrell house, 
while in no sense cramped, 
occupies grounds that are not 
large in extent. Neverthe- 
which one enters the house 
| through a small vestibule 
opening to the left into a 
spacious living-room. The 
room receives the sunlight 
through six casement win- 
dows. The chimney-breast is 
of brick, with a high mantel 
shelf. The same simplicity 
that distinguishes the ex- 
terior of the Wethrell house 
|| marks the scheme of its in- 
| terior, though in no sense is 
less, one does not stop to 
Plan of the house of Mr. Frank Wethrell, Des Moines, Iowa 
the interior the least “bare” 
