Country Houses of Character

Seven Homes Selected by Their Architects as Containing 
The Essential Characteristics of the Good Country House 

Illustrations in Color by John Vincent

 WHAT constitutes the ideal country home? Is it primarily beauty? Is it convenience? Or is it rather the home spirit that it radiates? Possibly it is the combination of the three. Country living to-day plays a large part in the life of the nation, and country estates of all sorts and sizes are scattered throughout the width and breadth of the land. Some of these homes seem slightly better architecturally than others. Some have qualities that others lack. Few, if any, are perfect.

What constitutes the perfect country house? Country Life asked this question of several of the leading architects in New York, and asked them to indicate some country houses which they had designed and which, in their opinion, made them distinctive from other houses. It was to make no difference whether the house were a marble palace at some fashionable watering place or a tiny bungalow in the foothills of the mountains. So long as the architect considered it a good example of a country house and, in his opinion it had character, that was all that we asked.

 It is interesting to note the range of character in the seven country homes chosen by the architects and reproduced in color herewith.

 Messrs. Delano & Aldrich selected their most recent achievement— Mr. Bertram G. Work's residence at Oyster Bay, Long Island—as an essentially good country home, while Messrs. McKim, Mead & White considered Mr. E. D. Morgan's house at Newport, R. I., erected by them more than twenty-five years ago, to represent still the best qualities of the country home.

 In "Bonnycrest," the home of Mr. Stuart Duncan at Newport, R. I., Mr. John Russell Pope has successfully achieved his object in designing a house which contains the charm of cottage, and yet has sufficient spaciousness to fit in with the neighboring estates.

 The contribution of one architect, Mr. Aymar Embury, II., to say the least was original. He sent as his selection a "dream" house, a house which has not yet been built, though it exists in his own imagination as the most perfect type of country home possible.

 Some of the features of these houses could be easily combined with the features of others. One house may have something that another lacks. But from the entire number, we can form a fairly accurate composite picture of what our country house should be like when we determine to build it.

Click HERE to view all seven.

THE MOST STUPENDOUS STRUCTURE FOR HUMAN OCCUPATION EVER PLACED UPON THIS PLANET

 "Mr. Gilbert proceeded to the realization in Gothic lines of the most stupendous structure for human occupation ever placed upon this planet—the Woolworth building, New York." By  B. J. S. CAHILL, A. I. A. 1914

 ***Gilbert was on a committee  judging a competition for the design of the San Francisco Public Library.*** 

THE WOOLWORTH  BUILDING, NEW YORK THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD, CASS GILBERT, ARCHITECT

 Cahill writes - Mr. Cass Gilbert received his training at the Boston "Tech." Among the many buildings he has designed may be mentioned the new capitol, St. Paul, Minn; Essex County court house, Newark, N. J.; the Agricultural building  at the Omaha Exposition ; the Brazer building,  Boston; the Broadway-Chambers building, New York; the New York custom house; the Art building and Festival Hall of the St. Louis Exposition; the Central Public Library of St. Louis; the Detroit Public Library; the plans of the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas; the completion of the Arkansas capitol, Little Rock, etc.

 This is a wonderful list for a man in the prime of life, and I have not yet mentioned two buildings that in importance and magnitude far transcend all the rest put together. The West Street building in New York City is an extraordinary architectural triumph along lines that at the time were entirely new, although perfectly logical, and in my own opinion absolutely inevitable sooner or later. I allude, of course, to the use of Gothic forms and motives wherewith to clothe the soaring steel work of a modern skyscraper. With the West Street building as a standing vindication of a theory that school men with their college conceit fresh upon them always frowned at, Mr. Gilbert proceeded to the realization in Gothic lines of the most stupendous structure for human occupation ever placed upon this planet—the Woolworth building, New York.

 With such a record of achievement, it sounds rather tame to add that Mr. Gilbert has been honored by Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. placed upon important art commissions, and that he has been loaded with honors and recognition both at home and abroad, not the least of these being' the presidency of the American Institute of Architects.

