^^ 
 
The entrance gateway of a new hii 
 lines — the home of 
 
 Killiam if- Hopkins, architects 
 
 c designed a!ong true New England Colonial 
 F. Pitman, Longwood. Mass. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES 
 
 FOR 
 
 COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 THE CHARACTERISTICS AND MERITS OF 
 VARIOUS TYPES OF ARCHITECTURE AS SET 
 FORTH BY ENTHUSIASTIC ADVOCATES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HENRY H. SAYLOR 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
 
 1912 
 
53 
 
 Copyright, 1912, hy 
 McBHinE, Nast & Co. 
 
 THE COUNTRY HOUSE LIBRARY 
 A SERIES OF ARCHITECTURAL BOOKS 
 FOR THE LAYMAN 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 By the Editor 
 
 The Colonial House . 7 
 
 By Frank E. Wallis 
 
 Modern English Plaster Houses 23 
 
 By J. Lovell Little, Jr. 
 
 The Swiss Chalet Type .... 37 
 
 By Louis J. Stellman 
 
 Italian Adaptations 47 
 
 By Louis Boynton 
 
 Tudor Houses 57 
 
 By R. Clipston Sturgis 
 
 The Spanish Mission Type 67 
 
 By George C. Baum 
 
 The Half-timber House . 77 
 
 By Allen W. Jackson 
 
 The Dutch Colonial House 89 
 
 By Aymar Embury, II 
 
 A Style of the Western Plains . . . . . . 101 
 
 By Hugh M. G. Garden 
 
 The Northern Tradition 115 
 
 By Alfred Morton Githens 
 
 267367 
 
Introduction 
 
 Among the multitude of perplexing problems that will 
 face the builder of a home, especially if he be one who is im- 
 willing to accept a mere box out of a mold, not the least 
 troublesome will be the selection of an architectural style. 
 As he visits the new homes of his friends his mind is keenly 
 receptive to the impressions made by each distinctive style — 
 or lack of it. 
 
 In this modern adaptation of the Colonial he feels that he 
 has reached at last the acme of charm — what could be more 
 hospitable, dignified and expressive of the spirit of America? 
 Could anything be more satisfying than the treatment of 
 that stairway, outlined by its mahogany rail and exquisitely 
 molded white balusters? But in the ardor of his newly ac- 
 quired conviction he visits a half -timber house, the architect 
 of which has observed in conscientious detail the best English 
 tradition. Perhaps, after all, the Colonial house was a bit 
 stiif and formal — there is an indefinable charm in the ir- 
 regularity of plan, in the quiet library, paneled to the ceiling 
 in dark waxed oak. Surely this is more homelike. Then a 
 friend tells liim of the work that is being designed by the so- 
 called " Chicago School," into wliich the dry bones of past 
 
2 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 civilizations and peoples long dead have not been dragged — • 
 work that stands upon its own legs and dtaws its inspiration 
 from the natural evolution of modern methods and ma- 
 terials as influenced by the character of the coimtry itself, 
 bringing to these homes of the West the long horizontal 
 lines dictated bj' the vast reaches of the prairies. 
 
 Our friend who was about to build decides that the sub- 
 ject will bear deeper investigation, and postpones the execu- 
 tion of working drawings. It is an excellent thing, for most 
 of us build but once, unfortunately, and the errors we fall 
 into in haste we shall live to repent at leisure. While the 
 failure to include back stairs may cause us temporary in- 
 convenience, and may in time be remedied, the style of our 
 house will abide with us for the rest of our days, and if we 
 have chosen unwisely in our haste there is nothing about the 
 whole structure that may become so insistently repellent. 
 
 There is a bright side to this matter, however, which I 
 hasten to present. The man who has studied this question 
 of style and weighed the arguments, pro and con, with the 
 care their importance deserves, may make his choice with a 
 fair assurance that he is not only on the right road, but that 
 the farther he travels it the more interesting and attractive 
 it will become. He is constantly finding new interest in the 
 architectural style he has adapted as being best suited to 
 his needs and desires — so much so that the road ahead is too 
 attractive to allow him for a moment to turn back in the 
 
INTRODUCTION 8 
 
 thought that he may have chosen the wrong way at the fork- 
 ing. 
 
 It is with the aim of making easier the choice of an archi- 
 tectural style for the country house that these chapters have 
 been written. It has seemed the best and most forceful 
 stj^le to follow in a way the debate, allowing the case of each 
 style to be presented as strongly as an enthusiastic advocate 
 could devise. It need hardly be said that it is no easy task 
 to persuade an architect to argue for any one style as against 
 all others, for no architect really believes that one style will 
 be the proper one to select under all conditions. For the 
 purpose of getting all the facts before the reader, however, 
 the role of the enthusiastic advocate has been courteously as- 
 sumed by the contributors, to whom my own hearty thanks, 
 and I trust those of the reader as well, are hereby given. 
 
 These argiunents have appeared at irregular intervals in 
 House and Garden and it is believed that their assembled 
 pubhcation in this more enduring form can scarcely fail to 
 be of real interest and value to the man who would build 
 wisely and well. 
 
 Heney H. Saylor 
 
l^he Colonial House 
 
 By 
 
 Frank E. Wallis 
 
The Hoadley homestead at Englewood. N. J. — where the architects have held 
 " closely to the letter as well as the spirit of Colonial detail 
 
Uarry B. Kussell, 
 
 A corner of tlie dining-room — formerlv the kitchen — in the remodeled farmhouse 
 Iwiiie of Harry B. Russell, Pocasset, Mass. 
 
The Colonial House 
 
 THERE are basically but two fundamental types of 
 architecture, and all the numerous sub-styles are va- 
 riations of these two. They are the Classic with its 
 child, the Renaissance, and that marvelous expression of 
 national and ideal socialism, the GotBic, which has come to 
 be accepted essentially, though not necessarily, as church 
 architecture. 
 
 The Greeks invented the custom of tmdressing before re- 
 tiring, an invention of as much importance as the telephone. 
 When the Romans absorbed the Greeks, they took this 
 most domestic of habits, the night dress or undress, and it 
 developed the private side of Roman life to a very great 
 degree, giving the Roman homes a new spirit of domesticity 
 and privacy with architecture to correspond — courts, semi- 
 private and private, surrounded by rooms for the members 
 of the family. 
 
 And later, when the imspeakable Turk took over unto 
 himself the city of Constantinople, in the middle of the fif- 
 teenth century, he forced the later Greek with his ancient 
 culture westward again to Italy, and this migration added 
 a new inspiration to the jaded minds of the architects of 
 
8 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 Europe, at that time exhausted by excesses in the use of the 
 flamboyant type of Gothic. So we have the Renaissance 
 and another impetus to the development of refined architec- 
 ture along classic lines. 
 
 France discovered the Renaissance in Italy about the 
 time of Francis I and developed it amazingly in the cha- 
 
 First and second floor plans, the home of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes, Villa Nova, Pa. 
 Charles Barton Keen, architect 
 
 teaux. But the French were not then a domestic type of 
 people, and their palatial chateaux can mean little to the 
 home-builders of America; whereas the Englisliman built 
 for his wife and family, and later, when colonizing, wife, 
 baby, axe and gun were with him. So that his interpreta- 
 tion of the Renaissance is a fine expression of dignity, 
 truth and domestic virtue. Tliis is the Georgian or Colon- 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 9 
 
 ial, the only type for our kind and for our children. The 
 Englishman had got it from the French and the Italian, 
 but he inoculated it with the spirit of the hearth, and made it 
 his forever. During the reign of the bourgeois Georges in 
 England, the people themselves set the pace in style devel- 
 opment. These kings were uneducated, coarse-grained and 
 foreigners — and, because of this, exercised no influence over 
 
 L IF=1- . 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 "t 
 
 ^^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 1" Floor 
 
 Plan 
 
 ' 
 
 r\ 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 Z^'floor Plan 
 
 ffe 
 
 n 
 
 
 r • L 
 
 -J ' • 1 
 
 Floor plans of the Hoadley homestead, Englewood, N. J. 
 J. Acker Hays and Charles W. Hoadley, architects 
 
 the development of the style then being analyzed and used 
 by such men as Christopher Wren, Chambers and Jones. 
 These men studied in France and Italy, and the works of 
 Palladio, Vignola and the other Itahan worthies became 
 household tomes. The Roman and Grecian orders were 
 studied and apphed with a freedom that was truly British. 
 England is full of the results — doorways, over-mantels, 
 cornices and what not, but, best of all, the planning of the 
 homes of tliis period reached the highest point in domestic 
 architecture. Utilitarianism and Art were happily married. 
 
10 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 and My Lady received in a real reception-room. The din- 
 ing-room and withdrawing-room and the parlor took their 
 proper places, and performed their natural functions. My 
 Lady's boudoir was as domestic and proper, let us hope, in 
 every sense, as the kitchen and butteries. 
 
 This style and this period belong to us — we call it Colon- 
 ial — and, as we study it, we can see the human qualities 
 sticking out of it everywhere. 
 
 For a gentleman of taste, for a lady of discernment, the 
 Colonial is the only fitting eninronment. In it there is no 
 deceit or sham. It will ring true throughout your time, 
 and, if properly developed and studied, the style will grow 
 and take to itself new dignities and new beauties, as it comes 
 through new interpreters. It was in this way that the 
 quaint, local characteristics of the Colonial we know, grew 
 through the idiosyncrasies of the architects or joiners of 
 that time. They studied the old authorities for the law, 
 and when they became pastmasters of these laws they used 
 their own individual invention as they jolly well pleased. 
 
 The limitations of the time also had much to do in creating 
 sub-types. For example, it was impossible to make glass 
 in large sheets, so we have small panes as a characteristic of 
 the style. They were limited also in pigments, using most 
 frequently reds or yellows, though the charming, home-lov- 
 ing atmosphere of most of the work of this period is better 
 expressed in the white. 
 
Tlie Paddock 
 
 splendid digti 
 
 plain 
 
1 . 
 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 11 
 
 I venture to say that most of you who read this have, at 
 some time or other, dreamed of retiring for your mellow- 
 dotage to some old white clapboarded house, set a little back 
 from the street, with elms shading the front, a fence of 
 square pickets, cut along the top in sweeping curves, and 
 a swinging gate, chained and balanced in its swing with an 
 old cannon ball. Hollyhocks, petunias, verbenas and old- 
 fashioned pinks border the herring-bone brick walk up to 
 the portico — a pediment portico or one with upper balcony, 
 it matters little. You insist, however, on having the fluted 
 Doric or Corinthian colunms, with flat pilasters against the 
 wall framing the arched doorway — an eUiptic arch, please, 
 with radiating divisions in iron and httle lead roses at the 
 intersections. 
 
 Will you have a brass knocker or do you prefer a cut- 
 glass door-knob, with the wire rimning to the back of the 
 beflowered hall and ending in a coil of wire and large brass 
 bell? Let's have both. And then, as we enter, we are de- 
 lighted with the sweet incense of the rose jar, which seems 
 to come from every corner; and then the delicate Adam hat 
 table, presided over by the old gilt mirror with the curved 
 and broken pediment, and the flamboyant eagle seems to 
 reflect our pleasure. I often wondered, as a boy, why that 
 eagle looked so happy and yet never moved. 
 
 Then there must be the staircase with the double twist in 
 the newel post, the dark mahogany hand-rail — such a de- 
 
12 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 lightful sliding place, a charming portrait of a lady with 
 head-dress and cashmere shawl, a sampler or so, and the 
 stern forbidding old gentleman with his forefingers stuck 
 in the breast of his high-necked coat. We might continue 
 to My Lady's chamber floor, or wander through the dining- 
 room, open up the slatted shutters for a little light, so that 
 we may see the conch shells on either side of a befluted man- 
 tel, china dogs, white with iridescent black spots, and always 
 staring straight ahead at the other dog on the opposite end 
 of the mantel. I always thought the old ship model, with 
 its stiff American flag on the poop, rather frightened them 
 and kept them apart. 
 
 Come into the library. We don't care much for the par- 
 lor. In the house of dreams this room is going to be opened 
 up at all times, and not only for weddings and funerals. 
 But we must not miss the library ; books behind glass doors 
 reacliing to the ceiling, in Chippendale cabinets of mahog- 
 any, and leather — smelly book leather — and we must have 
 a Franklin stove with brass balls and spread eagles — but 
 we do really want that sort of thing. Now please tell me 
 why ^— ■ or shall I repeat what I have already said ? That 
 type of house represents dignity, education, cultivation and 
 home, as no other style devised by man can do. It is the 
 apogee of civilized domestic architecture. Your kiddies 
 will grow up here with respect for the truth and an admira- 
 tion for gentle cultivation. You the mother and you the 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 13 
 
 father will go about your several duties with the assurance 
 of being properly garbed for all occasions, and you will 
 welcome the coming and sigh with the parting guest. Is 
 this not your dream? 
 
 The man's house — his castle — where his kiddies have 
 the measles, and his daughter marries (not in the parlor), 
 and his son grows to college years, and carries away with his 
 grit, along with his sister, the memory of home. Imagine, 
 if you dare, this being done with that monstrosity, the so- 
 called, misnamed " Mission " with its wooden walls, wire 
 lath and stucco. 
 
 I cannot think of any other fit style for a house, except 
 Elizabethan, which has much of the classic — enough to save 
 it, and the Tudor, which also leans in a most suggestive 
 manner toward the same influence. There is, of course, 
 nothing in the way of a French domestic style — and what 
 have you left? 
 
 There are two dominating types of the classic in this 
 country, though they overlap and slip the one into the other 
 in the most interesting manner. Each district or township 
 has its peculiarities. The two predominant factors were 
 the Puritan or Roundhead (a synonym for hard-head) and 
 the Cavalier or gentry of England. The influence of the 
 Dutch is shght and the type of William Penn differed lit- 
 tle from his neighbor of New England. In the extreme 
 north and south were the Latins, who had little influence. 
 
14 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 While the Latins were brilliant, they did not have the stay- 
 ing qualities of the Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 We have, therefore, the two types with the local varia- 
 tions and traditions of caste and religion as influences. Re- 
 member, also, that the element of trade, which settled the 
 coast and the rivers, helped to combine the ship carver or 
 joiner with the landsman, and that prosperity, which always 
 comes because of trade, allowed this type to develop faster 
 towards a more finished product. They were travelers also, 
 and, of course, took advantage of their opportunities. 
 
 New England is, or was, primarily Massachusetts and 
 the smaller states along the Sound. The best examples of 
 our style in the north are within a radius of one hundred 
 miles of the city of Boston, though I have found most beau- 
 tiful examples of Christopher Wren churches and of squire's 
 houses, with delightful detail, in the remote towns of north- 
 ern New England. And, of course, when we examine the 
 Berkshdres, we find evidence of wealth and culture also. 
 Long Island got some of this New England influence, 
 though we will discover a subtle change taking place in New 
 York State — an influence which is traceable to the rem- 
 nants of the Dutch temperament. This extends through- 
 out Jersey, and loses itself in another shade in Pennsylvania. 
 The Philadelphians had the same separate and distinct color 
 that we have found among the Boston people. The 
 Swedes, Quakers and Shakers, and what-nots of that sort. 
 
