a 
‘ 
This picturesque cottage is one of the 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
December, 1911 
design and careful planning 
A North Shore Cottage 
By Mary H. Northend 
Photographs by the Author 
N the crest of a peninsula which runs out 
into the bay, affording a magnificent view 
of both the ocean and harbor dotted with 
white sails, and opposite the shore whereon 
stands the silent port of quaint old Marble- 
head with its church spires and old roofs 
rising from the water like some old-world city, half am- 
phibious, is situated one of the most picturesque cottages on 
the famous North Shore of the old Bay State, the house of 
Mr. Kirkland H. Gibson, designed by Thomas M. James, 
architect, of Boston. Toward the east the open ocean presents 
a view from this point that never palls upon one, change- 
ful as it is in all its varied moods, yet changeless in its im- 
mensity. This town stands midway between the ocean and 
the harbor at Nanepashemet. A winding lane from the 
driveway leads up to the upper entrance at the rear of the 
house, while quaint English stepping-stones ascend directly 
upon the avenue by which it is approached at the front of 
the house. These steps wind pleasantly through the green- 
sward past clumps of Sumac and Cedar, and a great mass 
of rock juts from the ground in a most picturesque manner. 
The view of the house is immediately pleasing. The ex- 
terior walls are covered with rough cast cement laid upon 
wire laths. The interior treatment is of cedar stained to a 
dark brown, forming a pleasant contrast to the gray walls. 
The casement windows, opening outward, have various 
arrangements of latticed panes with one window of leaded 
glass in the little hallway to the left. The shingle roof is 
low and widely projecting and is designed of the shingle 
pattern delightfully carried out, suggesting in a way both 
the tiled roof and the thatched roof, while the modified 
lines of the square chimney, somewhat like a section of the 
base of an obelisk, is one of the most striking features and 
most attractive points about the architecture. In the main 
body of the house, in order to afford outdoor living-rooms, 
appear most satisfactory loggias that may be entered by 
the opening of glass doors and low casement windows. 
The arrangement of the entrance porch is most pleasing, 
the canopy effect being obtained for the roofing by a pro- 
jection of the roof of the bay supported, in effect, by mas- 
sive chains bolted into a solid looking wall. The stairhall 
is sufficiently large to give approach to the spacious living-— 
