i8o 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1907 



The Summer Veranda 



By Esther Singleton 



jITHIN the past few years the veranda 

 has come to mean something more than its 

 dictionary definition — "a kind of open 

 portico formed by extending a sloping 

 roof beyond the main building." Built 

 of ample or cosy proportions, supported 

 by columns, inclosed by a stone or wooden balustrade or 

 framed in by flower boxes, decorated with ornamental 

 plants or bright blooms in jars or baskets, protected from 

 the sun by striped 

 awnings or grass or 

 bamboo curtains, and 

 made comfortable 

 with easy chairs, 

 tables, rugs, and cush- 

 ions, it has become a 

 most important fea- 

 ture of the American 

 summer home. 



In this country, 

 where the tall, thick, 

 and glistering hedges 

 of holly, box, yew, and 

 hawthorn a n d the 

 high brick walls, 

 which so delightfully 

 screen one's premises 

 from the gaze of the 

 world, are almost un- 

 known, it is impossible 

 to live upon one's 

 lawn in privacy. The 

 veranda offers a com- 

 promise between in- 



doors and outdoors, and has developed into a species of 

 open-air room the furnishing of which is quite as important 

 as that of any other room in the house. 



In our Southern States the delights and uses of the ve- 

 randa have long been known. The visitor to Charleston, 

 Savannah, New Orleans, and other cities (where, by the way 

 it is often referred to as the "gallery" or the front or back 

 "po'ch"), one is astonished to find not only every house, but 

 every floor of the house supplied with a veranda extending 



around its three or 

 four sides, as the case 

 may be, and screened 

 from the public eye by 

 shutters, the small 

 slats of which are 

 opened to admit air 

 and light. Here, in 

 warm weather, the In- 

 habitants not only sit 

 and eat, but frequently 

 sleep as well. 



These Southern ve- 

 randas are not, how- 

 ever, as a rule, fur- 

 nished with any eye to 

 decorative effect; it is 

 in the more wealthy 

 States of the North 

 that the veranda is 

 found in its g 1 o r y. 

 In the homes of mil- 

 lionaires it sometimes 

 exhibits not only 

 luxurious but ex- 



-Bamboo Screens Are Both Popular and Useful in the Modern Veranda 



2 The Increased Use of Verandas as Sitting- and Dining-rooms Requires Ample Areas 



