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SMALL COUNTRY
HOUSES OF TO-DAY

HUDSON & KEARNS,
LIMITED, PRINTERS,
. LONDON, S.E. .

A DISIANT VIEW OF MR. GIMSON'S Iim >i. Al SAPl'i.K 1 (i.N

SMALL COUNTRY
HOUSES OF TO-DAY

Edited by Lawrence Weaver

^i^>^ /^//

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V©v..

v./-^-

LONDON

PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF COUNTRY LIFE
20, TAVISTOCK STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, AND BY
GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., 7-12, SOUTHAMPTON STREET
STRAND. NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

CONTENTS

P. MOKLEY

INTRODUCTION . .

UPPER DORVEL HOUSE, SAPPERTON , .

REDLANDS, FOUR OAKS, SUTTON COLDFIELD

THE HURST, MOSELEY, BIRMINGHAM

LARKSCLIFF, BIRCHINGTON, KENT

BISHOPSBARNS, Y'ORK . .

BENGEO HOUSE, HERTFORD . .

SUNNYMEAD, WADHURST

THE COBBLES, WALTON HEATH

COLDICOTE, MORETON-IN-THE-MARSH . .

ELM TREE COTTAGE, FARNHAM

SOUTH HILL, HOOK HEATH, WOKING

A HOUSE AT SAPPERTON

THE THREE GABLES, LETCHWORTH . .

THREE LITTLE HOUSES

INVERLEITH, NORWICH . .

BROOKSIDE, BRAMPTON, CHESTERFIELD

THE OLD POUND HOUSE, WIMBLEDON . .

THE HURST, FOUR OAKS

POYNDER'S END, NEAR HITCHIN

MIDDLEFIELD, GREAT SHELFORD

HOMEWOOD, KNEBWOKTH

ROSEBANK, SILCHESTER COMMON

GILHAM'S BIRCH, ROTHERFIELD

THE THATCHED COTTAGE, LLANWERN

A HOUSE AT AMBERLEY, SUSSEX

LUCKLEY, WOKINGHAM

LONG COPSE, EWHURST, SURREY

WEST CHART, LIMPSFIELD, SURREY' . .

FOUR BEECHES, BICKLEY PARK, KENT

WOODSIDE, GRAFFHAM . .

ROSEWALL, WIMBLEDON

HARPSDEN WOOD HOUSE, HENLEY . .

FIVES COURT, PINNER

ACREMEAD, CROCKHAM HILL, KENT . .

BELCOOMBE, SAXLINGHAM

THE PLATTS, NEAR PETERSFIELD

THE HOMESTEAD, FRINTON-ON-SEA

BREACH HOUSE, CHOLSEY

THE RED HOUSE, UPTON, KENT

UPMEADS, STAFFORD

ON THE REPAIR AND ALTERATION OF OLD HOUSES

WHIXLEY' HALL, NEAR YORK

THE POULTRY COURT, PAINSWICK

A HOUSE AT TIDEBROOK, SUSSEX

GUISELEY RECTORY, NEAR LEEDS

MARTIN'S, BURY', SUSSEX

BY THE CHURCH, STEEP

INDEX . .

A. ERNEST BARNSLEY'

CHARLES E. BATEMAN

W. H. BIDLAKE

.. ARTHUR T. BOLTON

WALTER H. BRIERLEY'

