ENGLISH DERIVATION IN AN AMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSE

A forceful and remarkably accurate rendering of the domestic architecture of the English

Renaissance

It must not be forgotten that our family ties with the English people are very strong-we are of the Anglo-Saxon race, and even the constant admixture of other strains has not materially modified the dominant characteristics of our English forefathers. Things English could never be "alien" to us, nor can we ever be "alien" to the English people.

It is equally important to remember that the English may be said to have invented the very idea of "country life," and to have enriched the idea in a way unlike any other European nation. Our own best ideas in connection with country life, indeed, are based on good English precedent and it is hard to conceive of any amount of evolution which could un-Anglicise us in this hereditary conception.

The English, then, having originated the idea of "country life," as we understand it to-day, naturally developed a suitable kind of country dwelling, the history of which is essential to the proper understanding of its characteristics and the proper appreciation of its peculiar charm. And since the English idea of country life is the idea on which our own country life is based, the development of domestic architecture is best followed in the English country house. The idea of country life in Italy and in France has always differed considerably from the English idea, and consequently from the American idea. German country life, and the large German country houses, after the Mediæval castles were antiquated, were largely patterned after the French, if one were to cite only such conspicuous examples as the castle and gardens of "Sans Souci" (the name itself being French) devised by Frederick the Great, or the vast estate of Prince Pückler von Muskau, in Silesia.

The English country house, however, has been a continuous and logical growth, from its earliest times to the present, and many of its salient features have been incorporated in the American country house. The English evolution has gone successively through the "Keep," the "Hall" and the "Manor," until it reached its present form, the "country house," and its changes have all been in the direction of attaining greater comfort, greater privacy and greater attraction.

The "Keep" was a fortress-like affair of feudal times. Its walls were thick and had a few small, unglazed windows. It was surrounded by no gracious gardens, but a deep moat and a drawbridge isolated it from visit or attack. Here, from motives of protection rather than sociability, the lord's retainers dwelt with him in this dungeon-like abode. There were private rooms for the lord and his lady, but these were sparsely and uncomfortably furnished. Life in the "Keep" centred in the "great hall" (the prototype. of our modern "living-room") and this great common assembly and eating-room gave the name to the type of English dwelling immediately succeeding it-the "Hall."

The "Hall," a name preserved in such places as Hardwick Hall, Haddon Hall, Moreton Hall and the like, was a more seemly dwelling than the forbidding "Keep," and became the type of country house imme'diately preceding the Elizabethan development. Comfort and elegance became more apparent considerations than defense, and some attempts were made at architectural gardening. In later Jacobean country seats, at the time when all English architects turned their eyes toward Renaissance Italy, and when England was filled with Italian designers and workmen, the formal type of

ENGLISH DERIVATION IN AN AMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSE True to its English Renaissance derivation, the balustrades are distinctly Italian, while the profile of the roof, the use of materials and the introduction of metal casement windows are purely English

(A residence at Glen Cove, Long Island)

AN ADAPTATION OF THE ENGLISH TUDOR" STYLE IN AN AMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSE

The style which marked the transitional stage, in England, from Gothic to Renaissance architecture, lends itself admirably to the rendering of picturesque yet imposing country houses. The flat, pointed arches, the "battlements" and the use of brick and stone are characteristics