House and Garden 
fanciful architectural authorities interpret as 
the initials of Henry VIII. and Queen Eliz¬ 
abeth. But the former plan is merely a de¬ 
velopment of the hall with wings at each 
end and a porch added, and the H is a 
double hall connected by a range of build¬ 
ings. Sometimes, however, houses were 
built in the form of some initials. Witness 
the quaint conceit of Master John Thorpe, 
who adopted this plan :— 
ONE OK JOHN Thorpe’s HOUSE PLANS 
and recorded his quaint conceit by the lines : 
“These 2 letters I and T 
|oined together as you see. 
Is ment for a dwelling howse for mee, 
John Thorpe.” 
Thorpe’s memory is too little regarded. He 
was the designer of Hatfield, Holland 
H ouse, and many other noble mansions, and 
was probably the inventor of Elizabethan 
architecture. The Soane Museum contains 
a volume of his plans and designs. 
The beautiful Tudor and Elizabethan 
manor-houses and palaces built at this time, 
when English domestic architecture reached 
the period of its highest perfection, are too 
grand and magnificent for us who are now con¬ 
sidering humbler abodes. But the style of 
their construction is reflected in the farm¬ 
houses and cottages. We see in these the 
same beautiful gables and projecting upper 
storeys, the same lattice casements, irregu¬ 
lar corners and recesses which present them¬ 
selves everywhere, and add a strange beauty 
to the whole appearance. Such common 
features link together the cottage, farm 
and manor-house, just as the English 
character unites the various elements of our 
social existence and blends squire, farmer 
and peasant into one community with 
common feeling and interests and a mutual 
respect. 
A Squash Court on the Late William C. Whitney’s Estate at Aiken, S. C. 
Designed by TVarren & TVetmore , Architects 
