File:American homes and gardens (1905) (17528048974).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar00newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York, Munn and Co
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
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12 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1906 tectural treatment of the center, but the attic story is of suf- ficient height to form an essential element in the whole, nor should the urns with which the crowning cornice is sur- mounted be forgotten, while the glimpses of the roof and the iron railing which incloses its summit is not to be ignored. The wings which adjoin the center of the building are de- signed in harmony with it. That is to say, they have broad stretches of wall, with windows inclosed within frames identical in design with those of the center. Each wing has, on the front and side, spacious porches, which are continuous with the platform on which the portico stands. These porches are but one story in height and are designed with double Roman Doric columns, carrying an entablature, above which is a balustrade. The porches are of considerable depth, forming in fact spacious outdoor rooms on two sides within a paneled frame. Two great marble vases on each side of the steps are essential features of the entrance decora- tions. The porch and porte-cochere are supported with a balustrade identical in design with that which completes the side porches; and above the center of the main portion of the building is slightly projected with a pediment, the single opening being a triple window. The entablature of the pedi- ment is supported on channeled pilasters. The treatment of the remaining parts of this front are closely identical with the treatment of the corresponding parts on the water front. That the great windows on either side of the porte-cochere are triple windows with flat tops and without the inclosing arch of the water front is a mere detail. So also are some other variations in the situation of the windows. The attic treatment is more distinctly different, since instead of the
Text Appearing After Image:
Armsea "—The Stairs are on the right of the Entrance Doorway, and are contained within a Triple Archway The White Walls are Paneled Throughout of the house. The house throughout is built of white stucco, tilled with marble dust, which glistens in the sun. A very great deal of color is obtained in an extraordinarily clever way. The blinds arc green; the roof, though sloping, is seen from many points of view, and is of copper green; the awn- ings with which the side porches are provided are green and white stripes; and, most striking of all, the porch and terrace floors throughout are paved with small green tiles very agreeable and cool in color and enormously successful in con- trast with the shining white walls of the house. The entrance front is necessarily less grandiose in com- position, although full of interest. There are no porches on this side save the spacious porte-cochere, which is applied directly to a porch at the entrance doorway and of which it forms an integral part. The doorway is Hat-topped with an ornamental pediment, and on each side is a square window single square window of the water front are groups of three rectangular windows, which indicate very clearly that the attic is not an architectural feature, but one of great utility. The design of a service wing that does not conflict with the entrance and the ornamental front of the house is a matter that entails very great difficulty, and is the one point on which an architect is apt to fail in his palatial designs. Where it is possible to sink the kitchen to a lower level the difficulty almost completely disappears; but this device could not be adopted here, and hence the architects were compelled to frankly extend their wing on the service side, which has been done in a simple and unostentatious manner. The service yard is shut off from the forecourt, which constitutes the entrance, by a high trellised screen delightfully orna- mental in character, and which also shuts out the approach to the service departments, which are entered by a separate

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