WALTER CAVE

. . FRANK CHESTERTON

L. STANLEY' CROSBIE

F. GUY DAWBER

HAROLD FALKNER

HORACE FIELD

ERNEST GIMSON

CECIL H. HIGNETT

. . P. MORLEY' HORDER

HORDER AND A. G. WYAND

. . PERCY' B. HOUFTON

GEORGE HUBBARD AND ALBERT W. MOORE

W. R. LETHABY

, . GEOFFRY' LUCAS

E. L. LUTYENS

E. L. LUTY'ENS

MERVY'N E. MACARTNEY

E. J. MAY'

OSWALD MILNE

DOUGLAS MURRAY

ERNEST NEWTON

ALFRED POWELL

. . E. TURNER POWELL

. . C. H. B. QUENNELL

HALSEY' RICARDO

. . M. H. BAILLIE SCOTT

. . M. MABERLEY SMITH

DUNBAR SMITH AND CECIL BREWER

. . F. W. TROUP
F. UNSWORTH AND GERALD UNSWORTH

C. F. A. VOYSEY

. . EDWARD P. WARREN

, . PHILH^ WEBB

. . EDGAR WOOD

WALTER H. BRIERLEY

CURTIS GREEN

G. H. KITCHIN

SIR CHARLES NICHOLSON AND H. C. CORLETTE

. . CHARLES SPOONER
W. F. UNSWORTH

vn.
I

8
13

17
23
28

3.5
38
43
46
50
56
62

67
71
75
79
83
87
92

97
102
106
no

"5
120

125
130
134
139
144
149

•55
160

165
170

175
180
186

191
194
1 99
203
208
212
216
223

INTRODUCTION

WHILE there is no lack ot books which illustrate various types of small modern country houses,
both by photographs and plans, they are, as a class, singularly devoid of critical explanatir)n,
whether from the practical or the aesthetic point of view. House-building is, moreover, a primi-
tive instinct, and the story of its development takes an nnportant part in the larger history
oi social growth. Monographs on representative Small Country Houses of To-day designed by architects
of established reputation serve, therefore, a double purpose. They explain the buildings themselves,
setting out the conditions which determined their plan and treatment, and they estimate their place in
relation to Enghsh culture and habits.

Since the end of the eighteentli century, architecture has been struggling with many vicious influences,
and not least, witli the lack of tradition, both in design and construction. The battle of the styles has been
fought, not without fierceness, but with no good result. Now, after the lapse of a century devoted to
groping experiments and detached eclecticisms, there are definite signs of the renewing of sleeping traditions,
not on merely imitative lines, but in the spirit of the old work. This happy renaissance cannot march to
snccess, unless the public at large concerns itself with architecture and becomes informed as to the problems
to be faced and the ends to be attained. Buildmg needs, in fact, to be brought back into the normal current
of inteOigent thought, instead of being relegated to the hmbo of technical mysteries. That is not to say
that the layman is wise to fill his mind with the details of construction, or attempt to master what is
the absorbing study of an architect's lifetime. There are, however, certam qualities of architecture which
lie open to the cultivated eye : mass, proportion, scale, and texture, and these become visible with observation
to anyone with artistic perceptions. The time has come when educated people should shake off the shackles
of the speculative builder and turn their backs finally on the desirable villa residence. Fifty years ago the
architects who were doing honourable service in house-building were a small but brilliant band. One need
name only the giants ; Philip Webb, Eden Nesfield, George Devey, and Norman Shaw. To-day there are
scores of young and brilliant men who have carried the pioneer work of their elders to its natural conclusion,
and gone far to re-establish Enghsh architecture on a logical and national basis. Much remains to be done,
especially in the larger field of town-planning and civic architecture, where this country lags behind the
Continent ; but the driving power must come from an enlightened public opinion. The present need seems
therefore to spread, as widely as may be. the knowledge of what is being done to-da>-. In the long last, every
movement which has a claim to endure must have a sound economic basis. It is idle to ignore the fact
that there still prevails in some minds the idea that " an architect's house " is necessarily a more costly
matter than " a builder's house." In every case therefore where the information was available, not only
the total cost of the house has been given in the following pages, but also the price per cubic foot. The latter
method of calculation has not been adopted with any idea of instituting comparisons between the work of
one architect and another, and, indeed, any such comparison would be futile and mischievous. It may be
well to set out here how a cubic- foot price is calculated. The usual way is to take the height from the top
of the foundations to halfway up the roof slope where there are no rooms in the roof, and to two-tiiirds the
way up where the attic is utilised. This dimension multiplied by the length and breadth of the building
gives its cubic content. Assuming, say, fifty thousand cubic feet, and a total expenditure of one thousand
two hundred and fifty pounds, the cube-foot price of sixpence is the result. So far, so good, and it sounds
simple and accurate enough ; but there are causes that tend to make it misleading.

viii. SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

In this imaginary house the foundations are assumed to be normal in quantity and cost, but if tlie
ground be treacherous and need specially deep or solid foundations, what then ? An extra cost of over
two hundred pounds may easih' be mcurred without the addition of a single extra cubic foot of useful space
in the house. This \\-ould bring the cubic-foot price from sixpence up to sevenpence, and there would be
nothing to show for the extra expenditure. Then, agam, local conditions of building vary greatly If a
house is three miles from a station, instead of near by, every ton of brick and tnnber carted will cost
about half-a crown more. Some districts are rich in materials, as, for example, Peterborough, where bricks
cost little more than half their price delivered in London. Moreover, wages \-ary markedly, and those
ruling m Greater London are on a higher scale than ni the country. All these conflicting factors tend to
vitiate the accuracy of comparison between the cubic-foot price of one house and another, even where the
materials used in each are of the same intrinsic value, and no comparison is reasonable at all when one is
built, say, of stone, with oak-panelled rooms, and the other of brick, with walls plainly plastered. So much
for the danger of laying too great stress on such a rough-and-ready method of calculating costs.

