Volume XXI. 
January, 1912 
Numb i: r i 
Which shall it be — the old house with its grand old trees and time-m ellowed lines, or the new one fresh in every part and built to fit your 
own needs? 
An Old House or a New One? 
[One of the most interesting questions that the prospective home builder meets is that suggested by the title above. IVe have asked two writers, 
whose names are probably familiar to House & Garden readers, to take respectively the one side and the other in a sort of debate. This frank sum¬ 
ming up of merits and defects may help the puzzled reader to decide the question as it relates to his mw.n particular case. —Editor.] 
C HIEF among the old houses that are 
being reclaimed to-day are those situ¬ 
ated in the country that were built as farm¬ 
houses, with a single eye to the fulfillment 
of that purpose. But the abandoned farm is now neither aban¬ 
doned nor a farm. It is a country seat. Si Wilson’s old place 
is now known as ‘‘Rockymead.’’ The hay cart has surrendered 
its place to the limousine. The city man with his store clothes 
has moved in with his family and servants. 
What will interest us in this discussion is to examine and see 
just how well these new inhabitants fit into the old shell, how 
thoroughly the old farmhouse, with its barns and outhouses, 
serves the needs and reflects the more complex civilization which 
it is called upon to shelter. 
■The:l3uildings were built in a more primi¬ 
tive age" remote region b}" a hardy peo¬ 
ple who had fo'live laborious, self-reliant 
lives. Their business was farming. The 
house was placed not with an eye to' the coolest breezes and the 
best view, out rache-f/,vltli its b.,ack to the cold winds, and the 
view was piost 'prc'bably of ,the barn. Tins latter, if it was not 
actually a part of the house, for ease of service, occupied the 
nearest southern slope, that the cow-yard might have the win¬ 
ter sun. 
The view was as it happened and at best a by-product of the 
main business of obtaining milk and vegetables. Bathrooms and 
plumbing were unknown. Heat was obtained from open fires 
or stoves, and the cellar was as often as not under the main 
Build a Ne’w House- 
BY Allen W. Jacxsox 
1 1.1] 
