In our Historic Design Article in this Issue:

Summer Architecture!

A 1910 Pasadena Tent Cabin,
a Rustic Forest Home, a Great Porch
and a 1913 Adirondack Boathouse

As well as

A Summer Sale
and Clearance!

Welcome to our readers!

Welcome to our twelfth newsletter. In time for summer relaxing and thinking of fall decorating projects, we are sending this Newsletter to you.

In this issue our Historic Design Article is about Summer Architecture from nearly 100 years ago – from the years 1910 and 1913.  Summer camps and boathouses, broad verandahs and even a canvas ‘Tent-House’.

Imagine yourself sitting in a specially-built summer shelter, dreaming away on warm summer days, reading magazines or a good book, with some lemonade at your side, listening to the soft ‘thwock’ of tennis balls on distant courts or the murmuring of water rippling on the lake.

Read our Historic Design article to learn more about Summer Architecture of long ago.

Under ‘Business News’ we tell you of an exciting Charles Rupert Designs/Historic Style announcement.

In our SALE & CLEARANCE section, we are again selling a wide range of wallpaper and fabric roll ends – many are discontinued designs.  There is enough of some for entire rooms, and some for craft projects or lining bookcases. The SALE items are, as usual, only for our Newsletter readers.  They are first come, first served, and all sales are final.

So, please take time for some quiet summer reading, imagining a gentler way of spending a summer, and perhaps find a treasure in our SALE area, and enjoy our twelfth Newsletter.

Thank you all for your continuing interest in the subject of historic design!

Stuart Stark
Design Director
Charles Rupert Designs

Charles Rupert Designs Business News:

July 21, 2008 Sixteen New Historic Wallpapers! We are very pleased to introduce to Historic Style a selection of handsome period wallpapers.   Taken from Museum collections in both the United States and France, the designs cover the years from around 1795 through to 1870.   They vary in pattern and colour - some having as many as 18 colours in the designs - and for earlier homes, are accurate for sympathetic decoration.   All are hand screened, but some are pre-trimmed and shrink wrapped into standard rolls.  Others are untrimmed and will require a skilled professional installer - but the results will be worth it.   Please see the 1740 - 1840 section of Traditional Home and look for the "NEW" tags. Please see the 1840 - 1880 section of Traditional Home and look for the "NEW" tags   Enjoy the new choices of historic designs for your home!

Historic Design Article Number Eleven:

Summer Architecture

- 1910 -1913 -

© 2008 Stuart Stark – Heritage Consultant

What is summer, if not a time to spend outdoors?  In earlier times - before air conditioning was introduced – people made the best of the heat of the summer by spending time at the lake, or the beach, or failing that, on a porch or balcony, catching cool breezes and sipping cool drinks, talking with friends and family late into the evening.

In this article we present – from archival photographs - four specialized structures for whiling away hot days: A large airy Pennsylvania porch from 1910; a “Rustic Forest Home” from 1913; a wonderful “Inexpensive Tent Cabin for the Summer Season” from Pasadena in 1913; and a “Boathouse and Camp in the Adirondacks”, also from 1913.

Enjoy dreaming of a simpler, quieter, more peaceful summer!

A Classically-inspired Pennsylvania Porch

An airy front porch on a grand scale promises restful relaxation to the lucky folks who take their ease in these wicker chairs.  This porch is on a residence in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and was built in 1910 by Knickerbocker Boyd, architect.  The house itself was designed with stone walls and Classical features such as the Ionic porch columns, and Palladian windows in the stairway of the house (not visible in this photo).

A Forest Home of Rustic Charm

The owners of this cozy little cottage, Theodore Fisher and Victor Wise, were also the architects and they showed good taste and careful planning in the arrangement of this rustic forest retreat.  Clad with lumber with the bark left on, and using cobblestones or river rock for the foundation, this summer home blends well into its setting. In 1913, the home cost about $ 1,400. (without plumbing),  a bargain that we wish we could replicate today.

 The porch of the forest retreat has a rustic railing encircling it, and the overflowing window box is also instrumental into making the cottage a part of its forested environment.

