International studio (31.1907)

The Pendleton House

l2mo. $2.00 net. Pp. xiv, 215. Boston: Lit-
tle, Brown and Company.
The American garden, says Mr. Underwood,
should be neither a copy of the Italian garden nor a
modification of the formal English wall garden, nor
an elaboration of the miniature gardens of Japan,
nor again a revival of the artificial natural garden
now so much seen in America and England. A
skilful blending of the garden craft of the world,
suited to local conditions, is the scheme he would
set out to enforce. To say tersely just what can
constitute the “typically American” garden is diffi-
cult. The author discourages imitation of foreign
types and nails the iron dog and rustic bench style
of decoration at every opportunity. He proceeds
topically to various features of garden embellish-
ment and makes his discussion general, the sane
remarks of an enthusiastic and convinced landscape
architect. The book will serve to quicken an in-
terest in the parts of a dwelling outside its walls, in
the possibilities of summer houses, arbours, pergolas,
benches, fountains, terraces. So far as it goes, it is
practical and carries many hints of first-rate im-
portance, but it aims rather to open the subject in-
telligently than to publish directions. Specific
adaptations when cited relate themselves, perhaps,
more directly to the New England neighbourhood to
which the author turns for examples than to the
varying possibilities of the country at large. The
opportunities which nature has specialised in the
woodlands of the Northwest, in the climatic condi-
tions of California, the South or the Gulf are hardly
glanced at. But this is not a blemish on the whole,
for what the author sets out to say, as it has to do
with permanent features rather than those of the
flowering season, applies equally to various situa-
tions. The illustrations are from excellent photo-
graphs and the make-up of the book is attractive.
The subject is discussed under seven subheads.
LTnder summer houses are included “garden tem-
ples,” gazebos, garden houses, recessed wall houses,
rustic houses; under arbours, pergolas, trellises,
bowers, arches, green galleries, pleached alleys,
pergola verandahs. In an interesting chapter on
sun-dials, the author counsels well against the use of
too high a pedestal, a mistake not infrequently
made. One of the charms of the dial “is the de-
light that it gives to children.” Grouped as small
accessories are gazing-globes, lanterns, shishis, well
heads, figures, seats, tables, vases, bird houses, bee
skeps and bird fountains. A word in season is
spoken for enclosures, such as walls, terraces,
fences, balustrades and city yard gardens. A chap-
ter is added on structural materials.

THE PENDLETON HOUSE—A
STUDY IN GEORGIAN DECORA-
TION AND FURNISHING
BY GRACE L. SLOCUM
Since the death of Air. Pendleton in June, 1905,
the public has awaited with much interest the time
when, the conditions of his bequest to the Rhode
Island School of Design being fulfilled, it would be
permitted to view one of the finest collections of
antique mahogany and porcelains to be found in
this country. The collection was brought together
by the late Charles Leonard Pendleton, of Provi-
dence, widely known as a connoisseur, who spent
over thirty years of his life and the greater part of
his large fortune in acquiring the almost priceless
pieces which connoisseurs and collectors have vied
with one another to obtain. Not one doubtful or
imperfect piece is included—rugs, porcelains, ma-
hogany and china all being of the same high
quality and of the same period. A few weeks be-
fore his death, Mr. Pendleton presented the entire
contents of his home in Providence to the Rhode
Island School of Design, with the condition that a
suitable mansion of the Georgian period should be
erected to house his treasures. The trustees of the
museum accepted the condition, and the opening of
the Pendleton House, the gift of Mr. Stephen O.
AIetcalf,one of the trustees of the school, marked the
consummation of the project, which took shape in
the collector’s mind many years ago.
The house is a fine example of the purest type of
architecture of the Georgian period. It is built of


TILT-TOP OR PIECRUST TABLE

LV