54 
House & Garden 
THE GALLIC TREND IN DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE 
The Norman Manner has been Adapted for this Home at 
St. Martins, near Philadelphia 
HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN 
A HOUSE of pronounced character 
is very like a person of pro¬ 
nounced character. At first sight 
it almost inevitably either excites 
admiration or else arouses antipathy. 
The only people who do not react, in one 
way or another, to such an house or to 
such a personality are very apt to he 
“jelly-fish" themselves. 
The house of Norman inspiration at 
St. Martins, shown in the accompanying 
illustrations, is no exception to the fore¬ 
going generalisation. It has character, 
very pronounced character, in abun¬ 
dance. And it has stirred up a diversity 
of comment, some of it intelligent, some 
of it decidedly the reverse. Some hasty 
folk have unsparingly condemned it as 
a “terrible-looking thing;" others have 
straightway praised it with an enthu¬ 
siasm no less in degree than the vehe¬ 
mence displayed by its detractors. It 
is scarcely necessary to add, in passing, 
that the house would not have been 
published in these pages unless it had 
been worthy of mention. 
In forming our judg¬ 
ment of a house there 
are two determining fac¬ 
tors—the style or man¬ 
ner of its design, and 
the plan which supplies 
the skeleton that the 
architectural style is 
destined to clothe. The 
first makes its appeal to 
the aesthetic faculties; 
the second affects the 
work-a-day, practical re¬ 
quirements of the house¬ 
holder. When the style 
and the plan unite to 
produce satisfaction, it 
is safe to assume that 
the final result will be 
acceptable. When style 
and plan do not hang 
together, the result is 
bound to be unfortunate. 
There ought to be no 
such thing as sacrificing 
either style or plan, the 
one to the other. Both 
of them matter very 
much indeed; both of 
them are equally impor¬ 
tant. 
Now the plan of the 
house at St. Martins is 
thoroughly livable and 
practical, as an exami¬ 
nation will show. Everv 
The entrance door is painted a luminous green 
and is surmounted by a wrought iron grille 
painted the same color. The arch is of stone 
An agreeable texture is given the walls by the plaster being roughly 
floated over rubble. The shutters are painted a light green. The cor¬ 
beled chimney base in this end indicates the position of a bedroom fireplace 
convenience has been provided for, and 
the disposition of all the rooms is such 
that they are pleasant to be in and the 
mechanics of housekeeping are assured 
of orderly and easy working. Evidently, 
then, style is the only point open to 
discussion. 
If there be any one thing more than 
another that grievously disquiets certain 
types of mind, it is the imputation of 
admiring, or even approving, something 
exotic. To them “exotic'’ is simply 
“outlandish." “Exotic" is “outlandish,” 
but in modern usage “outlandish" has 
acquired a somewhat sinister and de¬ 
rogatory sense, and it is in this modern 
sense that they choose to apply it. 
The first type of mind disquieted by 
the exotic is a timid type of mind. It 
isn't sure of its ground. Anything it 
isn't used to arouses a sense of apprehen¬ 
sion. It doesn't like to commit itself. 
French frocks, French hats, French 
pastry, French perfumes—yes, of course, 
they are all right. The mind is quite 
used to them. But as 
for using French archi¬ 
tecture for the dwelling 
house? No. Why? They 
aren't quite used to it! 
On first seeing the 
house at St. Martins, or 
some other equally in¬ 
teresting house of dis¬ 
tinctly Gallic inspira¬ 
tion, the person of 
apprehensive mentality 
is prompted to query 
“Curious looking thing, 
isn’t it?” This is a 
blind to avoid a direct 
expression of opinion. 
Once let a person of this 
sort s'ee that the house 
at St. Martins is direct 
and straightforward in 
its simplicity, that its 
proportions are just and 
graceful, that its texture 
and color are agreeable, 
that its details are pleas¬ 
ing—in other words, 
that its style is good— 
and they will get quite 
ready to accept it, or 
even to admire it. They 
are open to conviction 
and may be dealt with 
gently. 
It is easy to under¬ 
stand what a shock to 
(Cont’d on page 102) 