Its real value is in the proof it gives that houses can be built in solid fashion and with definite artistic
quality at such low costs as sixpence or sevenpence a cubic foot. When that is made clear there disappears
much of the objection to embarking on building a house that will suit its owner's tastes and habits to a
nicety.

To the readers of this book who are about to build it may not be impertinent to offer a few words of
advice. Let it be said at once that the momentous question of success or failure rests wholly upon the
wise choice of an architect. The builder who works to his designs is an important factor, and unless he
is an honest and experienced man, the architect will have trouble in getting sound work. The powers
conferred on him by the terms of the ordinary contract and specification enable him, howe\-er, to insist
on good materials and workmanship even in the unhappy event of a shirking and incompetent builder
securing the work in competition by submitting a very low estimate. In this, as in all else, the client will
be wise to accept the advice of his architect and reject a very low tender in favour of a higher one if the
lowest offer does not come from a builder of repute. Clients subject themseh'es to no small embarrassment
and loss if they fail to summon to their counsels the architect of their choice immediately they have decided
to build. His experience is of the greatest vahie, not only in the design of the house itself, but in the choice
of a site. Manv factors have to be taken into consideration which it is unlikely that the layman will
remember. It is impossible to set them all down, but here are nine points of the law of site-choosing ;

Soj7.— Questions of health are involved m the choice of clay, chalk or gravel. People who have gouty
or other unpleasant tendencies discover by rude experience that one or other of them is to be avoided. A site
which is poor in top soil will involve considerable expenditure before a producti\-e garden can be made there.

View. — If a distant prospect can be secured, so much the better ; but a site which at first seems
unsatisfactory may yet have considerable possibilities if the architect treats it skilfully. Some unpleasant
outlooks may be avoided by thoughtful disposition of windows, and others masked by walls and by the
planting of quick-growing hedges and trees.

Altitude. — Popular favour leans markedly to-day towards building on hill-tops, and in the main this
seems wise ; but people who hate the cold or suffer from weak hearts or insomnia and other troubles derived
from overstrung nerves should consider the benefits of milder and less stimulating airs. Though it is an
artistic, rather than a practical, point, the importance of securing a good sky-line must not be overlooked
in the case of a hill-top house. A caveat may be entered against sites where the level of the subsoil water
is not far below the ground, and against all places liable even to a remote risk of flooding. The modern
man should not be misled by the analogy of old houses, which were often placed with reference to
considerations not now operative — of defence, carriage and water supply.

Protection. — A place which is swept by north or east winds is an unhappy choice for a house, and the
ideal site is certainly that which is protected on these two quarters either by rising ground or trees.

INTRODUCTION. ix.

Slope and Contour of Ground. — If a site slopes upwards to the south, not only is it more likely that it will
be unprotected from the north winds, but the devising of a pleasant garden is made more difficult. Very
uneven or sharply sloping ground may suggest to the architect ver>' deUghtful possibilities or put in his
way obstacles almost insuperable. In any event sharp slopes are hkely to involve considerable e.xtra cost
in foundations and approaches.

Neighbourhood to Road. — Nothing at once costs so much and gives so little to show for it as road-
making. If the chosen site of the house itself is not close to a good road, and a long drive is needed in
consequence, a sum for road-making must be set aside which will probably distress the client not a Uttle.
In this connection the liability to motor dust must be considered, a factor governed largely by the prevailing
wind.

Accessibility. — Neighbourhood to a railway station is not only a question of the personal convenience
of those who live in the house, but affects the cost of building. Thoughtful folk will also consider how near
the site will be to post and telegraph office, church and shops.

Public Services — Drainage, Water and Light. — Connection with municipal sewerage is a factor in cost.
If there is no system near enough, when the house is built, it should be ascertained whether any extensions
are likely in the future, as the design of house drainage somewhat varies according to whether it discharges into
a public sewer or into a private cesspool or septic tank. If it is contemplated that the house drainage shall
discharge at a point beyond the site, by arrangement with an adjoining owner, care must be taken to ensure
that such right is secured in perpetuity. A pure and plentiful water supply is infinitely important, both
for drinking purposes and for garden use, and if no public mains are available, the possibility of getting
a permanent supply from a private artesian well needs to be carefuhy explored. For lighting, in default
of pubhc gas or electricity, the respective merits of a private installation of electric light, acetylene or
petrol gas need careful consideration.

