December, 1920 
35 
,4s a garden background the wall offers un¬ 
limited possibilities. It is intrinsically in¬ 
teresting, with its varied lines and shadows, 
and provides a climbing place for vines 
The rose garden wall at Avenue House is 
of red brick and shows much of the charm 
of old walls. It is full of holes from tacks 
and covered with the traces of tendrils 
At the end of a long walk on the 
grounds of Avenue House is a white 
Georgian gazebo set among trees. It is 
painted, and its wooden sides are rusti¬ 
cated in imitation of stone 
that cannot be so fully 
supplied by any other 
means. 
Even in a purely in¬ 
formal and a symmetric 
scheme, a well-conceived 
gazebo, whatever its spe¬ 
cific utilitarian purpose 
may be, is infinitely pref¬ 
erable to the patently un¬ 
related and fortuitous 
outbuilding of shed-like 
aspect that is too often 
allowed to spring up and 
mar what might other¬ 
wise be an harmonious 
and engaging ensemble. 
In many cases, where a 
plan embodying some de¬ 
gree of formality has 
been followed and where 
the garden is wholly or 
partially enclosed, the 
gazebo may be an outpost 
between the house, with 
its adjoining and closely 
related garden, and what¬ 
ever woodland, farm 
land, or neighboring 
property lies beyond. Or, 
again, it may be a focus 
toward which the garden 
arrangements converge 
or, in some other way, it 
may supply the appropri¬ 
ate architectural stress to 
a given point to be em¬ 
phasized in the garden's 
scheme. 
It is not difficult to 
conceive of a variety of 
ways in which gazebos 
may be effectively used 
to enhance the architec- 
The aviary gazebo was 
built about 1791, when 
the place was done 
over and Adamized 
tural composition where 
the planning is avowedly 
symmetrical and formal. 
With a purely informal 
plan, however, the man¬ 
ner of rational applica¬ 
tion is not so obvious. 
Examples for illustra¬ 
tion, therefore, have been 
chosen with a view to 
showing the use of gaze¬ 
bos in gardens where the 
plan has been of gradual 
growth and without re¬ 
gard to symmetrical ar¬ 
rangement. 
The two gazebos at 
Russell House, in Broad¬ 
way, were built at the 
end of the 18th Century 
for different purposes. 
One, constructed at a 
bend of the garden wall, 
has two windows on the 
road commanding a long 
view of the highway. 
Here of an afternoon 
were wont to sit the mas¬ 
ter and mistress of Rus¬ 
sell House and watch the 
stage-coaches, of which 
twenty or more passed 
the house daily. There 
was a fireplace for winter 
warmth, and here they 
could have their tea or 
read when not looking at 
the post-road traffic. 
From the elevated ver¬ 
anda on the southeast 
side they had a complete 
view of the garden and a 
broad outlook beyond to 
(Continued on page 78) 
The second of the gaze¬ 
bos at Russell House 
'was meant to contain 
an aviary 
