New-York tribune., 1902-11-16
HOW THE HOUSE WILL LOOK
MODELS IN MINIATURE A NEW DEVICE
OF ARCHITECTS TO PREVENT DIS
APPOINTMENT OF OWNERS.

He has spent fortune on that mousse ano
yet he can't stand the sight of it, remarked
Tifth-ave architect yesterday after his client
lad shut the door behind him. we drew the
most elaborate plans, let him study them, and
consult with his wife and all his relatives-not
heIs-and yet when the house was completed
he said it was an eyesore. He will only live IN II
I; year So you mark my word. Then he'll
either die in his palace sell it let it stand
like a tomb, with its thousand dollar windows
boarded up with rough timbers It's the old
story"
What this architect has said is true of a great
many palatial houses which have been built in
this city. The owner in most cases has come to
that stage in life when he wants to settle down
and have "A home which will suit his every wish
and Whim. Cost is Of secondary consideration.
The struggle for his wealth may have been
long and bitter but that is now and he Is
rich
Such man employs an architect, gives him
sort of hazy idea of his ideal mansion. and tells
him to go to work The architect draws, accord
ing to his impulse and then turns his ideas
over to a staff of assistants TO work out the
plans in detail. This task is long and tedious.
The owner after dropping into the Office and
suggesting this change or that. to the considera-
BILE inconvenience Of the architect, at last sees
the completed plans and comes to believe that
they perfect.
He takes the plans home. and his wife pores
over them More changes are recommended
to the architect. Other plans are taken home.
and at last the rich man and his wife think
they are satisfied. and talk Of the happiness
they will have In the new house. how their city
friends viii congratulate them, their coun-
try cousins cape and stare at the new magnih-
cence
The house is built and then comes the anti
climax Somehow it doesn't look like those
brightly tinted water color plans. Its roof looks
squatty. There Is a gloomy shadow hanging
about each window and DOOR Their new neigh
bors In the exclusive district into which they
have moved look at the gorgeous failure. and
tattlers bring to their ears such criticisms as:
Smiths new house looks like morgue."
How those upstarts must feel, when they
look at that trap of house!'
They spent million it, Now they'd sell
it for what the bathroom cost"
That's just the kind of a house to die in
And many a millionaire does die. or sells
out let's the palace that he had dreamed
OF moulder away into ruin.
For the purpose of preventing such disap-
JointHents method has recently been in
trOduced by certain architects of this city by
which an owner sees his prospective home erect
ed in wax or plaster before the workmen begin
Oh the actual house. The architect, after the
owner signifies his acceptance Of the plans, turns
tnem over TO n sculptor. miniature is then
made. Cornices. balustrades. porticos corbels,
gargoyles and all the other kinds of ornamental
ton that are employed in the establishment of
The building ali reproduced although some .
small to require Il needle with which
TO chse them.
An Illustration Of this method is to be found In
the plaster model of the house which is to be
built at MadisOn-ave. and Thrty-seventh- for
Captain J. r. De Ia Mar, who made a fortune
in Western mines The miniature has a height
Of three feet, is three feet wide and two feet
deep. The plans from which it made were
drawn by c. +. II. Gilbert, the architect of No
LIB Broadway julius c. LoesteT, of No. 349
East One-hundred and -third-st.. is the sculptor.
Every detail of the house is elaborately brought
into relief in the plaster, from the American
b. sement entrance to the French roof The cost
OF the plaster model, it is estimated, would build
an ordinary frame house, such many a New
York cOmmuter is proud to dwell in. The house
i,sef will cost over $5O0,OOO.
Ihe interior of the model consists of a steel