August, 1914 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
89 
The garden at Iristhorpe possesses an old-world charm and simplicity which is in keeping with 
the spirit of the house 
The glass doors of the morning room open on the porch. Always the iris is the motif, but 
it is never insistent or obtrusive 
the roofs of these piazzas are of canvas painted with water¬ 
proof paint, just like the upper decks of steamboats. 
Y\ hile these piazzas are not quite architecturally consistent, 
perhaps, with the rest of the fabric, they nevertheless fill 
an actual need, and that is quite sufficient justification for 
their existence so long as the architect has designed them 
in keeping with their surroundings. 
Returning to an inspection of the interior we find a 
new dining-room at the back of the original three-roomed 
main portion, corresponding in length and breadth to the 
living-room and morning-room together. The old kitchen 
ell has been converted into a hall, stairway and various 
closets and cupboards. 
1 he new service wing is admirably planned and equipped 
with butler s pantry, kitchen, kitchen pantry, servants’ din- 
ing-room, rear hall and stairway — a pleasanter term than 
back stairs, with its inherent suggestion of pettv gossip 
and scandal — and laundry. An interesting feature about 
this service wing is that it has no connection on the second 
floor with the rest of the house. It is entirely taken up 
with servants’ bedrooms, of which there are four, bathroom and a 
large sewing-room at the rear. Above the first floor the service 
wing and the 
main part of the 
house are to all 
intents and pur¬ 
poses separate 
buildings. Such 
an arrangement 
has several con¬ 
siderations to 
commend it. 
On passing 
through the house 
door into the liv¬ 
ing-room one 
finds a bricked 
fireplace of some- 
w hat unusual 
pattern immediately opposite. A long mantel shelf extends not 
only over the fireplace, but over an iron-doored oven at 
the side. All the rooms are low-studded and the great 
ceiling beams are all visible. Most of the old paneling 
has been retained, particularly in the morning-room, and 
renewed with many fresh coats of paint. The old strap 
hinges and latches have been retained wherever pos¬ 
sible and where they were missing careful reproductions 
have taken their place, so that the Eighteenth Century 
feeling has been scrupulously maintained. 
The arrangement of library, living-room and morning- 
room all in a row, with the connecting doors in a line, 
creates an impression of greater space than really exists. 
Iristhorpe, however, is not a small house when the 
additions to the old fabric and the new service wing are 
taken into account. For the accommodation of guests 
the bedrooms on the second floor—there are but four, 
as the plan indicates — would, of course, be wholly in¬ 
adequate. To meet the requirements of hospitality, 
therefore, especially on occasion of week-end parties, 
a loft over the stable has been made into a suite of bedrooms, 
while an adjoining screened roof piazza can be used for sleeping 
or lounging. 
“What’s in a name?" is, perhaps, a very hackneyed question to 
ask, but it occasionally brings forth an answer worth having. In 
the case of “Iristhorpe” the name has supplied the leading motif 
for the scheme' of interior decoration and has echoed the domi¬ 
nant floral factor in the make-up of the garden. The mistress of 
“Iristhorpe” has a fancy—no matter whence it came—to sur¬ 
round herself with plantings of this graceful flower, and hence 
came the name of the estate. Such is her fondness for the iris 
that she has it indoors in vases in every possible place, and wher¬ 
ever a conventional flower motif can be used the fleur-de-lis has 
been chosen. 
The iris or its conventionalized form appears in the wall papers, 
in upholstery stuffs, in window curtains, on table linen and china 
in seemingly endless variety and repetition. The tops of the and¬ 
irons in the living-room are wrought into lily shapes, and again 
in the dining-room fireplace the same design is seen in more 
(Continued on page 113) 
The iris borders stretch along the brick paths in masses 
of frail hue 
