House & Garden 
4n 
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Glass doors to a 
small reception 
room, in a modern 
Colonial house. The 
panes are the same 
size as those used, 
in the old-fashioned 
windows 
A clever pantry door 
and side lights in 
which mirrors are 
substituted for 
transparent glass. 
The arrangement is 
that of an exterior 
doorway 
(Below) One side 
of this living room 
is made almost en¬ 
tirely of glass doors. 
These and latticed 
walls make the gar¬ 
den a part of the 
house 
(Right.) An exam¬ 
ple of glass doors 
and windows in a 
country house used 
to give the effect of 
increased size to 
small rooms and to 
afford light 
s 
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Ml 'll 
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The PLEASANT FASHION 
of GLASS DOORS 
An American Custom which Affords 
Privacy when Desired 
FREDERICK WALLICK 
Photographs by Northern! 
F OREIGNERS traveling in America, re¬ 
mark upon the custom of planning our 
houses so that the different rooms open into 
one another in a way that appears to eliminate 
all sense of privacy. 
The criticism is well taken. We have only 
to remember the badly arranged houses built 
fifteen or twenty years ago in which hall, liv¬ 
ing room, drawing room, dining room and 
library were grouped by a series of very wide 
arches into what at first glance seemed to be 
divisions of one large room. 
Now, although separate apartments are en¬ 
tered through wide archways which tend to 
give to the entire house a feeling of breadth 
and spaciousness, a large degree of isolation 
can be obtained bv the use of glass doors. 
Such doors, suitably curtained, serve as a par¬ 
tial or complete screen. If a sheer fabric such 
as casement cloth or taffeta is hung on the 
sash, the view of the adjoining room is only 
partially hidden; if any of the heavier mate¬ 
rials are used as over curtains, these can be 
drawn so that the view is blocked completely. 
Outside Doors 
The fashion has been carried to the extent of 
making outside doors entirely of glass. One 
of the photographs shows an entrance from a 
terrace porch to a side hall. Certainly the 
glass doors are a pleasant substitution for 
those of solid wood. Our interest in garden 
cultivation is growing very rapidly and archi¬ 
tects have been very cjuick to respond to the 
necessity of providing as many views of shrub¬ 
bery and flower beds as possible. The steps 
are paved with the same material as the ter¬ 
race; this gives a touch of the garden feeling. 
Double glass doors between an entrance hall 
and living room are always successful. Old- 
fashioned sliding panel doors have given way 
to the hinged glass doors, which are more 
easily operated and less likely to get out of 
order. In extreme cold weather such doors pre¬ 
vent the drafts that somehow do occur no mat¬ 
ter how efficient the heating plant may be. 
'Fhe division of the panes into the pattern 
shown proves a restful variation to the usual 
treatment. 
Between Dining and Breakfast Rooms 
An excellent scheme for connecting the din¬ 
ing room and breakfast room is illustrated. 
The door is hung on one side of a deep open¬ 
ing in the wall between the two rooms. The 
space in the jamb is ingeniously used for china 
cupboards. A further development of this type 
of opening is one in which two doors are 
hung in the place of one and their width so 
calculated that when they fold back into the 
wall thickness, they do not project into either 
room. Wall space on both sides of the open¬ 
ing is preserved for furniture or for such a 
feature as a side-board. 
Frequently it is desirable to expose the 
greater part of one side of a room to the sun¬ 
light. One of the illustrations shows four 
glass doors grouped in the center of a living 
(Continued on page 76) 
