HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 
1914 
salient features .were realized with complete satisfaction. 
There was just one obstacle to placing the house where it now 
stands, but it was successfully overcome and no one would ever 
know of its existence unless actually told of it. That obstacle 
was a deep, bowl-like depression at the spot now covered by the 
forepart of the house and the grass terrace. The fill from some 
grading that had to be done in other places, however, supplied the 
need, and the present aspect would never indicate that former 
existence of any troublesome irregularity of level. 
If a house is to be practical and comfortably livable, its design¬ 
ing must begin with the interior plan and a satisfactory meeting 
of prosaic, utilitarian requirements and work thence to the out¬ 
side. The aspect presented by the exterior may or may not have 
pictorial grace and value, but it must depend upon and express 
the interior plan, if the architecture is honest and true and not 
merely whimsical, and hence its consideration comes second. It 
will be most logical, therefore, to begin the inspection of “Wych- 
wood” with the ground floor plan and see how the exterior grew 
from it as an integral part. 
First and foremost among 
the demands for the new 
house, one might indeed call 
it the chief feature, was a big, 
comfortable living-room with 
plenty of windows and sun¬ 
light. The floor plan shows 
how this important require¬ 
ment was met by an apart¬ 
ment extending the entire 
width of the building with a 
great fireplace and two win¬ 
dows on the west, three 
French windows opening upon the piazza on the south and a 
generous bow window on the east where the morning sun floods 
through. Every exposure that could possibly be desired has 
been secured. 
The arrangement of the ample “ingrowing” entrance porch, 
paved with red quarry tiles; the disposition of a lower hall or 
vestibule between a capacious coat closet on one side and a lava¬ 
tory, tucked snugly under the stairs, on the other; the wide hall, 
raised two paces to the level of the living and dining rooms, with 
a wide French window, directly in line with the house door, 
opening on a little embowered porch, all commend themselves 
on the score of comfort, convenience and generally attractive 
appearance, also making the first floor desirably informal. 
The dining-room, with its wide eastern bow window opposite 
the fireplace, is quite as cheerful and engaging as the living-room. 
Unless there be a special breakfast room, a dining-room with 
plenty of eastern window space is particularly desirable on 
psychological grounds. There is nothing like morning sunshine 
for dispelling matutinal megrims and grouches if any member of 
a family is unfortunate enough to be subject to such disorders, 
in a country house, where one or more persons take a whole¬ 
some interest in out-of-door sports, a gun-room or some similar 
place is almost indispensable, and the gun-room provided on the 
floor plan of “Wychwood,” with lockers and settles running 
around all four sides, is excellently contrived for the proper and 
accessible stowage of all manner of sporting accessories. 
A careful and competent housewife, on examining the plans 
of the service end of the house, cannot but be pleased with the 
spacious provision made for the kitchen, kitchen pantry, butler’s 
pantry, servants’ dining-room, laundry, refrigerator and servants’ 
porch. It will be noticed that 
the sinks in both the kitchen 
and butler’s pantry are prop¬ 
erly placed before windows, to 
secure abundance of light. 
The plans also indicate an 
outside cellar door which is a 
feature to be grateful for in 
any house, whether in town 
or country. 
Although the piazza, open¬ 
ing from the living-room and 
directly overlooking the grass 
terrace and the flower garden, 
has been left until last, it is by no means the least important part 
of the house. In point of fact, it is really an extension of the 
living room. In summer it is entirely open, so that the prevailing 
breeze can circulate freely, and in winter, thanks to its substan¬ 
tial structure, it can be wholly glassed in, and then becomes in 
effect a sun parlor on some part of which the sun plays from 
sun-up to sundown. Heating attachments are installed, so that 
in the bitterest cold of winter it is easy to maintain a comfortable 
temperature. As piazza and living-room floors are on the same 
level, the French windows, always open, maintain the unity of 
both apartments. The welcome greenery of indoor plants and a 
miniature fishpool add their charm when the piazza is closed in 
In a large measure, the site suggested the house, although the full-width living-room 
and the gun room are characteristic of the architect 
Windows to three exposures flood the living-room with light. A broad fireplace 
harmonizes with the low-beamed ceiling 
The garden lies off the piazza terrace along the axis of the house, a summer exten¬ 
sion of the living-room 
