February, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



53 



ler's pantry, laundry, and kitchen are trimmed with yellow 

 pine treated with hard oil and varnish, and each is fitted with 

 all the best modern and sanitary improvements. 



The second story is treated with white-painted trim, and 

 delicate and artistic wall decorations. This floor contains 

 three bedrooms and two bathrooms; the latter are well placed 

 for convenience to 

 each room, and 

 are furnished with 

 porcelain fixtures 

 and exposed nickel- 

 plated plumbing. 

 The owner's room 

 extends the entire 

 depth of the house, 

 with exposures on 

 three sides. There 

 are two bedrooms 

 and a bathroom on 

 the third floor, be- 

 sides ample storage 

 space. A cemented 

 cellar contains the 

 heating apparatus, 

 fuel rooms and cold 

 storage. 



Well designed 

 and planned houses 

 of this character are 

 not common, and 

 Messrs. Mcllvain 

 and Roberts, Phila- 

 delphia, Pa., the 



architects of this particular house, have demonstrated the 

 possibilities of a good house confined in a small compass. 



One of the most difficult problems which an architect has 

 to contend with, in the building of the modern house of the 

 character of this one, is to secure the necessary co-operation 

 of his client in adopting the best principles of simple form 



Rock Faced Local Stone Laid in White Mortar with Raked Joints, Is the Material of 

 Which the Exterior Walls Are Built 



idea and do away with the "parlor," which seems to be the 

 essential and foremost thought of the average housewife, is 

 certainly a triumph. Parlors in small houses usually occupy 

 the best and most important part. This is certainly a false 

 conception of the modern housewife, for in them is usually 

 placed the most uninviting and stiff-looking furniture and 



formal furnishings, 

 and there is thus 

 created an air that 

 forbids comfort. 



The best modern 

 houses, of small di- 

 mensions, as in this 

 particular case, are 

 provided with a 

 stairway of secon- 

 dary consideration 

 and a great, large 

 living-room in place 

 of the conventional 

 parlor. 



The architects 

 have been most suc- 

 cessful in planning 

 for Mr. Ellison a 

 most interesting in- 

 terior arrangement, 

 and an exterior de- 

 sign of no small mo- 

 ment. The pergola 

 piazza is an excel- 

 lent feature, form- 

 ing an outdoor liv- 

 ing-room, which is distinct and separate from the entrance 

 porch that pierces the house. On the interior all the 

 rooms are made to live in, and each is furnished for the pur- 

 pose for which it is intended. Each apartment is fitted up 

 with all the best .'iiodern conveniences. The construction of 

 the house is simple, though of the very best materials, and 



5£CO'VO JLOOFZ 



Complete and Compact Are the Plans in Their Arrangement of Rooms. A Study of the Combination of 



the Stairways is Worthy of Notice 



and architecture in the building of his house. To secure the interior appointments are simple, though of the very 

 his permission to do away with the hall and the staircase, best of their respective kinds. Taking the house as a com- 

 which usually forces its presence on everyone immediately pleted whole, as meeting modern needs, it certainly is one 

 upon entering the average house, is an excellent move, but of the best examples to be found in its vicinity. It well 

 to get him to modernize and simplify his ideas to the modern merits all the study that can be given to it. 



