MODERN ARCHITECTS AND THE HOUSEKEEPER.--MISPLACED HOUSES.--OLD
COLONIAL POVERTY IN MODERN COLONIAL HOUSES.--AFFECTATION IN
DESIGN.--NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE.--AMERICAN
ARCHITECTURE AND AMERICAN HOMES.
No one ever heard of the matter of house-planning being discussed in a
convention of architects. Their reports will show that a great many
subjects are handled, but none so near home as this. Sometimes there is
an effort to discover that America has a style of architecture peculiar
to itself. When such a thing becomes true, the effort to find it will
not be necessary. An American architecture will have its growth in
American necessities, and not through the blind copying of foreign
styles and architecture. Nor to have an American style does it
necessarily mean that we should ignore foreign precedent. It means that
we should consider foreign architecture intelligently. Everything that
is good should be adopted, no matter whence it comes. Those of us who
see what is going on in the architectural world frequently notice
English houses designed and built for those who live in the cold
Northwest. In many of them the broad, English casement windows and
general style of architecture, which is suited to the gloomy light and
the mild temperature of Great Britain, is placed in the bright, cold
climate of the Northwest. Nothing could be more out of place; it is an
affectation, an exhibition of bad taste and poor sense. The cold
Northwest, with its bright, clear atmosphere, presents its own
architectural conditions. The work of blind copyists, those who have so
strong a regard for precedent, is ridiculous. In one of the Eastern
magazines there was an illustration showing what purported to be an old
colonial cottage, situated possibly at Newport. The architect had copied
the old colonial details, the old colonial forms, which were very nice,
but he had also copied an idea which had its outgrowth in extreme
poverty. He had placed a rain barrel at the side of the house, and had
set it up on a rustic-looking bench or support, all of which was very
ridiculous. This had been done in an old colonial house, and had its
origin in old colonial poverty. Now, this architect, in his respect for
that which was past, copied the faults, the inconveniences, and
arrangements which belonged to those earlier times. A course of this
kind, carried out to its fullest extent, would lead us to barbarism. In
the same magazine was another house which was designed with great
respect for precedent. In it was a front door which was divided about
half-way up, so that the lower part might be shut and the upper part
opened. Houses have been seen where something of this kind was
reasonable, where it had its advantages. There are many places in this
country where a door of this kind is almost a necessity; but it isn't on
the seashore. If one has a house in the country, or in a small country
town, where the horses and pigs, geese, chickens, and other animals, are
allowed to roam about in the front yards, a door of this kind has its
uses. In the summer time the upper part can be thrown back and the lower
part closed, so that the most a horse can do in the way of getting into
the house is to stick his head over the top rail and look in. In the
country mills doors of this kind have a very proper and apt name; they
are called pig-doors. They keep the pigs off the mill floor, and, at the
same time, allow the light and air to come from above. But there is no
necessity for a pig-door at Newport or Long Branch, or other seaside
resort. Their use is a silly affectation. There is no beauty in them.
There is no convenience which would lead to their use.
It is performances such as the above which retard the natural
development of American architecture. American architecture will be
simply carrying out, in an architectural way, the requirements of the
American people in their buildings. From their homes the march of
progress will be through the kitchens, pantries, and dining-rooms. It
will unite with the parlor and sitting-room ideas, which have been more
clearly worked out. The exterior will be formed in a natural way by the
requirements of the interior, and by the variations of climate, and it
will be decorated in a rational, artistic manner. We will not hamper the
interior by the adoption of doors and windows which possibly belonged in
a cathedral of the twelfth or thirteenth century, or the richer details
of the later time, which had their special uses and forms as the
development of the necessity and requirements of that particular period.
The doors and windows of the nineteenth century should have their own
special forms and positions. They should be decorated with a true regard
for precedent so long as precedent does not influence the arrangements
suited to modern times. The American style of architecture will not be
developed through grand public buildings and enormous cathedrals, or
expensive dwellings.
In this country every one is imbued with the idea of having a home of
his own, and he desires to have it nice, convenient, and attractive. The
average home is in a small, inexpensive house. The proper construction
of these buildings, their arrangement with reference to their
housekeeping requirements, their tasteful external designs considered in
a rational way, will develop American architecture. It will be the
expression of American wants in a natural, artistic spirit.
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE HOUSE.