Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, New YorkAccompanying a plan of Sunnyside (un

Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, New YorkAccompanying a plan of Sunnyside （un

Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, New York

Accompanying a plan of Sunnyside (unprinted here), a former residence of Washington Irving in New York, is the following text.We have left out its title, which indicates clearly its purpose, in the hope that the reader will reconstruct it after reading the text.

Sunnyside is one of the few surviving and best-documented examples of American romanticism in architecture and landscape design.Andrew Jackson Downing featured Sunnyside in his Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841) as an example of the "progressive improvement in Rural Architecture..." which, he explained, strives to be in "perfect keeping" with "surrounding nature" by its "varied" and "picturesque" outline.'Architectural beauty," he taught, "must be considered conjointly with the beauty of the landscape,"

Walking the 24-acre grounds is a pleasure in every season.Swans glide on the pond Irving called "the little Mediterranean", and a stone flume delights the ear with the sound of rushing water.A path leads up a small rise and from there down into "the glen," and up to the house.Behind the house, another path winds along the Hudson for views of the river at its widest point, the Tappan Zee.

The modest stone cottage which was later to become Sunnyside was originally a tenant farmer's house built in the late-seventeenth century on the Philipsburg Manor.During the eighteenth century, the cottage was owned by a branch of the Van Tassel family, the name Irving later immortalized in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Irving purchased the cottage in 1835 and directed the remodeling, adding Dutch-stepped gables, ancient weathervanes, and developing Gothic and Romanesque architectural features for other parts of the house.He was so pleased with his home that in 1836 he wrote to his brother, Peter: "I am living most cozily and delightfully in this dear, bright little home, which I have fitted up to my own humor.Everything goes on cheerily in my little household and I would not exchange the cottage for any chateau in Christendom."

Today's visitor to Sunnyside sees Irving's home much as it appeared during the final years of his life.The author's booklined study contains his writing desk—a gift from his publisher, G.P.Putnam and many personal possessions.The dining room, in which Irving and his dinner guests often gathered to enjoy the beautiful sunsets over the Hudson River, adjoins the parlor.Here Irving played his flute, while his nieces, Sarah and Catherine, accompanied him on the rosewood piano.The piano and other original furnishings still grace the room.The small picture gallery off the parlor contains some original illustrations for Irving's work.The kitchen was quite advanced for its day, having a hot water boiler and running water fed from the pond through a gravity-blow system.The iron cookstove was also a "modern convenience," replacing the open hearth in the 1850's.

The second floor of the house contains several bedrooms, each of which has its own personal character.The guest bedroom is furnished with a French-style. bed and painted cottage pieces.The ingenious arches in this and other rooms were designed by Irving.His bedroom, where he died in 1859, contains the author's tester Sheraton bed, along with his walking stick and a number of his garments and personal effects.The small, bright room between the bedrooms might have been used by Irving's nephew and biographer, Pierre Munro Irving, who cared for his uncle during the last months of his life.The room was used originally to store books and papers.The bedroom used by Irving's nieces contains an Irving-family field bed with hand-made bobbin lace hangings, a chest of drawers, sewing stands, and an ornamental stove.The guest room contains a cast iron bed probably made in one of the foundries along the Hudson.

Write True (T) or False (F)for the following questions.

1.Sunnyside is the former residence of Washington Irving in Washington D.C.()

2.Sunny side is a typical representative of Romanticism of American city architecture.()

3.According to Andrew Jackson Downing , architectural beauty must be in harmony with the beauty of the surrounding landscape.()

4.During the 18th century ,the cottage was owned by Van Tassel who was mentioned by Irving in his book “the Legend of the Hollow” .()

5.Irving didn’t make any change to the cottage after he purchased it.()

6.Today’s Sunnyside has changed a lot compared with its appearance in Irving’s time.()

7.Sunnyside was built near the Hudson River.()

8.The study , the dining room , the parlor and the kitchen are all on the first floor of Irving’s house.()

9.All the bedrooms on the second floor are almost furnished in the same style.()

10.Washington Irving was cared for by his daughter during the last period of his life.()