The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-24

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Mr.. and Mrs. William Ashton, o.
4O11 st. Johns street, Kansas City, an
nounce the engagement of their daugh'
ter, Julia, to Mr.. William Hartford
Norton, of st. Paul, Minnesota.
The announcement is interesting tc
many Topeka people, for Miss Ashton
is the niece of DR.. and Mrs. George
Port Ashton, of 931 Topeka avenue, and
she has visited in Topeka and met a
good many of the friends of her rela-
tives here. She visited at the Ashton
nome few months ago, and was en-
tertained at a number of parties at
that time. She is an unusually pretty
girl, and is attractive and winning. Her
marriage to Mr.. Norton will be solen-
nized July Is. at quiet wedding which
VIII be attended by relatives and a few
close friends. DR.. and Mrs. Ashton ex-
| pect to go to Kansas City for the event
Mr. Norton is in the banking business
in st. Paul, and he and his bride will
go to that city to make their home.
j. j. -
| The day of the Queen Anne house,
with its spindling. pretentious towers,
small i'll lighted rooms and stuffy all
coves, and its gingerbread porches
| and frowsy back yards, has passed
! and the houses are now built to live in.
| one of the most attractive of the new
town houses which is an exponent of
the newest ideas in house building, is
the recently completed home of Mr..
and Mrs. Norman Wear The Wears
had their own ideas about the kind
of a house they wanted, and they made
their own plans. The house is not one
of the large dwellings of the city, but
1t combines perfect comfort and the
/ beauty of taste and dignity.
The house is of dark vitrified brick
with green tile roof. There is no front
entrance. and the wide porch across
three-fourths of the front of the house
is entered through French doors from
the living room. There is an obscure
stoop at the back of the veranda lead
ing to the garden at the rear of the
house. for the use of the family. The
walk leads to an entrance at the north
of the house. This entrance has a
stone bench across one end, and on the
high post at the back is a shaded light.
The door leads into the hall, which is
given an appearance of Spaciousness
because three rooms open off from it
by large glass DOORS loaded with cop
per. The hall is approached by a de |
pressed entrance" from which two
steps lead into the main hall. The idea
was Mrs. Wears. and her purpose was |
to keep the drafts from the floor. At
the left of the hall is the living room, |
an immense room, running the full |
width of the house. 1t is furnished in
oak of the early English finish which |
matches the wood work. The lighting
all over the house is of the indirect |
sytem. Clusters of incandescent bulbs, |
with ref1ectors. are arranged in bowls |
in an old ivory shade, and the effect |
is entirely without glare or shadows,
but gives the sense of a soft glow of
sunlight. For more brilliant lighting,
there are rows of shaded electric bulbs
along the sides of the wall. The walls
are in tan. with an excellent back
ground for pictures, and the rugs are in
soft, restful shades. The veranda has
a stone coping around it, which gives
the porch an air of seclusion.
At the end of the hall is the den.
with books and tables, and a door in
the south opens into pergola, over
which will be trained Dorothy Perkins
roses. The dining room, is beautifully
lighted with a row of windows along
The side. The walls are in green tapes
-ry, and the light over the table is set
n a transparent bowl On the west of
he dining room, is an outdoor break
last and luncheon room. 1t is entirely
screened and we'll shaded, and is fur
lished in green. The crex rug and the
wicker table and chairs, all in green,
larmoniZe beautifully with the out-of-
loor atmosphere of the little room.
The kitchen is the real housewives
paradise. 1t is all white, and the walls
lbove the thing wainscoting, are ce-
nent on which the hose could be turn
ID without injury to the finish. The cup
he kitchen is a pantry almost as large
IS the kitchen. The cupboards and I
ables there were made after Mrs.
Years own plan. A door from the
,antry leads to a small lavatory, and l
pening out of that room is a door into {
he back of the side entrance, so ar I
anged that the maid can answer the I
ell without going through the front Of
he house. ]
The rooms upstairs are large and all ]
a r
n gold color, and Miss Wears room I
as the silver. with a touch of pink and t
lue in it's wall decoration. The doors S
ave mirror panels, and one of the '
losets is large enough to be used as
sewing room. Under the shelves in V
he closets are rods on which hangers F
re placed for garments. Each room 4
as its own bath. Mrs. Wears room o
in delft blue, and is equipped with Ii
he usual furniture of a sleeping apart n
lent, except the bed; for opening off A
rom this room is a sleeping porch, o
lade with box windows. so that it can ]
e comfortably occupied all the year, T
nd out there, white iron cots stand in d
row, looking as clean and hygienic y
S a row of sapoIio bars. \
The lady of the house had another y
lea strictly her own about the fire. n
lace and that was a tapestry hearth e.
match the mantel, instead of a tile ii
earth. 1t adds greatly to the general
armony of the finishing in the room in
hich there is not one Earring note. a
Altogether, the home is one of that g
Irable quality that time and weather O.
i'll not mar; it is arranged so that the Y
,cupantS can spend much of their N
me out of doors, a treat that people a
re coming to know and cherish more
nd more in this climate with its long
lmmer season, and it was planned to b
eet supremacy the needs of those who CT
,end most of their time in 1t and to =
as much as a home may, to
lie comfort and enjoyment of its /
vners. III