New IngKiiul 
 
 ere clapboards and shingles, in 
 k«nrk of the South 
 
 
 J? 
 
 m 
 
 ^H 
 
 
 
 -.^ 
 
 H^n 
 
 
 
 
 iM 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 B 
 
 A real ('(iloMlal garden in "Oak Hill," Pealiody, JIass. 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 15 
 
 have left local colorings throughout Delaware, West Penn- 
 sylvania and South Jersey. Then we begin to slip softly 
 into another distinct area before we reach the Virginian or 
 the Cavalier gentleman. Baltimore and its environs is some- 
 thing of the South, a little bit of New England, Jacobite 
 and Roundhead. And then the delightful atmosphere of 
 the Middle South, the tobacco-producing and slave-using 
 country, with its feudal lords and great plantations. 
 
 The people are mostly of the same breed as the Northern- 
 ers, but with gentler blood, and a more continued and inti- 
 mate association with the progress going on in the mother 
 coimtry; people educated more in the fancies of life, possi- 
 bly, than in the facts, as were the more austere type of the 
 North, but still English and loyal to the Crown. 
 
 The Colonial gentlemen used brick for the walls, with the 
 Flemish bond, a " header " and " stretcher," a method of 
 bonding intended for a two-brick-thick wall, as the header 
 properly ties and appears on both faces. These headers 
 frequently being used as arch brick, coming near the fire in 
 the kiln, were darker and were laid with wide joints, which 
 was not an aiFectation, shell lime not finely ground calhng 
 for a coarse mixture in the mortar. At the levels where 
 floor beams are supported by the wall, you will notice a pro- 
 jection or band, and in the gables, a twisted scrap of iron, 
 which ties through the brickwork into the framing and pre- 
 vents spreading. 
 
16 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 While brick walls were the most substantial, of course, 
 of the many materials used, local conditions governed the 
 selection to a great extent. Oftentimes these brick came 
 over as ballast. In districts where stone was plentiful, 
 quarries were opened up, the stones laid with the same wide 
 joints, and, in some cases, plastered over the entire surface. 
 In lumber districts, of course, you naturally find the use of 
 wood in the form of clapboards or shingles. 
 
 The gambrel-roof type is early, and slowly disappeared 
 in the more distinguished forms of hip and gable roof, 
 though this form of roof allows more space and head room 
 in the attic for the storage of hat boxes, wedding gowns, 
 beds and what not. And, by the way, the combination of 
 a rainy day, a Colonial attic, and the neighbor's children, 
 will create a memory that time can never efface. The Se- 
 cret Drawer in Graham's " Golden Age " has the spirit. 
 Read it. 
 
 These old people believed in the use of plain wall sur- 
 faces for the exterior, with the embellishments provided at 
 the proper supporting points. First came correct propor- 
 tion, then the making of the entrance doorway, ornamented 
 as a focal center. The cornice with the classic forms of dec- 
 oration received equal attention, and wth a Palladian round- 
 arch and mullion window, lighting the stair landing or sec- 
 ond-story hallway, and the careful consideration of the 
 dormer windows, you have the entire secret. In the South ^f. 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 17 
 
 we find the colonnade extending through two stories, of 
 stately columns capped with Corinthian or Ionic capitals, 
 and supporting a projecting roof and pediment. This 
 form varies, as you may, if you wish, pilaster the face of the 
 wall, breaking the cornice, and increasing its beauties at the 
 points of support. You should' not be hampered by prece- 
 dent, however. Knowing the laws of style and proportion, 
 and with an appreciation of the human, you may play — 
 and, as a matter of growth, you should. Study the local 
 atmosphere, and design, as did the old chaps. The combi- 
 nation of line and mass and variation of detail and orna- 
 ment are not exhausted by any means. 
 
 As to the interior: give the family a large room on the 
 left of the hall, with a real fireplace and a paneled mantel 
 to the corniced ceiling, cupboards concealed in the wood- 
 work, for the surplus poker and wood-box; a low dado or 
 a high wainscot, careful selection of the details of the trim 
 and the wall coverings, comfortable davenport and strong- 
 legged table for the home lessons. 
 
 On the opposite side, the reception or music room in the 
 cool style of the brothers Adam; beyond, in the wing, the 
 library or dining-room, with the proper appurtenances 
 thereof — light, air and ease of communication, proper 
 orientation, and the usual consideration given to these utili- 
 tarian motives by any conscientious and studious practi- 
 tioner. 
 
18 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 From your large family room on the left you may have 
 French wandows opening on a brick-paved terrace, veith the 
 supporting columns, or pilasters, and a second-story projec- 
 tion, or not, as you choose; steps to the box-bordered and 
 grass-pathed rose garden; crimson ramblers at the porch 
 and the wild pink rose on the border of the garden, where 
 considered wildness begins. 
 
 Throw away the grape arbor, disdain the formal garden, 
 eliminate the water pool with the green frog, forget the 
 sun-dial, close up the attic, decorate your walls with " ar- 
 tistic " burlaps, furnish the house with that most distressing 
 type of furniture, the bilious-green JNIission, and you will 
 find yourself far removed from refinement, from truth and 
 from all the evidence of cultivated human sentiment. Un- 
 der these conditions, you must, of course, give up your 
 dainty table napery and cut glass or bits of old china. 
 Your old silver must be put away, packed in a Mission 
 wood-box, with affected hammered iron straps and handles. 
 Lovely, isn't it? 
 
 Can you find any type that, equally with the Colonial, 
 A\all set off My Lady's house-go^\Tis on the second floor, and 
 her dinner gowns on the first, or that will better suit the 
 austere lines of man's evening clothes? The housemaids 
 themselves are influenced in their manners and service, and 
 can you not realize how the kiddies absorb unconsciously a 
 keener appreciation of the finer things of life ? Again, and 
 
iitifully i-arveil d(X)rway in the 
 Oliver liuuse, Salem 
 
THE COLONIAL HOUSE 19 
 
 finally, the axiom — please say it for me! — the Colonial 
 type typifies the gentlest, the purest and the most human of 
 all domestic styles. 
 
 The cost of production has some bearing on the subject, 
 with the continued cost of maintenance — and here again 
 the Colonial leads as the most economical on first cost and 
 continued care. In house building, brains are the cheapest 
 commodity on the market and the most necessary part of 
 the details of construction. You may see for yourself, if 
 you wish, that a rectangle with plain surfaces, with wings 
 or with the entire house confined under one roof, is the more 
 economical thing to do, as compared with angles, bays, 
 turns and quirks, which cost labor, waste material in the 
 building, and add to the cost of maintenance in repairs in 
 the many other styles. And, in the planning, if you will 
 study for direct perpendicular bearings, for spans, without 
 cozy corners — a la Mission — and without inserts or out- 
 serts, you may, when once begun, proceed with wall and 
 floor timbers, without stopping the labor for adjustments, 
 and for a new method or material. 
 
 When once carefully laid out, a house of this style should 
 proceed continuously without break, or continued consulta- 
 tions with foreman or contractor. You need less labor, and 
 less raw material of different sorts. In consequence, the 
 road is straight and the cost per cubic foot is less. 
 
 A revival of the classic forms in the designing of our fed- 
 
20 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 era! buildings has taken place in the last few years, and the 
 style is being widely adopted for local public and semi-pub- 
 lic institutions, much to the betterment of our cities and 
 towns. This is merely proving my assertion that the 
 classic styles are the most expressive of our national life. 
 Out of them, undoubtedly, the " American style " of the fu- 
 ture will be evolved, as it was in the case of the Colonial in 
 earlier times. I beheve a new and better era in architecture 
 is with us. In domestic building Ave are slower to return to 
 those excellent classic models of which we should be so 
 proud, but a Colonial re-vaval — not a faddish copying, but 
 a sincere and studied acceptance of our most precious archi- 
 tectural heritage — is a thing to be hopefully and prayer- 
 fully looked forward to. 
 
i:he 
 
 Modern English Plaster Houses 
 
 By 
 J. Lovell Little, Jr, 
 
G. 0. Harding, architect 
 The Jacques house, Lenox, Mass., illustrates the harmonious way in 
 wliioh this type blends into the surrounding foliage 
 
 Charles A. Piatt, arehilet 
 
 The Henry Howard residence in Brookline, Mass., combines the 
 
 Colonial fence and classic doorway with the general 
 
 niMss of an English 'house 
 
Modern English Plaster Houses 
 
 WHEN I was asked to write one of a series of argu- 
 ments, each advocating a particular style of ar- 
 chitecture for the country or suburban home, I 
 protested. I said it was foolish to try to prove that one 
 style or another is the only one in which to build a house. 
 The word style loomed large in the foreground; horrid 
 with all its arbitrary importance, and exceedingly independ- 
 ent and pompous on account of the adulation and attention 
 which it is always receiving from the public. I started to 
 explain to the editor that style is a growth, a long painful 
 process of evolution; brought about by the life of the peo- 
 ple that has developed and perfected it, and not an arbi- 
 trary attribute to be bought and sold. You know the argu- 
 ment; for no doubt you have cornered an architect and 
 asked him some poser about style, and he has retired behind 
 this well worn armor ; but I gave it up and said — well, 
 never mind what I said, but I accepted the invitation to 
 argue for a style. 
 
 I was not only to argue for a style but I was to present 
 an enthusiastic argument. So at this stage in the game I 
 was committed to do sometliing that I didn't believe in do- 
 
24 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ing, and do it enthusiastically at that. I was to stand up 
 and say, " You must build your house in this style or not 
 at all." I was to be uncompromising in favor of a certain 
 fashion. I had begged the editor to let me " hedge " a ht- 
 
 First floor plan, the home of Howard Van Doren Shaw, architect. 
 Lake Forest, 111. 
 
 tie, and I wrote him some very sound truths on tolerance, 
 but he scorned them. 
 
 Then he told me that I should present the case for the 
 Modern Enghsh Plaster House. He knew I liked the mod- 
 ern Enghsh house and he played to my weakness. I still 
 pretended to be disgusted, but I no longer worried, for I 
 saw a great light, and I hope now to show why I felt that 
 my troubles were over. 
 
 In " A Dictionary of Arcliitecture and Building " hj 
 
MODERN ENGLISH PLASTER HOUSES 25 
 
 Russell Sturgis, there are two definitions of " Style " in the 
 following order of importance. 
 
 " I. Character; the sum of many peculiarities, as when 
 it is said that a building is in a spirited style. By extension, 
 significance, individuality; especially in a good sense and im- 
 
 Second floor plan, the home of Howard Van Doren Shaw, architect. 
 Lake Forest, III. 
 
 puted as a merit, as in the expression ' Such a building has 
 style.' 
 
 " II. A peculiar type of building, or ornament, or the 
 like, and constituting a strongly marked and easily distin- 
 guished group or epoch in the history of art " 
 
 There is more of this second definition, but this is enough 
 to show its meaning; it is a type, a fashion. I might have 
 added to the sentence quoted, " such as the American Co- 
 lonial Architecture," by way of further explanation. 
 
26 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 But turn to the first definition and read it again, carefully. 
 It is a big, broad definition. You will find three words 
 worthy of note: " Character," " Significance," " Individual- 
 ity " — qualities well worth finding in a house. 
 
 I am going to try to point out the value of these qualities, 
 and to show you that the modern English house, with all 
 its faults (and to an American these are not a few), com- 
 bines these three qualities to a greater extent than do the 
 average houses of our own and other countries. Finally, I 
 should like you to consider how similar are our own needs and 
 tastes when we want a home. 
 
 Character in house architecture means that the building 
 inside and out shall have domestic qualities and suggest, 
 more than all, a home. 
 
 Significance I understand to be the successful harmonizing 
 of the needs of the client with the natural setting of the 
 house; in other words, it is the logical solution of the prob- 
 lem, that brings peace and comfort to the occupants of the 
 house, and gives an outsider the pleasure that one has in 
 any well balanced view or picture. 
 
 Individuality is more or less the result of character and 
 significance, and is greatly influenced by the relation of the 
 architect. 
 
 Now Colonial houses have character; no one will deny 
 that; and very charming it is, but it is the character of the 
 past. In his definition of the Colonial, Russell Sturgis says 
 
The dining-room in an English count rv home reunKleled from 
 Xorinan chai)e! 
 
 lx\ A.'.-hh.r, architect 
 fourteenth century 
 
MODERN ENGLISH PLASTER HOUSES 27 
 
 in part that it is the architecture of the Colonies, " especially 
 in American use, that which prevailed in the British settle- 
 ments in America previous to 1776, and by extension and be- 
 cause the style cannot be distinctly separated into chronolog- 
 ical periods, as late as the beginning of the present century," 
 etc. 
 
 There are many times that a client comes to one and asks to 
 have a Colonial house, for it is justly a popular type of 
 American domestic architecture. The arcliitect must set 
 about to adapt the Colonial type to modern and special re- 
 quirements. The difficulty is perhaps best illustrated in the 
 preceding chapter devoted to the Colonial style, where the 
 author pictures the house and its rooms. What does he do? 
 He draws a delightful picture of days and customs gone by 
 and places " My Lady " in a lovely frame. But " My 
 Lady " is not a modern American woman. No doubt she 
 still exists, and, when a specimen of her is found, give her 
 the Colonial house by all means without a question. She will 
 w^ant it, she will be fitted to care for it ; in short, to give it to 
 her is the solution of the problem in this particular case. 
 
 Colonial house architecture to-day lacks significance, ex- 
 cept in special cases. That is the truth of the matter. It is 
 the architecture of a more aristocratic time, the architecture 
 of men and women who lived more formally and with less 
 of American independence than we do to-day. It isn't demo- 
 cratic, as we are democratic and as even the average English- 
 
28 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 man is democratic. Take for example the informal out-of- 
 door nfe, Math its varied sports and occupations, shared alike 
 by the whole family. This kind of life is being lived by an 
 ever-increasing nvmiber of people in this country, and it is 
 producing a different style of architecture than that which 
 prevailed a century ago. 
 
 Where can j'ou find any close relationsliip between this 
 ver}^ vital characteristic of our modern life and the life of 
 Colonial days? The whole scheme of life was more formal. 
 The modern problem of domestic service did not present 
 itself. The great families in the South and in the North had 
 their slaves, their trained servants, and even in the average 
 household there remained some traditions of English formal- 
 ity, of aristocratic rather than democratic life. To-day in 
 most households life is entirely different. The younger gen- 
 erations have much more independence and it is the era of in- 
 dividual development. To-day our children conform less to 
 any formal routine of the household than at any other time 
 in our history. They and their friends share with us the 
 informal life of work and play at home. There is a great 
 movement towards the country and, whether large or small, 
 American suburban and countiy houses reflect the trend of 
 our life. 
 
 All this makes for a new type of house; a house ^vith at 
 least one large living-room that typifies the Hfe of the house- 
 hold. There is no other one room in the house that can eco- 
 
idcr tlu- iileasii 
 
 E. Mtilliiir.i, architect 
 ict* mul comfort to 
 
MODERN ENGLISH PLASTER HOUSES 29 
 
 nomically balance this in size, and it is this one fact that is 
 largely responsible for the gradual growth of a type of house 
 that is comparatively new to us. 
 
 No, the Colonial style is not significant to-day. The plan 
 with its central hall and four corner rooms is economical, no 
 doubt, but it is the economy of the bargain counter, masmuch 
 as one is getting more than one's money's worth of something 
 one doesn't want. The type must always be twisted and 
 turned to fit changed conditions, or the client must be molded 
 to fit the frame. 
 
