The building lot, 258 ft. wide by 1 78 ft. deep, is partly on the crest of a hill and partly on its steep slope. Into this the cottage was fitted to 
make it seem part of the landscape and at the same time take advantage of the best views 
The Making of a Distinctive Home 
THE HOUSE AND GARDEN WHICH ITS OWNER PLANNED TO FIT HIS PERSONAL IDEA OF COMFORT 
AND LUXURY—A SIMPLE AND SINCERE COTTAGE WONDERFULLY ADAPTED TO AN IRREGULAR SITE 
r, y Louise Shrimpton 
Photographs by George E. Doust and the author 
O N a hill-top site overlooking Syracuse, N. Y., Will¬ 
iam Henry Peters has located the house and gar¬ 
den of his own designing. They are a practical refuta¬ 
tion of the theory that the American business man is narrow 
minded, with no interests other 
than commercial ones. His cot¬ 
tage is planned with the ut¬ 
most care as a fitting home 
for the family that lives in it. 
Every advantage of site has 
been utilized in the placing of 
living rooms and garden fea¬ 
tures. A rule of simplicity is 
everywhere adhered to. In the 
furniture, designed specially for 
the places it occupies, the owner 
has adequately completed his 
scheme. 
The building lot, two hundred 
and fifty-eight feet wide by three 
hundred and seventy feet deep, is 
partly on the crest of the hill, 
partly on its steep slope. At the 
foot of the slope is a large pond 
belonging to a city park. At pres¬ 
ent the steep hill-side is planted to 
alfalfa, and is not shown in our garden plan. The width of the lot 
and its sharp descent at the rear prevent an) future interference 
with the view of the blue hills that stretch far into the distance 
and skirt half the horizon. In planning the cottage, the site 
has had due influence, since the 
principal rooms face the hills at 
the east, while the kitchen is on 
the street front. The distribution 
of ground floor space is also a fea¬ 
ture of the plan. In a successful 
small house plan there must nec¬ 
essarily be sacrifice and selection. 
To copy the large house or man¬ 
sion type results in a series of box¬ 
like compartments, no one of them 
large enough for a family assem¬ 
bly room. The living room in this 
cottage fills a large proportion of 
ground floor space. The dining 
room is distinctly small, and the 
studio is also small, though both 
rooms have glass doors opening 
upon the terrace, extending their 
apparent size. The kitchen is fur¬ 
nished with built-in cupboards that 
make a butler’s pantry useless. 
The garden furniture is of un¬ 
finished pine already weath¬ 
er stained 
Each article fits into the gen¬ 
eral scheme simply but ap¬ 
propriately 
(369) 
