HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May. 1910 
1 71 
Nothing can approach the Italian'style 
[in a setting of cedars such as that 
Jfound at Casa del Ponte 
The Italian style may be well expressed in the frank use of plain cement blocks as used in this 
fireproof country home. Lord & Hewlett, architects 
zontal projecting cornice or eaves, and the simple roofs which are 
so characteristic of the type. 
It may be said, and with some truth, that the Georgian or 
Southern Colonial type fulfills these requirements equally well. 
This may be true in some cases, but, as has been frequently 
pointed out, the almost entire lack of flexibility in the Colonial 
style makes it often difficult to use without forcing a plan into 
a more or less arbitrary rectangle, and in so doing distorting the 
natural requirements of the house. 
Now, unlike the other renaissance styles, and contrary to the 
usual impression, the Italian work, except in the later and more 
formal examples, is one of the freest, most flexible styles ever 
developed. Even the most cursory inspection of any of the 
well known works on Italian villas will convince the doubter of 
the absolute accuracy of this statement. 
During a somewhat prolonged stay in Italy, the present writer 
made a practice of measuring and making drawings of the most 
important, or at least the most interesting, buildings and details 
that came under his observation; and it happened, not once, but 
so many times that it came to be almost a commonplace, that 
some unexpected departure from the normal, some unperceived 
variation from symmetry perhaps, made a second visit necessary 
to check the measurements. This almost invariably resulted 
in uncovering some perfectly frank lack of balance which had been 
perpetrated in so naive a way as to elude the eye of even a trained 
observer. 
One came to feel, after a while, that there was no such thing 
as absolute symmetry in Italian work, and I firmly believe that 
a large part of the interest in this work is due to that fact. That 
this subtle lack of obvious balance accounts in some measure for 
the strange compelling charm of the style seems no more than a 
reasonable deduction. 
But it is in the Italian villas, which correspond most nearly 
to our country houses, that one sees this quality carried to an 
extreme that seems almost incredible. The general mass of the 
houses is so simple and the effect so regular that the mind scarcely 
grasps the fact that the windows are 
put in where needed for use, and with¬ 
out any thought of absolute symmetry, 
but with a wonderfully subtle sense 
of balance; so that the effect of a 
rectangular facade, with a strong 
shadow from long horizontal project¬ 
ing eaves, is of a well balanced sym- 
The Villa Bondi, Florence, might well furnish a precedent for enclosed 
courts in American country homes 
In the Cedarhurst house shown on page 169 the view over the trees is 
obtained from a loggia on the third floor level 
