32 
House & Garden 
CONTINENTAL 
COLOR FOR 
AMERICAN 
HOMES 
C OMING down the 
Lago di Garda you 
can see them—clusters of 
them clinging to the hill¬ 
sides like great hrilliant 
clouds. You can see them 
in the sleepy villages of 
Bavaria and in the hamlets 
of Switzerland. For the 
native of the Continent has 
always painted the exterior 
of his house in brilliant 
colors and vivid designs. 
Crude though the technique 
may be, it lends an air of 
Sfenuine interest to the 
house and indicates with 
what care and pride the 
owner has built it. 
Here in America we have 
not gone much beyond tint¬ 
ing and painting our stucco 
houses, and the exteriors 
on which rich decorations 
have been lavished are few 
indeed. Perhaps the ab¬ 
sence of these decorations 
is due to the fact that 
Americans are only now 
arriving at an appreciation 
of the value of strong col¬ 
ors in decoration. Doubt¬ 
less, another generation will 
see exterior color more in 
use, and perhaps more dec¬ 
orative mural paintings. 
Taylor & Levi, Architects Photograph by Tebbs 
The walls of the residence of Mrs. Helen Hartley Jenkins at Norfolk, Conn., 
have been frescoed with Slavic figures and borders. W. de Leftioich Dodge 
teas the artist. The position here, under the eaves, is the proper one for 
such murals 
Frescoes And Painted 
Borders That Give 
Life To The Stucco 
House 
Moreover, the positions of 
some of the frescoes were 
not conducive to their per¬ 
manence, for the pictures 
require the overhanging of 
eaves to protect them 
against inclement weather. 
The other residence il¬ 
lustrated is the home of 
Mr. Dorl, on the Palisades. 
The walls were especially 
designed to provide for 
murals up under the eaves. 
In long panels between the 
stucco pilasters were paint¬ 
ed sections of a large fres¬ 
co showing maidens walk¬ 
ing through a flowery field. 
The work is mode r n in 
character and the colors are 
brilliant. In time, of 
course, they will tone down 
and blend with the color 
of the walls. Try to vis¬ 
ualize the facade of this 
house without the murals, 
and their value at once be¬ 
comes evident. 
Murals such as these, or 
designs of a simpler char¬ 
acter, are perfectly feasible 
for many styles of stucco 
houses. The decoration 
may be nothing more than 
a stenciled band of color 
{Continued on page 98) 
Photograph by Social Press Ass’n. 
Panels have been painted on the upper facade of 
Mr. DorVs Bontempi Villa on the Palisades, N. Y. 
The subject is modern and the colors brilliant 
On this page are glimpses 
of two American homes that 
are decorated with paintings 
laid directly on the stucco 
wall. One is the residence of 
Mrs. Helen Hartley Jenkins 
at Norfolk, Connecticut. 
Architecturally, the house is a 
bungalow save at one end 
w here the living-room has 
been carried up a second story 
to provide for a gallery at one 
end and an upper row of win¬ 
dows. The timbers, w h i c h 
are exposed, are solid chest¬ 
nut painted and left to weath¬ 
er. The entirety of the ex¬ 
terior wall, except where 
these timbers cut through the 
plaster surface, has been fres¬ 
coed. The general back¬ 
ground is a tawny tone and 
the figures, inscriptions and 
border designs are adaptations 
of old Slavic forms and peas¬ 
ant sayings painted in bril¬ 
liant reds, greens and yellows. 
The artist was W. de Left- 
wich Dodge, the well-known 
mural painter. 
The difficulty that confront¬ 
ed Mr. Dodge in the execu¬ 
tion of his work was that the 
painting had to be done while 
the cement was still wet. 
Is 
> 
Photograph by Tebbs 
While the entirety of the exterior of the Jenkins 
bungalow has been given a tawny ground coat, 
frescoes have been painted in the larger spaces 
