92 



AMERICAN HOMES AND 



GARDENS 



March, 1907 



The House Has An Overhanging Second Story of the Style Built in the tLaiiy Colonial 



Days of New England 



With the tempera- 

 ment of a designer 

 one's art is never 

 empirical. 



There is no more 

 difficult architectural 

 problem than that 

 of the successful cot- 

 tage. The regula- 

 tion thing in cottage 

 plans is not very dif- 

 ficult — those dreary 

 repetitions of one 

 another without in- 

 dividuality — but the 

 plans and details for 

 anything with as 

 much character as 

 the accompanying 

 illustrations show, 

 require unending 

 pains and patience 

 for which ten per 

 cent, of the cost 

 barely remunerates the architect. The 

 elevation drawings for Mr. Cromwell's 

 cottage "Witch Wood" placed beside the 

 elevation drawings of the average cottage 

 proposition would appear as the drawings 

 for a tessellated pavement beside an area 

 to be flagged. Simply to copy them would 

 require more time than a draughtsman 

 would ordinarily spend tracing the plans 

 for several cottages; and speaking of copy- 

 ing leads the writer to Insert a word about 

 an extremely elastic if not entirely obsolete 

 code of honor between architects called 

 "professional courtesy." 



To his country place Mr. Cromwell 

 gave the name of "Witch Wood," embrac- 

 ing an enviable piece of property of per- 

 haps twenty acres, overlooking the valley 

 and village of Highland Mills, N. Y. In 

 common with other works by the same 

 architect It has no veranda, that is, no 

 acknowledged veranda. What It has in- 

 stead Is a woodshed. That sounds queer. 



There Is a Quiet Charm About this Quaint Country House with Its Small Paned 

 Windows and Its Shed Piazza 



But observe this woodshed opening from 

 the dining-room and ventilated by louvers 

 In pairs so tipped as to afford a current of 

 air without a draught. Being convenient 

 to both kitchen and pantry, the woodshed 

 transforms Itself, with no additional house- 

 work. Into an out-of-door dining-room, 

 perfectly screened from both kitchen and 

 front entrances. People will more readily 

 accept the taffy-pulled and meaningless 

 motives of New Art, or the equally mean- 

 ingless newly Invented architecture of 

 which the Chicago Auditorium Is an ex- 

 ample, than legitimate historical develop- 

 ment overflowing with delightful tradi- 

 tions. Such Is the Inconsequence of popu- 

 lar taste. 



Occasionally we meet with an unex- 

 pected advantage. Favorable to the Witch- 

 Colonial scheme of the architect's was Mrs. 

 Cromwell's idea of an entry In lieu of a 

 hall. She had no space to spare for a hall, 

 she said, which Is 

 true in a tiny cot- 

 tage, and wanted 

 every square foot 

 obtainable for her 

 two best rooms. 

 This decision gave 

 the architect an op- 

 portunity to take a 

 mental trip to the 

 old colony in Massa- 

 chusetts. He recalled 

 the glimpse he once 

 had of the bewitch- 

 ing entry and angu- 

 lar staircase In the 

 house of Dr. Gray 

 at Hingham. It was 

 an inspiration ! The 

 thing had the per- 

 sonality he wanted. 

 It is the personal 

 reminiscence every 

 time that makes suc- 



One of the Bedrooms Shows An Artistic and Effective Treatment 



