HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1914 
In the living-room with its extended fireplace, the original ceiling-beams and paneling have been 
retained. Note the andirons of fleur-de-lis shape 
had had time to display its charms, the new occupants had fallen 
under its spell, and the projected impertinence of a new house on 
that land to supplant the venerable structure of the Eighteenth 
Century was forthwith abandoned. 
The house itself was too near the road for privacy or free¬ 
dom from dust, but with a wooden structure of such staunch 
framing the removal and placing on new foundations was a 
comparatively simple and easy matter. Immediately following 
the removal began the work of rehabilitation and enlargement, 
in the course of which owners and architect found much to en¬ 
gross their interest. There is always a peculiar fascination about 
watching anything grow. When that growing object is an old 
house, full of architectural opportunities, in course of recon¬ 
struction and addition, the process of remodeling and growth be¬ 
comes doubly fascinating with each successive stage of progress. 
To have kept the house exactly as it was, with the exception 
of making necessary structural repairs, would have been impos¬ 
sible. It would have entailed simplifying the conditions of daily 
existence to a degree quite out of keeping with modern habits, 
requirements and notions of comfort. Some idea of the original 
interior arrangement may be gained when we say that 
on the ground floor there were three rooms in a row with 
an ell at the rear containing the kitchen. The upper floor 
was cut up in very much the usual way in old houses of 
similar design. 
Under the scheme of renovation and addition the three- 
rooms of the first floor were made into a morning-room, 
living-room and library, while a dining-room, hallway 
with staircase and service wing were added to the ancient 
structure. The original partitions were left practically 
unchanged save for one or two openings that were cut 
as considerations of convenience dictated. The house 
door, opening directly into the living-room, remained in 
its old place, but received the new grace and shelter of 
a roofed porch with trellised sides, over which vines were 
trained. The windows, too, remained unchanged. The 
massive stone chimney was used for the living-room fire¬ 
place, and on the opposite side, in the new dining-room, 
an opening was cut for another fireplace. The old kitchen 
chimney was slightly altered to do service for the fire¬ 
place in the library. 
The most gratifying feature of the exterior remodeling — one 
might, perhaps, 
more appropri¬ 
ately term it "res¬ 
toration” — is the 
fact that the v old 
lines of the roof 
have been left un¬ 
altered. M ore 
room was needed 
in the house, sad¬ 
ly needed, but the 
temptation to put 
dormers in the 
roof and utilize 
the attic was 
resolutely put 
aside. This good 
example might profitably be followed elsewhere. Nothing so 
destroys the repose and dignity of a house as to break 
the lines of the roof with dormers. At best they are 
fussy, troublesome things to manage from an archi¬ 
tectural point of view, and where it is possible to avoid 
using them a house is generally much better without 
them. The long, unbroken skyline of so many English 
houses is one of their greatest charms. So conscien¬ 
tious were owner and architect regarding the lines of 
the roof at “Iristhorpe” that the long slope at one side 
over the old one-story kitchen ell has been retained and 
yields not a little grace to the general effect of the whole 
structure. 
Apart from adding the shelter of a small porch over 
the house door and running a course of latticed treillage 
in the space between the windows of the first and second 
floors, the front of the building was wisely left un¬ 
touched. The modern desire for outdoor living-rooms 
has been supplied by the screened-in piazzas added at 
each end. It may be of interest to readers to note that 
The delicate iris color harmonizes well with the ma¬ 
hogany dining-room furniture 
Because the house is an old one it nestles familiarly into its site among the iris beds and flower¬ 
ing shrubs 
