NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
AND REMINDER 
Vol. XII 
Manchester, Mass., Friday, May 29, 1914 
No. 22 
The Stucco Summer Home 
Many Houses of This Pleasing Type of Architecture on the North Shore 
T the mere mention of the North Shore of Massa- 
chusetts one thinks of the charming section of 
wooded hills and ocean-rimmed country that extends from 
“Nahant to Rockport. When one mentions the word “‘con- 
crete,” it brings him back to memories of reading of pre- 
historic times when that now popular building material 
was all the vogue. Then strength and endurance were 
needed in addition to architectural beauty, but in these 
later days when the real estate man has to have his sale- 
able property make a good appearance, concrete and stuc- 
co are bound to produce the effect he desires. Because 
the North Shore needs a type of architecture especially 
adapted to summer resorts, not a small portion of its 
stately homes are of these hardy materials. 
In the matter of strength, concrete is really such a 
hard material that the term “responsive” would seem quite 
ill-fitting for such a sphinx-like “lumber.” Yet, with the 
help of the architect, the sculptor and the plasterer, the 
summer home of concrete and stucco can be made most 
delightful. The North Shore is plentifully supplied with 
these charming summer dwellings, large and tiny. From 
the time Swampscott is left behind and the traveler en- 
ters and passes in turn Beverly Farms, the Manchesters, 
Magnolia and on to East Gloucester and Cape Ann he is 
greeted by many estates on which the buildings extend a 
welcoming hand through the trees by their red-tiled roofs, 
and by the usual quaintly panelled stucco work. ‘There 
is a serenity of design about this type of architecture, de- 
spite its occasional severity of line, however, that is most 
appealing in itself; as one builder expressed it, “It ap- 
pears as though it were the exponent of a square deal;” 
in other words, as though the architect and builder had 
happily conspired. together to do good work. 
Varied finishes do not spoil the impression one gets 
of the many concrete-stucco houses seen along the Shore. 
Many really beautiful veneers have been turned out by 
the master hand of a sculptor or an expert plasterer. The 
artificial “front” does not detract from the appearance; 
on the other hand, the many diversified outlines take on 
an attractiveness all their own. Even stone and brick 
construction needs a helping hand in the way of breaking 
the monotony of a building. And so stucco is often used 
to produce this “front,” making a pleasing artificiality in 
addition to effectively keeping out the weather. 
Stucco lends itself wonderfully to the artistry of the 
workmen. It is a soft, pliable material that responds to 
the whims of the trowel and which shows the cleverness 
and the moods of the worker in every turn. It is like 
the clay which the schoolboy uses in the kindergarten, 
fashioning his toys with the soft, putty-like substance and 
gaining his first lessons thereby. This same schoolboy 
dotted his finished product with bits of sparkling stone 
and pebbles, perhaps colored it with a dye, and then left 
it in the rays of the sun to bake. This same spirit of the 
schoolboy’s love of color has been applied to stucco. Usu- 
ally many degrees of variance and originality are obtained 
by the combination of stained woods and low-toned red 
brick in conjunction with the stucco work. Bright colors 
as a rule do not produce a sense of fitness and agreement 
with the surroundings of an estate, but wholesome reds 
and greens are mingled with picturesque effect with stuc- 
co. Such a combination of color, with perhaps a cluster- 
ing here and there of Rambler roses or an ivy-covered 
trellis, makes the home ideal. 
Such structures seem to have within them the prin- 
ciples of good building combined with honest materials. 
The traveler in foreign climes who is accustomed to ad- 
miring the charm and roinance connected with the build- 
ings he sees in his sojourns, is alike pleased by these 
houses which typify the possibilities of stucco work. In 
such houses are found quaint dormer windows which 
seem to delight in giving proper light and an unrestricted 
view of the skyline. Well contrived eaves and gables give 
out the atmosphere of other centuries. 
Stucco lends itself to decoration more than any other 
building material. In many houses of this kind along the 
Shore are seen signs of Orientalism and other marks 
which stamp them as being semi-European. Nowhere else 
can geometrical regularity be disregarded as in stucco. 
All manner of designs, flowers, stars and bits of scenery 
are seen fashioned from the fancy of the plasterer. 
Tiles will do much to add to the appearance of stucco 
houses. They can either be imbedded in the plaster or 
set at intervals as a border. These are but a finishing 
touch of the plasterer, however, and if made too promi- 
nent in the general scheme of things will lose their effect- 
iveness. Perhaps in one of these houses there is a court- 
yard with a sparkling pool. Around the artificial pond 
continuous flower boxes make a sort of veritable Eden; 
although the vegetation which grows 3605 days in the year 
in southern Florida cannot be coaxed into maturity in 
these northern climes, even in summer, the effect of the 
gardens surrounding the stucco, combined with the mot- 
tled shading of the trees, makes a picture which is en- 
trancing, indeed. 
In some of the stucco houses along the North Shore, 
and there are many of them, a happy combination of 
Californian architecture has been worked into the archi- 
tect’s plans. The picturesque tiled roofs, court-yards 
with an occasional sparkling pool, and pergolas made per- 
haps from rough-hewn beams from the forests on the 
estate, all suggest the ancient missions of the Golden Gate 
and particularly of southern California. Southern Flor- 
ida has also been copied in its architecture, and pavilions 
with heavy roof timbers bolted into the concrete columns 
are seen. ‘This bolting of the roof is quite essential in 
Florida, which is in the hurricane belt, and because of its 
picturesqueness has been copied in its entirety in north- 
ern construction. 
Most of the summer dwellings everywhere are now 
built of fire-proof materials, that it, wholly of masonry. 
Even the floors of such a dwelling can be built by good 
