2l6 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 19 lo 



enough of the landscape work that was needed to keep 

 them in harmony with the natural beauties of the property. 

 The avenue leads directly to the front entrance of the 

 house, sweeping around a circle in front of the entrance 

 and making a detour to the stable and the highway. 



A great rough stone step is placed in front of the door- 

 way. The entrance, which is of classic design, has a trellis 

 built on either side of the doorway, and on which are grow- 

 ing crimson ramblers. 



The house has a rough stone foundation and a super- 

 structure of frame construction, the exterior of which is 

 covered with hand-hewn shingles, painted white. The roof 

 is covered with shingles, and finished natural. 



The hall, which occupies the center of the house, and 

 which opens direct into the living- and dining-rooms, has a 

 beamed ceiling, and 

 massive columns 

 supporting an arch- 

 way built over the 

 staircase and the 

 vestibule. The cy- 

 press woodwork is 

 stained and finished 

 in a soft brown 

 color. 



The stairs are 

 built in a simple 

 manner, with one of 

 the columns form- 

 ing a newel post. 



The living-room 

 is spacious in its 

 proportions. The 

 principal feature of 

 the room is the 

 broad, open fire- 

 place and chimney- 

 hearth, with its pan- 

 eled mantel and 

 over-mantel finished 

 with fluted pilasters 

 which extend from 

 the floor to the ceil- 

 ing. A massive 

 wooden cornice ex- 

 tends around the 

 room at the inter- 

 section of the walls 

 and the ceiling. 



The dining-room 

 is trimmed with cy- 

 press, finished in a 

 soft brown tone. It 

 has a paneled wains- 

 coting to the height 

 of four feet, at 

 which point the walls are covered with a Japanese grass 

 cloth of a golden brown tone, in charming agreement with 

 the color scheme of the woodwork. 



From the dining-room a door leads directly to the 

 serving-room and the pantry, which also have a direct con- 

 nection with the kitchen. 



The kitchen wing is devoted entirely to the service 

 part of the house, the first story containing the kitchen 

 and the servants' hall, and the second story the bedrooms 

 and bathroom for the domestics. Each of the departments 

 is fitted up with every possible device for the economical 

 use of labor in the performance of the necessary work. 



The remainder of the second story of the main house 

 is devoted to the family sleeping-rooms and bathrooms 

 and to the guest-rooms and bathrooms. Each of the 



The front doorway 



rooms is treated in a simple manner and decorated in one 

 particular color scheme. 



There has been much attention given to the interior deco- 

 rating of the house and the success of it has depended upon 

 a very careful study of the interior rooms and their rela- 

 tion to each other. Mr. Piatt had, however, a compre- 

 hensive idea as to the scheme which he proposed to carry 

 out, and the resultant effect of this arrangement of color is 

 most harmonious in every detail. 



The walls are treated to blend with the color scheme 

 of the woodwork and also to form a background or a 

 setting for the furniture chosen for each of the rooms, and 

 for the draperies and hangings selected for the windows 

 and doors. 



Only such pieces of furniture have been provided that 



are absolutely nec- 

 essary, and they 

 have been very 

 carefully selected. 



Several of the 

 bedrooms have 

 open fireplaces 

 which are built of 

 of red brick laid in 

 white mortar with 

 wide mortar joints. 

 The hearth and 

 facings are built of 

 a similar brick laid 

 in a similar man- 

 ner, and the whole 

 is furnished with 

 mantels designed 

 in the Colonial 

 style. 



All of the bed- 

 rooms have large 

 clothes closets, well 

 fitted up, and so ar- 

 ranged as to re- 

 ceive as much light 

 and ventilation as 

 is possible. The 

 bathrooms, already 

 mentioned, are fur- 

 nished with a wain- 

 scoting of white 

 enamel tile, fin- 

 ished with a molded 

 base and cap, and 

 a floor paved with 

 unglazed tile of 

 hexagon form. 

 These bathrooms 

 are provided 

 throughout with 

 porcelain fixtures and exposed nickel-plated plumbing. 

 One of the prominent charms of the house is its extreme 

 simplicity. There is a feeling that symmetry dominates the 

 entire design of the building and its arrangement, that the 

 plans are pleasing and designed for convenience — the whole 

 producing" an unpretentious and intimate smoothness in the 

 general character of the building. The plan of the house is 

 not what would be considered romantic, but is rather that 

 of the classic form, with a central hall of generous propor- 

 tions forming a complete separation between it and the 

 subsidiary rooms. 



The living- and dining-rooms open onto the pergola and 

 terrace which extends along the rear of the house, connect- 

 ing the two porches built at each end of the building. 

 The Italian pergola has been well used in the designing 