 Click HERE to see the terracotta  carvings attached to the building and HERE to see Woolworths' Empire style office.

The Prize Garden of George E. Barnard, Esq.

"RIVERBEND" THE GEORGE EDWARD BARNARD ESTATE
***AIGLON AERIAL PHOTOS***

 en acres of garden constitute the principal feature of Mr. George E. Barnard's garden at Ipswich, Mass., and to the garden lover there can be no more interesting spot than the grounds which won the H. H. Hunnewell triennial prize, offered for an estate of not less than three acres which should be laid out with the most taste, planted most judiciously, and kept in the best order for three consecutive years.

 A paper***below*** by Mary H. Northend describes in a pleasing way the features of the garden, and the engravings show the general scheme.  American Homes and Garden

***To get a idea of the plants and color hues used click on the gold highlighted hyper-links.***

The brook garden

 TEN acres of garden constitute the principal feature of Mr. George E. Barnard's estate at Ipswich, Mass. Viewed from any portion of the house or veranda, the wonderful color schemes seem a part of an exquisite picture, and, indeed, it was with this idea in mind that the flowers were planted. Time and a great deal of thought have been required to produce this result, but the completed whole is well worth the effort made, and it is rarely that one finds a garden which shows such beautifully blended tints.

 The garden is divided into two parts—the hill garden on the north, and the lower garden at the west of the house. The two gardens are about the same in area.

 A twelve-foot terrace on the northern slope was cut down to natural grade and the sub soil hauled to the lower garden, raising one acre of the latter three feet.

 The higher garden consists chiefly of a herbaceous  border about eight hundred feet long, backed by shrubbery and terminating in two circles twenty-five feet in diameter, forming a wide entrance to the summer house. 

Part of the upper garden and the terrace showing the plan of the border

A general view of the garden

 The herbaceous border is edged twice yearly. Five hundred white pansies were planted the first of April. These were replaced in June by five hundred white petunias, thus keeping an unbroken edging until frost.

 Going farther along the northern slope, and still backed by shrubs, we come to two cone-shaped beds separated by a grass path. One bed is planted with Oenothera Youngii, and the other bed with Delphinium Chinensis, each bed in turn planted with outdoor Chrysanthemums for fall bloom. Coming down the slope and toward the lower garden is a conifer bed seventy feet long by forty feet wide, dotted with King Humbert canna and edged with Pennisetum longistylum.

The silver birches and the lake

 Following the slope of the lawn from the summer house to the house proper and down a flight of ten steps, we enter a lawn extending to the piazza and enclosed by a three-foot terrace wall. The top of this wall is decorated with large pans of Phyllis geranium at intervals of ten feet. Below the wall is a formal border three feet wide, consisting of three rows of bedding plants. The outer row is Centaurea candidissima, the middle row Begonia Erfordi***shell pink***, and the third row standard heliotrope alternating with abutilon. The two circles mentioned were planted in April with annual silene, with myosotis used as an edging. In June the silene was replaced with Bar Harbor Beauty Petunia***shows brilliant translucent carmine***, and the myosotis with Ageratum Stella Gurney. In the spring the circles had for a background Digitalis purpurea alba. These are now replaced by Richard Wallace canna.

 The lower garden consists first of a series of oblong squares running east and west, and flanked on the northern side by the early vegetable garden, and on the southern side by herbaceous borders. The paths, however, connect beyond the squares and rose garden, and commence to curve, serving to form the English garden, rockery, alpine and water garden, and then continue to the borders of the Ipswich River. The space occupied by these gardens was originally covered with water and an apparently endless depth of black mud.

 A flight of rustic steps conducts one to the first square, which is planted principally with perennial vegetables, such as asparagus, sea kale, globe artichokes, rhubarb, etc. The whole square is edged with a double row of white verbenas. The second square is planted with annual vegetables, and is bordered on two sides with yellow gaillardias and on the remaining two sides with Verbena venosa.