 I have dwelt somewhat at length on the inadequacy of the 
 Colonial in itself because it is the most serious rival of the 
 style I am championing. It has tradition, dignity and 
 charm; it still has character and individuality to some extent, 
 but only occasionally does it have significance. Perhaps I 
 am too hard on this style, for I find myself trying at times 
 to qualify my statements, but please remember that I am 
 dealing with the subject in a general way and must treat it 
 generally. I must not dwell too long on the many delight- 
 ful examples of Colonial houses that I know. I must over- 
 look the fact that I was brought up in a Colonial house, and 
 I must stick to the point, which is that the modern English 
 house hits the nail on the head more often than any other 
 style of house. 
 
 I have just fallen a victim to the word " style " in its sense 
 of " a peculiar type of building," which leads me to state 
 
30 'ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 here that I am not arguing for the Modern Enghsh Plaster 
 House, per se, but for the house with character, significance 
 and individuality, and I must now justify my statement that 
 the Modern English Plaster House has these qualities highly 
 developed. 
 
 First, to get the plaster part of my title settled. No 
 doubt the insertion of this word was a pitfall designed to 
 limit my field of examples, but I hope to make it serve a 
 useful turn. 
 
 " Plaster " is exterior plaster, stucco; a durable wall cover- 
 ing vnth a hmited range of color possibihties, and a variety 
 of textures. It is comparatively inexpensive to put on, easily 
 and cheaply maintained, and forms a beautiful background 
 for vines and shrubs, harmonizing with all natural surround- 
 ings. 
 
 Wood is expensive, but it is stiU the cheapest building ma- 
 terial under average conditions in the East. It is cheapest 
 for the first cost of a house, but the upkeep of wood and 
 paint is no small item, and a material that after the first cost 
 will successfully stand our varied climatic changes at almost 
 no expense to the householder for repairs, is well worth seri- 
 ous consideration. 
 
 A wooden frame house, with exterior plastering on gal- 
 vanized wire lath, costs about three per cent, more than a 
 house shingled or clapboarded. This extra initial cost would 
 not go far towards keeping wood finish and paint in good 
 
MODERN ENGLISH PLASTER HOUSES 31 
 
 repair. Then, too, plaster can be used to great advantage 
 as a covering for second-hand or old brick, a material that is 
 often easily and cheaply obtained. It can be applied to 
 houses of fireproof construction, such as brick, hollow tile, or 
 concrete. Added to practical reasons are artistic ones and 
 the greatest of these is simplicity. This should be, I think, 
 the key-note of the design of the average American suburban 
 or country house. A house that depends on its proportions, 
 on the spacing and arrangement of \rindow openings in re- 
 lation to the walls in which they come, must have, perforce, 
 character and individuality. It must reflect on the outside 
 the arrangement of rooms inside. It must be logical, and if 
 it is it overcomes one of the great defects of our American 
 houses, namely, the attempt to appear something that they 
 are not. It is an American trait; you see it in the way our 
 servants dress; in the one-story shop with a shingled front 
 a story liigher; and it is a vulgar trait that we seem to be 
 outgrowing, architecturally at least. In this country we 
 have countless examples of houses designed and placed with- 
 out regard to customs and surroundings; but with a " style " 
 carefully studied and historically correct. These houses lack 
 something above all else. They lack the quality of a home. 
 This quality is one which is preeminent in English houses. 
 It is apparent to the man who views them from the outside, 
 and it is even more apparent to him who stays for any length 
 of time in one of these houses. It is intensely true of Eng- 
 
32 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 lish houses that no matter how big the house, it is just as 
 domestic and home-like when ahnost empty as it is when full 
 of guests. 
 
 Slowly we are coming to a realization of the value of char- 
 acter, significance and individuality as expressed in our 
 houses. Not so often as formerly do we start with a pre- 
 conceived idea of the exterior of our house and then try to fit 
 our rooms into this shell. 
 
 Independence was the key-note of our national beginnings, 
 but it didn't extend to our house-building. Independence 
 in house-building has for a good many years been the key- 
 note of English domestic architecture. The Englishman 
 plans his house, arranges his rooms to suit himself, and if 
 he shows his independence in what we consider an absurd ar- 
 rangement of his dining-room and service rooms, it isn't 
 to the point, for what I want to show is that when he has 
 got what he tliinks will make him a comfortable house, he 
 goes ahead, or his architect does, and produces an exterior 
 arrangement that in nine cases out of ten is thoroughly 
 charming. 
 
 If the charm of these English houses is often partly due to 
 the setting of trees, shrubs and vines, should that be used as 
 an argument against the design of the house? Not at all, 
 but rather let us consider that it is a further proof of skill, 
 for where is greater skill necessary than in designing in such 
 simple forms that they harmonize with informal and natural 
 
MODERN ENGLISH PLASTER HOUSES 33 
 
 arrangements of flowers and trees, in such a way as to seem 
 almost a part of the landscape. 
 
 The houses illustrated here, English and American, are 
 chosen at random, and are essentially types of average houses 
 such as the most of us might build. Some of them are as 
 distinctly English as others are American, but they all have 
 character, significance and individuality. I have purposely 
 passed over many charming examples because they seemed 
 to owe their charm to some special feature of design or of 
 setting. 
 
 But the houses which are illustrated here seem to me to 
 place before you examples of the results obtainable if you 
 will start house-building unhampered by a " style." I have 
 used again and again the words character, significance and 
 individuality, perhaps beyond the limits of your endurance, 
 but these qualities are the beginning and the end of a style. 
 Russell Sturgis says that they are style, and that is exactly 
 what I want to repeat to you. Look at the illustrations; 
 the houses are varied in type. Most of them are irregular in 
 plan and consequently in elevation. But the point I wish 
 to make is that they are not necessarily so. Look at the in- 
 teriors here shown, English and American. Do they seem 
 to lack the quality of home or of refinement? 
 
 Start unhampered by a " style." Plan and build a home. 
 Seek to express in your house your needs and your tastes, 
 and not an historical reproduction. Sentiment for the past, 
 
34 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 for traditions — yes indeed, lots of it. But reproduce in the 
 spirit of Colonial or any other type of architecture and not 
 in the form, and you will have what the modern English 
 house has more than the houses of any other country. It will 
 not matter what form the house takes or how closely it ap- 
 proximates what we call one or another style. It will have 
 character, significance and individuality and it will stand 
 for independence of thought on the part of both owner and 
 architect. 
 
T^he Swiss Chalet Type 
 By 
 
 Louis J, S tell man 
 
The Swiss Chalet Type 
 
 ANY type of architecture which has a genuine appeal to 
 the pubHc, must appeal to the heart as well as to the 
 mind. I have heard it said that the appeal of architec- 
 ture is through a combination of memory and symbolism: 
 that is, it either reminds one of something one has seen or 
 it stands for the traditions which the advancement of civili- 
 zation has developed. 
 
 If one accepts this, architecture is removed from the 
 sordidness of mere practicality and the commonplacery of 
 pure expediency. A structure must be both wholesome and 
 attractive ; it must serve our needs well and, at the same time, 
 remind us of something pleasant. In short the ideal house 
 must simultaneously protect the body and uplift the mind. 
 
 Perhaps this may seem unnecessarily long a prologue for 
 an appreciation of the Swiss chalet style in American archi- 
 tecture, but it is because this style satisfies so peculiarly my 
 demands in the above connection, that I have gone to some 
 pains in order to make them clear enough to serve as a work- 
 ing hypothesis. 
 
 There is about the Swiss chalet a rugged, honest pictur- 
 esqueness, a simple, candid strength that I find in no other 
 
38 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 type of habitation. Because of this impression, I mention 
 the sentimental consideration first. It seems to typify — 
 as plainly as a house can ever hope to represent a man — the 
 hardy, fearless, simple mountaineer — whose life is spent 
 
 First and second floor plans, the home of C. W. Robertson, Nordhoff, Cal. 
 Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey, architects 
 
 among the heights and broad vistas and who lives a simple 
 frugal, happy, sincere life. 
 
 It is too much to suppose that the Swiss chalet will become 
 extremely popular outside of its Alpine home. There is 
 too much complexity in the vastly predominant and popu- 
 lous lowlands to give it great vogue, too much tendency to 
 improve on nature instead of cooperate with it, to scatter 
 Swiss chalets through the land. And yet, in America, es- 
 pecially along the Western coast, the Swiss chalet is be- 
 coming more and more observed. 
 
.=3 5 
 
THE SWISS CHALET TYPE 39 
 
 Probably there is no place outside of its native land where 
 the Swiss chalet may be more advantageously used than 
 along the Pacific coast hills, particularly those aroimd San 
 Francisco Bay, where many interesting examples are to be 
 found. 
 
 Of course there is little snow in California except in the 
 extreme northern portions. This brings us to a considera- 
 tion of the fact that climate alone did not produce the Swiss 
 chalet. Perhaps, indirectly, it did, after all, for the Swiss 
 mountaineer is the product of the invigorating climate which 
 the Alps provide. But, out of his rugged, honest, sham-hat- 
 ing, art-loving heart and brain has come that picturesque 
 style of habitation which is as nearly distinctive as architec- 
 ture may be. His love of out-door life produced the broad 
 veranda (forerunner, undoubtedly, of the modern winter- 
 and-summer sleeping-porch), the wide eaves to protect this 
 veranda and the court below, where he sat of an evening with 
 his pipe. He courted the open at all times possible, this old 
 Tyrolese, and the Californian is in agreement with him, as 
 far as that goes. 
 
 But, more than all else, the Swiss chalet cooperates with 
 nature. How many times does one see a house that seems 
 a part of its general surroundings? Usually the surround- 
 ings are fitted to the house with the inevitable result that an 
 incongruity, more or less blatant, is produced. 
 
 Man cannot hope to compete with God as a landscape 
 
40 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 gardener or architect. The Swiss mountaineer felt this, 
 even if he did not know it. He made no attempt to terrace 
 the eternal hills, to create false and artificial plateaus upon 
 which to build a conventional dwelling. He made a part- 
 ner of Nature and worked to their mutual advantage. Out 
 of it came an architecture which, if primitive, was big, har- 
 monious and wholesome to a wonderful degree. 
 
 The original Swiss chalet does not seem to have been built 
 against a hillside. Apparently it was a crude log cabin, not 
 unlike the huts of our pioneer ancestors, erected by Alpine 
 cowherds for more or less temporary shelter. It differed 
 from the American log cabin in the mortising or notching 
 of the log ends and the rudimentary attempts to square and 
 dress the timbers. Out of this, undoubtedly, developed the 
 present elaborate system of dovetailing and fitting together 
 the timbers and framework of Swiss houses, a practically 
 nail-less construction scheme. 
 
 From the rough habitation of the cowherd was evolved the 
 vUlage house, slightly more pretentious but still of the block- 
 house construction; and being adapted to the exigencies of 
 hillside construction, it was so modified as to present the pro- 
 genitor of what is now generally known as a chalet. 
 
 Following this came two evolutionary phases of building 
 development in Switzerland, characterized respectively as 
 the Standerwand or " stand-wall " and the Regal-bau or 
 masonry construction. The latter, however, is only an am- 
 
THE SWISS CHALET TYPE 41 
 
 plification or elaboration of the former. One, if not both, 
 of these unquestionably inspired the steel-frame method of 
 modern construction. 
 
 The " stand-wall " style of construction differs from the 
 old block building and, for that matter, from most other 
 methods of building, ancient and modern, in that the frame 
 of the entire house is outlined by corner-posts and a skeleton 
 roof before the walls are built. The original chalet, there- 
 fore, was built from the ground up, one timber being laid 
 on top of another and dovetailed into a nice contact with 
 ends that protruded beyond the intersecting unions. The 
 second type of chalet was completed in outline and then 
 filled in, as to walls and roof, with wood, plaster, stone or a 
 kind of light brick, as fancy or necessity might indicate. 
 
 Here it may be pertinent to remark that the foregoing re- 
 fers to the characteristic holzbau or wood construction of 
 Switzerland. In a country so prolific in stone, however, it is 
 inevitable that the latter be used to some extent as building 
 material. Therefore the stone chalet is by no means a rare 
 or illegitimate type, and, contrary to the popular belief, a 
 chalet is not necessarily a wooden house. But the American 
 adaptation of Swiss Chalet architecture so closely adheres 
 to the popular conception that we may confine ourselves 
 largely to this very characteristic sort. 
 
 While on the subject of American adaptation, it is inter- 
 esting to note that the architects of this country seem so thor- 
 
42 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 oughly to have understood the motif of Swiss arcliitecture. 
 Simplicity, strength, economj^ and picturesque harmony with 
 natural surroundings, mark the chalet in American architec- 
 ture even more perhaps than they do, nowadays, in Switzer- 
 land, where the bizarre influence of foreign builders has 
 added much intricate and fussy elaboration in the trimming 
 of houses. For instance, one sees on most Swiss houses of 
 this and several past generations, much " ginger-bread " or- 
 namentation. Porch roofs, cornices, doors, windows, often 
 the entire front of a chalet, will be encrusted with jig-sawn 
 fret, grill and scroll work, incorporating religious or family 
 mottoes, intricate designs and every sort of distracting embel- 
 lishment. It reminds one not a little of a wonderful wedding 
 cake or one of the marvelous performing clocks for which 
 Switzerland is famous. But under it all is the sohd worth, 
 the wholesome, nourishing delicious product of the baker's 
 skill, the exact and reliable chronological instrument, the 
 house that satisfies body and soul. 
 
 It is tliis underlying theme that American architects have 
 exemplified in Swiss chalet adaptation. And, for the most 
 part, the chalet has retained its individuahty to a great ex- 
 tent. A number of Western houses are exact copies of 
 existing Swiss chalets, notably the Reese house in Berkeley, 
 California, which was designed by Maybeck & White from 
 a small model of the Swiss prototype which Reese himself 
 brought across the ocean. It is, as will be seen by observing 
 
Willis Polk, areliiteet 
 An interior in .Mr, I'cilk's own house. Sail Francisco, showing a clever 
 adaptation of the Swiss sawed-wood balusters 
 
THE SWISS CHALET TYPE 48 
 
 the accompanying illustration, of the old hlock-hau style, 
 with protruding timbers at the corners. 
 
 Alameda county, which includes Berkeley, Alameda, Pied- 
 mont and Oakland, and which abounds in hills, furnishes 
 many fine examples of Swiss chalet architecture and a much 
 larger number of less distinctive ones which are, nevertheless, 
 of more than passing interest and display quite perceptibly 
 their relationship to the architecture of the Tyrol. All of 
 these follow the initial style more than the later ones, prob- 
 ably because the former is original and more picturesque 
 than those which came after, and also because the redwood of 
 California is peculiarly adaptable to chalet building. 
 
 Especially is this true of interior furnishing. For interior 
 paneling there is nothing more attractive, all things con- 
 sidered, than redwood, and to the interior plans of American 
 chalets, architects have given fancy full play. It is a diflS- 
 cult matter to preserve the artistic simplicity of the Swiss 
 interior and yet to harmonize it with the requirements of 
 modern convenience. Yet this has been done by many build- 
 ers and has made the American chalet delightful both inside 
 and out. 
 
