THE home of Raymond M. Smith, 10811 S. Hoyne Avenue, is one of the newer Colonial homes in Morgan Park. The house is built in the English manner, following more the type to be found in Pennsylvania and Virginia rather than the New England states, and contains seven rooms, three down and four upstairs, with two large porches on the first floor. A red pressed brick with white mortar is used for the exterior with slate roof shingles. The outside wood trim is a rich cream color.
The interior impresses the observer with a sense of spaciousness. The entrance, on the south, is done in the colonial manner, the heavy wooden door having at each side narrow leaded panes and opening to a tiled vestibule. Another heavy door leads from the vestibule to the large reception hall, with its English staircase. A sense of comfort and stability is apparent at once, largely through the use of heavy, brown mahogany wood trim, this being found throughout the lower floor except in the kitchen.
Double portierres, a deep maroon on the hall side and blue on the living room side, separate the hall from the living room which extends across the east end of the house. This room is 15 by 27 and opens through French doors to a large, screened porch. At the north end of the room is found a large natural fireplace, done in marble and surmounted by a heavy mahogany mantle. One each side of the fireplace are bookshelves, set in wide wall niches, and concealed beneath these are the radiators. A door in the west wall of the living room connects with the rear hallway and kitchen.
French doors separate the dining room from the stair hall, and this room, occupying the southwest corner of the floor, has a beautiful view through three French windows set in a bay in the west hall. There are also windows in the south wall. The dining room fixtures are of silver.
The kitchen is gained through a swinging door, without the usual connecting butler’s pantry. The kitchen is unusual in the tasteful use of ash for the wood trim and cabinet furnishings. The ash is stained to bring out the grain, a gray tone being used for the seats and table of the breakfast nook to the right. The rear porch, on the west, is screened and glazed for both winter and summer usage and an outside icing arrangement is provided. The rear hall, extending east and west between the kitchen and living room at the end of the reception hall, gives access to a large kitchen closet, the basement stairs, a clothes chute and a large clothes closet and lavatory.
The upper floor contains four bedrooms, each occupying a corner position to provide cross ventilation and arranged around a large central hall. There are two bath rooms, one at the rear of the upper hall and one at the front, both done in tile. The bedroom closets are situated between the rooms, thus providing a double wall effect which makes the rooms practically soundless. Mahogany is used for the doors, with ivory enamel for the rest of the wood trim.
A large attic extends over the entire second floor and the basement is equipped with a laundry and lavatory. A garage is found at the west end of the deep lot.
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