 The third square commences with the greenhouse, which is used for raising annuals and bedding plants, followed by a crop of English forcing melons. The remainder of the square is taken up with dwarf fruit trees and bush fruits, flanked on one side with a row of trained espaliers, and on the other side with salvia Zurich, the end being planted with blue asters.

The rockery in the garden

The fourth square is planted entirely with the different Brassicas, following the strawberry crop, and is bordered on the sides with salvia Zurich, pink asters, mixed zinnias, and Celosia plumosa.

 The fifth square commences with a pergola, covered with grapevines. Then follow the different summer vegetables. It is flanked on the different sides with a row of espaliers, herbaceous border, and cosmos.

 The sixth square is planted with strawberries for next year's fruiting, and is enclosed with cosmos, Salvia farinacea, Viscaria and the herbaceous border.

 The herbaceous border on the south side is arranged to match that which flanks the fifth and sixth squares, the gravel path between the two borders being four hundred feet long. One hundred feet of this path is covered with a newly built pergola overgrown with climbing roses.

 The rose garden consists of one thousand hybrid teas, which are planted in three-foot beds, cut out of grass in scroll form, and extending entirely across the garden at the end of the square. Across the broad path from the rose garden are four formal beds, the first a carpet of dwarf scarlet verbena edged with Sedum carnea, and dotted with abutilon and violet petunias trained as standards. The second bed shows a carpet of alyssum edged with Altemanthera rubra and dotted with crimson geraniums and Coleus Golden Bedder. The third has a carpet of Mesembryanthemum, edged with Sedum carnea, and dotted with pink geraniums and iresine. The fourth shows a carpet of torenia, edged with yellow Alternanthera and dotted with snow-storm petunia and Champaepence discantha.

One of the garden walks

Part of the formal garden

 The remainder of the beds which complete the English garden are first a flanking bed, one hundred feet long, carpeted with blue verbenas, edged with dwarf white petunias, and dotted with Dantura Wrightii. A second bed, thirty feet in extent, is planted with tall yellow and edged with dwarf yellow Antirrhinum and dotted with King Humbert canna.  A third bed, seventy feet in extent, is carpeted with orange gaillardias, edged with orange nemesia, and dotted with blue salpiglossis. A fourth bed, one hundred feet long, shows a carpet of pink Antirrhinum, with edging of pink saponaria, dotted with Richard Wallace canna. A fifth bed, measuring thirty feet, has a carpet and edge of crimson nemesia, dotted with Cleome pungens. The sixth and seventh beds, arranged on each side of the rockery path, are planted alike and consist of a carpet of dwarf white petunias, dotted with Salvia patens and edged with dwarf white Verbena and white saponaria, alternating.

 The rockery was constructed with stones and boulders taken from the estate as the work proceeded. The plantings are arranged in blocks and drifts and average about one hundred plants of a given kind to each block, including a choice array of alpines.

The naturlesque garden

 The water garden is arranged partially inside the rockery. It is sixty feet long, and in shape is like the figure eight, with a rustic bridge across the narrow part. One portion is planted with hardy lilies, and the other part with tender lilies. To the southwest of all, and contiguous to the river, is the thatched summer house.

 The gardens were designed by John S. Critchley, who also directed the execution of the work.

A rustic tea house with thatched roof, overlooking "Riverbend", the George E. Barnard estate at Ipswich, Mass. This type of roof, so common in the Old World, is seldom used here because of its inflammability, but there is little danger of fire in a building so detached, and it is a pleasure to be able to use a material as beautifully appropriate in color and texture as thatch. Country Life in America

 Click HERE for more on "Riverbend". 

George E. Barnard's Estate At Ipswich, Massachusetts.

 The history of the Hunnewell prize is as follows: H. Hollis Hunnewell, a prominent banker of Boston and the owner of a fine estate in one of its suburbs, gave a fund to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society***around 1882***, the income of which was to be used for the encouragement of garden planting and the adornment and beautifying of private estates.

