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and the fabric left complete; but he has made them an inte- 
gral part of the structure, so that the house would be as in- 
complete without the carvings as the carvings would be 
meaningless and homeless without the house. 
We have here, in short, a fine case of an artist putting 
into practical form his own favorite ideas and theories. Few 
periods of art have had stronger attraction to Mr. Sewell 
than the closing centuries of the medieval period, the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries. When he came to build his house 
at Oyster Bay he not only resolved to apply these theories 
practically, but to give them real and definite form. His 
basic idea was a medieval house; that is to say, a house de- 
signed on medieval models and yet adapted to modern use. 
The general architecture and design of the house is thus 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
December, 1909 
handiwork; but he has carved these pieces of wood much 
as the medieval craftsman might have carved them, and 
added them in the fine old spirit of structural decorations, 
meritorious in themselves it is true, but conceived and car- 
ried out in the old decorative spirit. No craftsman in 
America has done finer work than this, nor applied his art 
in a more practical way. It is a monument alike to the 
artist’s own abilities and to the wisdom and beauty of his 
theories. 
The larger front of the house adjoins the entrance front 
on the left. Here, it is discovered that this quiet little 
dwelling, as it appears from the road, is a house of generous 
dimensions. There are two gable ends here, one at each 
end, with a pleasant stretch of wall between them. The 
The porch and hand-carved brackets of the entrance-front 
based on the modest country house of the close of the fif- 
teenth century. 
But mere forms and generalities would not suffice for this 
enthusiastic artist. His house must not only recall medieval 
architectural forms, but be embellished with decorations 
conceived and carried out in the true medieval spirit. Hence, 
these wood-carvings, these sculptured doors, these inter- 
laced barge boards at the gables, these strange weird 
brackets upholding the overhanging second story. Behold, 
then, a modern house, designed and decorated in the spirit 
of the medieval craftsman, a real example of craftwork in 
modern building that is as unique as it is beautiful! 
And the beauty of the whole thing is that here is a house 
occupied by the owner who has decorated it himself precisely 
as he wanted it decorated. He does not offer these carvings 
as sculptures—as carefully studied works possessed of the 
delicate value that may be looked for in the sculptor’s 
upper wall, in this connecting screen, is without the vertical 
uprights of the entrance front and main gable, and is a 
solid stretch in which are cut windows of various size, all 
quite close to the overhanging eaves, but each having its 
own natural place in the economy of the interior. Each 
end, with its gable, projects beyond the connecting wall, and 
the intervening space forms a terrace, giving upon the garden 
without, and provided with a door that opens into the 
dining-room. Like the entrance door, this terrace door is 
charmingly carved in a highly decorative manner, and is 
a worthy companion-piece to the larger door on the front. 
‘The garden beyond is intimately related to the house, for 
the terrace that overlooks it is scarce more than a step above 
the bounding walk. First comes a flower border of peren- 
nials, gaily flowering just outside the house. Here, growing 
up at intervals, are fine old junipers, rarest of trees to 
transplant in this region, yet boldly transplanted thither 
