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WHAT MAKES THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

WHAT MAKES THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

^ Collection of "Building T^etails with ^i^KCeasured T>rawings

Edited by HENRIETTA C. PEABODY

The ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS BOSTON

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Cofyrigki, igzo, by THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, INC.

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Contents

Foreword .......			7
The Entrance to the House			8
Inside Finish .....			H
Stairways .......			20
The Bookcase as an Element of Design			25
The Fireplace and Its Over-Mantel			30
Panels and Ceiling Beams			■ 38
Some Attractive Breakfast Corners			45
China Cupboards ....			48
Closets and Wardrobes			55
The Serving Pantry ....			60
Kitchen Details and Their Arrangement			. 64

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F holograph by Julian Buckly

The side entrance of a house in New Hampshire designed by the well-known aichitect, Bulfinch, designer of the Massachusetts State House. It is notable for its strong but well-considered projection from the house and for the interest achieved by simple means. All the mouldings and surfaces are applied with careful attention to their rela- tion to one another, and the shadows cast by one part upon another part. The strong black of the head-light is repeated effectively in the black of the hardware.

Foreword

To the architect^ the exterior and interior of the house pre- sent a single problem. Neither is conceivable without the other, and details of each are successful only as they relate to his concep- tion of the whole. The average home builder, on the contrary, goes to his architect with a very clear conception of the inside of his house, but with practically no idea of the manner in which his requirements are to he met and held together in terms of an ap- propriate and satisfying exterior. The architect is then confronted with a problem, the limitations of which do not allow him to use the creative powers necessary for the accomplishment of his best work.

In spite of this seeming obstacle to a complete understanding be- tween architect and client, much successful work is achieved in the end by intelligent cooperation.

The purpose of this book is, therefore, to suggest by means of ma- terial drawn from a number of sources, various solutions of such problems as are likely to come up for discussion between architect and client in the planning and building of the home. There has been no effort to exhaust any of the subjects treated, but merely to present, chiefly by illustrations and drawings, such casual examples of detail work as would seem to lend themselves to the purposes of designers and would-be owners of beautiful homes. To T^he House 'beautiful iMagaz.ine is due the credit for a large number of illustrations which have appeared from time to time in that publication. The Editor is also indebted to Miss Pamelia I. Haines, Mr. Thomas P. Robinson, Mr. W. Nelson Wilkins, and Mr. Edgar T. P. Walker, without whose counsel and encourage- ment this book could not have been accomplished.

The Entrance to the House

Doorways are focal points and should have an interest and import- ance in proportion to the size and pretentiousness of the house. This can be achieved by means of size, color, or scale, singly or in combination.

The larger a doorway is, relative to the house, the more conspicuous it is; but it may easily be too large. If a house requires, or will stand, a large doorway, size may be achieved by legitimate means. The door itself ought not to be larger than the doors in common use. This, the central andimportant part of the doorway motive,can be enlarged in width by means of sidelights, pilasters, columns, etc., and in height by means of transoms or fan-tops, immediately above the door; also by archi- traves, frieze and cornice, and round or square pediments above these.

If the doorway is a different color or value from the color or value of the house, it will gain importance. The safest thing is the light door- way against a darker house. The dark doorway against a house oi lighter value is seldom right, though the door itself is often darker.

Scale, as here used, means size of parts relative to other parts, as well as to the house as a whole. A plain doorway becomes interesting and important when placed against a much-broken-up wall-surface, as or narrowly spaced clapboards, or a richly detailed doorway when placed against a plain wall surface. In the same way interest and importance are gained by contrasting plain with detailed surfaces in the various parts of the doorway motive itself — as by a fluted pilaster against a plain ground, or a moulded architrave contiguous to a plain frieze.

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A DOORWAY built up in size by use of pilasters, entablature and pediment, emphasized by color treatment, and studied for con- trasts, in detail, of part with part. Line drawing on page 9.

Built up by side-lights and pilasters. Panels used in place of either transom or frieze to gain height. Line drawing be- side photograph.

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When the simple plan outline of the house is overcrowded by the in- side space requirements, it is sometimes prefer- able to break this out- line by a subordinate mass rather than to en- large the main lines of the house. The projec- tion as shown directly below is undoubtedly due to the need of more hall-space. In such a case, the projection be- comes a part of the entrance motive and is to be thought out, in de- sign, in connection with the doorway proper.