H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium Cup

 The prize, which is awarded every third year, is considered very desirable by the owners of fine estates, not so much for any pecuniary value, but from the laudable and justifiable pride in keeping up an estate in the condition which the award requires.

 The H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premiums are awarded for an estate of not less than three acres, which shall be laid out with the most taste, planted most judiciously and kept in the best order for three consecutive years. The Committee on Gardens visit the various estates entered for the prize twice a year and on the third year make their report. American Hatter 1902

 ***Barnard first entered in the year 1908. Below are the notes from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society  on their successive visits ending with the gardens of "Riverbend" wining the prize three years later in 1910.

1908 -  June 15 the committee visited the extensive estate of George E. Barnard at Ipswich which had been entered for the H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium. This estate, comprising about sixty acres, is being transformed from a typical old New England farm into a modern country seat and the committee witnessed the results of the first twelve months' improvements. Long ranges of flower borders edged the lawns around the house and above these on the sloping hillside was planted a great variety of hardy coniferous shrubs and trees, including many of the variegated-leaved forms, hardly less attractive in coloring than the flowers of the garden borders. Foxgloves, larkspurs, sweetwilliams and yellow pansies were the conspicuous elements of the floral display on the occasion of the committee's visit and masses of the golden Syringa were also a notable feature of the garden arrangement.

 In the rear of the house and sloping gradually to the Ipswich River were the areas devoted to the vegetable and fruit gardens, the orchard of dwarf fruit trees, comprising apples, pears, plums, and cherries, and a water garden and rockery; all giving promise of abundant returns. Although many fine old trees adorned the estate Mr. Barnard has planted several thousand pines and spruces on the adjacent hillsides which will prove an attractive feature in his plan of improvement.

 The committee will await the further development of this estate with much interest.

 ***It was noted "The Estate of George E. Barnard of Ipswich was favorably reported for the first year of entry for the H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium."

1909 - July 8 the committee again visited the notable estate of George E. Barnard at Ipswich, now in its second year of entry for the H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium.

 Several changes in the arrangement of the grounds about the house have been made since the visit of last season showing Mr. Barnard's careful study of the problem attending the complete development of his estate. The long lines of flower borders with their background of green foliage formed a pleasing picture and the extraordinary neatness of the entire place drew forth many complimentary expressions of approval. The flower, vegetable, and fruit gardens, and the exceptionally well-arranged rockery and water garden were all inspected with interest by the members of the committee.

 Mr. Barnard is much interested in the development and horticultural adornment of his estate and the result thus far shows intelligent supervision and excellent taste, supplemented by the careful work of the head gardener, John S. Critchley.

 On August 24 a second visit was made for the purpose of inspecting the vegetable gardens which were found in most satisfactory condition.

  ***Again it was noted  "The estate of George E. Barnard at Ipswich was reported favorably for the second year of the H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium."

1910 - August 19 the committee again had the pleasure of visiting "Riverbend," the interesting estate of Mr. George E. Barnard at Ipswich.The display of herbaceous flowering plants exceeded anything the members of the committee had seen the present season and produced a brilliant color effect. Amongst the masses of flowering plants were numerous specimens rarely met with in our gardens and the ramble along the grassy paths of the flower beds was interesting and instructive.

"RIVERBEND" THE GEORGE EDWARD BARNARD ESTATE

 The rose garden of unique scroll-work design, the water and rock gardens, and the vegetable gardens were all inspected and the whole estate was one that the committee has no hesitancy in holding up as a model worthy of the Society's approval.

 In addition to the floricultural features the plantations of coniferous trees in great variety were noteworthy. Among these were many of the golden variegated forms, planted in masses, which give a touch of brightness to the landscape after the season of flowers is passed.

