HOUSE AND GARDEN 
276 
November, 
congruous whole by the cement of dis¬ 
creet selection. But before further dis¬ 
cussing the house itself we must look at 
the site and see what problems of loca¬ 
tion had to be solved. 
The whole place is on a steep western 
hillside, thickly wooded below, falling 
rapidly to a brook-bordered meadow at 
the foot. There was not a rod of level 
ground above the meadow, and the 
meadow was not the spot for the house. 
The problem was still further compli¬ 
cated by a funnel-shaped combe that 
started wide near the top of the hill and 
furrowed the slope, dipping sharply to 
the brook at the bottom. Clearly, this 
was not a place for the display of polite 
but platitudinous Beaux Arts conven¬ 
tions that could, or rather would, have 
done little else with such a site than 
create for it an 
Italian villa 
with ramps and 
flights of balus- 
trated steps and 
gushing cas¬ 
cades — all fine 
and beautiful 
enough, but far 
more ambitious 
than conditions 
permitted, a n d, 
besides, there 
was no water at 
the top of the 
hill to be let 
loose in cas- 
cades. The 
ground itself 
was full of in¬ 
dividuality and 
rustic vigor, 
and demanded 
sincerity of pur¬ 
pose, free from 
all artificial re- 
The vaulted and tiled gallery across the front of the 
house was an inspiration 
RESID 
J° r 
EDM UNO 
C. 
EVANS 
straint, to get the best out of it by adapt¬ 
ing the house proposed to its peculiar re¬ 
quirements. There was no other practi¬ 
cable means of entrance but at the hilltop. 
A road could have been engineered up 
from the meadow, but this would have 
been a thankless task, in a way, for there 
is nothing that eats up so much money 
with so little apparent result to show for 
it as road building, especially when there 
is a difficult grade to surmount. The most 
desirable view, however, was down the 
hill towards the west and the meadow. 
Plainly, then, there was only one thing to 
do — back the house to the entrance. And 
done this was without the least compunc¬ 
tion at overturning one of the pet notions 
of the people who follow meekly in the 
wake of Mrs. Grundy. The house was 
for the comfort and pleasure of the occu¬ 
pants and such 
they 
a v e 
and 
the 
the 
EVA N S 
WARN E R 
PHI LA.' 
Architect’s drawing and plans for the first and second floor, showing the approach to the house and its environs 
friends as 
chose to h 
with them, 
not for 
benefit o f 
general public 
or what portion 
of it might find 
its way in from 
the highway and 
over the break 
of the hill. 
What, the n, 
could be more 
sensible than to 
front the house 
away from the 
approach, and 
by so doing have 
the finest out¬ 
look and all the 
added privacy in 
the place where 
one would nat- 
u r a 11 y spend 
Dormers with arched hoods have been countersunk in the roof. 
chimneys with red pots lend color 
Square, white 
The house sits down well on the ground, as it ought. At the eaves the roof has a 
little flaring kick-up 