IE doorway above is made significant the use of a porch, which increases size. The porch is light and simple detail because the house and door are iple ; but it calls attention to itself by ting a strong shadow and by the dark uc ot the rix)f.

ILOW is shown an applied vertical orway, vertical as a whole and in its rts. The Ionic order frames the open- 5 richly and strongly. The blinds, a [itimate but unusual treatment, give interest due to the great -number of alt horizontal shadows, especially de- ned to accent the seeming height of ; motive.

Unusual in its ingenious combination of doorway, porch and garden motives. The solid flat roof affords protection and casts a conspicuous shadow and the side-lights make necessary the simple but architectural frame surrounding them. The round flat pediment motive above the cornice gives a vertical accent to the whole doorway.

A VERTICAL, light, and simple door- way. The broad treatment of all sur- faces puts the whole motive in strong contrast with the many and irregular minute shadows of the shingled wall. The door is kept white on purpose: a green door would destroy much of the effect of the strongly contrasting values.

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A Porch for a Farmhouse

HE hospitality of a New England farmhouse is frequently enhanced the addition of a porch, provided the structure is one which is iple and well proportioned. The illustrations here are taken " be- e and after," so that a fair comparison may be made. The original ranee doorway in the upper picture is insignificant and fails to live to the rest of the house, in either structure or spirit. This farm- jse calls for a more imposing entrance, one which will extend a Icome to the approaching guest.

Vith the addition of the porch shown below, the farmhouse is reju- latcd, or, as we would say of a human being, its whole expression rhanged. No detail of the porch or door is lacking to make it a com-

plete and harmonious whole. Even the fractional measure- ments of the mouldings are given, that the local carpenter may not go wrong in his proportions. The characteristic six-panel door of the Colonial period is used. In the old doors, the upper pair of panels was usually square, and the two lower pairs were of the same height, although in many cases the middle pair was higher, as shown here. The pil- lars, similar to those on the piazza at the end of the house, are just heavy enough to carry the small gable roof without being too massive for the house as a whole. The old flagstone which has long been used at this doorway will be moved out a few feet to form the first step of the porch, and thus link up the new with the old.

13

Inside Finish

Inside finish or trim, in the modern sense, means all the wood-finish which is put into the house after the plasterer gets through his work. It includes doors, windows, floors, archi- traves, baseboards, cornices, paneling, etc. It includes also stairways and fitments of all kinds ; but these will be taken up in separate sections.

The wood-finish is funda- mentally that part of the finish which covers up all the rough work to which no plaster-finish has been applied, and brings the whole inside of the house to the same degree of completion as the plaster walls. The base- board is put on to cover the joint between the finished floor and the finished plaster. The architraves are put on to cover the joint between the window- frame or door-frame and the fin- ished plaster, and the minimum amount of finish is the amount which is just enough to accom- plish this purpose. A baseboard three inches high with a half- inch " quarter-round " to close

Simple finish, designed to harmonize with the walls, the light value of which contrasts with the dark value of the floor. Walls are thus made a background for furnishings. Dark or elabor- ate finish would compete undesirably.

the joint at the top is, pra( ally, sufficient. An architi four to four and a half in wide will cover the window- and close the joint betwo and the plaster.

But we are not dealinj minimum quantities to-day, inside finish becomes thert largely a matter of chara The inside finish should 1 the same character as the re the house. As a statement is a truism, but as a fact it is always recognized in prac No one would finish a cam the same way he would fin winter residence. This crude distinction; but the distinctions in character an always, or even commonly cognized.

Character of finish, as term is here used, is not c prehended in such definitio; light, delicate, heavy, and Ci etc ; nor in such as refer to ;. itectural style as. Classic, onial, Georgian, and the A particular example of ii may be any one of these tb

Glazed doors, with a bottom panel of wood, afford light and access while avoiding too close a connection with out-of-doors.

Cornice and dado at top and bottom of windows bind the end o room into a unified wood motive.

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Simple broad treat- ment of finish. The edge-moulding of the architraves and the small moulding at the top give an architectural finish to the doorway and avoid crudeness without loss of breadth. Baseboard is necessarily high and simple in ac- cord with door-

A NECESSARY alcove may be finished in such a way as to avoid loss of integ- rity in the adjoining room. The finish in this one is entirely of wood, between which and the pap- ered walls there is a marked separation without any discord.