"RIVERBEND" THE GEORGE EDWARD BARNARD ESTATE

 This is the third and final year of entry of this estate for the Hunnewell Triennial Premium which the committee awards to it. The personal interest of Mr. Barnard in the general supervision of his place and the fine taste shown in its development have been very pleasing to the members of the committee, who also recognize that the successful accomplishment of the ideas of the owner of such an estate depends in large measure upon the ability of the person employed to carry out his plans.

 The committee feels that a great deal of credit is due to the superintendent of the estate, Mr. John S. Critchley, for his part in the work, which has required a high degree of horticultural skill and knowledge.


H. H. Hunnewell Triennial Premium - For an estate of not less than three acres which shall be laid out with the most taste, planted most judiciously, and kept in the best order for three consecutive years:

First, George E. Barnard, Ipswich     .... $160.00



***The following year the Society visited twice - The first visit of the season was made on June 1 to the estate of George E. Barnard at Ipswich, Massachusetts, to inspect his gardens of spring-flowering plants. Although the season had been very unfavorable thus far on account of the unusual lack of rain during the past two months, the numerous gardens on the estate proved well worth a visit.

 The most noticeable change made in the grounds since the committee's inspection of the previous year is the extension of the rock garden. This has been carried up on the adjoining hillside and a structure erected composed of large rocks making it the most conspicuous feature of the estate.

 A miniature rocky ravine, thickly bordered with Osmunda ferns, through which flows a stream of water from the height above, adds much to the effect and when the present plantings of hardy perennial shrubs and herbaceous flowering plants cover the rocky mass it will be a model rock garden.

 On the upper slope of the hill forming a suitable background for the rockery is a row of spruces and the lower slopes are filled in with a collection of rhododendrons and azaleas now in fine flower. Although lacking as yet the finish which will be added when the rocky bank is covered with flowers and foliage the whole scheme is effective and promises to make this estate a notable one on the North Shore.

 To the head gardener. John S. Critchley credit is due for the skill and taste displayed in bringing to a completion this notable undertaking. Conspicuous among the masses of flowering plants in the various gardens were Lychnis riscaria, Hesperus matronalis, in white and purple. Kerria japonica, Deutzia Lemoinei, Azalea mollis, yellow alyssum. columbines, in blue, white, and yellow, irises, lupins, geraniums, pansies and zinnias.

 On September 7 the committee again visited the gardens of George E. Barnard at Ipswich and found them brilliant with the flowering of the early autumn. The velvety lawns bordered with masses of flowering plants showed the refreshing influence of the recent rains and the various vegetable and fruit sections were in their usual fine condition.

 The rock garden was very well covered for the first year and the water garden was an attractive feature of the estate. The double row of fruit trees grown en espalier along one of the main paths showed a high degree of skill in producing the results obtained and the condition of the entire estate, which has become a notable one in this region, reflected credit both upon the owner for his horticultural enthusiasm and upon the head gardener John S. Critchley for his professional ability in carrying out the work.

Click HERE to see the remnants of the gardens from "Riverbend".

Country House of Character - "Coeur De Reve"

 What constitutes the perfect country house? Country Life asked this question of several of the leading architects in New York, and asked them to indicate some country houses which they had designed and which, in their opinion, made them distinctive from other houses. It was to make no difference whether the house were a marble palace at some fashionable watering place or a tiny bungalow in the foothills of the mountains. So long as the architect considered it a good example of a country house and, in his opinion it had character, that was all that we asked. ***1919***

                                                   ***Below is the selection chosen by Architect Aymar Embury II***

 COUNTRY LIFE has asked me for the drawings of the best house I ever built.   Alas!   I have never built my "best," house, because always limiting conditions of cost, of site of accommodation, and again of cost, have made the house less attractive than I wanted it to be.

 Last winter, after the Armistice, I found myself practically without any occupation except to stand reveille and retreat and make an occasional inspection of quarters, with nothing to read and without leave, and it seemed to me that this was the time for which I had always been hoping, when I should have sufficient leisure to design a house just to please myself. "Coeur de Reve' is that house.

