34 
House & Garden 
TRANSPLANTING A FRENCH FARMHOUSE 
“The Yellow Patch'' at Narragansett Pier Reproduces An Old World 
Spirit In Its Architecture and Gardens 
A FRENCH peasant 
cottage, typical of 
the thatched roof homes 
of the well-to-do farm¬ 
er class in rural France, 
transplanted to a fa¬ 
mous New England 
summer resort is some¬ 
thing far removed from 
the conventional in 
architecture. Such a 
cottage, however, has 
been recently added to 
the fashionable villa 
colony at Narragansett 
Pier, and known by the 
name of “The Yellow 
Patch.” 
The “Patch” stands 
some distance back 
from the ocean. Before 
the war the owner, Mrs. 
William S. Richardson, 
spent many summers in 
rural F'rance where she 
revelled in the artistic 
architecture of the re¬ 
gion as she saw it in 
the picturesque and col¬ 
orful homes of the 
country with the 
thatched roofs, the 
flower filled window 
boxes, and blossoming 
door yards. 
The Site 
In her scheme for re¬ 
producing the archi¬ 
tectural memories she 
had visualized in 
F ranee, however, she 
was careful to choose a 
location which would 
prove a fitting setting 
for her ideal. That it 
must be roomy with 
ample space for door 
yard gardens and flower 
bordered walks was im¬ 
perative: that its en¬ 
vironment must be in 
the midst of green field* 
was also necessary. 
The passerby emerges 
from a maple bordered 
street with its luxuriant 
growth of green and 
comes upon the brilli¬ 
ant patch of yellow with 
the house in the back¬ 
ground and in the fore¬ 
ground the kitchen gar¬ 
den, the flower bordered 
walks, the sunken gar¬ 
den in its setting of 
yellow and lavender 
flowers, and the step¬ 
ping stones leading to 
the house through an 
aisle of yellow poppies. 
The house is set 
back from the 
road; one comes 
to it through a 
flower garden of 
massed loveliness 
A wall fountain 
and pool with a 
backing of lattice 
make a pleasant 
addition to the 
sun room 
One of the most interesting features of “The Yellow Patch” is its sunken garden. Statuary is 
let into niches in the wall. A small pool mirrors the garden colors and the sky 
It is as if one were 
suddenly set down in 
the once peaceful 
country of France 
where the homes of 
the peasants have al¬ 
ways appealed to art¬ 
ists and poets because 
of the grace of the 
thatched roofs and 
fascinating exteriors. 
The house is of ce¬ 
ment in pale lilac 
with yellow trim¬ 
mings, several coats 
of liquid glass being 
used instead of paint 
to give the delicate 
effect of lilac. The 
small paned windows 
with their brilliant 
yellow awnings and 
yellow painted win¬ 
dow boxes, filled with 
yellow and lilac 
flowers are charming 
reproductions of rural 
French farmhouses. 
In front of the house 
is the sunken garden, 
this, too, being filled 
with masses of yellow 
and lavender flowers 
amid which canary 
birds sing all day 
long. To the north of 
the house Mrs. Rich¬ 
ardson has this sum¬ 
mer a “Victory Gar¬ 
den” in which the 
vegetable beds are 
fringed with blossom¬ 
ing shrubs. 
The Interior 
The interior of the 
dwelling is quite as 
unusual as its exteri¬ 
or. A spacious piazza 
of stone with tiled 
floor extends to the 
south from the living 
room. Both the en¬ 
closed piazza and liv¬ 
ing room are heated 
by one big stone fire¬ 
place, this being pos¬ 
sible because of a flue 
in each room. 
In the center of the 
living room is a long 
refectory table of pol¬ 
ished mahogonv, pat¬ 
terned after the re¬ 
fectory tables seen in 
Old W orld monas¬ 
teries. Rare old metal 
lamps, picked up in 
shops in Europe, light 
the interior. 
