June, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
228 
‘Druidream ”’ 
The Residence of Charles W. L. Roche, Esq. 
Brantwood, Short Hills, New Jersey 
By Charles Chauncey 
R. ROCHE’S residence at Brantwood, Short 
Hills, N. J., is an interesting type of the 
modern suburban house, designed in the 
English style. It is constructed of stone, 
shingles and half-timber work. 
The first story of the house is built of 
rock-faced graystone, while the second story 
is of frame construction, the exterior of which is covered with 
white cedar shingles stained a soft gray color. The trim- 
mings are painted dark bottle-green. The gables forming 
the third story of the house are beamed, forming panels, 
which are filled in with stucco work. ‘The beams are also 
painted dark bottle-green. The roof is shingled and stained 
a soft gray color. 
A circular serpentine roadway winds up to the porte- 
cochere from which the entrance to the house is made. The 
unique feature of the house is the great hall with its series 
of columns, from which spring arches, producing a groined- 
ceiling effect. [he woodwork is finished in dark Flemish 
brown. The walls have a paneled wainscoting extending 
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around the hall at a height of six feet and on a line with the 
intersection of the spring of the arches. [he walls above 
the wainscoting are treated with a brownish-yellow wall 
covering, blending well with the soft brown tone of the 
woodwork. 
From the reception-hall a broad French window opens 
on to the living-porch, semicircular in form, which is fur- 
nished in a most comfortable manner, and is where the 
family life centers on a warm summer’s day. Broad steps 
lead from the living-porch to the formal garden at the rear 
of the estate, which is formed by a series of terraces. 
To the right of the entrance is the living-room, extending 
the entire depth of the house. It is trimmed with oak and 
finished in black. The walls are covered with a two-tone 
green-striped wall-paper. Opposite the entrance to the 
living-room is a broad open fireplace built of Tiffany brick 
with the facings and hearth laid with the same, and the 
whole finished with a mantel of excellent design. The ceil- 
ing is beamed, forming panels which are tinted a lighter shade 
of green than the side walls. 
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The garden front of the house, showing the terrace sloping to the pond at the highway 