 I assumed it was to be built for just two people and their guest; that one would enter from the street side on the north and that the south side would be reserved for a garden and space to play in. This is the way I think the ideal house should be. Being in France  I  naturally turned to French cottage architecture for precedent, for there is nothing in the world so lovely as the old country architecture of France except that of England; they are very alike.

PLAN OF GROUND FLOOR

 The most important thing in any house is the living room. I have always wanted a living room that should be long and narrow with a fireplace at one end without any openings each side of it, so that as one faces the fire there is no light in your eyes except the firelight and no openings toward you. The room would be very high; the windows on the street side would he high above the floor, but on the garden side there would be many low windows, some in an alcove near the fireplace and some beside the door to the garden. Across the end of the room opposite the fireplace would be a low balcony and below the balcony bookcases built into the wall. Into the living room would open the bed room so that when one might be too sleepy to sit up any longer one could tumble into bed without troubling to climb stairs, and this bed room is so arranged that in summer time the bed could be put at the breezy end of the room between the windows, and in the winter time out of draughts in the recess at the other end. Beside the bed room would be a good big dressing room with a fireplace and a door to the hall, so the maid could build a fire in the morning before you got up. The closets and bath room would open from this dressing room. Across the front of the house would run a long narrow corridor, shielding the living side from the street and at the end of the corridor opposite the living room would be the dining room, narrow and long with an alcove for the sideboard, and a refectory table and big mullioned windows opening to the garden. The house ought to have a good sized pantry, a kitchen, a maid's dining room, and a large closet with an outside window.

PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR

 Upstairs would be two guest rooms and baths, each facing out toward the garden and each with a separate stair from the landing leading to it. The maid quarters would have two rooms, bath, and closets.

 The outside I would build of terra cotta blocks and very rough stucco with occasional stones strengthening the corners and openings in the wall. The roof would be of heavy graduated slate and the wood work would be sandblasted hand-hewn oak, light gray brown in color. I would not spend much money on ornament because the perfect house is not too much ornamented, but I would spare no pains to get the color and texture of the walls and woodwork as perfect as could be imagined.

"COEUR DE REVE" Mr. Aymar Embury , II's, dream house

"Coeur de Reve" = "Heart of a Dream".

"Riverbend" - George E. Barnard Estate

***Starting with a 1641 land grant the area became known as the Anthony Potter Farm thru purchases and inheritance.....  Potter ownership terminated in 1857, when it passed into the hands of Asa Wade, who sold to Charles A. Campbell in 1894, and he convoyed to George E. Barnard in October, 1899. Under his hand, the house has been greatly enlarged, the grounds have been regraded, the great expanse from road to river has been transformed into an elaborate and beautiful garden, with an imposing rockery overlooking lawns and flower borders and the winding river. The name, "Riverbend", has been chosen very happily for this fine estate.*** Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 

 "RIVERBEND" THE GEORGE EDWARD BARNARD ESTATE
***AIGLON AERIAL PHOTOS***

 By Mary Harrod Northend 1915 - The combination of house and garden that is found on the  George E. Barnard estate of Ipswich, Massachusetts, is ideal and the result of many years of careful thought. The house was originally a small and unattractive farmhouse which contained only four rooms; it was dilapidated and forlorn in appearance and situated in the midst of uncultivated grounds. It was the location which attracted the present owner, for he saw here great possibilities for development; so he purchased the estate with a view of surrounding the house with gardens.

BEFORE REMODELING

 The house has been added to, a little at a time, by throwing out here a room and there a veranda, instead of completing the whole work at once. Vine-covered verandas now surround three sides of the house; the shrubbery has been well planted.

THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

THE HOUSE FROM THE TERRACE
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

From the time the garden was first started, it was the desire of the owner to paint in flowers what other people have painted on canvas. Steep hills that obstructed the view at the side of the house have been converted into gentle slopes; bare spots have been thickly planted, and colors have been combined so that there is no inharmonious note in the finished garden. Careful planning eliminated straight lines, but not even the slightest curve in a flower bed was made until after due consideration. The flowers were planted to fulfill, as near as possible, the scheme of a landscape picture, and each plant not in perfect harmony was removed. The effect as one sits on the veranda is like looking at an immense canvas, where the pictures change with every move, for the estate is a masterpiece of color and bloom, depicting a different phase of landscape on every side.

In remodeling the house, so many changes have been made that it is almost impossible to tell the manner in which the improvements were effected. There is not a room in the house but has been thoroughly changed, nor one that has not been enlarged. The service quarters are all new; they have been placed in the rear, where they do not intrude on the scheme that has been carried out in remodeling — that of making an attractive house in keeping with the setting of the grounds. The main house is at the front and has been kept in practically the same general style as when purchased. The entire rear portion of the house has been added a little at a time, until now it is most complete in each and every detail.

 Dormer windows have been let into the roof in order to give better lighting, and the wide verandas have been railed in, to provide an upstairs living-room, from which one gets the best views of the garden. The lower veranda is furnished with well-chosen willow furniture, each piece being carefully selected so that there are no two alike. It has been given a setting of ornamental bay-trees in green tubs and huge pottery vases filled with masses of bloom. The most attractive part of the veranda is at one side of the house, where it is paved with brick and lined on the one side with evergreen trees and on the other with scarlet geraniums.

 The hall or morning-room was a part of the original house. It is entered directly from the veranda and has been so treated as to present a different series of pictures from the time one enters the door until one leaves, each room which opens out of it being carefully designed for harmonious effects.

At the left of the room is the staircase which leads to the second-story floor. The low mahogany risers and treads contrast with the white balusters which are topped with a highly polished mahogany rail. Doors have been removed so that the adjoining rooms are glimpsed as one enters from the veranda. This room is hung with a Colonial paper showing delicately tinted red flowers against a gray background, and its beauty is heightened by the leaded glass windows of the china closet at the right and the simple fireplace with its brass accessories. Every bit of furniture here is old Colonial and is upholstered in green to match the color of the hangings. A long French window opens on to the veranda and gives glimpses of the beautiful gardens. The upper portions of the old cupboards that were in the house have been glassed in. The floors have had to be relaid.

 Particularly noticeable is the den which is at the left of the hallway. Here the color scheme is green, the walls being covered with textile; the wainscot is painted white, and the hangings at the window brighten the plain effect of the wall treatment. There is no crowding of furniture, but a dignified atmosphere pervades the entire room. It is an apartment such as one loves to find — quiet and restful. These two rooms occupy the entire front of the house.

THE PERGOLA-PORCH
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

THE HALL
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

Opening from the hall is a long reception-room which was originally a part of the old house and which shows two rooms thrown into one, with an addition at the end nearest the avenue. This is done in old blue velour and is furnished in mahogany. The plain tint of the wall gives an admirable background to the fine old pictures which hang here and there. Every piece of furniture in this room is Colonial. Ionic columns outline the wide double windows. Light and air have been carefully considered in the remodeling of the entire house and have particularly been sought in designing this room, as is shown by the many windows on either side. At the farther end, to one side, a French window leads to a glassed-in veranda which is used for a breakfast-room.

THE ALCOVE IN THE LIVING-ROOM
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

***LONG VIEW OF MIDDLE ROOM***
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

 This room is a feature of the house, for it has been set in the middle of the terraced grounds that lie at the side of the house, so that one can get the full benefit of the picture garden with the slope of the hill beyond rising to meet the blue of the horizon.

In the reception-room, as in every room in the house, wooden doors have been removed and replaced by glass ones which act as windows to reveal the room beyond. It is a most unusual treatment, — this picture idea carried out inside as well as outside of the house, — for there is no spot in the whole interior where you do not get a vista of some kind.

