HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, igio 
291 
cottages to form a residence 
court. In some of the col¬ 
lege towns and health resorts 
of California, where climatic 
conditions and a large number 
of transient renters make lit¬ 
tle houses near the center of 
town a profitable investment, 
there is much building of 
bungalows in back-yards. Nu¬ 
merous old gardens have been 
converted into courts, where 
ancient trees and immense 
rose vines make a pleasant 
shade and remind one of the 
walled gardens hidden in the 
heart of old Paris. But not 
until lately has any one taken 
the bull by the horns and de¬ 
liberately planned for a large 
piece of property a court of 
entirely new bungalows. 
St. Francis Court, opening 
off the main street of Pasa¬ 
dena, California, is such a 
solution of our problem. The 
larger questions of appear¬ 
ance, outlook and relation to 
adjoining property have in 
this instance been so admir¬ 
ably met that they merit es¬ 
pecial description. 
The lot itself is situated 
far enough from business 
buildings not to be overshadowed by them. Between it and the 
shopping district are homes and offices of professional men, 
churches and one of the attractive hotels of the tourist city. 
No old garden was here ready to be adapted to the needs of 
the court. The lot, 176 x 305 ft., was practically bare when 
building was begun. But the trees of neighboring gardens 
formed a setting for the bungalows, though neither high enough 
nor thick enough to cut off a fine outlook toward the mountains 
lying back of the city. 
The natural slope of the ground was not used, for, by plac¬ 
ing a retaining wall four feet high on the western boundary the 
whole could easily be brought to a good drainage level without 
loss of picturesque effect and with a gain in appearance. 
Opening on a 
wide, well built 
street, and with no 
o 1 d buildings to 
crowd or deface it. 
this lot had excep¬ 
tional advantages 
in the making of a 
sunny open space 
upon which to face 
eleven cottages. Its 
attractiveness from 
the point of view 
of the passerby 
was emphasized by 
a low wall of split 
arroyo stones cap¬ 
ped with clinker 
brick, and rising at 
the central and ser¬ 
One of the entrances to the path along the rear of a row of the bun¬ 
galows, through which the tradesmen make their deliveries 
The central fountain of the 
court, where in the cool of 
neighbors gather for tea 
vice openings into interesting 
gateways decorated with dark 
wooden crosspieces, slabs of 
green Catalina marble and 
lines of the purple brick. At 
intervals along the wall, hol¬ 
lows in the posts form places 
for growing plants, and at 
the gates well designed metal 
lanterns enclose the electric 
lights. 
The bungalows were plac¬ 
ed as close as possible to the 
side lines, leaving just room 
for a service walk back of 
each row of houses around 
the inside circuit of the lot. 
Several expedients were 
employed to give this rectan¬ 
gular piece of ground the ap¬ 
pearance of widening out 
toward the rear. A single 
wide pathway leads up from 
the main gateway and past 
one half the houses, then wid¬ 
ening and dividing, it circles 
an interesting combination of 
pergola and fountain at an¬ 
gles which give ample room 
for the turning of a large 
motor car. This in itself 
gives a feeling of space, which 
is heightened by the clever 
way in which the architect, 
Mr. Sylvanus Marston, has planned the two corner bungalows to 
fill advantageously the space left for them. But more subtle de¬ 
vices have been used in giving an aspect of cheerful roominess to 
the interior of the court. The bungalows nearest the street have 
been kept very quiet in tone and in decoration. The soft colors 
of the stains used on their exteriors grow lighter in tone as the 
houses go back, thus counteracting the effect of increasing shad¬ 
ows and distance and brightening the interior where the houses 
seem thickest. The light color of the arroyo stone in the pergola 
posts, and the white macadam of the driveway add to this cheer¬ 
ful effect, which is carried up to the houses by certain well placed 
white porch pillars, an occasional concrete chimney, and by a 
variety of delightful white plaster panels set in the chimneys of 
green and purple 
clinker brick. 
The same ver¬ 
satility and good 
taste which char¬ 
acterizes the exte¬ 
rior of these bun¬ 
galows is shown in 
their ground plans. 
No two are alike, 
yet every one is a 
model one - floor 
cottage. Certain 
vital points are, 
therefore, common 
to all. Each has 
a large living-room 
with unique and 
(Continued on 
page 308) 
the late afternoons congenial 
