48o 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



The Small Country House 



December, 1910 



By Paul Thurston 



A Dutch Colonial House Costing $2,1 50, Complete 



N Seminary Hill, overlooking the historic 

 Potomac, and about eight miles south of 

 Washington, stands an interesting exam- 

 ple of modern American homes which 

 well illustrates the fact that a house need 

 not be costly to be beautiful. The con- 

 tract cost of this house was twenty-one 

 hundred and fifty dollars, which included all work except 

 the heating, the furnace flue only being arranged for its 

 future installation. In this building the designer, Milton 

 Dana Morrill, of Washington, has used only the most in- 

 expensive materials, but a more charming house could 

 scarcely be built at any cost. 



The hilltop where the house stands is the site of a de- 

 serted fort which was occupied by Federal troops during 

 the Civil War as a protection to Washington from the 

 south, and the commanding position which made it so de- 

 sirable as a fortification now makes an ideal setting for this 

 unique and individual home. 



Traditional architectural forms, such as moldings and 

 cornices have not been used, and the whole rings true as 

 an honest construction artistically worked out in such a way 

 that it can be exposed. Tn this house there is not a con- 

 cealed timber, all plastering having been omitted and the 



studding and floor beams are finished and stained a rich 

 brown. Woodwork has been employed in its most natural 

 and logical shape, and the flat surfaces display to best ad- 

 vantage the beautiful veining and graining of our south- 

 ern pine. 



The color scheme has been carefully studied and on the 

 exterior a soft green stain on shingles and white trimmings 

 gives a simple and quite satisfactory effect. 



The general opinion prevails that the cheapest finish to 

 give woodwork is to paint it, but such is not the case, and 

 if the wood is of a fairly good quality one coat of stain 

 will give an attractive and pleasing appearance and retain 

 the natural graining of wood which is always beautiful if 

 properly treated. 



For the wall construction, wood sheathing was nailed to 

 the studding with the finished side in, and a covering of sea 

 grass quilt was applied, being held by strips which formed 

 a fastening for the shingles. This construction makes a 

 house warm in winter and cool in summer. The underfloor- 

 ing is laid with the finished side down, forming the ceiling 

 of the room below, over this being placed deadening felt and 

 the finished floor applied on strips. Not one inch of space 

 has been wasted in the plan and although the outside dimen- 

 sions of the house are not great, the rooms are ample and 



A gambrel roofed house built of shingles 