 In our money-governed world one must not forget the 
 matter of expense, which enters very largely into the building 
 plans of so many people. Economy was necessary to Swiss 
 people; consequently their architecture was of a style that 
 cost little. And the same is true in America. One can 
 
44 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 build a Swiss chalet for a third less money than it will cost to 
 erect a house of similar pretension in other styles. Of course 
 one may also put a great deal of money into a chalet, so that 
 it really satisfies all classes ; but to such as want an inexpen- 
 sive home that will be homehke and picturesque and will 
 not look cheap in that worst sense of striving for an ele- 
 gance one cannot afford, the Swiss chalet is, to my mind, 
 the ideal habitation. It is a happy, light-hearted style; it is 
 capable of an infinite variety of treatment without radical 
 departure from its central and fundamental principles of ad- 
 vantage and excellence; it is strong; it costs little and en- 
 dures. What more can one ask of architecture? 
 
Italian Adaptations 
 
 By 
 
 Lout's C. Boynton 
 
Ill liniiK' OH the Shark River, N. J. The eoiistrueti 
 •ick, with floors of reinforced concrete covered wit 
 tile — a fireproof structure throughout 
 
Italian Adaptations 
 
 LET us begin by frankly admitting that the style em- 
 ployed in the design of a house should be determined 
 by the special conditions of environment, by the ma- 
 terial used, and by the social and intellectual characteristics 
 of the people who are to occupy it. 
 
 For instance, it is often appropriate to build a camp in 
 Maine or in the Adirondacks of logs, and in its place this 
 seems the most fitting material and properly influences the 
 " style " or character of the building. However, wliile one 
 may admit this, it would not make a structure built of this 
 material with its resultant " style " seem especially appro- 
 priate or fitting on, say Fifth Avenue, New York. It is 
 difficult to imagine an architect who really designs his build- 
 ings saying, " Gio to, let us now design a building in Tudor 
 Gothic or Dutch Colonial," without having first studied his 
 problem. No; a design should grow from the conditions im- 
 posed by the site, the material to be used and the needs of 
 the owner and his family, and the style should be determined, 
 almost automatically, by these requirements. 
 
 Granting all this, there are still valid reasons why an 
 adaptation of the Italian Renaissance is the logical style to 
 
48 ARCHITECTURAL ST\XES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 use in an increasingly large number of cases. Undoubtedly- 
 all good design is the result of a frank use of the materials 
 employed; and any forcing of the materials is sure to result 
 either in a distorted design, or in what, I think, may fairly be 
 called " building scenery," that is to say, in constructing an 
 effect that looks like something different from what it is. 
 
 First floor plan, "Casa del 
 Ponte," Rowayton, Conn. 
 Slee & Bryson, architects 
 
 For instance, building in frame with a covering of stucco 
 is, to my mind, distinctly disingenuous. Stucco represents 
 the idea of plaster on a backing of some form of masonry — 
 stone, brick, terra cotta, or what not, but never a cover for a 
 wood frame. 
 
 Now, there is one question which has to be considered in 
 building, and consequently in designing, every house; and 
 that is the question of materials. " Of what shall we build 
 our house? " is a question that has to be settled first of all for 
 every case. Frequently there are only two or three materials 
 
ITALIAN ADAPTATIONS 49 
 
 that are to be had, without undue expense, and usually the 
 materials of the locaUty are the ones to use. Rightly used, 
 they will generally give results which seem harmonious and 
 fitting. 
 
 Of course, in this country the tradition is to build as much 
 as possible of wood. Formerly wood was the cheapest as 
 
 Second floor plan, "Casa 
 Ponte," Rowayton, Conn. 
 Slee & Bryson, architects 
 
 
 
 XRND n-OOR PLA 
 
 
 : 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ " 
 
 
 i 
 
 : 
 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 -1 r * 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 well as the quickest material to use, and the idea that wood is 
 cheap is so firmly ingrained that most people are surprised 
 to learn how little basis there is at the present time for this 
 belief. 
 
 For some years there has been a wxll marked and increas- 
 ing tendency among owners and architects to try to find some 
 substitute for frame construction. This is partly to be ex- 
 plained by the constant advance in the price of lumber and 
 the fact that the difference in the expense of building in 
 wood and some incombustible material is rapidly reaching 
 
60 ARCHITECTURAL STiXES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 the vanishing point; and partly by the growing conviction 
 that the risks of fire in a wooden house are too great. People 
 are reahzing more and more fully that the extra expense of 
 building either fireproof houses, or houses where the walls 
 at least will resist fire, is more than justified by the added 
 security obtained. Furthermore, the reduced cost of main- 
 tenance in buildings that do not require frequent painting 
 is a factor that appeals more and more strongly to prospec- 
 tive builders, especially if they have had experience with the 
 constant drain for repairs brought about in even a well built 
 frame house. 
 
 Now, undoubtedly, the most economical and straightfor- 
 ward way of building in fireproof or semi-fireproof construc- 
 tion is to use straight, simple wall surfaces with the minimum 
 of breaks, and to stop the wall at an even height. 
 
 If the tops of the walls are protected from the action of 
 the weather by a projection of the roof, you have the maxi- 
 mum of efficiency with the minimum of effort and expense. 
 These conditions naturally suggest the sort of building so 
 prevalent in central Italy and especially in Florence. 
 
 In other words, they suggest the Italian type of building, 
 with its plain, simple wall surfaces, its long, horizontal pro- 
 jecting cornice or eaves, and the simple roofs which are so 
 characteristic of the type. 
 
 It may be said, and with some truth, that the Georgian or 
 Southern Colonial type fulfills these requirements equally 
 
»^^- '" 
 
 1 \ 
 
 t 
 
 -1 
 
 m 
 
 III tlic liviii);-ri><>iii 
 
 Id I'lmte," air'Casa del Poiite." Red ceda 
 
 Ml, Coiiii. place of the cypresses of Italy 
 
 The Villa Boiuli, I'lorcmc. .-.Iiku.-. the typical eiicli).>cil court which 
 might well furpish a precedent fur AiiH-ricun country lioim-s 
 
ITALIAN ADAPTATIONS 51 
 
 well. This may be true in some cases, but, as has been fre- 
 quently pointed out, the almost entire lack of flexibility in 
 the Colonial style makes it often difficult to use without 
 forcing a plan into a more or less arbitrary rectangle, and in 
 so doing distorting the natural requirements of the house. 
 
 Now, unlike the other Renaissance styles, and contrary 
 to the usual impression, the Italian work, except in the later 
 and more formal examples, is one of the freest, most flexible 
 styles ever developed. Even the most cursory inspection of 
 any of the well known works on Italian villas will convince 
 the doubting homebuilder of the absolute accuracy of this 
 statement. 
 
 During a somewhat prolonged stay in Italy, the present 
 writer made a practice of measuring and making drawings 
 of the most important, or at least the most interesting, build- 
 ings and details that came under his observation; and it 
 happened, not once, but so many times that it came to be 
 almost a commonplace, that some unexpected departure from 
 the normal, some unperceived variation from symmetry per- 
 haps, made a second visit necessary to check the measure- 
 ments. This almost invariably resulted in uncovering some 
 perfectly frank lack of balance which had been perpetrated 
 in so naive a way as to elude the eye of even a trained ob- 
 server. 
 
 One came to feel, after a while, that there was no such thing 
 as absolute symmetry in Italian work, and I firmly believe 
 
62 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 that a large part of the interest in tlus work is due to that 
 fact. That this subtle lack of obvious balance accounts in 
 some measure for the strange compelling charm of the style 
 seems no more than a reasonable deduction. 
 
 But it is in the Italian villas, which correspond most nearly 
 to our countr}' houses, that one sees this quality carried to 
 an extreme that seems almost incredible. The general mass 
 of the houses is so simple and the effect so regular that the 
 mind scarcely grasps the fact that the windows are put in 
 where needed for use, and without any thought of absolute 
 sjTnmetry, but with a wonderfully subtle sense of balance; 
 so that the effect of a rectangular facade, with a strong 
 shadow from long, horizontal projecting eaves, is of a well 
 balanced symmetrical whole — an effect difficult to obtain 
 in any other style. 
 
 Of course objection is made that this is not an " indigen- 
 ous style." ISIy own impression is that except for the pueblos 
 and the cliff-dwellings the only " indigenous style " is the 
 wigwam, but I do not feel myself entirely hmited to this 
 precedent. 
 
 The fact is that our modern conditions, both material and 
 intellectual, are so far removed from even the Colonial farmer 
 that his kind of house does not fit, at least not without such 
 serious modification as to destroy its entity; whereas the ar- 
 chitecture of the Italian Renaissance is the result of an activ- 
 ity, both intellectual and material, which is measurably re- 
 
Slonnriilil." till 
 i-, III) .xcrll.nt 
 
 * '^•^-* ■*- ^^-^ 
 
 Tlif Itiiliaii lypr |iri)vi(les as <1ih-s iiii oHkt for a loggia under the roof 
 whic-h might l»c utilized in many ways 
 
ITALIAN ADAPTATIONS 58 
 
 produced in our present conditions. And the indications 
 are very strong that we are entering upon a period of esthetic 
 renaissance wliich has a very vital impulse. 
 
 Both on the score of practical economy, therefore, of adapt- 
 ability to the materials, and as representing the intellectual 
 and esthetic status of the present generation, the Italian Ren- 
 aissance seems the most reasonable starting-point from which 
 to develop our domestic architecture, especially as regards 
 country house work. 
 
 Of course, it does not need saying that the fact that this 
 Italian style is not necessarily formal and symmetrical, does 
 not make it any the less well adapted to the most formal and 
 precise type of building. 
 
 While tliis type of house may be executed with equal pro- 
 priety in stone, marble, brick, or concrete blocks, it is pe- 
 culiarly adapted to a stucco treatment. In fact a very large 
 proportion of the buildings in Italy, even among the finest 
 examples, are built of stucco on a rubble stone wall. The 
 writer well recalls passing a Florentine palace near the Ric- 
 cardi in the company of an educated Italian. Something 
 was said about the building being of plaster and, surprise 
 being expressed, my companion, with the utmost sang froid, 
 took the end of his umbrella and broke off a good-sized piece 
 from what looked like a heavily rusticated stone. This, 
 however, should not be taken as an indorsement of the vicious 
 practice of imitating stone in stucco. There is no worse 
 
64 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 crime in the somewhat extended repertoire of an architect 
 than this same lack of frankness. 
 
 As a rule, a stucco house, unreheved by decoration or or- 
 nament, has a cold and rather uninviting look, and it is, I 
 believe, for this reason that half-timber work has been so 
 often tried, tmfortunately with almost uniform lack of suc- 
 cess. Now it is quite possible to use exterior color decora- 
 ment. 
 
 By using simple designs and quiet low-toned color, the 
 monotony of the plaster wall may be relieved. The method 
 of decoration is, of course, not uncommon in the north of 
 Italy and is found even as far south as Florence, and may be 
 perfectly well adapted to the conditions of our modern de- 
 sign. 
 
Tudor Houses 
 
 By 
 R. Clipston Sturgis 
 
Tudor Houses 
 
 So much has already been written, and so ably written, on 
 the subject of domestic work in this country that there 
 remains but little to add, and the special field I am 
 asked to cover is so vague and so varied that I may perhaps 
 be excused if I try to present some general considerations 
 which may guide one in determining what his house should 
 be. 
 
 Most of us who build houses, in fact a very large propor- 
 tion, wish a home, and it is to the consideration of what a 
 home should be that I wish to call attention. Preeminently 
 a home should not only be homelike, but should look like a 
 home, and the house should seem at home in its surround- 
 ings. Tliis would seem much like saying that a circle should 
 be round, except for the fact that although nearly every one 
 has an idea of a home which is accurate and well-defined, 
 and easily recognized, the idea is not always sufficiently 
 clear to be grasped by the imagination. 
 
 It is right that we should turn to England for our prec- 
 edence, for England is a country of homes, and in England 
 more than in any other country we recognize the fulfill- 
 ment of our ideals of what home life means. Of the Eng- 
 
 57 
 
58 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 lish homes, the country home is the most characteristic and 
 the most appealing, for the English of all classes have al- 
 ways made the comitry their home. They love out-of-door 
 life and all connected with it, and they have done this for 
 
 f\ ■ / 
 
 /'"""V_ 
 
 
 Oj 
 
 &1 
 
 [f^~\- 
 
 First floor plan, a master's home, Groton School, Groton, Mass. 
 R. Clipston Sturgis, architect 
 
 centuries, and because they have done this for so long they 
 have become pastmasters in the art of creating homes. 
 
 If, then, we turn to Enghsh precedence for inspiration, 
 and try to find out the motives and spirit of the domestic 
 work of England, we should surely gain some knowledge 
 of what a home should be. 
 
 I think the prevailing character in all English domestic 
 work is sound common sense. They build for comfort, not 
 for show; they count the cost, and build economically. 
 
TUDOR HOUSES 59 
 
 They love the country, and build so as to preserve its beau- 
 ties and not mar them when the necessary formality is intro- 
 duced. They plan for privacy, because privacy is of the 
 essence of home life, and, because they do all these things, 
 almost incidentally as it were, they build beautifully. I 
 say almost incidentally, because their most lovely work 
 seems almost unconsciously beautiful, as if it were a beauty 
 attained without effort. 
 
 The English house in suburbs or in country may be based 
 on Gothic traditions as they filtered through the Renais- 
 sance days of the Tudor times, or tinged with the Italian 
 spirit which grew side by side vdth Gothic, or touched by 
 the influence of Dutch brickwork, which helped to produce 
 the Georgian work, but in every case it will be homelike. 
 It will set well on the level amid its well kept grounds, or on 
 the terraced hillside, or in the pleasant valley. 
 
 It will have three divisions always more or less clearly 
 marked. The public part, entrances and the like, for the 
 family and for service; the master's part, both in house and 
 grounds; and the service part, also in house and grounds. 
 This is so obviously wise as a fundamental consideration that 
 it is strange to find it so often ignored here, but we may 
 comfort or excuse ourselves with the thought that they have 
 been building to suit conditions of country life for centuries, 
 and we but a short time. 
 
 With these three considerations in mind the owner will 
 
60 AKCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 yiew his lot of land to determine what part he may spare 
 to the public, what to service, and what reserve for his wife 
 and children. The aspect, the natural features, view, trees, 
 and so on will largely determine these most important things, 
 and if they are settled right, many problems in the plan are 
 determined. The entrance to front door is here, and to the 
 service there, the dining-room is near the service portion, 
 the living-rooms command the private ground. Then the 
 main features of the plan determine themselves. In just 
 this way is it determined whether the regularity of a Classic 
 plan or the freedom of the Gothic fits best the conditions. 
 It seems to me useless to argue that one or the other is the 
 only way. Both have their uses, both are wholly appro- 
 priate and fitting at times. The style should grow naturally 
 from the demands of the special conditions, and neither is 
 necessarily exclusive of the others. The best Tudor and 
 Jacobean houses were planned with great formality of bal- 
 anced parts, and the later Georgian work was often very 
 free, and frankly unbalanced. 
 
 What is true of the plan is equally true of materials, al- 
 ways bearing in mind that what is honest and straightfor- 
 ward in construction is more likely to have the permanent 
 qualities of beauty than what is either false, imitative, or 
 ostentatious. 
 
