
Instead of invoking French rural building in a Moderne manner, as in his Brayton House, Albert Harkness here turned to the town's own shingle tradition, and thereby established an exemplar for the way “modern” should be approached in Little Compton: with caution. The house was, in fact, partly constructed of materials from dismantled farm buildings. The central gabled mass spawns gabled wings at either end, but in opposite directions, giving a steplike configuration to the plan. This easy spread of the house, its substantial stone chimneys, and the greenhouse attached to the end of one of the wings are other means by which this house insinuated itself into the local environment.