386 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1907 



The Piazza Is an Indispensable Feature of the Small House 



Small American Homes 



By Paul Thurston 



Four Houses at Wayne, Pennsylvania 



NE of the most difficult problems which 

 confronts all architects is the building of 

 inexpensive houses that contain character- 

 istics which make them distincti\e and, at 

 the same time, embrace all the features 

 and comforts of the modern up-to-ilate 

 house. 



While the plans of each of these four houses designed by 

 Mr. Laurence Vissher Boyd, architect, of Philadelphia, Pa., 

 which are illustrated herewith, are somewhat similar in the 

 arrangement ol their rooms, showing the same number of 



them, this is the result of much specialized study by the 

 architect. A greater freedom was exercised in the designing 

 of the exteriors, the object being to avoid, so far as possible, 

 a development along one line. 



The house presented in Figs. 3 and 4 is eminently simple. 

 The terrace porch of the front is inclosed within a balustrade 

 and is partly covered by a hood supported on wooden brack- 

 ets; an old armed settle stands at one side. A living-porch, 

 isolateci and on the side of the house, is reached from the hall. 



The building has a rock-faced stone underpinning, and the 

 superstructure, from the underpinning to the peak, is covered 



