DOI Heft:
No. 132 (February, 1908)
DOI Artikel:Howe, Samuel: An American country house
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28253#0310
An American Country House
MR. L. C. TIFFANY’S HOUSE FROM THE HANGING GARDEN
A
N AMERICAN COUNTRY
HOUSE. BY SAMUEL HOWE.
As in his designs for mosaic or for
enamel or for glass, or indeed for any decorative
problem, Mr. Louis C.
Tiffany, of New York,
thinks for himself in mat-
ters architectural. As a
painter he has gone to
nature in studying how to
build and to enrich his
house and grounds out on
Long Island, at Cold Spring
Harbour. The skilful
subtlety of his expression
reveals a sensitive and a
sympathetic personality. It
is to be seen here in the
selection of his materials,
which are generally of the
commonest description and
at the service of any of us.
It is seen, too, in the direct
and remarkable use he
makes of them, and the
manner in which he rele-
gates a plant or a flower to a place usually
held by ornament of architectural signifi-
cance, and again in the frequent refusal
to be controlled by the harsh rule and
iron despotism of classic precedent. He
often sweeps away academic adornment
as mere swaddling-clothes, and lets the
building stand free of added trimmings,
trusting to proportion and to line to make-
it interesting as a whole. In the adroit
handling of his materials he has so
adjusted the accent as to retain a proper-
relation between the ornamental parts,
and in this way preserves the sanctifying
influence of plain surfaces so essential to
the independence, and sometimes to the-
very life, of each element. This he has
succeeded in doing without caprice or
affectation and often unconsciously.
There is an Oriental note in the house
it is to be found in the tower in the
entrance, and perhaps most of all in the
court. The court is the centre of every-
thing here; from it the main rooms, the-
terrace, and the hanging garden radiate.
Yes, the court is very beautiful ! And
yet with all its grandeur, its large white-
pillars backed with quaint arabesques of pine-trees,
its marble pavements, its costly rugs and velvets,
its balconies, and its purple awning hanging high
suspended from the roof, it is to the fountain,
half-hidden by plants and flowers of charming"
INSIDE THE COURT OF MR. L. C. TIFFANY S HOUSE
294
MR. L. C. TIFFANY’S HOUSE FROM THE HANGING GARDEN
A
N AMERICAN COUNTRY
HOUSE. BY SAMUEL HOWE.
As in his designs for mosaic or for
enamel or for glass, or indeed for any decorative
problem, Mr. Louis C.
Tiffany, of New York,
thinks for himself in mat-
ters architectural. As a
painter he has gone to
nature in studying how to
build and to enrich his
house and grounds out on
Long Island, at Cold Spring
Harbour. The skilful
subtlety of his expression
reveals a sensitive and a
sympathetic personality. It
is to be seen here in the
selection of his materials,
which are generally of the
commonest description and
at the service of any of us.
It is seen, too, in the direct
and remarkable use he
makes of them, and the
manner in which he rele-
gates a plant or a flower to a place usually
held by ornament of architectural signifi-
cance, and again in the frequent refusal
to be controlled by the harsh rule and
iron despotism of classic precedent. He
often sweeps away academic adornment
as mere swaddling-clothes, and lets the
building stand free of added trimmings,
trusting to proportion and to line to make-
it interesting as a whole. In the adroit
handling of his materials he has so
adjusted the accent as to retain a proper-
relation between the ornamental parts,
and in this way preserves the sanctifying
influence of plain surfaces so essential to
the independence, and sometimes to the-
very life, of each element. This he has
succeeded in doing without caprice or
affectation and often unconsciously.
There is an Oriental note in the house
it is to be found in the tower in the
entrance, and perhaps most of all in the
court. The court is the centre of every-
thing here; from it the main rooms, the-
terrace, and the hanging garden radiate.
Yes, the court is very beautiful ! And
yet with all its grandeur, its large white-
pillars backed with quaint arabesques of pine-trees,
its marble pavements, its costly rugs and velvets,
its balconies, and its purple awning hanging high
suspended from the roof, it is to the fountain,
half-hidden by plants and flowers of charming"
INSIDE THE COURT OF MR. L. C. TIFFANY S HOUSE
294