HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 
1914 
21 
subdivision of a city where there 
had been much building. There 
were perhaps a hundred new 
dwellings within range of my 
vision, but there were some of 
the houses which obscured all 
the others to my view, as would 
a coin held closely before the 
eye blot out the sun. An in¬ 
vestigation disclosed that the 
houses were very attractive 
stucco houses set among a few 
trees. Each of these houses had 
its “personality” — pleasing or 
displeasing-—and I tried to ana¬ 
lyze the effect upon me. It 
seemed that I was influenced 
most by the relation of the build¬ 
ing to the setting. Nature’s 
outdoor colors took into combi¬ 
nation with them certain other 
tints that were agreeable or 
otherwise. The stucco was 
agreeable, having the funda¬ 
mental to start with that stucco 
tints harmonize so pleasingly 
with Nature’s colors and help the house to fit into its situation. 
The imagination of the artist can run riot when he has a 
type of construction to work with that is — for the lack of a 
fastened diagonally over the 
studding and then waterproof 
paper applied. Upon this half¬ 
inch strips of wood or metal are 
stapled, and the metal lath laid 
horizontally over the strips and 
then plastered. Out of defects 
that have been developed by this 
construction there has been 
evolved a new specification, the 
use of which dates back for ten 
or more years—enough to have 
demonstrated any weaknesses 
and its efficiencies. 
The cross section of an ex¬ 
terior wall built after this speci¬ 
fication is shown by Figure 1. 
Extraordinary measures were 
taken by the City Building De¬ 
partment of Cleveland last June 
to determine how far such a 
wall as this would resist fire. 
Mr. V. D. Allen, the City In¬ 
spector of Buildings, appointed 
the following committee to 
make tests: Professor John H. 
Nelson, Case School of Applied Science, Mr. William S. Lougee, 
architect, and Mr. L. H. Miller, engineer, representing Bethlehem 
(Continued on page 58) 
Ceme'tt P/atfcr 
Section 
Fig. 1. — One important branch of fireproofing is provision to confine the blaze 
to a limited section. These diagrams show the recommended construction of 
a firestop which makes the floors fireproof 
better term — elastic. The 
type to be suggested has 
that quality. 
Houses to resist fire may 
then be as attractive as 
other methods of construc¬ 
tion, and it is the author’s 
idea to tell of a method 
that has been tested un¬ 
der extreme conditions 
and which is economical 
as well as efficient. First of 
all, the house that is pre¬ 
pared to retard fire must 
be constructed to avoid 
combustion, both from the 
outside and from within. 
It must be roofed with 
some non-combustible ma¬ 
terial, either natural or 
artificial; for instance, tile, 
slate, concrete or some 
of the specially prepared 
articles on the market. 
Furthermore, hollow shafts 
and concealed spaces must be avoided unless the walls are 
properly firestocked on each floor level or the effect will be like 
a flue. With the provisions that are described in detail in the 
specifications at the end of this article, a means is adopted 
whereby if a fire starts within a house it may be localized so 
that it can be checked with small damage and its spread pre¬ 
vented. A fire in such a room would do little damage to any¬ 
thing but the contents of the room and its trim. 
As a result of the experiments spoken of later on the stucco 
on frame construction was found to be particularly efficient. 
Stucco on frame with metal lath can be of two types. The 
construction oldest in use is that in which wood sheathing is 
A cross-section of a wall built under the 
system described as B, with sheathed walls 
The home of George P. Dike, J. Lovell Little, Jr., architect, which shows the adapta¬ 
bility of fireproof construction to houses somewhat along the English style. It was 
built in the manner described in this article 
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Where frame houses are to be remodeled a method of overcoating with lath and 
stucco can be resorted to that is fire resisting. The difficulty of bringing the sash 
out to the level of the new surface is obviated, as is shown in these drawings by the 
use of a new extension cap and extra depth of molding 
