HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1913 
The living-room naturally was affected by the desire to have 
an outlook on the beautiful countryside and the main living-porch 
of the house must be so disposed that from it most of them might 
be included. The best way to include them in the plan seemed 
to be to make the front of the living-room and the front of the 
porch semi-circular in shape. This scheme had the additional 
virtue of harmonizing well with the very winding character of 
the drives in front of the house. The 
semi-circular shape of the living- 
room naturally resulted in the round 
tower seen in the frontispiece of this 
magazine. It also resulted in the kind 
of porch there shown. The peculiar 
method of approach to the porch by 
means of a series of steps is the result 
of the contour of the ground, the en¬ 
deavor being to reach the main en¬ 
trance door by a series of steps rather 
than by one long flight. 
Immediately in front of the living- 
room there stood an oak tree on 
sloping ground. In order better to 
conserve the water from rainfalls 
around this oak (water in California 
being a precious item) the ground was 
leveled in front of the oak and a semi¬ 
circular wall and balustrade built 
around the terrace so formed. This 
terrace has the additional virtue of 
supplying a promenade from which 
the views up and down the canon can 
again be seen; it also harmonizes in 
shape with the winding drives and it 
answers as a base to the house so that 
the latter does not appear as though 
slipping down hill. On the south side 
of the living-room in 
an adjoining lot there 
is planted a beauti¬ 
ful garden belonging 
to a neighbor. It was 
desirable to get win¬ 
dows looking out in 
this direction. This 
accounts partially for 
the alcove in the liv¬ 
ing-room seen beside 
the fireplace in the 
photograph on this 
page. The east side of 
the house being the 
one from which the 
morning sun enters, 
another window ex¬ 
posure was given to 
the living-room on 
this side. The dining¬ 
room being some¬ 
what restricted in 
light on the west side 
through being cov¬ 
ered by the main porch, the east side was left open to the sun. 
This also gives morning sunlight at breakfast time. As the 
-means of the owner were somewhat limited, no attempt was 
made to make a feature out of the entrance hall. It is merely an 
entrance hall and nothing more. The kitchen has exposure on 
Two sides, thus getting a cross draft, which is desirable in the 
The porch balustrade and pillars form a frame, as it 
were, for beautiful views 
hot summer days that California sometimes experiences. The 
screen porch back of the kitchen is distinctly a Californian fea¬ 
ture, that is to say, the idea of having a screen porch which an¬ 
swers the purpose of an entrance to the kitchen and also an 
open-air laundry, is a feature common to almost all California 
houses. Owing to the steep slope upon which the house was 
built, it was necessary to put the maid’s room up a few steps 
above the level of the screen porch. 
The plan also disposes the maid’s 
room off in one corner of the house 
quite a distance from the living- 
rooms, which is desirable. Both the 
living-room and dining-room open 
out to the east upon a garden which, 
owing to the sloping ground, is ter¬ 
raced. There are several full grown 
old orange trees in the garden. 
In the second story the same factors 
which prompted the planning of the 
first story living-room, prompted the 
planning of the main bedroom; that 
is, the views toward the front and side 
and the sunlight on the east side. The 
two other bedrooms were put on the 
east side, in order to obtain the morn¬ 
ing sun. The hall leading to the far¬ 
ther bedrooms gives a fine view of the 
oaks out in front of the property and 
up and down the street. 
As regards the exterior, the most 
natural way of treating the semi-cir¬ 
cular front of the living-room, is, as 
has been said, in the shape of a tower. 
It seemed to the owner, however, that 
a tower looked strong and sturdy. It 
would have been his wish to build this 
tower entirely of 
some natural solid 
stone if the requisite 
means had been at 
hand. The means not 
being available, how¬ 
ever, he has done a 
thing which may or 
may not be pardoned, 
according to the point 
of view. The wooden 
walls of the tower 
were “furred out” to 
gave a semblance of 
strength. The result 
is frankly nothing 
more nor less than 
architectural scenery. 
The tower looks 
California redwood stained gray-brown finishes the living-room, where the tiled fireplace 
has pillars and mantel carved from the same wood 
as] 
though it were made 
of solid masonry, al¬ 
though really it is 
not. The side walls 
of the house are ce¬ 
ment plastered on 
wooden lath, the latter placed an inch apart. It has been found 
out here that when the lath are thus placed wide apart the 
cement plaster will endure, while if they are placed close together 
it will not. The roof is covered with split redwood shakes, 
these being used to give a rougher, more uneven effect than 
shingles. The house is approached by a winding drive, owing 