 The English have always used honest, simple material — 
 generally local and economical material. With us local ma- 
 
English precedent does not necessarily enforce rigid limits. There 
 
 are some features here that suggest the transplanting of 
 
 the tj^pe to American soil 
 
 11, M.iss., Ijuill to fit the site of a house 
 fire. The English t\ pe was chosen on 
 account of its flexibility 
 
^^ 
 
 ■:■ :i.h^\JaLco*,..^;#j 1 
 
 ^^^^^^ 
 
 U 15 
 
 \ 
 
TUDOR HOUSES 61 
 
 terial and economy have little to do with each other because 
 in New England, for example, it is cheaper to bring cut 
 stone from Indiana than to cut our obdurate granite. Nev- 
 ertheless, we disregard local opportunities altogether too 
 much, and rather pride ourselves on getting something our 
 neighbors have not. We have, however, no excuse for not 
 using honest material: wood, stone, brick, concrete, are all 
 in this class, and have their place and use. Wood is still 
 the cheapest material in first cost, but other more durable 
 and safe materials are rapidly nearing its cost. To cover 
 wood with stucco makes the frame house safer, and reduces 
 the sm-face that requires paint, but it has the air of pre- 
 tending to be more substantial than it really is. The Eng- 
 lish, Scotch or Italian 'stuccoed houses are built of brick or 
 stone. It is, however, a somewhat harmless pretense, and 
 economy may well warrant it. 
 
 The stone house may be wholly charming or quite repel- 
 lant, depending largely on how simple it is and how largely 
 nature is allowed to beautify it (I am speaking of simple 
 homes now, not of cut-stone palaces) . Brick is the material 
 which more universally and longer than any other has stood 
 the test of time's judgment; and of all bricks that which has 
 best stood the test is the common red brick with varied 
 colors and textures that are the natural product of the kiln. 
 
 During all its great period of brick building England has 
 set its stamp of approval on the red brick. Dutch influ- 
 
62 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ence introduced many interesting expressions of brickwork, 
 varied bonds, diapers, rubbed moldings in belt-courses and 
 chimneys, but through all the plain brick wall of good red 
 brick, well laid and well bonded, has held its place as a 
 method of building at once simple, beautiful and economical. 
 For this reason I believe strongly in the use of common 
 brick for our country houses. 
 
 There remains of the four I named, concrete. This is 
 practically a modem material, at all events all reinforced 
 forms of concrete. In appearance it is a stucco wall, with 
 some possibilities which the stucco has not, namely, a surface 
 as hard and durable as the best stones, which can be cut and 
 hammered as stone can be. More than that, it can be 
 treated in a unique way when^ it is still green, for then a 
 brush and water will sen^e to give it texture and reveal the 
 interest of its component parts. 
 
 These four, then, are the simple materials, and because 
 wood is perishable and inflammable, and*, of the other three, 
 brick is the most generally available material, I think it 
 should always be considered when the material of the house 
 is under discussion. There are few places in the country 
 where brick can even be imagined as out of place, because 
 there are few where clay and sand do not exist. Just as 
 brick may be always entitled to consideration so may Eng- 
 lish precedence be entitled to come first. Yet in this broad 
 and varied country it would be absurd to claim that Eng- 
 
kliiK-, Mass. Tlu 
 
 n IS the i)Ossiliilit\ ot 
 
 in 1 
 
 )n of texturf in b 
 
 rickwoik In the use ot 
 
 the 
 
 many a\ i 
 
 lable h<)iui5 
 
 
1 
 
 ^^B^B^StK^BI^^imm^k 
 
 ' M 
 
 HB^H 
 
 ^R 
 
 
 rKg^^^H^^^^H 
 
 
 ■■^^^^■k^^^B^^^H 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 t *^*'i£^l 
 
TUDOR HOUSES 63 
 
 lish precedent should always govern. The Spanish set their 
 stamp on the coast, and working along the lines of the Span- 
 ish Renaissance in material that was local and character- 
 istic, they produced a type that gave Mr. Bertram Goodhue 
 a chance to show how completely charming, and home-like 
 as well, the wliite, flat roofed concrete house might be. 
 (The Gillespie house at Santa Barbara, illustrated in the 
 following chapter. ) At first blush one would say this house 
 could look well only in that luxuriant setting, but 1 can 
 imagine it almost equally lovely and at home in some of the 
 reaches of the Maine coast, set amid cedar and fir, on the 
 hillside, springs feeding its fountains, and its outlook over 
 the sea. At first blush a Virginian red brick house might 
 seem out of place in California, but I can imagine one set 
 in the midst of an orchard, or surrounded by formal gar- 
 dens, looking as homelike as it does in England, and as much 
 in keeping with its surroundings. 
 
Ihe Spanish Mission Type 
 
 By 
 George C. Baum 
 
Ikt .Mails 
 
 Tlir iircliod (liMirwii\> iiiul (jiiliU- fiul> iirc Mi>9iiiii iliMriuU-ristics; tli 
 porch is an addition nmdc norcsMirv l>v the liu-k of an interior i-oiirt 
 
l^he Spanish Mission Type 
 
 THE words " Spanish Mission " bring to the niind but 
 one thought, — a group of buildings scattered over 
 Southern California. The buildings and the location 
 seem to be sjTionymous ; the one suggests the other. In- 
 stantly the mind pictures a warm and sunny climate, a 
 group of palm and magnoha trees, in the shadow of which 
 nestles a low and rambUng building, covered with vines and 
 rose bushes. Charming! we exclaim. Yes, charming be- 
 yond description. California, the land of sunsliine and 
 roses, and, as Stoddard says of Southern California, " we 
 think of it, and love it, as the dreamland of the Spanish 
 Mission." 
 
 The Spanish missionaries coming up from Mexico were 
 the first to settle in Cahfornia, having as their ambition the 
 conversion of the Indians. They begaln their enterprise 
 with rude adobe huts, but as they became prosperous and 
 successful, these huts gave way to extensive buildings, con- 
 structed in the form of a quadrangle, surrounding an inner 
 court. The best examples can be seen in the remauis of 
 Santa Barbara, San Juan Capistrano. San Fernando Rey, 
 Carmel, San Gabriel, San Luis Rey and San Miguel. 
 
 This mode of building around an open space, forming 
 
 67 
 
ARCHITECTURAL STYXES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 an inner court or patio, was brought over with the Spaniards 
 from their native land. 
 
 It was just the style of building best adapted to their 
 
 • TLOoa 750, An •. 
 Lt5Tfn 5MOOI2E /3DCMITE.CT- 
 Los <^nGt.i-«i» CaL' ^lii^ 
 
 The home of Edwin G. Hart, San Marino, CaL 
 Lester S. Moore, architect 
 
 needs, and frequently a number of patios were used as the 
 demands required. 
 
 Within these enclosures their cattle and herds were driven 
 at. night for protection, wliere tliey were safe from the sav- 
 ages and wild beasts. These settlements were in reality 
 
THE SPANISH MISSION TYPE 69 
 
 large ecclesiastical farms, \n\.h their cattle grazing on the 
 adjoining plains and the grain growing in the surrounding 
 fields. Here also the Indians were gathered and instructed 
 in the art of civihzation, religion, trades and farming. Iso- 
 lated as they were in those days, it was necessary for each 
 Mission to provide for its own wants; therefore, rooms and 
 apartments of different kinds were set aside for their par- 
 ticular purposes, and all gathered together, as it were, under 
 one roof. 
 
 The most prominent portion of the building from the ex- 
 terior would be the church, with its dominating belfry, Avhile 
 around it would be collected the bedrooms or cells for the 
 monks, the refectory, the kitchen, hospital, schoolrooms, 
 workshops and sundry buildings. 
 
 This is, in short, the history and description of the so- 
 called Spanish Mission style of architecture. These settle- 
 ments were made by Spanish religious orders engaged in 
 frontier work, and this class of men naturally would not 
 bring with them artists or architects, so they built with the 
 best talent and skill they had at their disposal, following the 
 examples famihar to them, such as appear in Spain and Mex- 
 ico. They naturally built simply and substantially, but in 
 that simplicity lies all their charm and beauty. Large, 
 plain wall spaces are characteristic of this type of building, 
 and when man finished his work, Nature started to embellish 
 it with her clinging vines and overhanging trees, transform- 
 
70 ARCHITECTURAL STiXES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ing them all into a picture of charm and beauty. Any at- 
 tempt at gorgeous enrichment and elaboration would have 
 been fatal to the artistic and enchanting results. 
 
 The most characteristic points of this style of architecture 
 can be described as a low building with heavy walls of adobe 
 brick, covered with stucco; a low pitched roof, covered with 
 tile, and wide, projecting eaves, casting the deep shadow so 
 necessary in a sunny location; belfries, formed by the pro- 
 jecting of the walls above the roof, pierced with arched 
 openings to carry the bells, while the inner courts were sur- 
 rounded with arches, forming spacious and picturesque 
 cloisters. The windows on the first floor were frequently 
 enclosed with turned wooden grilles, a remnant of the iron 
 grilles of Spain, and used for protection. The walls were 
 of solid brick, covered with stucco, and have at times reached 
 a thickness of six feet. Floors were frequently covered 
 with large brick tiles, twelve inches square. 
 
 This style of architecture sounds very well, but how does 
 it apply to the average modern suburban home? For the 
 more northern climate where winds and storms predominate, 
 and where the cold is severe, this style is not at all practical. 
 There a building compact and sheltered is desirable, but 
 where the sunshine abounds, and where winter is of short 
 duration, this type of building is most fitting. In the South 
 the Spanish INIission is at its best, but the architectural treat- 
 ment when properly adapted to the conditions of the North, 
 
THE SPANISH ^^SSION TYPE 71 
 
 gives a most pleasing and happy result. Other tj'pes of 
 buildings seem to have been the popular types to follow 
 for surburban homes, many of which have become monot- 
 onous, while the Spanish ^Mission has been overlooked. 
 This type is not splashy or elaborate, but can be enriched 
 in a quiet way to great advantage. 
 
 What are the requisites of a private residence or home? 
 In common, it could be described as a place for rest, a place 
 to eat and a place to sleep, a place for thought, and a place 
 to entertain one's friends. The question is, how best to ac- 
 complish this within reasonable means. 
 
 The Spanish Mission house has the advantage of being 
 easy and simple of construction, void of the complications 
 of building principles, as in many of the other styles fre- 
 quently adopted. 
 
 This simplicity does not detract from its beauty; but 
 when properly handled, simplicity can be relieved by the 
 grouping of motives and by the planting of trees and 
 shrubbery. The appearance of the building is one of quiet 
 and rest, refreshing to the eye; its stucco walls are cool 
 in summer, yet not oppressive in the winter. It has been 
 said, " nothing is so much to be desired as repose in form 
 and color," and the Spanish ^lission gives it. 
 
 The interior can be arranged to suit any condition. The 
 tendency of the present day is to build the house reducing 
 the number of stories in height, thus eliminating the climb- 
 
7^ ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ing of stairs. A house spread out has the preference. 
 This gives the possibility of the inner court or patio, which 
 forms the center of the Spanish family life. These courts 
 are built M'ith arches forming cloisters one story high, or as 
 supporting arches carrying a second story above. 
 
 In the center generally is a fountain, around which are 
 gathered potted plants and palms; here the family gathers 
 and friends are received and entertained. The normal 
 man, in his private life, hates publicity and craves retire- 
 ment. 
 
 Houses thus built present this to the best advantage, as 
 the interior of the building can be made very attractive and 
 livable. The exterior walls can be opened by use of arches 
 or posts, giving spacious porches for those who desire them. 
 In the larger courts, trees were planted, and rose bushes 
 were cultivated. 
 
 From the fountain often ran streams of water carried off 
 in open channels, around which flow^ers were planted. 
 These interior courts of the Spanish Missions were used 
 first as centers for protection, within wliich the monks were 
 safe and free from anxiety. Here they would congregate 
 in leisure hours and take their exercise. Then they began 
 to beautify the open space, which resulted in the adoption 
 of forms similar to the luxuriant and charming formal gar- 
 dens. 
 
 The writer does not advocate the Spanish Mission as the 
 
THE SPANISH MISSION TYPE 73 
 
 best type of architecture to be followed universally, but this 
 argimicnt is intended to show how it can be adapted, and 
 how appropriate it is to surburban life. 
 
 First and foremost we must build with the materials at 
 our disposal. We are entering upon a period of wood 
 famine. The lavish use of wood as in former days, must 
 be curtailed, and it will soon be out of the question as a 
 building material. We are by necessity rapidly advancing 
 to the concrete and cement age, following the footsteps of 
 the old world. Concrete is being used in buildings in this 
 country more to-daj^ than ever before. It is easy of con- 
 struction when properly handled and does not require skilled 
 labor in its formation. Thus the expense is reduced. This 
 is a marked advantage, especially in the country where ma- 
 sons for stone and brick work are scarce and often must 
 be transported from the city. The outside face of the walls 
 is covered with cement or stucco, forming window and door 
 jambs, and, with the roofs of tile, the use of wood is re- 
 duced to a minimum. It is not necessary that the walls 
 be built of concrete for this style of building, as brick or 
 stone will answer the purpose in place of the concrete. 
 Tiled roofs are generally used. Where the floors are ex- 
 posed to the rain and moisture, as in porches and cloisters, 
 flat tiles are used. This flooring is good, and economical, 
 as it requires practically no attention. 
 
 More and more the desire is growing for baths and 
 
74 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 plunges. The " Roman bath " seems to be returning to 
 popular use. WTiere land can be used freely the bath can 
 be connected with the main house very conveniently in this 
 type of building, surrounding it with rooms or with a blank 
 wall as desired. In similar manner can be constructed the 
 stable or garage. 
 
 The old Mission and Mexican buildings were almost hid- 
 den by trees, and for those who appreciate landscape garden- 
 ing this type of building affords a splendid opportunity 
 for enrichment with planting. 
 
 This Mission style of architecture is not applicable to con- 
 gested city uses, where land is so valuable and height of 
 building is the ambition, but when applied to country 
 or suburban uses, what is more appropriate? What can 
 be more refreshing than after the labors of the day to leave 
 the citj' with its confusion and jumbled collection of all 
 kinds and styles of architecture, as seen in the average busi- 
 ness streets of all our cities, to come to the country home 
 with its quiet and rest ? 
 
 The modern houses of red brick, the fanciful reproduc- 
 tion and imitations of castles and chateaux, often perched 
 in the most inappropriate positions, become irksome. In- 
 stead of this we come to the quiet and restful Mission with 
 its setting of trees, flowers, vines and gardens. 
 
ne Half-timber House 
 By 
 
 Allen W. Jackson 
 
(1 Imlf-limlHT hoiivs rrsult^ from the 
 >iis iniitoriiiK in (■oiiihiiiatioii iiiul in IIh- Ioom-mcss of con- 
 stnirtion — notice, for instniuv. the uneven splicing 
 of the pnMe end upright tiinliers 
 
The Half -timber House 
 
 LET me warn the young architect about to dine out 
 that, while the first question asked of him may be 
 about the weather, the second will surely be " Why 
 don't architects invent a new style of architecture? " 
 
 There may be more than one answer as to why we do not 
 invent a new set of forms out of hand, but if it can be made 
 perfectly clear what an architectural style really is we are 
 provided at the same time with the answer to the question. 
 If it is thoroughly understood that an arcliitectural " style " 
 is but a reflection of a certain type of civilization, is but a 
 mirror of the customs, manners, limitations and environ- 
 ment of a race, showing the slow, painful process of the 
 growth and development of a people, it ought to be apparent 
 why it is that " styles " are not invented in the study. 
 