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or, for that matter, several of them, and yet have no character at all. Char- acter is achieved by many and varied means, but a dominant source of it may be called interest.

The chief source of interest is va- riety. Variety does not result so much from the use of a quantity of finish as from a proper disposition of the amount that is used. A room may be entirely covered with wood-finish and yet be monotonous. Directions for the avoidance of monotony can only be suggestive.

To begin with, conceive your wood-finish in its relation to the whole house. Do not overload one room and finish another sparsely; or use rich mouldings in one part and no mouldings in another part. Certain rooms may have more finish than certain other rooms in the same house; and some places call for mouldings, while other places do not: but any wide divergence in the treatment is to be avoided. With these points in mind, one room of your house can be made to vary from another, both in amount of finish and in the detail.

Treatment of the individual room with a view to interest should lead first to a consideration of all the wall- surfaces in the room. The question is, how much finish should the room have, and in what manner should it be distributed, to make for greatest interest. The thing to do is to get more than one idea without getting too many. A thorough study of the wall-sur- faces, their proponions, and the openings in them of doors and windows, will usually afford the clue to the appropriate wood- finish.

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or wall-paint ; it must therefore be placed so that this contrast, while ap- parent, will not be uneasy in effect: a kind of balance must be sought. This does not mean that half the wood- finisli should be on one side of the room and half on the other. The balance sought is not a logical, or physical, but an aesthetic balance. If you are unable to visualize your pro- posed result, try to find an example of the thing you have in mind, and see what it actually looks like. The study of models, desirable in connection with ail parts of the house, is especial- ly so in relation to inside finish. The old models, or such new ones as have been derived from them, are best, and reveal a freedom of treatment and a resultant interest which are directly due to a straightforward solution of the particular problems involved. Modern work has a tendency toward the kind of logic which leads to the monotony of consistency. After you have established the amount and placing of all the finish with reference to all the plaster, you are ready to establish the relation of the several parts of the finish to each other. This is primarily a matter of proportion, and proportion is a

In the first place,the woodwork is to contrast with the wall-paper study of forms and relations of forms.

15

Photocraphs right and left show variation of wood-finish as applied to doors and windows of the same room. The detail is simple, but there is enough painted woodwork used here to make the finish almost equally conspicuous with the papered walls, which are in strong value contrast with it.

The use of the stained or painted dark door in connection with white wood-finish is some- times a legitimate way to give interest to a room.

Some hints may be given, nt gative as well as positive ones, as to definite ways of treating finish. A wood dado carried all around a room makes the plaster wall above it of greater interest by contrast, but the dado, considered by itself, becomes monot- onous. If, on the other hand, the dado terminates in one end of the room, which is entirely of wood, then the dado itself be- comes interesting through contrast with the wood wall. A cornice should be of a size and importance consistent with the general architectural treatment; and unless a I'oom contains architectural motives, it is best not to use any cornice at all. It is also wiser to avoid the use of columns in wall- openings.

Good mantels are little more than the tops of frames to fireplaces; do not force them into a size too great for the open- ings. Ornament of all kinds is to be sparingly used. In general, find good models of what you want to do, and follow them, making only such variations as your special requirements force you to make.

Doors and windows, properly considered, are inside finish and should be thought out in connec- tion with this. Their po- sition in a wall may easily make that wall good or bad by dividing it into pleasing or unpleasing pro- portions.

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out the door. Because of this, the door opening tends to be wider and wider, until, in some cases, the effect is that of a wall which is half missing. A hole in a wall is never good, and the bigger it is the worse it is. Rooms should be self-contained, and the only way to make them so is by using doors, and doors of a reasonable size. Doors should be as simple or as elaborate as the rooms in which they occur. If you are using plain board-finish on the walls, an ordinary batten (board) door is appro- priate. Next to this in simplicity is the four-panel unmoulded door. The six- and eight-panel doors, moulded or unmoulded, so familiar in Colonial work, are for use in connection with the more elaborate kinds of finish. The double wood door, like the double glazed door, should be used only under special circumstan- ces.

Because of the weather, windows are never omit- ted, as doors are, from the openings prepared to re- ceive them ; but though we put them in we do not always give our windows that distinction or individ- uality which architects call character. One of the most important elements of character is scale or size. The use of a large single or double pane of glass destroys scale and makes it much harder to give a window character.

