DOI issue:
The international Studio (August, 1908)
DOI article:Embury, Aymar: Modern adaptions of Dutch colonial
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28255#0387
Dutch Colonial
Modern adaptations of
DUTCH COLONIAL
BY AYMAR EMBURY, II
Of all the work done in the days of
the Colonies and early nation, none was more pic-
turesque and more suitable for adaptation to mod-
ern work than that done by the Dutch settlers
around New York. Near Flushing and Flatbush, in
Long Island, and in the old Dutch settlements of
Englewood, Hackensack, Paramus and Hoboken,
in New Jersey, there are hundreds of examples of
the old work remaining, almost all of them in good
condition and preserving more, perhaps, than any
other Colonial work their old-time intimate air.
Their most obvious point of difference from the
work of the English colonists lies in the well-known
“Dutch roof,” which seems to have been of purely
American development, quite distinct from the long,
steep slopes of the roof of Holland. Perhaps the
reason for the double slope was inability to get raft-
ers long enough to roof the average house in one
length, and, the type once fixed, it pleased the build-
ers, who continued its use long after the necessity
had passed away.
As characteristic as the roof was a cheerful will-
ingness to use the materials nearest at hand with a
total disregard of uniformity of material through-
out. It is not an uncommon thing to see the four
walls of an old farmhouse built of four materials,
stone for one gable end, brick for the other, and
stucco and shingles, respectively, for the front and
rear walls. Nor did the designers think it neces-
sary to build even one side all of one material; one
very often sees two or even three materials min-
gled in the same elevation; and this is a difficult
thing to do nowadays, for what was naivete in old
work, in new work would become affectation.
Their very moldings were fashioned in the same
fantastic spirit that directed their choice of mate-
rials, and when, throughout the rest of the country,
all details were of purest classic origin, the Dutch
used Gothic or Classic moldings, or both together,
with the good-natured indifference to precedent and
homogeneity of result which marks an art, living,
and common to all its users.
Thus was evolved the lovely Dutch farmhouse
type, the pervading spirit of which is quaint dignity
and homely comfort.
The examples of modern adaptations of the old
Dutch work shown on the following pages have all
of them preserved much of the old-time sentiment
mixed with a certain modern seriousness of purpose.
Because of the freedom with which the older men
worked we can depart very far from established
precedent and yet work in the antique spirit; thus
these houses, differing from their prototypes in
many respects, still harmonize with them.
The second stories of the older houses were al-
most entirely lighted from their gable ends ; some-
times the sides of the room had a low window placed
under the eaves; but dormers were non-existent.
AYMAR EMBURY, II
ARCHITECT
ST. GEORGE BARBER HOUSE
ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY
XLTX
Modern adaptations of
DUTCH COLONIAL
BY AYMAR EMBURY, II
Of all the work done in the days of
the Colonies and early nation, none was more pic-
turesque and more suitable for adaptation to mod-
ern work than that done by the Dutch settlers
around New York. Near Flushing and Flatbush, in
Long Island, and in the old Dutch settlements of
Englewood, Hackensack, Paramus and Hoboken,
in New Jersey, there are hundreds of examples of
the old work remaining, almost all of them in good
condition and preserving more, perhaps, than any
other Colonial work their old-time intimate air.
Their most obvious point of difference from the
work of the English colonists lies in the well-known
“Dutch roof,” which seems to have been of purely
American development, quite distinct from the long,
steep slopes of the roof of Holland. Perhaps the
reason for the double slope was inability to get raft-
ers long enough to roof the average house in one
length, and, the type once fixed, it pleased the build-
ers, who continued its use long after the necessity
had passed away.
As characteristic as the roof was a cheerful will-
ingness to use the materials nearest at hand with a
total disregard of uniformity of material through-
out. It is not an uncommon thing to see the four
walls of an old farmhouse built of four materials,
stone for one gable end, brick for the other, and
stucco and shingles, respectively, for the front and
rear walls. Nor did the designers think it neces-
sary to build even one side all of one material; one
very often sees two or even three materials min-
gled in the same elevation; and this is a difficult
thing to do nowadays, for what was naivete in old
work, in new work would become affectation.
Their very moldings were fashioned in the same
fantastic spirit that directed their choice of mate-
rials, and when, throughout the rest of the country,
all details were of purest classic origin, the Dutch
used Gothic or Classic moldings, or both together,
with the good-natured indifference to precedent and
homogeneity of result which marks an art, living,
and common to all its users.
Thus was evolved the lovely Dutch farmhouse
type, the pervading spirit of which is quaint dignity
and homely comfort.
The examples of modern adaptations of the old
Dutch work shown on the following pages have all
of them preserved much of the old-time sentiment
mixed with a certain modern seriousness of purpose.
Because of the freedom with which the older men
worked we can depart very far from established
precedent and yet work in the antique spirit; thus
these houses, differing from their prototypes in
many respects, still harmonize with them.
The second stories of the older houses were al-
most entirely lighted from their gable ends ; some-
times the sides of the room had a low window placed
under the eaves; but dormers were non-existent.
AYMAR EMBURY, II
ARCHITECT
ST. GEORGE BARBER HOUSE
ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY
XLTX