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6.Royal B. Mudge House [formerly, Shaffer House] Bronxville, New York Lewis Bowman, 1928
This house was built late in the decade of Bowman’s greatest productivity as an architect of large suburban and country houses: the 1920s. It was built for Royal B. Mudge and his family. Mudge was an engineering graduate of the University of Michigan and a successful executive by the time that Bowman designed this house for him. The influence of English architectural is palpable here, as it is in Bowman’s other designs. As is typical of his domestic projects, Bowman here avoids a simple rectangular plan and instead projects a one-story wing forward, at an angle, from the massive cluster chimney that dominates the front elevation. He also breaks up the main facade with projecting halftimbered gables with leaded-glass casement windows. Bowman here employs the full range of Tudor motifs to the creation of an effect that he might have considered to be “picturesque.” In a review of English-inspired houses, Bowman commented in 1926 that, “No rules can be laid down which will insure the creation of a distinctly picturesque bit of architectural design; inspiration and an innate feeling for beauty are absolutely essential.” On the interior, the impact of early British architecture was also in evidence, particularly in the living room. The very concept of a multistory living space went back to the great hall that was a feature of many large English houses. Here, the connection to the historic prototype is emphasized by the extensive wood paneling and by the massive wood beams that support the ceiling. Despite the emphasis Bowman here places on artistic inspiration in the achievement of a picturesque aesthetic, it is clear that he was very much inspired by contemporary revival architecture in Great Britain. Gavin Townsend attributes Bowman’s appreciation for over-scaled cluster chimneys—in evidence here—to his familiarity with the work of Edwin Lutyens. The British architect would also have provided some lessons in the use of Tudor elements in the detailing of a large country house, as well as in the effective relating of a house to its site, both of which were major concerns of Bowman’s over the course of his successful career in Bronxville and throughout the Northeast.
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Mudge House
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6.Royal B. Mudge House [formerly, Shaffer House] Bronxville, New York Lewis Bowman, 1928
This house was built late in the decade of Bowman’s greatest productivity as an architect of large suburban and country houses: the 1920s. It was built for Royal B. Mudge and his family. Mudge was an engineering graduate of the University of Michigan and a successful executive by the time that Bowman designed this house for him. The influence of English architectural is palpable here, as it is in Bowman’s other designs. As is typical of his domestic projects, Bowman here avoids a simple rectangular plan and instead projects a one-story wing forward, at an angle, from the massive cluster chimney that dominates the front elevation. He also breaks up the main facade with projecting halftimbered gables with leaded-glass casement windows. Bowman here employs the full range of Tudor motifs to the creation of an effect that he might have considered to be “picturesque.” In a review of English-inspired houses, Bowman commented in 1926 that, “No rules can be laid down which will insure the creation of a distinctly picturesque bit of architectural design; inspiration and an innate feeling for beauty are absolutely essential.” On the interior, the impact of early British architecture was also in evidence, particularly in the living room. The very concept of a multistory living space went back to the great hall that was a feature of many large English houses. Here, the connection to the historic prototype is emphasized by the extensive wood paneling and by the massive wood beams that support the ceiling. Despite the emphasis Bowman here places on artistic inspiration in the achievement of a picturesque aesthetic, it is clear that he was very much inspired by contemporary revival architecture in Great Britain. Gavin Townsend attributes Bowman’s appreciation for over-scaled cluster chimneys—in evidence here—to his familiarity with the work of Edwin Lutyens. The British architect would also have provided some lessons in the use of Tudor elements in the detailing of a large country house, as well as in the effective relating of a house to its site, both of which were major concerns of Bowman’s over the course of his successful career in Bronxville and throughout the Northeast.
36 New York City Suburbs
Mudge House
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ship from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1908. The Cresson Scholarship funded McGoodwin’s travel to England, Belgium, France, and Italy. In addition, he studied architecture in Paris and at the American Academy in Rome. McGoodwin’s travel was bracketed by periods of employment with Horace Trumbauer, the Philadelphia architect made famous by his designs for large private residences in the Philadelphia area and beyond, including Newport, Rhode Island, which was being built up with palatial “cottages” for the rich at the turn of the century when he was making his name.
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ship from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1908. The Cresson Scholarship funded McGoodwin’s travel to England, Belgium, France, and Italy. In addition, he studied architecture in Paris and at the American Academy in Rome. McGoodwin’s travel was bracketed by periods of employment with Horace Trumbauer, the Philadelphia architect made famous by his designs for large private residences in the Philadelphia area and beyond, including Newport, Rhode Island, which was being built up with palatial “cottages” for the rich at the turn of the century when he was making his name.