 Even when it becomes no longer possible truthfully to re- 
 flect the manners and customs, the requirements and de- 
 sires of a people in the old inherited forms — even then we 
 may not talk of a new style, but of modifications of the cur- 
 rent one, the whole problem being one of growth. It is as 
 impossible for us wilfully to repudiate our architecture as 
 it would be our literature. A people's architecture fits 
 
78 ARCHITECTURAL ST\XES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 them, and no one else can wear it. We may admire others, 
 but only our own is flesh of our flesh. 
 
 The particular style that ice have been born into, devel- 
 oped by our forefathers through centuries, keeping pace 
 
 First floor plan, the home of George H. Lowe, Wellesley, Mass. 
 Allen W. Jackson, architect 
 
 with the slow, painful progress of the race, always a true 
 index of its contemporary condition, a perfect inarticulate 
 measure of its culture and refinement ; tliis style, tliis grow- 
 ing embodiment in stone of a people's dreams and idealism, 
 keeping step down through the centuries with the upward 
 march of the race — this for us is the Gothic style of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Stone and brick were the materials used for the impor- 
 

 
 
 
 <a^^^^^^tKk 
 
 m 
 
 UMilli. 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 1 u 
 1 a 
 » ij 
 
 •Z 7 
 
 -i — 
 
 V 
 
 if 
 
 
 
 
THE HALF-TIMBER HOUSE 
 
 79 
 
 tant work and plaster and timber for the farms and houses 
 of the gentry. 
 
 The Georgian style, also brought over to tliis country, 
 where we know it as the Colonial, was not an indigenous 
 
 Second floor plan, the home of George H. Lowe, Wcllcslcy, Jlass. 
 Allen W. Jackson, architect 
 
 manner of building; it was but an imported fashion, an alien 
 style, as little at home in serving British institutions as one 
 would expect such a typically Italian product to be. 
 
 Even if we admit that long custom had served to imbue 
 these borrowed forms with something of the Anglo-Saxon 
 temperament, we still have the inherent unsuitableness of an 
 essentially monumental style of architecture forced to serve 
 intimate, and domestic uses. It is the Arab steed harnessed 
 
80 ARCHITECTURAL ST\XES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 to the plow. Its simplicity and dignity are all very well, 
 but they are bound to a tjTannical symmetry, rigid and im- 
 mutable. 
 
 We all know the Colonial house, the front door in the 
 center flanked on either side by the paired windows above 
 and below; each window the exact size of everj' other; one- 
 half the front the mathematical counterpart of the other. 
 It may be there is a guest room on one corner and a bath- 
 room on the other, but it never appears on the surface. We 
 might have liked for comfort and convenience to have had 
 three windows on one side and two on the other, or perhaps 
 higher, or smaller, but it will do us but little good to carry 
 our request to tliis austere front. 
 
 Like the unlucky traveler in the bed of Procrustes, the 
 poor plan is made to fit by brute force, either by stretching 
 or lopping off". 
 
 Now it is an architectural maxim, that, without regard 
 for style, the elevations of a building shall express the plan ; 
 but how is it possible for the meanest and the most honored 
 rooms to be expressed on the exterior by the same thing — 
 the window, for instance? If one window is a truthful ex- 
 pression of the one room, how can it possibly be of the 
 other? Working in the derivatives of the Classic style as 
 applied to domestic work, not to be able to tell from the 
 outside, the bathroom from the parlor, the butler's pantry 
 from the ballroom, is a basic defect of style that forces 
 
THE HALF-TIMBER HOUSE 81 
 
 many undersirable compromises that would be unnecessary 
 in a more flexible and less rigid system. There should not 
 be this conflict between the plan and its elevations by which 
 one must give way to the other, serious sacrifices having 
 to be made before the two can be coaxed into joining hands. 
 
 In this feud between Truth and Harmony, Utility stands 
 but a sorry chance. 
 
 As has been said, a primary necessity of good architec- 
 ture is that the elevations shall follow and grow from the 
 plan, that they shall express what they shield; they must be 
 the effect and never the cause. Beauty must wait on Use 
 and is only noble when it serves. 
 
 If, then, our exteriors will not subordinate themselves; if 
 they are not perfectly tractable and flexible, it is a weakness, 
 and this weakness is one that we think exists in the Classic 
 style, a weakness which never shows so plainly and dis- 
 astrously as in the manifold exigencies of modern house- 
 building. And it is in this very matter that the strength 
 of the true English work lies. The plaster and half-timber 
 houses, by ignoring symmetry (but never composition) gain 
 at the outset an immense freedom. 
 
 The plan may fulfill the most extraordinary requirements, 
 may house the most incongnious matters under one roof; 
 china closets may come next to chapels, pantries under bou- 
 doir, yet each have every requirement of light and space ex- 
 actly fulfilled, with their proper and fitting exterior ex- 
 
82 ARCHITECTURAL ST\'LES FOR CX)UNTRY HOUSES 
 
 pression. There is the best possible understanding between 
 the plan and elevation, the understanding that the plan is 
 master and the other must honor and obej\ 
 
 The results in England, where it is best studied, are those 
 soft, beautiful houses, which aifect us by their perfect re- 
 pose and harmony, rest and simplicity; no stress or striving 
 here, only peace and quiet. They take their place in the 
 landscape more like some work of Nature than of man, nes- 
 tling among the verdure almost like some larger plant, more 
 as if they grew than as if they were made. Rules of the 
 books, recipes from the schools, seem very thin and profitless 
 in their presence. 
 
 '' These buildings are not dependent on the paint shop or 
 the planing-mill; they are brothers to the soil — what else 
 are the brick and mortar and rough-hewn timber? They 
 are not designed under an artificial rule derived from 
 nothing in nature. Then the adornment of these English 
 houses does not consist of motives invented for use on Greek 
 temples five hundred years before Christ. What detail and 
 ornament they have were invented painfully, lovingly, and 
 slowly through the centuries by the people themselves, im- 
 proving and bettering as they came up out of their darkness 
 of ignorance and poverty. Eloquent of a people's liistory, 
 those who live in these houses own them in a very real sense. 
 
 As for their use in this country, the utilitarian has no 
 complaint on that score, as they are perfectly suited to our 
 
THE HALF-TIMBER HOUSE 83 
 
 climate. The plaster makes a warmer wall in winter and a 
 cooler one in summer than can be had ^vith only wood. 
 When properly done it is very durable and there is no cost 
 of upkeep. It can be made thoroughly charming in color 
 itself and wonderfully harmonious among the surrounding 
 vegetation. 
 
 Of course in considering the modern work one must not 
 expect to find in it the charm and fascination which so de- 
 light us in the old English crofts and manors. It is an 
 exceedingly difficult thing to judge architecture per se, that 
 is to separate the architecture, the conscious design, entirely 
 from its setting, and pass judgment on it solely as an ar- 
 tistic composition, without regard to the accidental or for- 
 tuitous in its surroundings, or to those caressing marks by 
 which we may know that Father Time has passed that way. 
 This added beauty begins where the architect left off, but 
 he is too often given credit for the beauty that is of Xature 
 and not of man — the perfect result that neither may ob- 
 tain alone. The Enghsh cathedrals — were they so beauti- 
 ful, so noble, so satisfying, when the architect stood off and 
 looked at his finished work, their future history unborn and 
 timid Nature looking on from afar, not yet ready to run 
 up and cling about its base and storm its walls and find a 
 footfold in every cranny? I fear they were not so good 
 then, for every picture is helped by its frame. 
 
 Your architect prefers the catliedrals of France, standing 
 
84 ARCHITECTURAL STiXES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 in the midst of squalid villages, with the old houses circling 
 thick about the base, clinging to its verj^ skirts. These 
 buildings are less appealing, less soft and beautiful, less pic- 
 turesque and charming, but they stand without adventitious 
 aid to proclaim and attest the greatness of their designers 
 and builders. 
 
 And then, to be reckoned with, in its very powerful but 
 extremelj' subtle appeal to the sensitive mind, is the potent 
 power of age. For time means history, and nothing is more 
 effective in making us feel the presence and reality of the 
 past, in recalling historic events than buildings wliich saw 
 or may have even sheltered them. The power which such 
 works have of renvifying the former life which surged 
 about them and profoundly affecting and moving the im- 
 agination of the onlooker by the subtle aura that hangs about 
 and permeates them, is a force that must be carefully taken 
 into account and guarded against by him who would sit in 
 judgment on architectuure. 
 
 These pleasant emanations are, for the critic, illegitimate 
 and must first of all be exorcised, before he is fit to don the 
 ermine. 
 
 Let us therefore be a little careful before we are quite 
 sure that our admiration is wisely bestowed and that our 
 old buildings are really so much finer works than any we 
 produce to-day. Let us eliminate ^Mother Nature and her 
 accessories of verdure and decay, let us forget the singularly 
 
THE HALF-TIMBER HOUSE 86 
 
 happy results she obtains by sagging our roofs and stain- 
 ing our walls, by blunting our edges and playing havoc gen- 
 erally with the specifications. It is all so delightful — but 
 it is not architecture. 
 
 In the same way let us banish Father Time from our 
 thoughts, with the rich pageant that follows in his train, and 
 try to discover only what it was our designer had in lias 
 heart, what colored liis thoughts, Avhat guided his hand, 
 when he stood before his empty field with visions swarming 
 through his mind. 
 
 Let us look now at what this English half-timber work 
 was in its birthplace and what we make of it to-day. We 
 shall notice in looking over the illustrations chosen for re- 
 production that many of the buildings are not entirely done 
 in half-timber. Many of the most successful ones are those 
 that use it in connection with plain plaster or brick, the 
 black and white used as an accent, as a precious tiling. 
 
 A particularly strong point of the English work is that 
 your Englishman will spend $100,000 and when he is 
 through will have a simple, quiet, modest cottage. We, on 
 the other hand, with half the money at our command, at once 
 try for a palace, Corinthian columns through three stories, 
 and plenty of carved stone. We build the cottage only 
 when we can afford nothing else. But it is pleasant to think 
 that tliis quiet simple work is becoming more common with 
 us every day. We are coming to recognize its picturesque- 
 
86 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ness and adaptabilitj^ to varying conditions of site, its home- 
 like quality and freedom from ostentation. All these con- 
 siderations act powerfully towards making it the one suitable 
 style for our country liomes. 
 
T^he Dutch Colonial House 
 
 By 
 
 Aymar Embury^ II 
 
The Dutch Colonial House 
 
 BEFORE going into the subject of the merits of Dutch 
 architecture it may be well to define the meaning of 
 the term as it is commonly used. It refers not to the 
 architecture of Holland, but to the style which was built 
 up by the Dutch Colonists and which was developed not 
 only by them but by the French Huguenots and the Eng- 
 lish who later settled amongst them. The houses are en- 
 tirely different from those of Holland in material, in mass 
 and in detail. Here the houses are built of stone or of stone 
 in combination with plaster or clapboards, but brick was 
 very sparingly employed, except for the chimneys and the 
 enormous baking-ovens. In Holland, on the contrary, the 
 architecture was one almost entirely of brick; stone was 
 about as common as diamonds are here, and came in about 
 the same size pieces. The most characteristic feature of our 
 Colonial Dutch houses was the roof, and this again was of 
 a new type. Here either a long low sloping roof was em- 
 ployed or the gambrel type, so beautifully handled that the 
 terms " Dutch " and " gambrel " are synonymous. 
 
 The origin of this roof has been long a subject for dis- 
 pute. It is purely an American development, without any 
 European precedent, and its use must have arisen from some 
 
90 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 condition peculiar to this country. I believe this is to be 
 found in the fact that two-story houses in Colonial days 
 were heavily taxed, while one-story houses went free. The 
 early designers therefore endeavored to evade the law by 
 building a one-story house of two stories, and in order to 
 
 First floor plan, the home of St. G. Barber, Englewood, X. J. 
 Aymar Embury, II, architect 
 
 get the rooms in the second story as large as possible, the 
 roof was given a wider overhang and sloped very steeply. 
 But, since continuing the steep roof slopes on either side 
 of the house up to their intersection would be excessively 
 high, giving the house as seen from the end the shape of a 
 stingy piece of pie, after the builders had run it up high 
 enough to include the second story they covered over the 
 intermediate spaces with as flat a roof as possible. 
 
THE DUTCH COLONIAL HOUSE 
 
 91 
 
 The wide overhangs, besides giving more space in the 
 second floor, had' another valid reason. The gable ends 
 were usually built of stone, since they were difficult to pro- 
 tect from the weather, but the front and rear walls, covered 
 by the wide roof, could be covered with plaster much more 
 
 Second floor plan, the home of St. G. Barber, Englewood, N. J. 
 Ajinar Emburj', II, architect 
 
 cheaply and with a maximum of effect. Yet while stone 
 for the ends and plaster for the front and rear was the 
 usual method of construction, it was by no means the only 
 one. Any or all of the materials above mentioned were used 
 in the same house, and it is by no means uncommon to see 
 four or even five in combination even in a very small build- 
 ing; the charm of the free design which was the inevitable 
 
92 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 result cannot be approached in any more stereotj'ped archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 The moldings and details employed were as individual as 
 the design. We find many of the porch columns, for ex- 
 
 •■nsLsr nooR. plan- 
 
 The home of Jerome C. Bull, Tuckalioe, N. Y. 
 Aymar Embury, II, architect. 
 
 ample, hexagonal or octagonal in shape and crowned with 
 capitals the moldings of which are suggestive of both Greek 
 and Gothic origin. Other houses have the same varieties of 
 Renaissance columns which were used by the designers of 
 the New England and Southern Colonial, There was 
 nothing forced, nothing strained anywhere apparent, and 
 the result was the creation of an independent architectural 
 
lllr ll..lllf ,,r .J> niui. t . liull, •lu.-k.-.lHK-, \. Y. 
 
 r„. II, archittct 
 
THE DUTCH COLONIAL HOUSE 
 
 93 
 
 style; and the only one which has been developed in the 
 United States. 
 
 ^Ir. Jackson in his cliapter on half-timber houses has well 
 stated that the proper style to employ is that developed by 
 
 •^ECONJ) FLOOR. PLAN- 
 
 The home of Jerome C. Hull, Tuckahoc, N'. Y. 
 Aymar Embury, II, architect 
 
 the race Avhich uses it, and he believes that we should there- 
 fore design our work following the English traditions. Yet 
 the proportion of the American people whose ancestry is 
 English is a comparatively small one, and English half-tim- 
 ber architecture is distinctly an importation in this country 
 and not a development. Mr. Wallis, like Mr. Jackson, also 
 
94 ARCHITECTURAL ST\XES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 insists that the native style is the one which absolutely must 
 be employed. I thoroughly agree \\-ith both of them, and, 
 if we are all three right, the style to use is Dutch or notliing. 
 
