84 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine the knowles co. ceptional air and light, and took full advan- tage of the views–with many of the princi- pal rooms enjoying three exposures. Even the servants’ dining room, now the laun- dry and office (the original industrial-scale laundry was in a separate building), enjoys bright light from three large arched win- dows, an unusual amenity for the era. The plan of the house, while formally arranged, is open, gracious, and highly livable, with proportions so well resolved that every space and detail seems inevitably ‘right’. Mrs. Ladd’s Quaker heritage is reflected in the relative simplicity of this very large house. The design depends as much on su- perb proportions and scale as ornamenta- tion for effect. The center of the main fa- çade is the exception, featuring exuberant Renaissance-style stucco decoration in full relief framing the entrance. But even here, the lightness that proclaims this a summer villa prevails. Rather than the predictably ponderous front door, one enters through French doors and steps into a large transverse hall with ap- sidal ends. a shallow vaulted ceiling, and a polished pale marble floor. But one barely no- tices this, because enticing from the end of a hall directly ahead is an enormous arched window with columned arcades, directly fac- ing the ocean. Lowell used a sure hand combining today’s dollars). G uy Lowell was not yet 40 when he received the commission to de- sign the Ladd cottage, but he was already at the top of his profession as one of the most published and admired design- ers of the era. He had a degree in architec- ture from MIT; had studied landscape and horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew; and finally, in 1899, received a diplo- ma from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. For the Ladds, he conceived an Italian villa with stucco walls and red tile roof. Lowell began with an ‘H’ shape plan. The projecting wings thus allowed for ex- On the wall facing the window, an original mural by T.R. Mantey duplicates the island view out the huge window opposite.