Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-28

| RESIDENCE OF MR.. MAY-OTHER NEW HOUSES
| THAT ARE BEING BUILT.
| A HOUSE OF INGENIOUS DESIGN Is
"A being built on Corcoran street between
! 18th and lSth streets. IL occupies one Of those
lots Of peculiar shape and size that some times
! remain remnants when a large block has
| been subdivided. This lot left with only
4Gs square feet within its bounds. but fortu-
natey there was an alley II feet wide at the
side. which. however. followed the line of New
/ Hampshire avenue, with the result that the lot
is right-augled triangle. The line of the
alley formed the hypothenuse. One of the
sides is on Corcoran street, giving frontage of
26 feet. The other leg OF the triangle is SO feet
long, which represents pretty well the depth of
the lot except that several feet are
lost by reason of the narrowness
| of the apex. The question to whether it was
| practicable to build q house this lot OK
rather whether practical house could be built
! has been solved by the architect, Mr.. Glenn
| Brown. and the owner, Mrs. Herwig. who has
lived in China and therefore has had acme ex-
perience with compact houses. As the build
! ing regulations do not permit projections from
| the ground floor on a street of the width of
| Corcoran street or on an alley that method OF
increasing the size of the building space was
not available. However, the plan that is being
| carried ont provides for an English basement
| house. From the top of the basement story
the projections begin and are carried to the
roof. At the corner there is, of course. tower
! and each side projections. which are
built of copper. On the basement floor
I there is reception hall . feet wide
and ~ feet long. 1t contains the stair
! case. which leads to the first foor and into
central nall 6xl5 feet. This hall separates the
dining room in the from the parlor and
/ library in front. The latter is the tower room
and is mainly. as might be supposed. III the
| tower. Sufficient space is obtained, counting
| the projection to make parlor 12xlO feet.
| Including the space added by the projection
the dining room is l3x13 feet. The SANE plan
/ is followed on the second floor, where there are
tire, chambers. bath room and closets III
every room. On the third floor there are two
bed rooms. with the kitchen in the rear. The
apex of the triangle il utilized by placing there
the dumb waiter, which runs up TO the kitchen.
From the alley there is an opening into the
shaft containing the waiter. The market men
| and others delivering goods can drive down
the alley. place their goods on the dumb waiter
and ringing a bell which calls the attention of
the domestics in the kitchen in the third story,
the waiter be drawn up. The rear part of
the basement floor, which is separated from the
front portion by brick wall. is designed for
stable. There is room for one horse and car
riage. Provision is also made for coal stor-
age place in the basement. The house Is to be
heated by a latrobe which is in the entrance
hall and by CRATE in the dining room. The
latter is So arranged as TO heat the rooms on
the upper floors. The exterior of the house
presents quite an imposing appearance with its
tower and projections and high roof. 1t is,
however. one of the smallest houses ever
erected in this city. The effect OF the interior
arrangement is such as to avoid the cramped
look which the small size of the rooms would
| have If there was no provision made for
vista from one end of the house to the other
through connecting door ways.
Mr. MAYS RESIDENCE
A fine example of the colonial style of srchi-
lecture will be presented in the residence
which Mr. Frederic May will build on Rhode
Island avenue between 14th and 18th streets.
The house Will be large and will be finely fin-
ished 1t will have the generous frontage of 43
feet and depth of more than 80 feet. Red
brick and Ohio stone will be the materials used.
The feature of the design of the front. which
was drawn by Harvey L. Page. architect, is the
rounded portico at the main entrance. which
is finished above as projection, terminating in
thu third story with open balcony. This
| feature is purely colonial The pillars of the
portico are of stone of the Doric order, while
| those above. separating the windows of
| fluted stone OF the Corinthian order A balus-
trade ornaments the balcony and the window
| opening out on il is triple. with an ornamental
head. Between the second and third story is
| broad frieze of stone, which is designed
| 10 be enriched with carvings The cornice is
straight, of simple design and there is reced-
| ing roof. The stone architraves of the windows
| i'll the second story are pointed. while those in
| the other stories are straight. The house has
| an English basement and effective feature of
| the main entrance is the rounding of the open
vestibule as to complete the semi-circle OF
| the porch. A portion of the front recedes from
| the building line. forming a court into which
| the windows OF The various rooms open. The
| interior Is spacious and Is to be elegantly
| finished and decorated. On the basement floor
| will be the entrance hail. the staircase hall,
L.
| parlors. "a central hall and dining room will
| be ON the first floor. One OF the parlors will
| be finished in the style of Louis XVI The
| other i'll the style of the empire. The dining
school. while the halls will follow the taste Of
the Dutch renaissance. Hard woods will be
| used in the finish.
| LARGE AND SMALL HOUSES.
1t sometimes happens that man in building
house does not always adopt plan that suits
entirely his own ideas. He may have small
! family and does not need great array Of rooms.
4 But that is not sufficient reason to lead him
| to build small house. He is apt to think OF the
future and the probability OF some day desiring
TO sell the house, and he therefore selects plan
which he thinks will be acceptable to others.
| He adds to the height and depth SO that his
house will be as commodious those OF his
| neighbors. 1t IL, therefore, not uncommon TO
/ lind family occupying o three or four-story
house when a two-story house would suit
| their needs much better. This policy is
so general that it is autobiography in
| what is regarded as the fashionable resident
sections OF the city-to ind q small house.
There is, however, demand for such houses
and this demand Will continue until builders
| are able to be independent enough to follow
their ideas rather than to build as deep
and as high their neighbours. On the other
hand those who really need large houses
! sometimes puzzled to know how to build
residence Of the required proportions on an
| inside lot Of the average width Of a city lot. A
deep house an inside lot Is apt 70 have some
rooms insufEcicntly lighted and ventilated
Tins difficulty has been overcome in such q
| house the ono recently built by Mr. Barney
on Rhode Island avenue. In this case there are
practically two houses built ID the rear Of
the other and separated by a court yard. They
| are connected together by rooms or passage
ways, which in the Barney house are utilized
on the parlor floor art gallery. With
this style of building deep lots are of course to
| be preferred to shallow ones.
| MN. sKErAnp's RESIDENCE.
| The residence of Mr.. Robert r. Shepard on
18th street between Massachusetts, avenue and N
street il rather unique in style. The southern
exposure 10 broken by projections and its high
red roof Is irregular in shape with dormer win
dows and corner oriel finished with a tower.
The front Is at an angle TO the building line and
gives the effect OF square projection. The
unusual form designed By the architects,
Mcssrs. Barry, Simpson d Andrews. was partly
to adapt the house W the lot, which 10 irregular