June, 1911 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
A 
Country Home 
By Burr Bartram 
229 
As NE of the most surprising houses that the 
author has ever found is the one which 
has just been built for C. C. Merritt, 
Esq., at Pelham, N. Y., and which illus- 
trates this paper. The most striking fea- 
ture is the fact that the exterior has the 
appearance of an old New England farm- 
house built some hundred and fifty years ago, instead of 
being of recent construction. The owner selected this type 
of house for the design of the new building, which has been 
very carefully carried out in every detail by his architect, Mr. 
Herbert N. Baer, of New York. ‘The exterior, with its 
walls covered with hand-split cypress shingles, which are 
given a coat of whitewash, and the wooden blinds, painted 
midas green, help to accomplish the effect desired, and the 
result shows a very excellent copy of its prototype. 
A greater surprise, however, is in store for one when an 
entrance is obtained to the interior, for here one finds that 
the architect has departed from the simplicity of the farm- 
house to the splendor of a more pretentious home and its 
furnishings, and while this is true, there is a perfect harmony 
throughout. 
The entrance is direct from the front door to the vesti- 
bule, which forms the access to the main part of the dwelling. 
The great living-room, extending up to the peak of the 
gable which forms the roof of the building, is of excellent 
proportions and is splendidly furnished. This room is trim- 
med with chestnut, stained and finished in an old English oak 
of a soft browntone. A paneled wainscoting extends around 
the room to the height of the top of the windows, above 
which the wall space is covered with a tapestry paper of a 
combination of old blue and green tones. The timbers of the 
roof are exposed to view, are dressed, and form a very in- 
teresting feature of the interior. An ingle-nook occupies one 
end of the room, under the gallery which extends across and 
forms a passageway to the various sleeping-rooms in the 
second story. This ingle-nook has a fireplace built of rough 
brick laid with white mortar joints, with its facings ex- 
tending up through the roof of the house. Paneled seats are 
built: at either side of the fireplace. An ornamental stair- 
The exterior of the house, showing 
its farmhouse characteristics 
