7 6 
House and Garden 
September, 1909 
quently as undesirable as it is 
unnecessary. Just here, in the 
perfectly frank and logical course 
that lies open to us, will be 
found one of the greatest oppor¬ 
tunities to secure individuality 
and distinction in our future 
home. Why not make the 
house to fit the site, rather than 
making the site conform to an 
arbitrary plan? 
Mr. Trowbridge, whose house 
illustrates this point so admir¬ 
ably, being an architect him¬ 
self, did not make this common 
mistake of people who find it 
a difficult matter to visualize 
All of the main living rooms are on the front overlooking the water. 
A flight of twelve steps leads up to the entrance loggia 
an advantage, for in that way 
the grand view is kept back as 
a surprise until the visitor has 
entered the house and come out 
into the living-room. 
In order that the climb 
to the first-floor level may not 
be unduly long from the drive¬ 
way, the entrance porch was 
placed at one corner of the 
building in the rear and at a 
higher level than the entrance 
to the basement at grade. The 
excavated dirt from the cellar 
or basement was used to raise 
the level of this entrance porch, 
so that but twelve step's 
either a topographical map or a house plan. 1 have no bring the visitor to the entrance loggia above. On the 
doubt that during his years of study and preparation for 
his profession and in the early years of his active practice 
Mr. Trowbridge had developed many a mental picture of 
the home he should one day build. But after he had 
actually acquired the site, with its magnificent view out 
over Manhasset Bay and Long Island Sound, I feel just as 
sure that he discarded completely all of his preconceived 
designs and reconstructed the whole scheme to con¬ 
form to the lay of the land as he had finally found it. 
It was evident at the 
outset that the house 
must have the important 
rooms so placed that 
they would command the 
all-important view over 
the water. It was 
equally evident that if 
these were placed on the 
headland level and far 
enough back from its 
edge to allow for a rea¬ 
sonable space in front 
of the building from 
which to walk out and 
enjoy the view from out 
of doors, the rear por¬ 
tion of the house on the 
first-floor level would 
be considerably above 
ground. In fact this 
difference in levels be¬ 
tween front and rear 
was greater than the 
height of the basement. 
From these peculiarities 
of the site the plan was 
evolved. 
The driveway ap¬ 
proach came naturally 
to the rear of the 
building rather than 
to the front. Inciden¬ 
tally it may be noticed 
that this in itself was 
A covered brick-paved terrace extends across the water front 
water side the headland rises to a slightly higher level 
than that of the first floor, but it has been made to slope 
to the right and left to carry the surface water around 
both ends of the building until it finds the lower levels in 
the rear. 
At the far rear end of the building the service rooms 
are located, conveniently related both to the main entrance 
door, and, through the pantry, to the dining-room. 1 he 
outside stairway to the rear level leads down from 
a narrow porch out¬ 
side the servants’ din¬ 
ing-room, through a 
door immediately adja¬ 
cent to the kitchen. 
On the second and 
third floors there are 
seven bedrooms and 
three bathrooms. 
As to the construction,, 
twelve-inch brick walls, 
well waterproofed, were 
used for the basement, 
while the superstructure 
was built up of the fol¬ 
lowing materials, com¬ 
mencing with the inside 
finish: plaster on wood 
lath, 2" x 4" studs, \' r 
sheathing, waterproof 
felt, 2" x 2" wood strips, 
galvanized wire cloth, in 
mesh, bearing three 
coats of best cement 
stucco. It will be seen 
that this construction 
gives two air spaces in 
the walls, making the 
house cooler in summer 
and warmer in winter. 
The roof is sheathed, 
covered with tar paper, 
wood strips, and a red 
tile having a shaggy 
surface. 
