House and Garden 
grouped, not separated, at once furnishing the rooms 
and providing the maximum amount of uninter¬ 
rupted sunlight and air. And if you suppose that 
three large furnaces take a deal of coal, you will be 
surprised to learn that they are in themselves a source 
of economy. The fires in them are banked night 
and day, no matter what the weather. “Remem¬ 
ber,” says Mr. Davis, “a large volume of moder¬ 
ately heated air, not a small volume of very hot air, 
is the principle.” 
There is not in the entire house, saving the stairs, 
any passage way which could by any stretch of the 
imagination be called a flue. Eighty per cent of 
fires come from flues of one sort or another, defective 
or unintended, as in the case of an open inner wall 
space. There being nothing of this sort in the house, 
eighty per cent of the fire risk is gone. The result is 
that one-fifth of one per cent for five years is the 
extraordinary low rate asked by the fire insurance 
companies for a very large Insurance. 
The sewage and water pipes all run up through 
cement lined brick shafts, accessible at all times. 
1 bese shafts run to the roof and are there bricked 
over. They are shafts only in name, not in effect, 
where fire is concerned. 
Eight bath-rooms provide comfort for the family, 
guests and servants. I'hree are private, one for Mr. 
Davis’ room, one for the nursery and the nurses’ 
THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE STUDIO 
THE SOUTH WE ST SIDE OF THE STUDIO 
room, and one for the servants; the remaining five 
are arranged with reference to the rooms as in a 
hotel, so that one or two rooms can be thrown en 
suite with the bath. The plumbing is the heaviest 
modern hotel plumbing which could be bought, 
almost noiseless and to wear forever. All the tubs 
and lavatories are of porcelain or marble, and every 
bath-room, from brick, felt lined walls is absolutely 
sound proof. The hot water comes from a central 
boiler by a two pipe system, and at any instant and 
on the instant, hot water can be drawn from any or all 
tbe faucets in the house. The water supply, from two 
wells with wind-driven pumps, one aided by a gasoline 
auxiliary when the wind is not sufficient, give a supply 
so ample, and through piping so conceived that all 
the faucets in the house, in all the tubs and all the 
lavatories can be opened at once and a plentiful 
supply of water will run at all times. The plumbing, 
of course, is all open. But not content with the 
ideas of the master plumbers who made it, Mr. Davis 
has provided improvements. For instance, the 
heavy cylinder traps have their openings, cap closed, 
facing down and out, instead of up. The bath-room 
plumbing provides a drip pan in every room, with a 
constantly open stop-cock opening into the room 
below. “If something leaks,” Mr. Davis will tell 
you, “ it will spoil something, the floor, or a rug or 
whatever the stop-cock drips upon, but I find it out! 
It doesn’t go on and on and produce sewer gas and 
i88 
