Behind the house lie the gardens and the pool. Evergreen specimens have been used for accent points and groups of them at the pool cor¬ 
ners. Flowers in beds range down both sides of the garden. From this point one can see the rambling character of the house and the 
varying roofs and chimneys that etch its skylines 
REMODELED COTSWOLD HOUSE 
Court Farm, the English Home of A. F. de Navarro, in Worcestershire., Embodies Both Old 
Design and Modern Equipment. Andrew N. Prentice, Architect 
H. D. EBERLEIN 
C OURT FARM, at Broadway in Worces¬ 
tershire, is a singularly happy instance 
of architectural rejuvenation. It is an old 
body, or, to be strictly accurate, two old bodies, 
so rehabilitated that all the pristine chanii at¬ 
taching to ancient fabric 
has been scrupulously pre¬ 
served while the needs im¬ 
posed by modern conditions 
of life have been fully com¬ 
plied with. Furthermore, it 
is a thoroughly character¬ 
istic example of that type 
of Cots wold domestic 
building that flourished 
with so much vigor from 
the latter part of the 16th 
Century to the beginning of 
the 18th, imparting to the 
whole Cotswold region an 
architectural tone distinct 
from contemporary develop¬ 
ments elsewhere in England. 
Court Fann, as it now 
.stands, consists of two old 
farmhouses at the edge of 
the village—Court Farm 
and Bell Fann—^joined to¬ 
gether to make one dwell¬ 
ing. The junction of these 
two houses into one necessi¬ 
tated not only the inevitable 
minor alterations wdthin, 
but also, on the exterior, 
certain items of new construction as well as 
repairs and restorations here and there. 
To engage in restorations to an old building, 
to say nothing of making additions thereto, is 
ahvays something of a perilous process. ‘'Res¬ 
toration” is all too likely to spell “disfigure¬ 
ment” and “addition” to spell “destruction”. 
Even when the amount of change is slight, it is 
often quite enough to spoil the buildings sub¬ 
jected to it and seriously to mar or even to 
destroy most of their origi¬ 
nal charm, unless the archi¬ 
tect display consummate 
tact and a sympathetic 
knowledge of all the ele¬ 
ments involved. 
This judgment and sym¬ 
pathy Mr. Prentice has 
showm. He has dealt with 
the old fabric with reverent 
and appreciative hands. 
Fortunately, too, his efforts 
have been shared and his 
convictions intelligently 
concurred in by the master 
and mistress. In examin¬ 
ing Court Fann, therefore, 
one cannot fail to be struck 
by the kindly methods that 
have resulted in a whole¬ 
some aspect of green and 
vigorous age, quite able to 
hold its own, in favor and 
in reason, against the clam¬ 
ors of mere modernity. 
The golden age of the 
Cotsw'old style may be said 
to have lasted from about 
1580 to 1700. Betw'een 
One of the old parts of the building was the chapel with its glass dormers, balanced 
rows of leaded casements and faggecP courtyard 
