HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 
1912 
Rocks are often a good founda¬ 
tion for the summer-house 
Which of these three types 
to choose depends largely on 
the style of the house, the ex¬ 
tent of the grounds and the 
way they are laid out. 
Where there is a formal 
garden scheme, the sum¬ 
mer-house. or pergola 
should be treated as part 
of the house (assuming 
this to be in good taste) 
and no one is ,as likely to 
maintain the proper sym¬ 
pathy between them as 
the architect who design¬ 
ed the main building. 
This most likely will be 
Colonial or Italian, for 
the predominant classic 
feeling of these styles 
calls for a formal garden; 
and the garden-h o u s e 
would most likely take 
the form of a little teui- 
pictto. This is the struc¬ 
ture which the Italians of 
the Renaissance felt to be 
an indispensable garden 
adornment; and the su¬ 
preme skill with which 
they used it may be ap¬ 
preciated by anyone who has the good fortune to visit the 
Borghese and Frascati villas. In cietail an Italian tempietto 
is exquisite for it was never meant to be vine-covered, but 
to stand bare against heavy foliage and thus invite close in¬ 
spection of its delicate finish. Wood is well adapted to in¬ 
terpret these marble originals as is proven by many a fine old 
wooden pavilion in Colonial gardens both North and South: 
but in design it must be as perfect as a skilled architect can 
make it. It is not a matter to be handed over to the village 
carpenter—he is not apt to be tbe artist in wood that old Samuel 
Alaclntyre was, who beautified his native town of Salem with 
such exquisite gates and gate-posts. The proportions of the 
wooden classic should be even more attenuated than in mar¬ 
ble and never inclined to the sturdy or “stumpy.” That is 
the glory of our American Colonial over the English Georgian 
from which it is derived—that it is in wood and frankly as¬ 
serts itself as wood; while the English work is in wood and 
tries to look like stone. “Learn to express your ma¬ 
terial” is a motto that the sincere builder always keeps 
in mind. 
In seeking for a model for a classic garden-house 
turn to the old work and not to one that you may have 
admired in a neighbor's place. If his is good all its 
merits and more, too, will be found in something de¬ 
signed ages ago. But do not, in your striving to be 
classic, carry a pavilion or tempietto to such a degree 
of formality as to rob it of all feeling of comfort or 
shelter. It must always be inviting. Of slender pro¬ 
portions, roofed with a little dome or pedimented ridges 
(which might be shingled, as shingles closely resemble 
slates) and floored with tiles or wood, it can look prop¬ 
erly formal and yet familiar—the latter element de¬ 
pending largely on where the shelter is placed—at the 
end of a path with formal hedg'es. at the end of a 
colonnade or pergola, as the central point of a very sym¬ 
metrical planting, or as a belvidcre overlooking the 
water — all spots to which something leads and from 
which there is something to look out upon. 
In the Italian originals the furniture was the beau¬ 
tifully designed stone bench and table which have be¬ 
come known here as 
“Pompeiian a n d as 
these are admirably re¬ 
produced in concrete, our 
modern tempietto may re¬ 
peat much of the flavor of 
the old. But one must re¬ 
member that it is an ex¬ 
pensive adjunct to his 
grounds and must not un¬ 
dertake it unless he is 
prepared to spend a suffi¬ 
cient sum to do it well. 
With a rustic arbor or 
pavilion no such outlay is 
needed; but it is not ad¬ 
visable to resort to these 
merelv because they are 
comparatively inexpen¬ 
sive. without duly con¬ 
sidering whether they are 
congruous with the house 
and garden. The garden 
should be entirely inform¬ 
al and old-fashioned, the 
Combining a garden-house and a pergola and at the same time shutting 
out an unpleasant view 
The isolated retreat is often one of the most 
attractive garden features 
There is nothing architectural about this, but it has regularity, and precedent 
declares it suitable for most American country houses 
