40 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
The original house was a com¬ 
fortable cottage, indigenous 
to the rugged New England 
hills that surround it, both 
in color and design. Its one 
fault was a lack of adequate 
accommoda ti ons 
The dining-room gave greater 
privacy at meals, which the 
growth of the community 
demanded 
BHHSn Bib* i 
nmm wm> 
mm& mm ®' 
As remodeled the house was 
better fitted to suit the needs 
of a larger family and proved 
more in harmony with the 
white-painted houses of that 
New England community 
Plenty of sunlight has been let into the dining-room by windows on 
three sides. The woodwork is ivory white; the paper, a Japanese 
design of blue on ivory background, and the hangings and mgs blue 
An additional bedroom went 
in over the dining-room, with 
a wide fireplace and windoivs 
on three sides 
A HOUSE THAT GREW UP 
The Country Turned to Village and the Family Increased 
in Size, but the House Kept Pace with Every Change 
KELLY & GRAVES, architects 
A HOUSE grows because the family 
grows or the community grows. This 
was the case of the residence at Weston, 
Mass., the home of Oliver C. Howe, Esq.; 
both family and community grew out of 
their “breeks,” and changes had to be made. 
The house started in life as a cottage—- 
a well-designed cottage—on an ideal site 
half way up a rugged New England hill. It 
nestled to the hillside as naturally as the 
surrounding trees. Even in coloring it ap¬ 
peared indigenous, for the warm brown of 
the side walls and the leaf green of the roof 
were taken from Nature's own palette. 
As a concession to the simple life, the 
living-room was so arranged that one end 
should serve as a dining alcove, the taHe 
being used, at other hours, for library pur¬ 
poses. Upstairs was accommodation for 
three bedrooms with an extra room in the 
attic. Such was the sum total of space. 
For a time this cottage served faithfully 
the needs of its owner and graced its local¬ 
ity. Then the locality grew and the familv 
increased, and the house itself had to grow, 
too. So here is what happened. 
Except for unconventional summer life, 
modern conditions seem to demand no less 
than three rooms on the first floor of a 
house. Inevitably there will be a chance 
visitor at meal hours or occasions of some¬ 
what formal entertainment when a dining¬ 
room entirely shut off from the living-room 
will be indispensable. Attractive as the 
little house was then, it was scarcely com¬ 
plete without a dining-room adequate in 
size and private in location. The house was 
also somewhat restricted in the matter of 
sleeping accommodations. With remarkable 
success, as well as with very slight disturb¬ 
ance of any existing structural work, this 
demand for increased space was met. 
In adding the dining-room care was taken 
with the fenestration and the outlook, which 
give the good cheer and sunlight so neces¬ 
sary to that room. The windows look out 
on three sides, east, south, west, assuring an 
abundance of light. Inside the room is also 
decorated cheerily. The standing wood¬ 
work is finished in ivory white and the ceil¬ 
ing tinted to correspond. The wallpaper 
has a background that exactly matches the 
woodwork and against this is Japanese de¬ 
sign in soft old blue. The sunfast hangings 
and rug reflect that color note. 
In emphasizing the increased scope of the 
house the drastic change in the exterior 
color scheme is appropriate; and it is like¬ 
wise fitting in view of the location of the 
house in a section of the country long famed 
for the beauty of its simple, white-painted, 
frame homes. In this instance, not only the 
body of the house, but the trim is painted 
white, which pleasantly contrasts with bot¬ 
tle-green blinds and leaf-green roof. 
Although, in its original form, the house 
was in its general lines a pleasing composi¬ 
tion, it is now much more satisfying in 
mass; as the additional wing has imparted 
a becoming increase in girth, just as the 
sharper color contrast has given greater 
value to the lines of the manv-gabled roof. 
