Library Collections: Document: Full Text

April 21, 1938,

Dear Henry: --

A careful check-up on the excellent plans for the cottage on top of the hill discloses the following:

EXTERIOR

1. The elevation shows the height of the roofs of the wings to be the same as the height of the roof of the center. We all think the two wing roofs should be two feet lower than the top of the roof of the center.

2. The above does not mean that the eaves of the wings should be greatly lower than the eaves of the center. All eaves should be on the same level or as nearly so as possible. It is my thought, however, that you can work this out all right. One way of doing it would be by putting a hip on the ceilings of the rooms inside the wings, for, of course, the roof angles themselves should be the same in all three places.

5. It has been suggested that the same thing can be worked out by having a less steep pitch to the roofs on the wings compared with the center building, but, frankly, I do not think this would look well -- do you?

4. As to the eaves themselves, I think it looks better on this old type of house to have them project fairly far -- say ten or twelve inches beyond the walls.

5. Main entrance door from triangle to small entry hall in north wing -- how would it do to put outside this door one of those very small covered Dutch porches, such as you have examples of in the books -- the covered portion to be about six feet wide and four feet deep, with a very simple design of porch and doorway. It is important, of course, that the entrance hall porch and terrace be on the same level on account of wheelchair (see Sketch A).

6. At southeast corner of north wing carry out a stone wall in continuation of the building stone -- this wall to go to edge of drive about four feet to the east and about four feet high (see Sketch A).

7. Didn't we think that the porch should be eleven feet wide instead of ten feet wide?

INTERIOR

1. Put in a square closet for linen in southwest corner of bathroom in south wing -- i.e., immediately to the right of the door.

2. Shift the door between the bedrooms in south wing from the east end to the west end -- in other words, west of the two fireplaces. Perhaps it could be made a sliding door, sliding eastward into the space north of the fireplace in the big room.

3. In north wing -- how about moving the door from the pantry to the entry hall from the west end of the hall to the middle of the hall?

4. If this is done the pantry sink can be placed under the pantry window. There should be such a sink if possible.

5. If a sink is put in there, the pantry shelves on north of pantry could be out back two feet from the west end and into that space could be put a draining board north of the sink.

6. I spoke of having no wall lights and no ceiling lights. There should be none of the latter but obviously we must have some side light brackets in the kitchen, the pantry, both bathrooms and the closet off the smaller bedroom in south wing. These should include lights over the pantry and kitchen sinks, one over the range and one on the side wall near the icebox so as to be able to see into the latter.

7. There should be a light on each aide of the front door on the proposed little Dutch porch; also a light on the servants' porch.

If in dropping the roof level of the side wings you find you need added ceiling height in the rooms, you can get this by putting a hip in the ceiling as per enclosed rough Sketch B. I think the ceilings in the bedrooms should be a minimum of ten feet -- preferably ten feet six inches.

I am getting this off to you airmail so that you will be able to go over it before you get here on the twenty-seventh.

Dorothy Backer was here and seemed to like your design very much. She suggested that the unbroken west wall of the house was too long and suggested carrying one or both roofs of the wings across the main part of the house so as to shorten the appearance of the main west front. You can play with that!

Now as to my plans and our joint schedule. If Congress does not get in the way, I expect to spend either the weekend of May twenty-second or May twenty-ninth at Hyde Park and Dorothy Backer would be up there that Sunday. If you also could be up there then with the plans and specifications, we could go over them for final decision and you could at the same time get in touch with the possible contractors. One or two days would do the whole thing.

This would give the contractors a chance to estimate by June nineteenth, when I get back to Hyde Park, and we could let the contracts within a very few days, enabling the contractor to start work by early July and get both houses under roof before cold weather.

In May also I will have a well-digger to try to get me some water for the top of the hill. I told Dorothy Backer that at the same time he might as well sink her well. She should have no difficulty in getting water, as it is the same type of stratum as at the cottage.

As ever yours,
FDR

Henry Toombs, Esq.,
Georgia Warm Springs Foundation,
Warm Springs,
Georgia.