86 



AMERICAN HOMES, AND GARDENS 



used in floors, walls, col- 

 umns, beams and roof. 

 With our increasing 

 fund of experience de- 

 signs will be improved. 



There are several 

 forms of concrete con- 

 struction, the first be- 

 ing absolutely fireproof, 

 with walls, floors and 

 roof built of solid con- 

 crete, such as is shown 

 in Figs. 2 and 4. Fig. 

 1 2 presents a house con- 

 structed of concrete 

 blocks, with solid con- 

 crete floors and roof. The hollow block construction has, 

 perhaps, an advantage over the solid wall, for the reason 



3ECOND FLOOR PU\M- 



3 — Isolated from the Main House are the Servants' Bedrooms and 

 Bath on the Second Floor 



course of construction in the 

 the country. 



August, 1906 



of the buildings, but 

 this can be very easily 

 overcome by giving 

 the whole structure a 

 coat of cement mortar, 

 or, better still, a coat 

 of pebble dash. That 

 the prices for rein- 

 forced concrete construc- 

 tion work are decreasing 

 with its more extended 

 use in the building of 

 houses can not be more 

 aptly demonstrated than 

 in the vast number of 

 houses to be seen in the 

 suburban districts throughout 





4 — The House, Showing the Roof of Reinforced Concrete. The Kitchen Extension and the Servants' Porch 



are Excellent Features of the House 



that the hollow spaces keep out all possible dampness and Utility as the keynote for artistic values is shown in the 



also form good ducts for the running of ventilating flues, simple lines and proportions in concrete houses, which may 



pipes, and electric wires. 

 Moreover, the blocks 

 tend to prevent sudden 

 change of temperature 

 within the house, mak- 

 ing it cool in summer 

 and more easily to be 

 heated in winter. Hol- 

 low blocks are easily 

 laid, for they require a 

 small number of joints 

 and little mortar. There 

 is, of course, some ob- 

 jection to the uneven 

 breaks in the blocks 

 about the windows and 

 doors and at the corners 



F..W Fi .1 



5 — Plan of the First Floor, Showing the Hall and Living-Room Extending Through 

 the Depth of the House and the Dining-Room and Other Dependencies 



be enhanced in beauty by 

 attractive doorways and 

 leaded windows, as 

 shown in Fig. 1, or by 

 ornamental balustrades 

 and pergolas, as pre- 

 sented in Figs. 15 and 

 16. Concrete, under 

 certain conditions, can 

 be admirably orna- 

 mented to meet the re- 

 quirements of an aes- 

 thetic taste. 



One of the most in- 

 teresting and important 

 houses built in the 

 form of solid reinforced 



