The Small House Which is Good 
By rev. GEORGE H. OTTAWAY 
“THE MANSE” 
A Gambrel Roofed Cottage at Canastota, N. Y. 
C. E. BAROTT, Architect 
With McKim, Mead & White 
I T is Mr. Donald G. Mitchell, I think, who says 
that our New England ancestors wanted a 
Weatherly roof for their dwellings and, being 
a sea-faring people, thought that an inverted ship 
bottom as equally serviceable overhead as under foot. 
This may not appeal to an architect as the true theory 
of the evolution of the gambrel roof. But be this as 
it may, the roof thus designated does shed water 
and is simple and dignified. It has no valleys to fill 
with snow, and to leak, and it violates no law of 
dignified fitness. That is why “The Manse” has 
such a roof. 
If the builder could have had his way about it, he 
would have inherited a thoroughly good old Colonial 
house and then he would have changed it just enough 
to add modern comforts without spoiling it. But 
inheriting houses is, to most of us, like choosing grand¬ 
mothers, desirable, but not always practicable. 
Buying such a house in a given locality, is often as 
much out of the question as inheriting. The only 
thing for the many is to build. 
To plan and construct a house that appeals at once 
to a lover of all that is best in Colonial tradition, and 
to the practical man who wants substantial comfort 
and convenience, was the aim in designing this inex¬ 
pensive stone and shingle cottage. The illustrations 
will show that the vertical walls are of field stone or 
boulders, laid up at random, with “raked out” joints. 
The house is absolutely free from superfluous orna¬ 
ment, inside and out. Whatever of beauty it may be 
held to possess is due to careful planning, interesting 
doors and windows and choice hard woods, finely 
finished. The roof lines and the big central chimney 
of stone bespeak the typical “witch house” of New 
England. The arrangement of rooms, however, does 
some justifiable violence to this original. 
In some respects, it could be improved at additional 
cost, but as it stands it is a very satisfactory house. 
Some of its merits will appeal to any student of the 
house problem as worthy of note. It has no back 
door! The main living-rooms have a southern ex¬ 
posure. It is thoroughly compact, and has no waste 
room. Finally, it has twelve rooms of good size, 
including four interesting and serviceable fireplaces 
and other modern conveniences, finished throughout 
in selected hard woods at a cost that is not prohib¬ 
itory. 
Two of these rooms have beamed and panelled 
ceilings and high wainscot, the wood being of beauti¬ 
ful grain and color. The builder frankly admits that 
the idea of the fine old mahogany stair trim was 
stolen from the late Joseph Jefferson who saw four 
beautiful newels and a hand rail for the stairs of his 
Buzzard’s Bay house in a fine old carved bed that he 
is said to have picked up in New Orleans. When the 
interior finish of “The Manse” was under considera¬ 
tion, the planners remembered Mr. Jefferson’s stairs, 
and also recalled the fact that the attic of their rented 
house held the unrestored remains of just such a 
carved mahogany bed as he had used. The posts 
and timbers were perfect, the former of exactly the 
height required for newels, with the framing points 
properly spaced. The side and end timbers, four 
by four inches, furnished most of the hand rail. 
These low-post beds must have been made, one 
would think, with the idea of conversion into a stair¬ 
case in view! 
Everything about this house is strictly and con¬ 
sistently Colonial, including the number and size of 
the fireplaces, all of which are equipped with real 
antique. Colonial andirons, fenders, etc. 
The lintel, side lights and brass knocker of the main 
entrance formerly adorned a Colonial house of the 
early day, and were rescued from the junk pile before 
they suffered harm. The fluted columns and carved 
Ionic capitals of the side entrance originally belonged 
to the same house. 
The furnishings of this quaint house are in keeping 
with its character. Nearly everything within its walls 
has a history and beauty of its own. Rugs, ma¬ 
hogany, rosewood and brasses are real antiques, 
inherited or collected with great care and with regard 
to serviceable qualities. 
Somewhat in detail, the noticeable things about 
the house are as follows: First, the absence of our 
national monstrosity in architecture, an excrescent 
“ piazza,” placed somewhere near the street where it 
could not possibly be of any use to a self-respecting 
family! Instead, a small porch, under the main roof 
covers the front entrance. The vestibule is out of the 
ordinary in that it has more than the usual number of 
doors and this introduces the caller to either the recep¬ 
tion room, or to the hospitable living-room, as circum¬ 
stances may dictate. Thus the family circle and its 
guests around the glowing fire of logs is not disturbed 
of a winter evening, when the old-fashioned knocker 
echoes its summons. This vestibule has a high 
panelled wainscot in natural red oak, a wood, by the 
way, which takes on a beautiful soft brown color 
when treated with oil to darken it, properly filled, 