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From a house built about 1 800. Deli- cate details and refined mouldings are typical of the work done at thb time.

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Elaborate but refined finish to a beau- tifully proportioned window in a house built about 1800. Maximum amount of finish for a small house.

The door, which is three panels wide, is unusual in modern work. Black iron hardware and brass box or rim lock are of a former time.

The wood cornice b one way of giving dignity and importance to a room. It is best used in connection with a room which has much additional woodwork.

17

Doorway at "Oak Hill," Peabody, built in 1800, one of Mclntire's finest examples. The medallion of a basket of fruit and flowers in the plain space over the door is very lovely.

Inside of the front door of the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house in Salem, built in 1782. This fanlight is delightful, and with the fluted pilasters and the eight panels, has the general impression of an Adam effect.

The Cook-Oliver house in Salem, in which is this doorway, was built in 1799. This is, perhaps, Mclntire's most famous house. Expense was not considered, and he placed here some ot his finest interior woodwork and carving.

A DOORWAY in the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, Salem, built in •1800. A comparison of the doors on this page is an interesting study in architectural detail for which Mclntire had an exquisite sensitiveness.

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A COMPLEX piece of construction and finish, which results in a combination French win- dow and Dutch door. Close the wood panel at the bottom, and it then becomes part of the wall of the room. Lower the half-sash to the top of the wood panel, and it becomes, obviously, the lower part of an ordinary double-hung window. In addition there are in- side shutters which fold inconspicuously into the joints.

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Stairways

Consideration of stairways begins wirh a study of their plan ; the plan of the stair is properly controlled by the plan of the house, or at least that part of the house, as the hall, im- mediately related to it. The simplest form which the plan of the house allows the stairway to take is always the best. There is no better-looking or more convenient stair than the one that is merely a straight flight of steps from one floor to another. When a stair changes direction, landings should be put in at the points of change. " Twisters," or treads cut in at an angle, do not look as well as landings in the corner of a stair- way, and are not, practically, as good as landings. On the other hand, a semi-circular stairway, where all treads are cut at an angle, is perfectly satisfactory if the plan calls for or permits this type, and if the relation between treads and risers is well worked out. An old but good rule for getting a satisfactory relation between tread and riser in any stairway is to be sure that the product of the two (each being reasonable by itself) is not less than 72 or more than 75 inches.

Stairways vary from one another in design as widely as houses do, and the appropriate one is the good one.

An elaborate stairway is as out-of place in a simple house as a simple one is in an elaborate house. An eccentric one is bad in any house. Stair balustrades may be good which are so simple as to have only posts at the landings, and a hand-rail between the posts.

Plan of stair necessitated by its location at end of hall. The dado is a part of the hall design and is therefore given as an element in the stair design.

with no balusters at all. They may be just as good, but no better, if they have twisted newel-posts and three balusters, each with a different turning, to a tread. Good taste alone will dictate the right and appropriate thing.

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A well-balanced stairway in a house at Jamaica Plain, Mass., built in 1803. This landing is as successful in its way as one with curved railing although here the turn b effected by angles, not by curves.

Staircase, Cabot-Lee-Kilham house, Beverly, Mass., 1773. The understair treatment is seldom used nowadays, but it may be made effective when the risers carry a continuation of the paneling.

In the Salem houiie where this staircase is, Mclntire lived for many vcars. Built in i 770, but not by Mclntire. It is an excellent solution of the difficult problem of a right-angled turn in a small compass.

The graceful turn in the staircase in Hon. David P. Waters's home in Salem, Mass., built by Mclntire in 1805. The long sweeping curves give an effect of height and airiness that approaches fragility.

The stairway above is characterized by lightness and sim- plicity. The only departures from strictest economy are the " ease" and "ramp" of the rail and the turned corner-post. The dark rail is a usual but good source of interest. Some- times, in a light stair, iron rods are run through the centres of the posts, to give greater strength.

A SIMPLE effect, and a more expensive one than it appears to be. The balusters are turned, and each of the three to a tread differs from the other two. The eases and ramps of the rail are carefully worked out. The ends of the treads have an applied decorated treatment. Dark parts add to the interest.

