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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 1908 



Residence of John M. Chapman, Esq. 



Rock Ledge Road, Montclair, New Jersey 

 By Francis Durando Nichols 



HE many readers of American Homes and 



H| Gardens are quite well aware of the fact 



that it is not the purpose of the magazine 



to design houses, but to present the. best 



finished work of the best architects. The 



aim of the magazine at all times is to help 



its readers in every possible way, and the 



signal instance of the sometimes unexpected manner in which 



it serves this end is supplied by the house built for Mr. John 



M. Chapman on Rock Ledge Road, at Montclair, N. J. 



Those of our readers who may recall the very beautiful 

 cover design supplied with the issue of American Homes 

 and Gardens for January, 1906, will immediately recog- 

 nize it as the model on which the very charming house of 

 Mr. Chapman's is based. 



The cover in question reproduced no real structure, but 

 was the imaginative work of a well-known artist. More 

 than one inquiry to the publishers for plans and details was 

 met with the response that they could not be supplied, since 

 they did not exist. This deficiency can now be remedied, for 

 Mr. Chapman, through his architect, Mr. Albert F. Norris, 

 New York, has made the unreal real, and at the same time 

 has secured a very delightful residence. 



The exterior is a very careful development of the original 

 design, as will be seen by a study of the original design illus- 

 trated on the cover, and reproduced herewith, together with 

 a photograph of the house as it is now built. 



A study of the view, taken from practically the same point 

 of perspective as the. original, will show how closely Mr. 

 Norris has kept in touch with the original, for in detail the 

 same number and the same kind of windows are used, as 

 well as the same doorway, which opens from the dining- 

 room to the terrace. Mr. Norris has very ably demonstrated 



his keen perception and imagination as to what might be an 

 interior arrangement of rooms for the house, and has carried 

 out his ideas accordingly, as shown by the accompanying 

 plans. 



The site upon which the house is built slopes sharply 

 toward the. east. This feature, taken together with the fact 

 that the building is on the easterly side of the road, required 

 very careful consideration of general lay out, to secure best 

 results as to convenience, of room arrangement and outlook 

 therefrom, and yet avoidance of a barren or barn-like front 

 on the street; which, as it happens, commands the least de- 

 sirable outlook. In fact, the street front of the house, aside 

 from the main entrance porch, is given over to stairways, 

 kitchen and service entrance porch; but, by skilful treatment, 

 these drawbacks were overcome, and the result is a pleasing 

 entrance front. 



The really artistic effects are, however, to be seen from the 

 garden at the rear, because, as will be found by consulting 

 the plans, the building lines are arranged in such a manner 

 as to secure full value of roof and wall masses and artistic 

 groupings of windows and other openings. Here, too, the 

 chimneys and the corner buttresses, by their rugged yet 

 graceful lines, convey a sense of strength, toned to harmonize 

 with their surroundings. 



Above the foundations, the building is of frame construc- 

 tion, the exterior walls being sheathed with rabbeted sheath- 

 ing boards, waterproof building paper and floated stucco of 

 Atlas Portland cement, on galvanized wire lath. The half- 

 timber gables are stuccoed in like manner, care, being taken 

 by the architect, in proper details, to insure perfectly weather- 

 tight joints. 



The novel treatment of roof shingles, as the courses ap- 

 proach the gables, gives a graceful skyline, not unlike that 



First Floor Plan 



Second Floor Plan 