 Beyond the reception-room is the dining-room. This, too, is a long, narrow room and has been added since the house was purchased, but so fitted in that it is seemingly a part of the old house. This room is divided into a dining and a breakfast-room and is used during inclement weather. Heavy draperies make it possible to shut the rooms off from each other if desired. The entire end of the breakfast-room has been given up to groups of long French windows which are repeated on either side, making a wide bay window. Here again has the picture effect been carried out, for the windows act as a frame to the mass of harmonious blossoms beyond, with their setting of green.

 The dining-room proper has a paneled Colonial landscape paper; the furniture is of the Empire period, while at the farther end of the room have been let in on either side of the long windows an attractive china closet. Here, as in every room in the house, we find wainscot and the same use of white paint.

***DINING-ROOM SHOWING CORNER CUPBOARDS***
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

At the rear of this dining-room are the service quarters which consist of a large, sanitary, and well-equipped kitchen, butlers' pantries, servants' dining-room and sitting-room. The chambers in the second story are entirely separate from the rest of the house.

 The second floor shows at the right of the staircase a most delightful morning-room which is large and square with an open fireplace. This is a particularly attractive room, for it commands magnificent views. The rest of the house is given over to chambers which are laid out in suites and furnished with old-time furniture.

 There is an atmosphere about this remodeled farmhouse that is refreshing and most unusual. It has taken years to satisfactorily develop the owner's idea of combining house and garden in one harmonious color scheme. In the exterior this is changed each year, the favorite combination being lavender and white. This is attained by the use of heliotrope and sweet alyssum which outline the terraced wall and which show a carpet of green for central effect. 

 The veranda is a harmony of green and white which is carried out in the awnings, the foliage, the willow furniture, and the white of the exterior and the balustrade. In the interior there is not a jumble of different colorings, and the rooms have been so arranged that they present a series of pictures brought about by the use of plain colors that perfectly blend. This has not been the work of a day or a year, but of ten years of careful study and is one of the most instructive lessons for those who are planning to remodel an old farmhouse and to introduce into its interior finish harmonious, restful, color schemes. 

Mary Harrod Northend was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the daughter of William D. and Susan Stedman Harrod Northend and a descendant of several old Massachusetts families.  She suffered from poor health during her childhood and was not able to attend school regularly.  Even so, she became interested in writing, honed her skills, and became a very prolific and popular author.  She wrote on a wide variety of topics, mostly for magazines, but also penned eleven books.  Miss Northend was a noted authority on colonial architecture and customs and had many photographs taken of old homes and antiques to illustrate her articles and books. Reportedly, she left a collection of over 30,000 pictures when she died.  She died in her native Salem in 1926 from an operation necessitated by an automobile accident. The Winterthur Library

THE DEN
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

THE DINING-ROOM
THE GEORGE E. BARNARD HOUSE

***"RIVERBEND" THE RESIDENCE OF GEORGE EDWARD BARNARD***

George Edward Barnard was a manufacturer of fine shoes and slippers with factories in Lynn, Massachusetts. 

Opened in 1949 as a restaurant by Jane Marchisio, the Marguery Restaurant became one of the finest eating places on the North Shore. After a number of suspicious small fires under new owners, it was totally gutted by fire in September 1975. Only the parking lot remains on County Road. 

Ipswich Revisited  By William M. Varrell

THE MARGUERY RESTAURANT - IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS

"Considered one of the ten finest restaurants in the country."

ELIZABETHAN ROOM - THE MARGUERY RESTAURANT - IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS

"Considered one of the ten finest restaurants in the country."

THE FRENCH ROOM - THE MARGUERY RESTAURANT - IPSWICH, MASSACHUSETTS
***SHOWING CORNER CUPBOARDS***

Click HERE to see "Riverbend" extant in 1938 - follow date to 1971 to see the Marguery Restaurant before it burned.

Property currently for sale - click HERE. An assisted living development has been proposed.