The Living Room is lighted on three sides, and with its stone fireplace and window seat, makes a cheerful room.  The woodwork was stained a green brown and the spaces between the vertical woodwork is covered with green burlap.  The wicker furniture adds to the lightness of a summer retreat.

The floorplan of this forest home shows a basic layout, the position of the window seat – overlooking the lush window box – and a screened  sleeping porch at the rear, connected by a passage and a bathroom to the main house.

An Inexpensive Tent-House for the Summer Season

A good type of tent-house consists of a wooden floor set on foundation posts, with a frame of 2” x 4” studding. 

There are two variations of construction that can follow: an all-canvas option, or a combination wood/canvas method. 

If the roof is of canvas, a fly is necessary for use in the summer, otherwise the heat could be oppressive.  Additionally, a single layer non-waterproofed canvas cover could leak in heavy downpours.

A partial wooden alternative could be made with a partial wooden wall below and canvas above, and a shingle roof.  Interior partitions were made of canvas or “art-burlap” nailed on to wooden frames.

In 1913, in Pasadena, this summer shelter cost $ 300. to build: Lumber was

$ 100.; Labor was $ 75.; Plumbing $ 100., and Canvas was $ 25.

The exterior of the Tent-House was covered in striped canvas – probably in green and white stripes - with real windows and a screen door.

The interior of the Tent-House was furnished with cozy divans for sleeping and kerosene lamps for light. The partitions are also covered with striped canvas

Left: The porch of the Tent-House had a canvas cover and potted plants.

Right: A more complicated arrangement than first imagined is shown by the floor plan of the Tent-House.

A Boathouse and Camp in the Adirondacks

This ideal summer retreat was large enough to accommodate a forty-foot launch and several canoes below, with a living room, two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor.  The green of the roof, the grey of the walls and the river-cobble foundation and chimneys, and the white trim lent a delightful air of freshness to the building.

The exterior of the Boat House is set on the shore of the Lake, looking like a boat about to launch.

The exterior stairway leads to the living quarters; the door to the boathouse is below

The furniture was especially adapted in size and form to the rooms.  The charm of the boathouse is largely due to the harmony and appropriateness of the woods, colors, and fittings chosen, and to the general air of refinement in evidence throughout.

 The Hall and Living Room woodwork was a grey brown with doors of solid brown ash without panels.

The floor plan of the Boat House shows the cozy arrangement of the rooms and the balcony overlooking the lake.

Summer architecture can be simple, as in a Tent Cabin, or a simple porch to shade the sun but still catch the breezes. Or it can be something more elaborate, such as a forest cabin or a permanent structure overlooking a lake, where you can escape from the worries of day to day life, and be soothed by the murmur of waves, and living with the movements of the sun and the moon.

Earlier summer dwellings or shelters were, of necessity, more responsive to both their settings and to their occupants, relying less on technology for both cooling and entertainment, and more on environmentally-friendly solutions to staying cool, such as screened sleeping porches, and lake-side balconies connecting us with the natural world that surrounds us.

As we consider today what might constitute a ‘summer retreat’, we might, once again, look at a simpler solution that may be just as enjoyable as modern alternatives.  Enjoy your summer!

SALE & CLEARANCE SECTION!   Wallpaper, Fabrics & Kitchen Textiles

These items are only available to the people who have signed up for our newsletter.

They are strictly limited in amounts available, as many of these items – including William Morris designs - have been discontinued and are only available on a first come - first served arrangement.

All items are first quality.

All sales of clearance items are final.

Please phone us with your orders.

Order Desk Hours:

Telephone: (250) 592-4916

Our phone Order Desk operates

Monday to Friday from
9 am to 5 pm Pacific Time.

We are closed Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Wallpaper

Fabric

Kitchen Textiles

In future Newsletters, we will explore different aspects of historic residential design in North America. Both exterior and interior design subjects will be featured.  Articles will range from construction techniques to wallpaper design, from paint colours to home furnishings, will all be included. Learn something new about something old!

Thanks for reading! We will see you next time, with the next installment of the “Historic Style Newsletter”.

See what you missed in the last issue! Click here