August, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



81 







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The Entrance Gates Afford a Charming Glimpse of the Forecourt and Entrance Front 



Notable American Homes 



By Barr Ferree 



Photographs by Almann and Company 



The House of E. C. Knight, Jr., Esq., Newport, Rhode Island 



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HE beautiful house of Mr. Knight, at New- 

 port, is in design at once distinguished and 

 simple. It is a broad, low house covering a 

 considerable area of ground, and being sur- 

 rounded with two acres of land, enjoys the 

 advantage of a spacious site. The architect 

 has very clearly sought to gain a dignified effect by means of 

 the simplest motifs. The house is, therefore, a purely archi- 

 tectural creation in which the ornamental features are strictly 

 architectural. The Indiana limestone of which it is built 

 readily lends itself to monumental treatment and its capacity 

 in that respect has been well utilized in this design. 



The house consists of a central edifice, two stories in height, 

 which forms the main portion of the building. Two short 

 passages connect it with two wings, one on either side. All 

 these subsidiary parts are but one story in height, effectively 

 emphasizing the importance of the central building and at 

 the same time giving it added dignity by widening the lateral 

 dimensions of the whole structure. The wings extend beyond 

 the connecting passages on both the garden and the entrance 

 front; but they are brought forward much further on the en- 

 trance front than on the other side, creating a fore court at 

 the entrance. 



The plan thus provides, at the outset, for an effective 

 massing of parts and a judicious utilization of broad wall 

 spaces. The stately entrance doorway, a simple pediment 

 supported by two columns, is the most conspicuous feature of 

 the entrance front. On either side are two windows rec- 

 tangular in form, with delicately moulded frames. A plain 

 string course marks a division between the two stories and 

 supports the windows of the second story. These likewise 

 are rectangular, but support pediments alternately segmental 

 and triangular. The walls at the ends are heavily rusticated 

 and support a strong cornice, above which is a pierced balus- 

 trade which completely hides a third storv. The elements 



which constitute this design are carried completely around 

 the exposed parts of the central building, which is a true 

 rectangle in form, having five windows on each of the longer 

 fronts and three each on each of the shorter. 



The identity of parts which distinguishes the main portion 

 of the house is equally characteristic in the wings. As in the 

 main building their outermost corners are emphasized with a 

 deep rustication. The windows are identical with those in 

 the first story of the main part and the string course between 

 the floors now becomes the main cornice which is surmounted 

 with a somewhat high broad plain band, capped with a final 

 string. 



It is now easy to realize exactly in what the charm of this 

 house consists. Its plan and dimensions are quite unusual, 

 facts in themselves of no merit, but here given merit by 

 reason of the strong way in which the whole design has been 

 handled. For the design is unquestionably a strong one, very 

 beautifully conceived and carried out in fine spirit. The va- 

 rious elements of the design are perhaps lacking in variety; 

 the various parts have not in themselves an intense interest; 

 yet the whole is a design of great interest, an interest of quiet, 

 penetrating beauty, an interest of monumental wall spaces 

 treated in a monumental manner; spacious windows spaced 

 in ample breadth of wall; the walls themselves amply but- 

 tressed by the thickening of the cornerstones and a roughen- 

 ing of their surfaces; the crowning cornices and balustrades 

 being well proportioned to the work they have to do and the 

 part they take in the finish of the design. 



Moreover there is a real note of joyousness in this design. 

 It is immediately apparent that it is a palace, not over sump- 

 tuous if vou please, but a stately house for stately living, ad- 

 mirably fitted to the gay life which has come to be so natural 

 to Newport. These qualities are not always readily expressed 

 in buildings, but here very admirably shown and in a thor- 

 oughly delightful way. 



