The American Home - home of Sibley Smith, Wakefield, R.I. | Rockwell DuMoulin, Architect

SHALL we journey now up to Rhode Island? Another stronghold of traditional Colonial architecture, we find some more "rebels" who, like the Aecks, cannot in any sense have offended their traditional surroundings, yet have achieved their own ideals of home for modern living. It is the home of the Sibley Smiths..

When we asked the Smiths if we might use their home in THE AMERICAN HOME, they wrote, "We are delighted that you like our house and wish to publish it. The fact that a popular magazine is appreciative of the virtues of honest, clean, contemporary architecture is very encouraging to those of us who have fought for this type of building for many years... The principal reason for the success of the house is probably the complete integration between the house and the site. The land flows from the house in soft undulating contours to the water, and the high-wooded south bank completes the framing of the picture. I have avoided in every way conventional landscaping which is all too often the superimposition of artificial, stilted forms over natural forms which are far more beautiful. It has been my idea that the unbroken skin of South County meadow, relieved by characteristic walls of the round glacial boulders of Rhode Island, would provide the most perfect setting for the house. I think it is also interesting that the terrace was provided by the massive foundations of a 1740 house. The stove of the old chimney was used in our own chimney which is really more of a rock wall with flues in it than a chimney. The scale and texture of the 1740 chimney were more or less followed, and the eight-foot drop from the terrace to the lower meadow exists because the 1740 farmer had his barn under one end of his house.

"The practical aspect of the orientation is indicated by the fact that except for the huge Magnalite window of the studio, all other north windows are merely 36" x 10" slits. We are thus well-protected against our winter northeasters and northwesters. The four-foot overhang over the living room windows excludes the high summer sun and on a sunny winter day, no matter how cold, makes the use of the furnace unnecessary.

"A feeling of space in the rather small living room was created by various means, one of the most important being the unbroken ceiling plane from the dining-room wall through the overhang projection. Even the living-room windows disappear into the plaster without stop or molding. The large glass area is screened by a flexible cutain of vertical wood strips hung from a track recessed in the ceiling."

WE pause to let you study the house and the plans, that you may fit Mr. Smith's sensible "explanation" into each and every elevation. And we interrupt his letter here, that the foregoing may receive proper emphasis for we feel that what follows is of the greatest importance to future home builders.

Mr. Smith writes on. "The architect-client relationship has been most exceptional. . . . I have seen too many houses ruined by the interference of the client. Outside of the exhaustive mutual study of the requirements of the program, Mr. Du Moulin was left strictly alone to design and execute the house. I wish you could persuade Mrs. Average Housewife that she is no more qualified to practice architectural design than surgery. One of the main reasons the American scene is dotted with architectural atrocities is the old attitude of "Well, we really designed the house and had the architect draw the blueprints."

Well, Mr. and Mrs. Average Homemaker, wise words these, coming from an ex-architect and food for thought in planning your modern home for a modern life.