N 
OVEMBER, 
1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
293 
portant professional duties, he will weakly prefer to do nothing 
at all, so that all the world will say, ‘‘He didn't try,” than to 
make the supreme effort that all his friends will expect of him. 
Whether or not these are the reasons in some cases, I fear we 
shall find no blanket reason to explain 
their frequent shortcomings. 
With the house we are illustrating, 
the location provided the first problem. 
The lot of land is situated on a well- 
traveled thoroughfare of a populous 
suburb. It is on the south side of the 
street, with its two distinguishing fea¬ 
tures a mammoth oak tree exactly in 
the center and an open park on the 
west. The lot itself is ninety-five feet 
on the street and one hundred and fif¬ 
teen feet deep. There was no question 
but that the oak. a handsome tree with 
good spread of foliage, must be kept. 
It remained to be decided whether to 
build between the tree and the back line, 
so getting away from the street and 
having the remaining land and tree in 
front of the house; or to build between 
the tree and the street, with a garden 
behind. The house would, in either 
case, have to be long, narrow and par¬ 
allel to the street. This latter location 
was decided on, because it was thought 
that while placing the house in this 
location would bring it near the 
highway, it 
would, neverthe¬ 
less, bring the 
south side over¬ 
looking the gar¬ 
den and away 
from the traffic. 
This idea, it was 
found, could be 
carried still fur¬ 
ther, as will be 
seen from look¬ 
ing at the plan, 
by placing all the 
important rooms 
on the south and 
garden side of 
the house, leaving 
the halls, etc., to 
form a buffer, as 
it were, against 
the noise and dust 
of the street and 
the cold winds of 
the north. 
Having decided 
on this motif of 
turning one’s 
back to the road, 
the logical step 
was to develop 
and make the 
most of the long south side of the house overlooking the garden. 
The front hall, running through the house, was made to let 
on to a wide brick terrace, running by the dining-room, and over¬ 
hung and shaded by the oak, like a great green parasol. This 
shades the entire side of the house in summer, but its bare skele¬ 
ton ribs in winter lets the sun pass through to flood the rooms 
with its cheerful presence. A weatherproof table and chairs 
serve for meals in front of the door to the dining-room, and a 
window above the counter in the but¬ 
ler's pantry serves as an admirable 
slide for serving and clearing away. At 
these al fresco meals, the shade of the 
oak is very grateful, its large, close¬ 
growing leaves making a surprisingly 
thick, dense shade. This terrace, owing 
to the conformation of the land, is some 
few feet above the garden level, so that 
one looks off and down among the 
flowers. 
The front door from the street, the 
hall and the door to the terrace, are on 
an axis which is continued across the 
terrace by a flight of brick steps lead¬ 
ing down to the lawn and across be¬ 
neath the sweeping boughs which in 
places touch the ground, to a seat de¬ 
scried through the foliage against the 
boundary wall beyond. 
The east end of the terrace, beyond 
the butler's pantry, is stopped by a seat 
the width of the terrace, whose high 
back serves to shut out and form one 
side of the laundry yard behind. An¬ 
other flight of rough stone steps, cov¬ 
ered with a pergola, runs down from 
this end and con¬ 
nects with brick 
walks bordered 
by flower beds 
flanking the lawn 
on the east. Thus 
the outdoors is 
linked with the 
rooms within, 
and is really a 
larger and more 
airy living-room, 
the transition be¬ 
ing made as easy 
and without jar 
as possible. In 
planning the out¬ 
door part of a 
house, one must 
hold his hand in 
the treatment of 
gardens, etc., and 
careful planning 
is as necessary 
here as elsewhere. 
It is important to 
concentrate the 
interest and avoid 
confusion. One's 
prize effects must 
not be dissipated, 
but carefully con¬ 
served and bound together. Here, as elsewhere, not the least 
part of the impression will be due to the foil afforded by un¬ 
adorned settings. Nothing is more stupid than the sight of what 
might have been a dignified, unaffected lawn, entirely spoiled by 
The house faces north, but the long hall serves as an insulator, 
keeping the rooms warm 
The decoration of the interior was inspired by the contemporary work in English homes. 
wide easy chairs and bright cretonnes 
ade livable with 