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22

The noteworthy poinis here are the white painted treads and risers — the usual stairway has painted risers, only the treads being customarily given a finish like the floor. If white treads are used, carpet or rugs should be carried up the stairs to protect the paint. The balustrade k made dark to contrast with the white.

The well (open space above-stairs) is the interesting point here. It should be studied in connection with the middle picture as well as the lower one: the middle picture shows the effect on the second floor of the cir- cular plan, and explains why this was adopted. The dark rail echoes the dark doors of the first floor.

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Plan of stairway which is typical for the end of a long hall. The rather elaborate paneled dado starts in the hall and the paneled risers are un- usual. Stair dados are usually the same height as the rail, and should be flush with (in the same plane as) the plaster above them.

Stairways between walls should be studied to give pleasing openings (in position and proportion) in the walls from which they start. An arch over the opening makes a separate motive of the stairway. The lack of arch here called for a treatment of u all which was a continuation ot the treatment of the hall.

Staircase as viewed from the living-ruum. The detail is well shown. Observe the twisted newei-post and the three different designs in the balusters. The richness of effect is due in part to the elaborate wood-detail and in part to the strong dark values of rail, treads, and carpet. Notice that the dark of the rail is repeated in the cap of the dado. An expensive stairway both to mill and to build.

24

The Bookcase as an Element of Design

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Bookcases mav be considered either as pieces of furniture or as elements in the design of a room ; and they should be considered as one thing or the other, never as a combination of the two. It is possible, of course, to design a setting for a bookcase which is merely a piece of furniture ; but when this is rightly done, the bookcase is taken, to start with, as one element in the design, and if the bookcase is later dispensed with, the design of which it was a part is left incomplete. For all practical purposes, a bookcase i must be either of ■&. room or in it. As here considered bookcases are of the room.

The first thing to establish is the importance of the bookcase to the room, and then to give it a setting and location commen- surate with this. A library may be almost entirely bookcase, almost all the wall-space being given up to the shelves. The result, in such a case, is walls of books, and the design, recogniz- ing this, should seek merely to complete this wall with the necessary finish. Architecturally con- sidered, bookcases are better when set into a wail than they are when set against it ; but either treat- ment is legitimate. The set-in bookcase becomes a panel in the wall, and as such, must be appropriate- ly framed and held in place. Panels of books are best placed in pairs — as a panel on each side of some leading architectural motive like a fire- place or a window. The single recessed bookcase is well placed in the middle of a wall only when it is large enough to command this imponant location. Smaller recessed panels, irregularly

Thib projecting bookcase is balanced bv a similar one on the other siiic ut the window. Ob- serve that the detail is of the same character as the detail of other wood-finish in the room.

placed, are possible in a room when the surrounding wood- finish is of a dark enough value to make them inconspicuous through lack of contrast.

The projecting bookcase is more of an accidental feature in a room, and for this reason may be given a more casual setting. Care should be taken, however, to keep it from becoming con- spicuous ; it should be tied in, or grouped with, other motives or, at least, with other woodwork. Certain principles which apply to the recessed bookcase, apply also to the projecting one. These have chiefly to do with plan : placing one of two bookcases on either side of a door or window tends to make both of them inconspicuous. It is doubtful if a single projecting case can be legitimately put in the centre of a room ; so planned, it is likely to simulate a piece of furniture. If a bookcase is of con- siderable length, its effect in changing the proportions of

the wall surface against which it sets should be borne in mind. It ought then to be more impor- tant, or less impor- tant, than the plaster wall above, never of equal importance. Consider the wall as divided, vertically, into thirds, and let the bookcase occupy either one or two of the thirds in height: in one case the wall predominates, in the other the bookcase. It is not, of course, impossible to build good bookcases, as an afterthought, into good rooms, without losing quality in either room or book- case. But in any new house the bookcase problem is much simpler if it is taken up and solved as a part of the general inside finish.

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The simplest bookcase is built up of common boards. This one, an excellent example of the informal type of design, has in ad- dition to the boards a moulded top and a moulded base. The white paint, to correspond to the other white finish, makes it of the architecture rather than of the furniture of the room.

A BOOKCASE which is a piece of furniture. Together with the tapestry it makes a focal point in the room — an intended ef- fect, as the placing of the other pieces of furniture around it as a centre proves.

