134 
House Garden 
Slate Serves 
indoors 
THE 
For tlic Colonial 
or Early Ameri¬ 
can room there 
is plenty of prec¬ 
edent for ceiling 
beams in struc¬ 
tural necessities 
TIMBERED ROOM 
^ I ''HE formal colonial stairway and attrac- 
tive roof illustrate the widely diversified uses 
of slate. Usage, form and coloring may differ 
widely but all slate possesses beauty and un¬ 
surpassed permanence and serviceability. 
The mellow tone of a slate roof is as restful 
as the hues of an autumn wood. Variety of 
colorings, greens, purples, browns, reds, blues, 
yellows, mottled and variegated effects as well 
as greys and blacks permit the use of slate in 
any architectural scheme either indoors or out. 
Whether on roof, stairs or garden walk slate 
outlasts the centuries, defying time and the 
elements. 
Fireproofing and insulating properties well 
adapt slate for flat or sloping roofs, chimney 
tops and coping while the sure footing provided 
by its velvety surface makes slate most appro¬ 
priate for stairs, hearths, porch paving, garden 
walks and other underfoot uses. 
Unequaled sanitary features recommend slate 
for base, wainscoting, sills, sinks, shelving, 
tubs, septic tanks and wherever an impervious, 
easily cleaned surface is desired. 
May we send yon a booklet showing the 
vai'ied indoor and outdoor uses of slate? 
National Slate Association 
757 Drexel Building, Philadelphia 
T he esthetic germ is rampant. 
Everywhere one feels the stir of its 
contagion, whether it be in drawing room, 
art gallery or auction room. The talk is 
largely of architecture and decoration 
and the renewal of the early handicrafts; 
the quest is for furniture and furnishings 
that will give flavor and verve to the 
home. Just how all this is to be assem¬ 
bled harmoniously is not quite patent to 
the uninitiated, but nevertheless there is 
an awakened interest, an eagerness to 
join in the vortex of esthetic seekers, that 
leads eventually to the casting in of one’s 
lot either with the camp of the ultra 
modernists or remaining with the more 
conservative followers of tradition. 
But the danger of it all lies in the super¬ 
ficial desire for effect. So many of us are 
like the man in the jjarable who built his 
house, without foundations, upon the 
sands. Decoration is often looked upon 
by the la}'man as a sort of garment of 
fashion which can be laid aside after a 
few seasons’ wear. It is too e.xpensive 
a proposition nowadays to go deeply into 
the fundamental foundations of building 
from which decoration gradually and 
naturally evolved and developed. That 
impl.es a home, and how many people 
occupy the same house even for one 
generation? iVnd so the modern tent 
dweller, light-heartedly, hangs his walls 
with burlap over which is laid a thin wash 
of rough plaster. He superimposes his 
ceiling with attachable beams, or frescoes 
it with “antique” patterns, to make it 
look old, and presto! he asks you to ad¬ 
mire his Italian room. The stage is all 
set for old brocades and needlepoint, 
hung upon the carved frames of Italian 
furniture. 
4'here are happily those, however, who 
realize the beauty of permanency and if 
they cannot afford the magnificence of 
an Italian villa, or the stately grandeur 
of an English country house, they arc 
satisfied with something less pretentious 
and perhaps more genuine. And the 
beauty of these more humble dwellings 
lies in the frank, honest presentment of 
a given prototype. 
In certain types of the English house, 
and in the early period of Colonial build¬ 
ing. the timbered room was in high favor, 
and its charm still lingers for those of us 
who love simplicity and a more demo¬ 
cratic wa}' of living. Sincerity is here 
expressed in the frank exposing of its 
supporting framework, which was firmly 
rooted in the integrity of its structure, 
for the frame of a house in those days was 
made very solid and substantial, every 
{Continued on page 136) 
The spacing of the ceiling beams here has been utUized to tie 
the architecture of the mantel into the architecture of the room 