 Colonial architecture is formal while the half-timber work 
 is informal ; both have advantages, the former in its dignity, 
 and the latter in its flexibility. The Dutch work has the 
 advantages of both without the disadvantages of either. 
 If the sjonmetry of the Colonial house is disturbed its agree- 
 able qualities are lost, while the half-timber house executed 
 symmetrically becomes dry and tiresome in the extreme. 
 A house can be executed in any way you please in the Dutch 
 style. The central mass of the house may be flanked ^vith 
 wings of equal size and similar fenestration, or the house 
 may ramble about, following the slopes of the ground and 
 avoiding big trees without any loss of charm. The first- 
 storj' rooms can be high, square and simple, or they can be 
 low and broken with deep-set windows, should that be the 
 type desired, and the " company " rooms can be of one kind 
 and the living-rooms of the other; and, best of all, both can 
 be combined into a single and harmonious whole without a 
 discordant note. 
 
 Dutch architecture, even in its most conventional form, is 
 extremely individual. Its designers have left us so many 
 precedents that in working in that style you never have the 
 least feehng that you must go look it up in a book and find 
 out if it was ever done in that way before. You are very 
 
THE DUTCH COLONIAL HOUSE 96 
 
 sure that if it was never done, the only reason was because 
 the Dutch did not happen to think of it. 
 
 ^Ir. Wallis has said that the influence of Dutch Colonial 
 compared with that of the arcliitectures of the north and 
 south of it has been negligible. This is to some extent true, 
 and it has been a matter of never-ending surprise to me that 
 the style is so little knowTi or appreciated even here in New 
 York, witliin twenty miles of which we can find the most 
 exquisite small houses that were ever built. It is true that 
 we have no " mansions," nor are there any " villas," but we 
 have homes. If country life is worth anything at all it is 
 because the necessity for dress and convention is minimized, 
 and the enjoyment of country hfe depends upon outdoor 
 sports. Certainl}' nothing could be more ridiculous than 
 golf clothes in an " Adam room." 
 
 I grant that the style has its limitations; there never was 
 one that hadn't, but what I do most firmly believe is that 
 there is no other architecture so perfectly adapted to Ameri- 
 can conditions, so plastic in permitting adjustments of ex- 
 terior to plan, and so absolutelj' suited, aside from any sen- 
 timental reason, to small house architecture as is the Dutch 
 Colonial. A small house cannot be built two stories high 
 before the roof starts and not be too high for its width. It 
 is essential that the walls of a house should be wider than 
 their height and this can be attained in the small house only 
 by bringing the roof low. The Dutch, two hundred years 
 
96 ARCHITECTURAL ST\'LES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ago, for purely practical reasons, discovered that the gam- 
 brel roof was the solution of the problem of getting the 
 most room in a low house; their solution is still correct. 
 
 The architecture of the first settlers in a countrj' is apt 
 to be the most desirable to employ. Whether tliis is be- 
 cause of a reflex action of sentiment, or whether it is that 
 the old houses were built from materials taken from the 
 earth and fields around them — and there is something pe- 
 culiarly fitting in the use of local materials — cannot be eas- 
 ily kno^m. The fact remains that the Dutch is the only in- 
 digenous arcliitecture and certainly the most suitable. With 
 our complex modern conditions, the vast increase in the 
 wealth, not only of the very rich, but also of the well-to-do, 
 conditions in this country have somewhat changed. Our 
 race is no longer English, but cosmopolitan; its dominant 
 strain is English in political ideas only, our morals are of 
 home growth, our educational system has been adapted 
 from the German, our art is governed by French ideals. 
 We are cosmopolitan, and yet everything we have taken 
 from the old sources has been adapted and adjusted to our 
 needs until it has become stamped with our ideals. We are 
 reaching out and grasping for everything that is good, coin- 
 ing the world's gold to our use. That is precisely what was 
 done in house-building two hundred years ago by the set- 
 tlers in Xew York and New Jersey who developed Dutch 
 architecture. We all agree that a dwelling house should 
 
THE DUTCH COLONIAL HOUSE 97 
 
 look like a dwelling house and not like a museum or a cas- 
 tle; the only point of disagreement is as to what kind of a 
 looking thing a dwelling house is. In his effort to sustain 
 the domestic reputation of the Colonial style Mr. Wallis 
 has stated that the Greeks, whose architecture was a kind 
 of " missing link " ancestor of Colonial, invented the night- 
 shirt; can he deny that the Dutch discovered pajamas? 
 Even more than Colonial, the Dutch has that quality of in- 
 timacy which is at the root of successful work ; and it has a 
 virility and sturdiness wliich makes it most suitable for mod- 
 ern work. English half-timber is frankly an importation, 
 often charming, it is true, but as unsuitable to the United 
 States as are thatched roofs. Colonial was the last cry of 
 an age wfcen politeness was made a god, and is mannered 
 and conscious. The Dutch was sincere, expressive and vi- 
 tal; strong and pleasing in mass, refined in detail and beau- 
 tifully fit, in both form and color, to the American land- 
 scape. 
 
A Style of 
 the Western Plains 
 
 By 
 Hugh M. G. Garden 
 
Wttllir Uurliy Urign, 
 siibiirbiin home that r.-ls s.ilidly on tlie ground by reason of its 
 broad stone biLsc. I'laiu brick and pl.ustcr surfaces with stained 
 wooden strips secure tlie decorative effect 
 
A Style of the Western Plains 
 
 I AM asked to contribute something on an unnamed style, 
 sometimes vaguelj^ referred to as the product of the 
 Western or Chicago school — it would be presumption 
 to appropriate to anything so tenuous the imposing title 
 " American Style." The reader who has followed the fore- 
 going chapters has perhaps noticed that each author insists 
 that the style chosen shall closelj'^ fit and express the local 
 conditions. He has been shown that the Enghshman, the 
 Dutchman, the Italian of a bygone century, has each in his 
 way produced a style or type of building that fits our local 
 conditions and fits it better than any other style or type. 
 All the authorities, of course, cannot be right, but all may 
 be partly right, and I think that examination of the various 
 arguments will show that the qualities which recommend 
 each are broadly ahke. The reader then is left where he 
 began, and it remains, after all, a matter of choice, with 
 similar arguments recommending different styles. 
 
 There is, however, a common gap in each argument. I/ct 
 us take, for instance, the argument by the advocate of the 
 Italian villa type. He says in effect that we for various 
 good reasons should build houses ha^^ng broad, simple wall 
 surfaces, penetrated by oi>enings which balance well, but 
 
102 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 need not of necessity be obviously symmetrical, and that for 
 the sake of unity we should have broad, overhanging eaves 
 and simple, low-sloping roofs. He then proceeds to show 
 that for reasons of economy such wall surfaces can be easily 
 and beautifully made in plaster. His deduction is that we 
 should therefore employ the Italian style which makes use 
 of all these things. If we grant that these things are de- 
 sirable and that they produce " style," a logical deduction 
 would be that we should have them; not necessarily that we 
 should have " Italian " buildings. If the result, after we 
 have employed them in our design, prove similar to the Ital- 
 ian villas, well and good, but it is important that the horse 
 be kept in front of the cart and that we strive for style in 
 the abstract, not for EngHsh or Dutch or Italian style, not 
 even for American style — consciously. 
 
 The real question is "What is Style?" — not "What 
 Style? " If we are successful in determining what this elu- 
 sive quality is, then the way to get it will be the next object 
 of ovir search and will be, perhaps, not difficult to find. 
 
 All arts are ahke in that the common end and aim of each 
 is the weaving of a pattern. The pattern to be woven in 
 the designing of a house is one of forms, lines, colors and 
 textures; relating, repeating and contrasting one with the 
 other, creating rhythms, directions and accents. Without 
 these rhythms and accents, without the pattern, the work re- 
 mains mere building. Style is the relation of these rhythms 
 
A STYLE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS 103 
 
 and accents, one to the other, to create a pattern; the rela- 
 tion of form to form, color to color, texture to texture and 
 each to all creating one definite expression. 
 
 Style is synthetic, and the arcliitect, taking rooms, halls 
 and staircases, arranges them in sequence according to their 
 use and importance ; and in the rearing, of their walls, floors 
 and roofs, relates planes, soUds, voids, lights, shadows, tex- 
 tures and colors so that each gives to each an added and en- 
 riched meaning and expression. A \vindow designed essen- 
 tially as a device for letting light and air into a room he- 
 comes by reason of its proportion and placing, a shadow 
 in contrast to a plane of light, an accent or a note in su 
 rhytlmiic scale, a Ime of direction or a spot of decoration 
 according to its arrangement. The delicate adjustment 
 of part to part, each comely in itself, the intricate inter- 
 weaving of texture, form and color to produce a web 
 or pattern at once logical and interesting: that is style 
 in architecture. Simplicity of style is desirable if 
 we have a right understanding of the word. The simplicity 
 of the side of a grain elevator is not in itself admirable, but 
 the simplicity of a flower is lovely; that simplicity which at- 
 tains the highest degree of elegant and pregnant meaning 
 without obtrusion. Let us say an interesting simplicity. 
 In architecture there is a fatal tendency to consider style 
 an affair of columns, cornices, doorways, etc., of low roofs 
 and high roofs, of brick walls or plaster. A much more 
 
10* ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 intelligent view-point is necessary if we are ever to outgrow 
 the hit-and-miss results that now make our streets a hodge- 
 podge of incongruities, each swearing at each. It is doubt- 
 ful if we shall ever again have any great uniformity of type 
 such as has in given places and times produced marked and 
 recognized styles. Altered conditions have altered our ar- 
 tistic ideals and expression. The development and growing 
 independence of the individual call for a more various ex- 
 pression, but it is not inconsistent to assume that a grow- 
 ing intelligence on the part of the individual will ultimately 
 result in an artistic expression richer in variety and still 
 possessing unity commensurate with an even development of 
 the individual unit. Such a style will be the outgrowth of 
 democracy. 
 
 To apply these definitions and principles to house build- 
 ing, let us consider an entire property as the home, part 
 imder roof and part out-of-doors. If the property be lo- 
 cated on a street in close contact with others, privacy will 
 be sought, along with a certain formality consistent with the 
 straight lines of the street and of the property. If the es- 
 tate be large, privacy will be acliieved by setting the living 
 spaces both of ground and house back from the public high- 
 ways. If the ground be susceptible to easy arrangement a 
 measurable formality will still be desirable, for a house is but 
 the background for human hfe, and to reclaim the ground 
 from the wild vnW be the first necessity to prepare it 
 
A STYLE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS 105 
 
 for habitation. If the ground be rough and intractable the 
 architectural development will be less formal, less rigid, for 
 the essence of good design is that each part shall harmonize 
 with every other part, and the house is but a part of the 
 home, a part of the picture. 
 
 A formal Colonial house perched upon the rugged rocks 
 of the ;Maine coast is unsuited, in spite of the efforts of the 
 Colonial builders to put them there, for the spirit of the 
 house and of its setting are antagonistic. Contrast is a nec- 
 essary quality in artistic composition, but its complement is 
 harmony. Contrast and opposition are different words. 
 
 An appreciation of the " style " of the landscape is the 
 first essential in determining the style of your house, and 
 this style cannot be changed, for no matter how thoroughly 
 you transform the garden and immediate surroundings to 
 conform to the selected house style, there will still be a hedge 
 over which you will look into the unalterable face of Nature 
 as she is around you. The house must grow out of the 
 ground as naturally as the trees. The very color of the air 
 has a bearing on the style, particularly as to color. The 
 bright hot colors suitable to the tropics are a pain to the eye 
 in the gray-blue air of New England or Illinois, and when 
 the snows of winter spread a cold white background they 
 are unbearable. 
 
 It is as impossible to give a signed and sealed prescrip- 
 tion for the selection of a stvie for an American house as it is 
 
106 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 for the style of a portrait. A rough and rugged man must 
 be painted in a different way from a frail and delicate girl, 
 and the circumstances governing each house may change 
 its character as -widely. The site, the relative importance 
 of the house, and the individuality of its occupants are po- 
 tent factors in the determination of its style. Dignity, ele- 
 gance, picturesqueness, simplicity and homeliness are not 
 determining factors of style but merely attributes. Kinds, 
 quality and availability of materials are details in the tech- 
 nique of architecture — not determining factors of style. 
 
 The illustrations shown are examples of houses having 
 the elusive quality called " style," without being necessarily 
 recognizable as essays in any of the historic styles. They 
 show some of the characteristics of what has been some- 
 times referred to as the Chicago School. They are suflS- 
 ciently unlike to raise, perhaps, some question as to just 
 what the Chicago School is, and the question is hard to an- 
 swer. They show, however, a common freedom from the 
 restraint of accepted academic formulas of design and a gen- 
 eral inclination on the part of their designers to build sim- 
 ply from local conditions, expressing logically the govern- 
 ing functions and developing the nature of the materials 
 employed in a manner simple and at the same time inter- 
 esting. 
 
 The chapter by Mr. Frank E. Wallis, " The Colonial 
 House," is so well written and is so largely true that it com- 
 
^^^s? 
 
 9 
 
 
 ■■^y>iv.i 
 
 
 1^. J 
 
 
 t 
 
 vi'iM^ 
 
 
 
 > - '• 
 
 \ 
 
 % ^^% "'• 
 
 ^^^P""^^^^ 
 
 . f 
 
 
 > arc strongly nccentcil 
 tint plains of the site 
 
« 
 
 ^HHK' ^^^ • 
 
 ii^i." ^ ' ' 
 
 
 1 in which the arrangement and tre 
 iterials, free from applied decorati 
 story of architecture 
 
 1 
 
 ' Mn^^^^^^^^l^B^^S 
 
 |m^ ^j^^^pHfi 
 
 ■k^^2 
 
 ling-room in which the frank and >t 
 wood paneling takes tlie place 
 
 ul treatment of 
 
A STYLE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS 107 
 
 pels our admiration and convinces us, at least, that a Colo- 
 nial house by Mr. Wallis would be very lovely indeed. He 
 deals some doughty knocks at what he calls " the so-called 
 misnamed Mission " style, yet even Mr. Wallis would not 
 advise Colonial for the hot and arid places whose local con- 
 ditions produced and made lovely the old Missions that we 
 still delight to see. It is the modern " Mission " style, the 
 importation, that ^Mr. Wallis resents, and when he raises 
 his little hammer, I, for one, wish more strength to his el- 
 bow. The old Missions were true to their time and place, 
 truly and beautifully ^uilt, and we still find them good. 
 The lesson is always the same — to build closely to the lines 
 of need, of environment, is always to build truthfully and 
 nearly always beautifully. Failure to do so always results 
 in pretension, and generally in artistic chaos. The make- 
 believe is never truly or permanently beautiful. As surely 
 as a " Mission " house looks out of place in Massachusetts, 
 just so surely does a Colonial house look ridiculous in New 
 Mexico or Southern California. 
 
 The argument that Colonial is indigenous, American, and 
 therefore to be preferred for use to-day could not be better 
 presented than it is in the first chapter, nor could a fitter 
 argument against its too literal use be advanced than the 
 illustration facing page 7. This picture shows the living- 
 room of a remodeled farmhouse at Pocasset, Mass. It is 
 a beautiful room, perfectly typical of a Colonial farmhouse. 
 
