-riGST-rLOOD'FLAN- 
-*161 - E.AST- T4-ST - 
Homes That Architects Have 
Built for Themselves 
THE CITY HOME OF MR. STOWE PHELPS IN NEW YORK— 
AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTING THE INTERIOR SCHEME TO 
FIT A LONG, NARROW HOUSE TO BEST ADVANTAGE 
by Stowe Phelps 
Photographs by Henry H. Saylor 
T he 
of 
The pantry is lighted 
from a shaft, and 
from sliding panels 
small daughter 
a well known 
architect once asked her 
father if he would buy 
her a pony. 
“Why, dearie,'’ he re¬ 
plied, “you must remem¬ 
ber that you are the 
daughter of a poor archi¬ 
tect.” 
“Well, papa, if 
ever got to be a 
architect do you think I 
could have a pony ?” which 
may intimate indirectly 
why an architect's own 
house may some times fall 
far short of what he him¬ 
self would like to have it. 
The architect has only one advantage in being his 
own client, in that he doesn't have his ideas frus¬ 
trated by some other body’s peculiar personal equa¬ 
tion or bad (?) taste; otherwise the limitations and 
difficulties are about equal. 
The first step is the choice of a site ; or of a house, 
if alterations are contemplated. If choosing a house, 
an eye is natu- 
rally kept on 
the “possibili¬ 
ties” of the ex¬ 
isting building, 
even if the al- 
terations 
amount to leav¬ 
ing nothing but 
the original key¬ 
hole. 
In my o w n 
case the condi¬ 
tions as found 
were promising. 
The house had 
four stories and 
basement, w.as 
20 feet wide and 
60 feet deep 
(which is 10 or 
i5 feet deeper 
than the aver- 
a g e in N e w 
Y o r k) and it 
also had a low 
stoop, obviating 
-13 
Each branch of the 
domestic depart¬ 
ment has its own 
place 
-L1BEA.BY- 
-5C.COND-rLOOB-PL/xM' 
*161- EAST-^ ST' 
The architect has given 
the important rooms 
best lighted positions 
the 
necessity of 
this 
changes on 
The dining-room became the long, narrow room admirably adapted to an English style of decoration 
account. It was decided 
to have a living-room (to 
be used also as a studio) 
and a dining-room on the 
first floor, a library on the 
second floor, and the rest 
of the upper stories for 
bedrooms. 
Now, the ordinary block¬ 
house has a long thin 
drawing-room next to the 
entrance hall in front 
(with a facial expression 
much like a Pullman car), 
and a good large dining 
room in the rear, usually 
all out of proportion to 
the size of the drawing¬ 
room. A butler’s pantry 
extension usually projects out behind, taking off 
much light from the dining-room and much space 
from the back yard. 
Instead of following this ancient and honorable 
custom, the dining-room was put in front (where the 
sun was), the pantry in the middle, and the living- 
room-studio in the back where it got the north light. 
Putting the 
pantry in the 
middle is not 
liked by the ser¬ 
vants, it is ad¬ 
mitted ; nor do 
they probably 
care for bed- 
rooms on the 
top story. It is 
imaginable that 
they would con- 
s i d e r an ar¬ 
rangement with 
the pantry in 
front and the 
dining-room in 
the middle of 
the house much 
preferable; but 
it seems unwise 
to en dour age 
these sentiments 
unnecessarily. 
The dining¬ 
room in front 
became of neces¬ 
sity the long 
narrow room 
( 301 ) 
