The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-01-29
HER wv ARCHITECT.
Mrs. Gardner Took Active Part in the
Building of Fenway Court.

Mrs. Gardner Took Active Part in the
Building of Fenway Court.
From Sylvester Bakers An Amer
lean Palace Of Art" in the January
Century: This house realizes a long
cherished intention. Mrs. Gardner
planned it years ago as a city home for
herself that would securely shelter, and
at h same time set forth to their best
advantage, amid appropriate surround
1ngs, her invaluable collections of art.
! h herself drew the plans to scale, but
| when made these were intended for q
house considerably smaller. When the
time came to build, the opportunity pre-
scented itself to secure lar fronting on
the Fens-a site of remarkable beauty,
peculiarly adapted to the specific pur-
pose In View-at real estate values that
made possible a much larger house than
originally had seemed practicable. So
the dimensions at first planned for were
merely expanded, making the rooms
much larger, and consequently more
effective in a greater stateliness. The
| building of Fenway Court, and the
choice of a neighboring site for the new
| Museum Of Fine Arts, were the chief
factors in setting the seal OF social APP
prevail upon the new quarter Of Boston.
Until then the future Of the locality,
Notwithstanding its inherent attractive
ness, had been somewhat in doubt.
Fenway court was not only planned
by its owner; in a way, she was an &C
tual builder Of the house to an extent
probably unprecedented in association
| with the execution of plans Of such
magnitude and scope. Virtually Mrs.
Gardner was her own architect: the
gentleman who so admirably served
her In that capacity occupied himself
chiefly with the engineering aspects Of
| fhn NI-nJl- Mot n fnnf e, l.. }1,o 5,cicr,
was carried out, not a stone was placed
In position, except in her presence. The
disposition Of important features was
changed again and again, until just
the effects aimed at We're secured. Win
dow-openings In the walls of the court,
for instance, We're changed In position,
and now raised q few inches, perhaps,
and now lowered, until the right bal
ance in the design was obtained.
In the building of her house, Mrs.
Gardner not only supervised the work;
to no slight extent, She lent her own
hands to the task, taking actual part
in the mason work, the plastering, the
carpentry, n In the carrying out Of
multitudinous details. In various re-
spects u American worker in the
building trades are esteemed the most
Intelligent, most energetic and most
capable in the world. Their excellence,
however. consists largely in the faith
full carrying out, in ways that they have
been trained in, of the tasks laid before
them. In Italy and other Latin
tries, however, there Is a manner Of do.
ing such work that accords with the
spirit in which it was conceived, and
which, indeed. is absolutely essential
to the embodiment of that spirit. There
fore, since Fenway Court was con-
ceived In the Italian spirit, 1t was or
prime Importance that the n Of
its building should follow that spirit. To
secure this end was no small undertake.
ing. But during her long residence in
Italy Mrs. Gardner had taken close note
OF the way in which structural work
Of all kinds was done. And with much
difficulty, often by din Of actual dem.
onstration with her own hands, She
succeeded in getting things done that
way.