252 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
July, tg11 
The interior of the boathouse as it was 
A Boathouse Remodeled Into a Summer Home at a Cost of $500 
By Mary H. Northend 
Photographs by the author 
T THE foot of the second cliff at Scituate, 
Mass., at the left-hand side of the road- 
way, stands the picturesque summer home 
of Mr. Frank A. Bourne, the well-known 
Boston architect. It is remodeled from 
an old boathouse that for years had done 
service as a fisherman’s workshop. 
To one unacquainted with architectural possibilities the 
weather-worn little building, built on the edge of Scituate 
Harbor, its log foundations at high tide surrounded on 
three sides by water, seemed devoid of artistic qualities, 
but to the trained eye of Mr. Bourne, it contained just the 
desired requisites for an attractive summer home, and he 
accordingly purchased and remodeled it. 
The building was in good repair, and after cleaning out 
the interior, the alterations required were made. The ex- 
terior was newly shingled and left to weather, and in place 
of the odd narrow little windows that characterized the 
workshop, conventional house windows were inserted. 
Dormer — windows 
were thrown out at 
either side of the 
roof to make the 
second floor apart- 
ments more light- 
some, and at the 
front of the dwell- 
ing,a double-decked 
covered varanda 
was built, and = 
screened in against SeeO ime 
mosquitoes, the =n 
lower portion to be 
used as an outdoor 
living-room, and the 
upper part to serve 
the purpose of an 
open air sleeping- 
room _~ whenever 
desired. 
dihe sor: 1.01 nva, | 
front double doors 
were retained, and 
now open upon the 
lower veranda, 
while a new broad 
door, flanked’ on 
The interior of the boathouse as it is 
either side by narrow windows, was cut in the second story 
to connect with the upper veranda. 
The interior, which consisted of a single large apart- 
ment, open to the roof, was remodeled into a_ two-story 
dwelling, the rafters of the new laid second-story floor 
being left exposed and tinted a soft weathered gray. The 
first oor was left unchanged, except for the portioning off of 
a space for the small kitchen and toilet beyond, and the erec- 
tion of a staircase to connect with the second floor apart- 
ments. The wall separation between the main apartment 
and the kitchen was contrived from a number of finely 
paneled doors, brought from the Wigglesworth house at 
Boston, and stained gray to match the old weather-worn 
woodwork. 
The spaces between the upright beams in the main room 
were hung with a wainscot of yellow straw matting to a 
height of five feet and edged with a narrow horizontal 
beam that answers the purpose of plate rail. The floor was 
painted to harmonize with the woodwork, and to relieve 
t he monotonous 
gray, bright-toned 
rugs were laid 
upon it. 
The dining table 
was contrived from 
two old wood saw- 
horses Ww ijageee 
drafting-board laid 
across them, and 
the artistic lamp 
which graces the 
center was made 
from a pickle jar 
equipped with a 
shade painted by 
Mrs. Bourne, who 
Is an artist gon 
ability. The area 
occupied by the old 
carpenter's bench 
that was in the shop 
at the time of its 
purchase, was con- 
vert eds mbomeed 
storage. space” at 
one side of the 
room, and 
along 
