Evening star., 1929-12-14

Underoak, the home of Mr.. and Mrs.
Scott E. Welker, at 4420 Nebraska ave-
nue., one of WaShington'S interesting
residences. is a concrete illustration of
the principle of planning a house to
suit its site. Here the outline of the
ing and garden walls were wrapped"
around huge and venerable oak tree
on the site.
The home, designed by Victor Min
deleff, a fellow of the American Insti-
tute of Architects and past president
of the local chapter of the institute,
is marked by low, rambling roof lines,
which leave the tall oak as the pre-
siding spirit of the place. The building
has characteristics of many of the older
English and Norman farm houses.
Has Three Street FrontageS.
The residence is situated on an ex-
tensive lot with three street frontages,
and from the site there is an extensive
panorama of the Virginia hills across
the Potomac, which was considered in
the placement of the building.
The following detailed description of
the development is given by Mr.. Min
deleff;
"The conditions of the situation and
the triangular form of the lot made it
perhaps more than ordinarily necessary
to treat house and grounds as unit,
one factor of so dominant character
that it was at once recognized as en-
titled to control the whole situation;
huge oak tree.
"The architect could do little more
than wrap the modest home and gar
den wall around the feet of this preSid-
ing spirit and subordinate the long low
roofs to the vaster shelter of the tree.
There remained the task of meeting the
needs of modern life with as little Of
fense as possible to the majestic note
determined by the tree, in a spirit OF
simplicity.
1.-The angle of the avenue suggested
the prayer rug form of the grass panel,
100x200 feet in size, to the east, the
more private portion Of the grounds.
The south lawn was acquired later for
protection and as setting for the
tree and house group. South OF the liv-
ing wing is the intimate walled garden,
with roses and perennials and the IA
vorite flowers of the owners. Some
day it may contain pool and basin,
with few water lily blooms and leaves.
Exposed Rafters Introduced.
"The living room has bookcases, cup
boards and fireplace to the north, with
with either the freight or with the
large bay window commanding the
western view. The owners room, with
a book and desk alcove, the former with
a western view and the latter with an
inside view toward the grass panel by
way of the east porch, occupy the south
end of the main part of the house. Re
turning to the hall, on either side are
the five-foot openings into the living
room and into the dining room. Look
ing into the latter, the ceiling Is open
to the ridge, with exposed rafters. A
high group of short steel easements,
with loaded glass in bulls eyes, visible
in the illustration of this room, is on
the north side, while much taller
group with clear glass occupies the
south or garden side of the room. A
pantry, well lighted from each END,
leads to the spacious kitchen, which
also is open to the ridge, but smoothly
plastered instead of showing exposed
rafterS.
''This brings us to the arched pas
sageway, which on one side gives ac-
cess to the kitchen and on the other
to the boiler room and to the laundry,
which in turn leads to dirt-hoored
root cellar or half cellar, a few steps
lower down. This shows, with its roof
descending nearly to the ground. The
boiler room is in the ground, deep
enough to secure proper circulation tor
the hot-water system of heat, equipped
with a gas-fired boiler.
This room extends full height to the
slope of the service wing roof, afford
ing ample light and air. Beyond Is the
garage, also showing it's loft gable of
brick. The end of this wing is occu-
pied by mans room and bath and a
room for tools. The latter Is supple
mented in use by the small tool house
at the end of the brick garden wall,
emphasizing the end of the brick-1n-
closed intimate garden.
Plain Window Trim.
Returning to the hall, flight of
stairs leads to the second story. The
balusters are alternate plain and twisted
bar iron. topped with a small wood rail
of the same gray finish. The windows
are all easement, and as there are no
weight boxes to cover, the door and
window trim throughout is quite mar
row (about 2 inches) and, in some
cases, perfectly plain.
THE second floor has three rooms;
two of these are open to the ridge, as
illustrated, and one. in the center, has
| full-height level ceiling. Each end
room has supplementary high win
dow between f1ues, and the soffit has
| ventilating opening into the chimney
hood in addition arranged to open or
close. according to season. All ceilings
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