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18.Smith Pirie House Lake Forest, Illinois Hart & Shape, 1929
As early as 1838, the British Civil Engineers’ and Architects’ Journal noted that “A thatched cottage is an object of admiration with many persons who have not had much experience of country life, and accordingly we find several in the neighborhood of London. Such cottages have, perhaps, the gable end covered with ivy, the chimney tops entwined with Virginian creepers, and the windows overshadowed by roses and jasmines.” Despite the romantic associations of all of these features, as the author wryly noted, thatch was not admired by those who had first-hand experience of its shortcomings as a roofing material, which included providing a haven for nesting birds, attracting insects as it decomposed, and being difficult and expensive to repair. By the time the Smith Pirie House was built, in the 1920s, the vernacular tradition of thatching, and its regional variations in England, were the subject of antiquarian study as well as of romantic associations. For instance, in 1923, Harry Batsford described in the Geographical Teacher the different approaches to thatch roofs that were taken in the various counties of England, including in the West Country where “the thatch, like the cottages, is rambling and casual, and wanders picturesquely around corners and on different levels.” Such an effect was created in this house by its architects, Hart & Shape. The building itself is low and consists of several sections that seem to ramble across the landscape. The mass huddles beneath the swelling roof, which mimics the effect of thatch but in a material that avoided some of the shortcomings described above, as well as its susceptibility to fire. Here, the appearance of a thatched roof is created with cedar shingles that were steamed in order to bend them over the edges of the roof. With their vertical joints minimized, and laid unevenly, the shingles gave the appearance of thatch in a region where the tradition of thatching roofs did not exist and where modern building codes and practices would have made the technique unthinkable in any case. The New York architectural firm that designed the house, Hart & Shape, was comprised of Charles M. Hart and Robert L. Shape. Their
88 The Midwest Smith Pirie House
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18.Smith Pirie House Lake Forest, Illinois Hart & Shape, 1929
As early as 1838, the British Civil Engineers’ and Architects’ Journal noted that “A thatched cottage is an object of admiration with many persons who have not had much experience of country life, and accordingly we find several in the neighborhood of London. Such cottages have, perhaps, the gable end covered with ivy, the chimney tops entwined with Virginian creepers, and the windows overshadowed by roses and jasmines.” Despite the romantic associations of all of these features, as the author wryly noted, thatch was not admired by those who had first-hand experience of its shortcomings as a roofing material, which included providing a haven for nesting birds, attracting insects as it decomposed, and being difficult and expensive to repair. By the time the Smith Pirie House was built, in the 1920s, the vernacular tradition of thatching, and its regional variations in England, were the subject of antiquarian study as well as of romantic associations. For instance, in 1923, Harry Batsford described in the Geographical Teacher the different approaches to thatch roofs that were taken in the various counties of England, including in the West Country where “the thatch, like the cottages, is rambling and casual, and wanders picturesquely around corners and on different levels.” Such an effect was created in this house by its architects, Hart & Shape. The building itself is low and consists of several sections that seem to ramble across the landscape. The mass huddles beneath the swelling roof, which mimics the effect of thatch but in a material that avoided some of the shortcomings described above, as well as its susceptibility to fire. Here, the appearance of a thatched roof is created with cedar shingles that were steamed in order to bend them over the edges of the roof. With their vertical joints minimized, and laid unevenly, the shingles gave the appearance of thatch in a region where the tradition of thatching roofs did not exist and where modern building codes and practices would have made the technique unthinkable in any case. The New York architectural firm that designed the house, Hart & Shape, was comprised of Charles M. Hart and Robert L. Shape. Their
88 The Midwest Smith Pirie House
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house comprised a total of sixty-five rooms. One of the adaptations of conventional British Tudor house plans made by Seiberling was to open Stan Hywet to the view of the landscape. Indeed, Frank Seiberling was thought to have a deep commitment to the natural world. For the estate grounds, he hired Warren Manning to provide the design and the landscape was developed between 1911 and 1915. Manning worked with the existing features of the landscape to create a series of garden rooms and thematic planting areas, such as the Japanese and English gardens. The latter was designed by Ellen Shipman Biddle, who had only recently entered professional practice and was a protégé of country house architect Charles Platt, a wellknown figure in the Cornish, New Hampshire, summer community. For this early commission, Shipman produced very detailed planting plans for perennial beds that surrounded grassy paths and a central pool. The plan of the English Garden undoubtedly reflected the influence of Arts and Crafts gardens. F. A. Seiberling seems to have always thought of Stan Hywet as both his family’s home and as a public amenity. His granddaughter Catherine Seiberling Pond has recounted that he commented at one point, “This is the marvelous thing…. [Stan Hywet] is not a museum; it is not a show-place; it is not an institute; it is not something static; it is a living creation and it will continue to live because it has a Spirit that transcends time and space.”
108 The Midwest Hywet Hall
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house comprised a total of sixty-five rooms. One of the adaptations of conventional British Tudor house plans made by Seiberling was to open Stan Hywet to the view of the landscape. Indeed, Frank Seiberling was thought to have a deep commitment to the natural world. For the estate grounds, he hired Warren Manning to provide the design and the landscape was developed between 1911 and 1915. Manning worked with the existing features of the landscape to create a series of garden rooms and thematic planting areas, such as the Japanese and English gardens. The latter was designed by Ellen Shipman Biddle, who had only recently entered professional practice and was a protégé of country house architect Charles Platt, a wellknown figure in the Cornish, New Hampshire, summer community. For this early commission, Shipman produced very detailed planting plans for perennial beds that surrounded grassy paths and a central pool. The plan of the English Garden undoubtedly reflected the influence of Arts and Crafts gardens. F. A. Seiberling seems to have always thought of Stan Hywet as both his family’s home and as a public amenity. His granddaughter Catherine Seiberling Pond has recounted that he commented at one point, “This is the marvelous thing…. [Stan Hywet] is not a museum; it is not a show-place; it is not an institute; it is not something static; it is a living creation and it will continue to live because it has a Spirit that transcends time and space.”
108 The Midwest Hywet Hall
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194 The South Four Corners Houses
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194 The South Four Corners Houses