152 
Of the three, stucco has be- 
come the cheapest medium, 
but there is no very great dif- 
ference between them. And 
now a word about historic ar- 
chitecture, for other kinds are 
worthless for dwelling house 
construction. 
If our plan does not admit 
of historic treatment, then we 
must change the plan or else 
discard it, and yet of history, 
tradition, folk-lore, and all 
that delightful train of min- 
isters of grace, people habitu- 
ally think last. They do not 
understand that without these 
life-giving agents to the design 
nothing really successful can 
be achieved. The elevations 
which go with and belong to 
the several floor plans ex- 
hibited are historic and ortho- 
dox elevations, absolutely free 
from cant and modern inven- 
tion. Where a left-handed 
feature has offended in the 
process of assimilation of 
architectural design, that fea- 
ture has been promptly lopped 
off, as the Bible also has ad- 
vised. And only those fea- 
tures have been retained or 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
6—A $7,000 proposition 
April, 1909 
added that can be worked out 
true to their antecedents. 
Heretical though it may 
seem, a floor plan is really of 
secondary importance to that 
of its architectural integu- 
ment, and it must be worked 
out to fit and accommodate 
itself to some historic model 
of excellence, for the latter is 
the inviolable factor. Of 
course, it is infinitely more dif- 
ficult to do this than to force 
issues—solutions. It is much 
easier to force a balance of a 
double-entry set of books than 
to patiently hunt for the miss- 
ing discrepancy. Yet when the 
exterior and interior plans do 
finally come together, and bal- 
ance with a precision ap- 
proaching the click of a piece 
of machinery, what a satisfac- 
tory sense that everything is 
all right supervenes! 
The cost of a dwelling is 
computed by the cubic space it 
occupies, and to obtain the 
maximum amount of room 
and convenience, together with 
the minimum amount of ex- 
pense, is the object of the 
present writing. 
Kitchen 
V ToCellar 
A Formal Garden and Pergola Designed by An Amateur 
By Alexander R. Holliday 
GO) TERE are few occupations that give more 
\ satisfaction than the expression in construc- 
tion of one’s own ideas. Landscape archi- 
tecture offers a particularly inviting field 
for this enjoyment by the amateur on ac- 
count of the small expense involved as 
compared to building operations and the 
ease with which mistakes may be corrected. The amateur 
in starting will find that it is easy to decide on general plans, 
but difficult to decide on detail dimensions. ‘The literature 
of landscape architecture is replete with beautiful photo- 
graphs showing general effects but barren of detail di- 
mentioned plans and specifications. As one searches, the im- 
pression is borne in that perhaps the literature was written 
by professionals who earned a livelihood by supplying the 
detail drawings, the appetite for which was created by their 
beautiful illustrations. 
The accompanying illustrations show a part of the devel- 
opment of a country place by amateurs near Indianapolis. 
The ground had formerly been a corn field bordering a woods 
The pergola is designed on the arc of a circle as a background to a tennis court 
