International studio (25.1905)

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relates for the first time, there were no big news-
paper stories about him at that time.
In Detroit Mr. Freer has magnificent offices in
the Union Trust Building, where he personally
attends to the affairs of his own estate when not
devoting his time to art. A more entertaining
conversationalist could not be found than he. He
is a man who appears ten years younger than he
really is.
/- H A HE SUBURBAN HOUSE IN SUM-
MER. BY ELEANOR ALISON
j CUMMINS.
IT is the privilege of the suburban house
to adapt itself to the varying needs of all seasons, to
lend itself, alike, to the <?7 enjoyments of the
summer and to the more formal functions of the
winter, while at the same time providing for the
comforts of its inmates, at all seasons. It must do
this by a series of compromises; and fortunate the
suburban dweller whose house is most elastic in
this respect.
For all-the-year-round occupancy, that type of
Colonial house which derives from Georgian Eng-
land and Virginia, rather than from New England,
is the most satisfactory. It is eminently dignified,
light, spacious and cheerful, and, if the tradition

of white interior woodwork be departed from, in
favor of mahogany, or its semblance, it leaves
nothing to be desired in point of color. For the
dining-room of modest pretensions nothing can
be more charming than the Colonial room, with its
blue and white walls, its plate rail loaded with old
china, its circular mahogany table, its rush-bot-
tomed chairs, its generous sideboard and its china
closet, half concealing its treasures behind leaded
doors. It alone would give the Colonial house an
excuse for being.
If the Colonial is an all-the-year-round style,
that fashion of interior finish, which borrows its
inspiration from the missions of Southern Cali-
fornia, is at its best in summer. Somewhat gloomy
in winter, its heavy beams and projecting mould-
ings cast charming shadows, and the mass of dark
woodwork gives a pleasant duskiness in the
brightest day.
But as most suburban houses are neither Colo-
nial nor Mission, special summer adaptation is a
matter of small changes, changes not incompatible
with a very simple way of living, nor with moderate
expenditure. It ought to go without saying that
these changes should simplify, rather than com-
plicate the household routine.
For instance, the bare hardwood floor is cooler,
in appearance, if not in reality. It gives one a


THE LIVING ROOM IN SUMMER. SHOWING AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT OF WINDOWS AND FLOOR

LXXIX