The house is of stucco over lath and fits well into its surrounding of trees because of a roof of green, variegated tile and greenish chestnut window 
trim. The lattice and the metal work are also of harmonious dark green tone 
Homes That Architects Have Built for Themselves 
THE HOUSE OF HERBERT E. DAVIS, ARCHITECT, AT GLEN RIDGE, N. J.—HOW A 
HOUSE WAS PLANNED FROM IDEAS OF ITS INTERIOR RATHER THAN EXTERIOR 
I F Flerbert E. Davis, 
architect, of the 
firm of Davis, McGrath 
& Kiessling, were to be 
asked to name the cen¬ 
tral. dominating influ¬ 
ence that was always 
uppermost in his mind 
when he planned his 
own house, he would 
doubtless say that it was 
the comfort, convenience 
and artistic tastes of his 
own family. That is 
very much what the av¬ 
erage man would say. 
but in the matter of 
building houses, an architect is several 
grades higher in importance and author¬ 
ity than the average man. Some reason that sounds a little 
more professional or more learned might be expected from 
an architect. But there was nothing technical or theoretical 
in i\Ir. Davis’s wa)" when he began to plan for his own home. He 
had his technical knowledge to help him and his experience to 
guide him, but he used these things as subservient allies and not 
as arrogant masters. 
Fle left it for them to 
assist in the details after 
he had first started the 
major premise of the 
syllogism, which was 
that “a house is a thing 
to live in.” The minor 
premise might have 
been, “I shall build a 
house,” and then the in¬ 
evitable conclusion was. 
“I shall build a thing to 
live in,” and that was 
precisely what he pro¬ 
ceeded to do. 
]\Ir. Davis makes no 
mystery of his methods in determining 
what sort of a house he would build in 
order that his main purpose — satisfying the requirements of his 
family — might be accomplished. Nor does he violate the ethics of 
the profession or reveal its secrets when he says simply that he 
built the house from the inside out and not from the outside in. 
As to its style, he says he does not know what to call it, but that 
his inability to attach a style tag to it seems to have in no way 
The garage is lattice covered and has an attractiveness often absent in building: 
of this type 
BY J o N A T II A N A. R A W SON, J R . 
(20') 