26

unusual variation of uncommon architectu- •reatment of bookcases, c fire-place breast pro- ^ into the room, mak- ing a pocket on either side. I The idea is to fill up these kcts in some useful and ; ropriate way. The usu- al result is an entire wood end, with cupboard doors, or drawers, or both, open- ing into the pockets, and

sometimes with pilasters the full height of the room, one on each side of the cupboards. Frequently the cupboards are treated as open bookcases held in on each side by the pilasters. Here all architectural de- tail has been omitted, but the architectural idea has none the less been ex- pressed.

The photograph on the right is a simpler rendering of the idea expressed above. Here the panel of books con- centrates the attention in a single centre of in- terest. The color of the books builds up to and supports the color in the painting.

The left-hand pic- ture shows the use of a corner cupboard as a book-case — a legiti- mate treatment where ihe volumes are of a money value demand- ing the protection of glass.

An elaborately finished library in which the book- cases occupy most of the available wall-surface. The effect of a wall of books with their colorful and varied bindings is al- most that of a rich tapes- try. Few families have collectinns of a size which

would warrant this quan- tity of shelf-space ; the treatment idea can easily be applied on a smaller scale. The essential thing to remember is that book- bindings have a color val- ue, and that they may be arranged in large masses with this fact in mind.

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Thc kind of bookcase built merely as a place to put books and found afterwards to be good — not a safe method and only oc- casionly successful. It is much safer to know why you are going to do what you do; your ideas may be wrong, but they are more likely to be satisfying than no ideas at all. This particular accident was lucky be- cause the resulting bookcase is simple in de- tail, good in proportion, and, most of all perhaps, because it is a good abutting mo- tive for the fireplace.

Bookcases as a part of a wall, treated as panels of color. The panels themselves are studied for proportion, and are excellently framed by the surrounding woodwork. The excuse for the book- cases is made by thickening the walls. This is a thoroughly good example of the architectural use of bookcases.

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An excellent example of hanging book- case— light, delicate, simple, and in good form. The idea back of this kind of book- case is the idea back of a picture or a tapes- try— all of them are wall decorations. This one is probably screwed to the wall and is certainly painted white, and these facts would seem to make it a part of the archi- tecture rather than of the furnishings ot thei room. It can, however, be taken down and placed elsewhere, and it can be re- painted a rich brown, like the old hanging bookcases in Down-Eastparlors, from which probably, it descended.

A VERY unusual example of bookcase, and one more helpful on account of its idea, perhaps, than on account of the way in which this idea has been worked out. Here is a bookcase treated as a part of the architecture of the room, and at the same time as an architectural background for a piece of furniture. The lack of entire success is probably due to the fact that its use as background is about equal to its use as bookcase. One or the other should predominate.

IThe Fireplace and Its Over-Mantel

^An Old Fireplace in Hingham

HiNGHAM is justly proud of its valu- able traditions and its historic houses. From the years 1633 and 1634, when the first settlers made their homes in this little cove, its history has always been more orless intimately connected with the history of our country.

Many of these historic houses have been well preserved to us by the pious care of the descendants of those who built them more than two hundred years ago. And in many of these homesteads we find that the present occupants spring from the old family tree, and that the house with its fur- nishings is a record of over two cen- turies of unbroken family life. So we find among these families a true ap- preciation of and love for the beauties of the early Colonial architecture and furniture.

The picture shows a room not so old as many in the neighboring houses, but very interesting from the aesthetic point of view. We should note sev- eral features of design, — the chance creations of the builder rather than the result of studious efforts for effects, — all of which contribute to the beauty of the room.

The simple mantel, composed chiefly of large boards, very rest- ful in the absence of ornament and mouldings — a mantel easily reproduced, and with equally good effect, at small expense in many of our modern houses. In connection with the mantel, note the simple brick treatment of the long hearth, the proportions of the opening, the cement facing, the interest created in the useful wood-closet which was originally an oven. And note the pleasant absence of the wall-board above the shelf, which always changes, in surface and color, the background of objects on the shelf.

The doors are very typical, but they are well worthy of study for the excellent proportions of panels to each other and of rails to stiles. The relatively low ceiling is not so low as to give any one a feeling of oppression, and it is in this very important meas- urement of ceiling height that we find the room to be so well proportioned. The door closing on the top of the first step is characteristic of this work, and may seem to many to be poor design. But others of us are fond of this feature, for a distinct picturesqueness it has and a feeling even of mediaeval days.

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