108 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 It has the old-fashioned wide and high fireplace, with iron 
 crane suspending a large copper pot and tea-kettle. On the 
 chimney-breast hangs a powder-horn and in the corner of 
 the room an old flint-lock rifle. Beside the chimney rests 
 a mortar and pestle for grinding grains, on the wall a warm- 
 ing-pan and over one of the doors the model of a ship. 
 These, with a dozen other implements, including chairs, table 
 and clock, serve now to decorate the room, just as they prob- 
 ably did in the days when this house was occupied by its 
 builder. But in those days each item of what is now deco- 
 ration was then a living vital implement in the life witliin 
 that house. Does my lady of to-day boil the water and turn 
 the roast over this fire on tliis crane and roasting spit? 
 Does she grind her flour in this mortar, does she warm the 
 beds with this warming-pan, and does the lord of this manor 
 keep his rifle clean and his flint sharp and ready Avith pow- 
 der and ball to repel the prowhng savage who threatens the 
 integrity of his scalp? I doubt it. Hidden away in the 
 basement is probably a furnace; in the kitchen a gas stove 
 and a sink, with hot and cold water; the grocer delivers the 
 flour already ground, and the policeman takes care of the 
 prowling redskins. This room then is a museum — not the 
 living-room of a family of to-daj'. There is no trace here 
 of the individuality of the present occupants ; this room bears 
 the imprint of the life of people long dead and gone, and 
 no other. And why should the present lady of this house 
 
A STYLE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS 109 
 
 be denied her expression in her home? Because, gentle 
 reader, she does not belong in the Colonial picture; she is of 
 to-day, and her living-room is of another day. This is art 
 for art's sake with a vengeance, and it is just stage-setting, 
 not architecture. 
 
 If you will look into any of the beautiful old creations 
 of the historic styles or periods, you will find that the sweet 
 and human qualities we now admire are entirely due to a 
 faithful and free interpretation of their needs and environ- 
 ment. We in our work to-day are ignoring tliis great prin- 
 ciple which is the life of architecture. 
 
 Mr. WaUis says, " I can think of no other style for a 
 house." Is he, then, to search only his memor}^? Every 
 creative artist is something of a prophet, a pioneer. Is it 
 not reasonable, then, for him to search also his consciousness 
 of tlie present and the future? The grape-arbor, the for- 
 mal garden, the water pool with the green frog, the dainty 
 napery, cut glass and old silverware, so much admired by 
 Mr. Wallis and by all of us, are not the exclusive accessories 
 of a Colonial house. But I do not argue against the Colonial 
 style or against any style, but only for the honest method 
 of design that produced those styles and which, if practiced 
 to-day, would produce something different but just as good 
 and certainly vastly closer to us and to our needs. The 
 influence of beautiful things and a beautiful home on peo- 
 ple, and especially upon children brought up amid such sur- 
 
110 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 roundings, is of incalculable benefit, but it is important that 
 this influence be founded upon a sound and logical base. 
 The sham and the make-believe in architecture do not fur- 
 nish such a base. Good traditions are excellent, but are the 
 generations to come to have nothing vital of ours to re- 
 member with gratitude, excepting the wonderful machines 
 which we have invented and disdained to use in our arts? 
 The truth is that our civilization groAvs more and more def- 
 inite by increasingly great strides, until the call for an ar- 
 tistic expression of it becomes imperative. We are no 
 longer content with the plan or domestic arrangements of 
 the Colonial house ; we have outgrown it. Our list of build- 
 ing materials is vastly richer, our machinery for working 
 materials is marvelously capable of newer and better uses 
 than the imitation of handwork to which we now endeavor 
 to restrict them. We have changed and improved our man- 
 ner of heating and Hghting our houses. Every sanitary ar- 
 rangement has undergone change and development. In- 
 deed, our entire life to-day is so radically different from the 
 life of the Colonial builders that it would be strange indeed! 
 if their houses could in any way satisfy us except superfi- 
 cially for their prettiness, their scenery value. 
 
 What else is there, then? Certainly notliing ready-made 
 or easily made; nothing more than a right method of work- 
 ing. Any skilful architect knows when he is violating the 
 style traditions. It becomes liis duty now to violate them 
 
A STYLE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS 111 
 
 more radically, to examine more critically modern needs, 
 and to interpret them in terms of his art. I am unwilling 
 to believe that this is a great stumbling-block. Our paint- 
 ers, sculptors, musicians, writers and actors have passed it 
 long ago. Architecture is the only one of the arts which is 
 still struggling to escape from the Classic period. 
 
T:he Northern Tradition 
 
 By 
 
 Alfred Morton Git hens 
 

 
 
 
 
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 Two views iif "Swarlliimin- I^xlge," Hryn Mnwr. I'lu 
 
 
 •TImtc is nothing in those hoHS«-s that is not ii niitiirnl ex|)rrssl(.n 
 eontnirlion. The stout stone cohnnns are donhtless taken fr<Mi\ 
 the <>l>l harns near I'hila.lriphia. the |HTp.la surely from 
 Italy . . . Iiiit eaih i^ |.erfeelly titled to its lis.s 
 
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The Northern Tradition 
 
 WHEX the editor asks the most fittmg style for an 
 American country house — by which presumably 
 he means the style proper to the major part of the 
 United States, not South America or Southern California, 
 with their different materials and traditions — the self-evi- 
 dent answer seems to be, " That style which is the natural 
 expression of our building materials and constructive prob- 
 lems." 
 
 A house, after all, is an enclosure of walls with a roof 
 over it. Now, no matter what the material, walls are ver- 
 tical always, and windows and doors are merely holes in 
 them. But the roofs vary in character with the material 
 used, and seem to give the first broad impression. An 
 Eastern house, and one pictures higli parapet walls and hid- 
 den behind them a flat, clay roof where the master walks in 
 the cool of the day ; a house of the romance countries, Italy, 
 Spain or Southern France, and one sees gently sloping tile 
 roofs and broad eaves ; Xorthern France suggests the exces- 
 sively steep slate of Xormandy farms or the chateaux of the 
 Loire; Germany and Britain, and whatever the so-called 
 " style," the roof-slope is neither steep like the X^'orman or 
 flat hke the Southern, but a half-way pitch, generally end- 
 
116 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 ing in gabled walls. A child draws a house on his slate and 
 though one cannot tell whether it be " Gothic " or " Colo- 
 nial," still it never fails to show the roof-slope. Perhaps 
 the roof should be the standard of classification, that just 
 as a fossil-hunter ignores at first all other structure and 
 broadly classifies his skeletons by the tooth formation, so the 
 
 First floor plan. "Swarthmore Lodge," Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
 Charles Barton Keen and Frank Mead, architects. 
 
 philosopher-architect should look to his roofs for gtii dance 
 — the teeth of the house, as it were. 
 
 Roof-slope seemingly should be determined by the ma- 
 terials used. Tin we have apparently discarded; interlock- 
 ing tile is so expensive that for the immediate future it will 
 not be common enough to count in the average; so the slope 
 must be determined by slate and shingles. Build the roof 
 
THE NORTHERN TRADITION 
 
 117 
 
 flatter than thirty degrees, and rain and snow will drift 
 in; steeper than forty-five degrees or fifty, and space is 
 wasted and money with it; narrow limits indeed — enough, 
 it seems, to form a dominant character. 
 
 If tliis argument is just, then the conclusions must have 
 
 Second floor plan, "Swortbraore Lodge," Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
 Charles Barton Keen and Frank Mead, architects. 
 
 been reached long ago. They should be found crystallized 
 as a type in use ever since building with these materials be- 
 gan. Fads and fashions might assert themselves for awhile, 
 but after each there should he a recurrence to the type. 
 
 If we follow the histon,' of country houses in a northern 
 country, England for example, as it is best known, we find 
 striking proofs of this surmise. The builder of the ^fiddle 
 
118 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 Ages knew nothing of distant lands, had notliing to copy, 
 and therefore his houses should obey this natural law as to 
 slope without attempt at concealment, and so they do; so do 
 the later houses without exception down to Elizabeth's time. 
 
 A house at V 
 Charles Barton 
 
 ilia Xova, Pa. 
 Keen, architect. 
 
 when certaiji men masked their roofs with high parapets, as 
 at Hatfield or Bramshill; a few years, and under King 
 James the fad is forgotten and the true tradition revives. 
 The high Renaissance comes with its artificiahty and the type 
 is banished to the simpler houses of the countryside or the 
 colonies. These recognize the Classic Revival by veneering 
 a pilaster each side the entrance door, by inventing a sort of 
 pediment to put over them, by elaborating the eaves into a 
 
1 ^ : 
 
THE NORTHERN TRADITION 
 
 119 
 
 cornice and perhaps adopting a more orderly arrangement 
 of windows, but otherwise the type is little altered. 
 
 Then why not this for the answer to the question — this 
 nameless basic type which one writer calls the " English Tra- 
 
 A house at Woodmere, L. I. 
 Charles Barton Keen, architect. 
 
 dition," though it was the tradition equally of Scotland, of 
 Ireland, of the American colonies and, it seems, most north- 
 ern countries? Its characteristics are its roof-pitch, its 
 gables (for gables are simpler than hipped roofs framed to 
 slope back at the ends of the house), the moderate overhang 
 of roof (for broad eaves shut out the sunlight which in the 
 north we need), and the importance given to chimneys. 
 Examples of it are the Tudor country houses, the simpler 
 of the Georgian, the Colonial of the northern states, barring 
 those houses showing the worst artificialities ; the Dutch Co- 
 lonial, with its thrifty gambrel roof, framed to get most with 
 
120 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 least expense, and, purest of all, the farmhouses and barns 
 here and m Northern Europe. Just now the type seems 
 undergoing a curious development in England, a compUca- 
 tion of many gables, of strange and restless oddities of con- 
 torted, half-developed forms, the picturesque run wild. In 
 America, Procrustes-like, we stretch it to fit a repertoire of 
 " styles " — loaded with false half-timber to wear its appear- 
 ance of some centuries ago ; decked with pilasters in the fond 
 hope that it will appear " Classic " or what is called " Co- 
 lonial " ; shorn of its gables, with roof depressed and wide 
 eaves, it is " Italian." 
 
 One enters a certain suburb of New York. All the 
 houses are new; no buildings were there a year or two ago; 
 it was a clear field for architects to do what they could, for 
 the promoters were anxious to make it an ideal suburb; yet 
 its general impression is discordant in the extreme. Houses 
 are individually most interesting, far above those of the av- 
 erage town in character, yet it is one of the most unpleasant 
 towns one ever sees. One leaves it with discouragement, 
 with the impression that our country architecture is result- 
 ing in a condition worse than the much-despised mid-nine- 
 teenth century, when at least there was a certain harmony; 
 that our study, our famiharity wth the best work in the 
 world has resulted in nothing; that "the mountain has la- 
 bored and brought forth a mouse." 
 
 One passes " Colonial," " half-timber," " modern English 
 
THE NORTHERN TRADITION 121 
 
 plaster," " thatched shingle roofs," " Italian adaptations " — 
 all seriously studied too, and most of the houses distinctly 
 good according to their several ideals — and the result is 
 wildest discord. Each house strives to assert its indepen- 
 dence and drown its fellow. It is as if in an opera Briin- 
 hilde and Carmen, Yum- Yum and Aida, Thais and the 
 Runaway Girl were all on the stage together, answering 
 each to each in her own song, some serious, some frivolous, 
 each admirable, and the result diabolical. 
 
 An English or a German town never gives this impres- 
 sion. Is it possible that there they have a clearer concep- 
 tion of the basic type? One house may have the orderly ar- 
 rangement of the Georges and the next a Tudor-arched 
 doorway and mullioned windows, but the difference seems 
 rather interesting. Is it because they are all perfectly nat- 
 ural in their use of materials and roof forms, members of 
 the same family, so to speak, all examples of the same tra- 
 ditional type, nearer, perhaps, than their builders realized 
 or that one can recognize at present on account of his hav- 
 ing befogged his wits with much reading of the character- 
 istics of these " styles? " 
 
 But this was to be an article upholding a certain " style! " 
 
 Until a style is past and done with, it has no name. The 
 
 medieval architect would have been much surprised to learn 
 
 that he was designing in " Gothic," or the early settler that 
 
122 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 he was doing " Dutch Colonial." Let us beg the question 
 then, and argue for a certain type, rather. " Grayeyres," 
 " Two Stacks," " Swarthmore Lodge " or the Villa Nova or 
 Woodmere houses are pure examples, but what can they be 
 called more than " Northern Tradition?" As far as I can 
 see there is nothing in them not a natural expression of con- 
 struction. The stout stone columns were doubtless taken 
 from the old barns near Philadelphia, the pergola surely 
 from Italy, the porch about the Villa Nova house from no- 
 where at all, but each is perfectly fitted to its uses. What 
 difference does it make whether windows are in groups with 
 muUions between or each a single rectangle fitted with small, 
 square panes, or the doors round-arched with fan-hghts or 
 depressed-pointed with clustered moldings? 
 
 They are of a type with gables and sloping roofs, the 
 whole house under a single roof or with a long main ridge 
 with intersecting gables disposed either formally or infor- 
 mally as the site, the plan, or the owner's whim suggests. 
 In each the gentle lines of silliouette seem to fit our irregu- 
 lar treatment of a countryside where, for instance, the long 
 tranquil lines of the Italian villas might seem unrelated. 
 They must have a proper setting of formal terrace and gar- 
 den to be in their full majesty; but our northern type is 
 democratic and seems born of the soil. It suits hillside or 
 meadow, formal gardens or no gardens at all with equal nat- 
 uralness, a si7W qua non of a successful American type, for 
 
•Two Stacks," iirar lMiil(i(lil|iliiii, I'd. Mr. Klmiilcr's own house. TIr- 
 
 cntraiicv front alMivr; IIk- (tarilt-n front Ih-Iow. TIh- tfxture and 
 
 color of the >loncwi>rk makes nniicccssnry and 
 
 snpcrtiiiciiis all exterior decoration 
 
THE NORTHERN TRADITION 123 
 
 while one man likes formality, another does not; where one 
 man desires a garden with straight paths and arhors another 
 would sow in grass with clmnps of trees, and so it goes. 
 
 " Northern Tradition " as a title is misleading in one re- 
 spect. Its defense has not been attempted because it is tra- 
 ditional; that were an emotional reason, as, alas! most archi- 
 tectural argmnents seem to be — misty, built on a morass of 
 sentiment, will-o'-the-wisps which lead to self destruction. 
 But the argument is that the house should take its form 
 from the materials employed and the constructive problem 
 to be solved, all in the easiest and most natural way, the old, 
 old argument of Ruskin, the " Cherchcz le Vcritc " of the 
 Paris school, by which they mean that the most direct solu- 
 tion of the constructive problem should determine the form 
 of the result. Xow, since the problem has been substantially 
 the same in Xorthern Europe since the Middle Ages, we 
 should test our solution by comparison with the persisting 
 basic type there; that, as it seems, our solution agrees with 
 this, we may feel sure we have argued logically, that our 
 type is the same as this, and that by so building we are 
 merely continuing the " Xorthern Tradition." 
 
 Some of my predecessors have argued that historic as- 
 sociation should govern style; others that any beautiful ijuul- 
 ity should be adopted. Both true, but is it not true that we 
 should take only what we can properly assimilate; that all 
 else, be it beautiful beyond words, we may admire but must 
 
124 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 
 
 pass by, to work out our own solution with the natural use 
 of our own materials? 
 
 Look at the House and Garden symbol in the circle re- 
 produced on the title page of this volume; what " style" is 
 that house? Dear knows; but it does not matter. Un- 
 consciously the magazine has adopted in its simplest form 
 the Northern Tradition, and what is unconscious is natural; 
 and what is natural is best. 
 
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