and Stearns; "Vinland," III. 5 Peabody 1882-1884. Newport, R.I., EIE Rotch and Tilden; "Chatwold," Mrs. G. B. Bowler Residence, Bar III. 6 Harbor, Me., C. 1883. p III III. 7 Rotch and Tilden; Detail of "Chatwold," Mrs. G. B. Bowler Residence, Bar Harbor, Me., C. 1883. PART III: SUBURBAN RESIDENCES 105 31. "Chatwold," G. B. Bowler residence, Bar Harbor, Me.; Rotch it was important in unifying the house vertically. Number 7 on the and Tilden, architects, 1883. One of the most popular watering plan marked the landing, affording a spectacular view of the sea places for New York, Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans soci- below through a wide wall of glass and studs. The meeting point ety, Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island was first discovered by of the two legs of the plan separated family space from servant American artists, among them Thomas Cole and Frederick Church, space, the latter identified on the exterior by "inferior" shingles. before the middle of the nineteenth century. In the 1880s it at- Arthur Rotch (1850-1894) and George Thomas Tilden (1845-1919) tracted the young searching for summer romances and intellec- formed their partnership in 1880 after excellent educations in tuals content to "walk and talk." Dances at the 500-room Rodicks Boston and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Designers pri- Hotel, built in 1882, drew 3,000 people twice a week. The moun- marily of houses, churches and educational buildings, the firm tains, sea and fine air encouraged an athletic and informal social was not one of the pacesetting offices of the 1880s, and Rotch is atmosphere. Mrs. Bowler's formidable house contradicts this gen- probably best remembered today for the scholarship bearing his eralization. Sheldon offered an explanation: "The effort has been family's name that has enabled architects under 30 to study abroad. to combine the solid attractions of a city home with the less solid attractions of a typical home by the seaside." The house, no longer CHILDRENS WING SERVANTS HALL extant, was illustrated frequently in the mid-1880s. Mariana van DINING ROOM 1 HALL Rensselaer praised the color worked into the exterior: rough gray DRAWING ROOM LIBRARY stone of the tower, gray granite walls with red granite trim, dark LANDING AND CONSERVATORY OVEN LAUNDRY red timbers separating light plaster sprinkled with red granite COCHERE KITCHEN pebbles, and dark stained roof shingles. The Deutsche Bauzeitung of September, 1887 was less complimentary. Admittedly pictur- esque, the house, dependent on English forerunners, did not show the expected independence of recent American designers. De- spite the strong influence of English half-timber architecture and the conglomeration of elements on the exterior, the plan of "Chat- wold" was unified and contemporary. Rotch and Tilden utilized the open planning of central heating brilliantly to create a vista, 80' long, through four principal rooms. The hall formed the shorter axis and linked the entrance porch with the rear piazza. Moreover, nhhhhh! 55 32. "Sunset Hall," Samuel P. Hinckley residence, Lawrence, than the hall of "Sunset Hall." Colors also contributed to the N.Y.; Lamb and Rich, architects, 1883. A builder in Lawrence, liveliness of both the exterior and the interior. The walls of the Hinckley created an unusual cluster of houses on his property in second story were highlighted with old gold and Indian red. Sev- the 1880s. Illustrated in the journal Building in September, 1888, eral gables were faced with colorful pebbles in plaster. Between they were all designed by Lamb and Rich and given names in- the brown-stained beams the ceiling of the hall was peacock blue, spired by nature- "Elm Hall," "Sunnyside," "Sunset Hall," the parlor was finished in gold and white, the den in blue and the "Meadow Bank" and "Briar Hill." Sheldon's comments on "Sun- wainscoting of the dining room painted a Brandon red. Hugo Lamb set Hall" are among his most perceptive in Artistic Country-Seats. (1848-1903) and Charles Alonzo Rich (1855-1943) formed their "Mr. Hinckley's house has the fundamental artistic quality of de- partnership shortly before the Hinckley house was built. Based pending for its effect not upon ornament, but upon the body of in New York City, the firm was well known for its larger public the edifice itself; not upon the added details, but upon the justness buildings, usually designed in robust variations of revival styles, of the proportion. The most representative architects of the and for its picturesque, if not defiantly expressive, designs for present era aim to find beauty less in added ornament than in such country houses. "Sunset Hall" no longer stands. qualities as unity, fitness, and the interdependence of parts." The horizontal movement of this long (114') clapboard and shingle exterior was created, in part, by the low ceilings-the second story was only 81/2 and the first slightly higher-the clearly marked lay- ers and the stubby chimneys. Through the diagonal vista that Pantry Kitchen. linked the major rooms, Rich echoed the generous sweep of the long facade. He employed several means to emphasize the breadth Divan. Parlor. Hall. of the first-floor spaces-beamed ceilings, fireplaces with 61/ Dining Room. Den. Laundry. openings and 11' mantels, the 7' opening between hall and dining room, the 8'-wide base of the stairway and the broad window seats and built-in divans that he included in every room. The light- weight colonial furniture sustained this low center of gravity and did not inhibit physically or psychologically the horizontal flow of space. Few halls in this series expressed American craftsman- ship in wood and the coziness of its function as a sitting room, or demonstrated the versatility of its central role in fluid space better