HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 191 
2 
The English house in suburbs or in countr}- may be based on 
Gothic traditions as they filtered through the Renaissance days 
of the Tudor times, or tinged with the Italian spirit which grew 
side by side with Gothic, or touched by the influence of Dutch 
brickwork, which helped to produce the Georgian work, but in 
every case it will be homelike. It will set well on the level amid 
its well kept grounds, or on the terraced hillside, or in the pleasant 
valley. 
It will have three divisions always more or less clearly marked. 
The public part, entrances and the like, for the family and for 
service; the master's part, both in house and grounds; and the 
service part, also in house and grounds. This is so obviously wise 
as a fundamental considera¬ 
tion that it is strange to find 
it so often ignored here, but 
we may comfort or excuse 
ourselves with the thought 
that they have been building 
to suit conditions of country 
life for centuries, and we but 
a short time. 
With these three considera¬ 
tions in mind the owner will 
view his lot of land to deter¬ 
mine what part he may spare 
to the public, what to service, 
and what reserve for his wife 
and children. The aspect, the 
natural features, view, trees, 
etc., will largely determine 
these most important things, 
and if they are settled right 
many problems in the plan 
are determined. The en¬ 
trance to front door is here, 
and to the service there, the 
dining-room is near the service portion, the living rooms com¬ 
mand the private ground. Then the main features of the plan 
determine themselves. In just this way is it determined whether 
the regularity of a classic plan or the freedom of the Gothic fits 
best the conditions. It seems to me useless to argue that one or 
the other is the only way. Both have their uses, both are wholly 
appropriate and fitting at times. The style should grow naturally 
from the demands of the special conditions, and neither is neces¬ 
sarily exclusive of the others. The best Tudor and Jacobean 
houses were planned with great formality of balanced parts, and 
the later Georgian work was often very free, and frankly 
unbalanced. 
What is true of the plan is equally true of materials, always 
bearing in mind that what is honest and straightforward in con¬ 
struction is more likely to have the permanent qualities of beauty 
than what is either false, imi¬ 
tative, or ostentatious. 
The English have always 
used honest, simple material — 
generally local and economical 
material. With us local ma¬ 
terial and economy have little 
to do with each other because 
in New England, for example, 
it is cheaper to bring cut stone 
from Indiana than to cut our 
obdurate granite. Neverthe¬ 
less, we disregard local op¬ 
portunities altogether too 
much, and rather pride our¬ 
selves on getting something 
our neighbors have not. We 
have, however, no excuse for 
not using honest material: 
wood, stone, brick, concrete, 
are all in this class, and have 
their place and use. Wood is 
still the cheapest material in 
first cost, but other more dur¬ 
able and safe materials are rapidly nearing its cost. To cover 
wood with stucco makes the frame house safer, and reduces the 
surface that requires paint, but it has the air of pretending to he 
Mr. Chanler’s house at Tuxedo is a good example of an American 
adaptation of an English precedent with secluded garden and porch 
When Mr. Cabot built his house in Brookline it was to fit the site of 
a house destroyed by fire. He chose the freedom of English lines 
to do this satisfactorily 
of terraces as evidenced in houses of the English 
Tudor type is shown in the Rice house at Ipswich, Mass. W. G. 
Rantoul, architect 