Setting of House on Site. — The aspects possible for the chief rooms with respect to view, prevailing
winds, contour of site, etc., need careful thought. As to what are the best aspects for various rooms, he
is a bold man who will lay down dogmatic rules, and I certainly lack the needful courage. It is generally
held that south-east is the best outlook for the garden front, on which will be the principal living-rooms.
A recent encounter with an architect of large experience in domestic work, however, is worthy of record.
He habitually designs houses for his cUents with a view to securing the maximum of sunshine in the living-
rooms, but does so in obedience to wiiat he regards as a popular delusion. For himself he prefers a north
aspect, and will design his own home on these lines. He is likely, however, to find himself with few-
supporters.

So much for the general points wiiich need to be considered before even a site is purchased. They
are set out here with the express purpose of showing that expert advice is essential to the layman from the
very inception of the idea of building. I know many cases where a chent, captivated by the natural
beauties of a site, has incontinently bought it, allured perhaps by a pleasant slope on wiiich trees make a
sunht tracery. An examination of it in the cold light of the nine points of the law discussed above has then
proved that its practical disadvantages so far outweighed its native chanus as to involve its abandonment,
with consequent disappointment and loss of time and money.

I come now to the all-important question of the house, its planning, its architectural treatment and
its setting. Mr. Rud\-ard Kipling has said " there are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tnbal lays,
and every single one of them is right." The same is exactly true of the making of houses, and it would be
wholly futile to discuss the question on vague and general hues. The old Metaphysical Society had one
rule— that there should be no rules— and domestic architecture needs a like freedom from fetters. Every
site, every difference in personal need, everv' vagary of individual fancy, sets up new conditions. These
have to be examined in the light of architectural traditions and possibilities and translated into the
substance of brick and stone by the skill which the architect is able to bring to his work. There are, of

X. SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

course, some outstanding differences in principle and practice which distinguish various schools of design.
There are plans, rambling or symmetrical. Some fa9ades rely on eighteenth century motives, and others
take their inspiration from the purely vernacular building traditions of an earlier day. About these
divergencies it is useless to dispute. My motive has been to exclude no types of house which have intrinsic
merit and are free from affectations, but rather to exhibit to the public eye the immense variety which lies
open to the straying choice. In an introductory chapter it is impossible, save at inordinate length, to
discuss the broad stylistic divisions of treatment or the individual characteristics which thoughtful archi-
tects stamp upon their work. In any case, it seems better to deal in a separate monograph with each house,
which thus has its chief quaUties explained and emphasised. The problems which arise for solution when
an old house is repaired and enlarged form a subject by themselves. They are discussed generally in a
separate chapter (page 191), and six houses so treated are described in the pages that follow it.

I would add that I am responsible for all the monographs but ten, which are by other hands, and that
I have endeavoured to treat the subject clearly and without technicalities, and to criticise the work illus-
trated sympathetically yet frankly. The character of the houses taken as a whole, not only shows the
admirable work which is being done to-day, but gives infinite hope for the future. It enables us, in
our architectural outlook, to hold with firmness the cheery general creed of Robert Louis Stevenson :
" I believe in the ultimate decency of things."

Lawrence Weaver.

UPPER DORVEL HOUSE, SAPPERTON.

Addiiions io an Old Cotlagc-

-Thc Idea of Growth in Building — Colswold Trad it ions — The Art of
the Plasterer

"» HE liduse wliicli Mr. Ernest Barnsley has built lor himself at Sapperton calls to mind two others
111 its neighbourhood. It stands not far from Mr. Gimson's house, which is included in this volume,
but keeps closely to old Cotswold traditions, forms and materials, while Mr. Gimson's house,
always avoiding anything which would strike the most sensitive Cotswoldian as intrusive and
foreign to the locality, does, both by certain features of its disposition and by its roof material,
assert a measure of independence of strict local law and of affiliation to iiKne distant custom, IMr.
Barnsley's house is a type of what may be done by those who want to build anew and simply in the
Cotswold district and have the very proper \\-ish to maintain the indi\-iduality of one of the very best local
architectural manners which we possess.

It was Mr. William Morris who " discovered " the Cotswolds. The founder and jirophet of the school
that has sought to restore right principles to the handicrafts and simple habits to life found in these hill-
lands abundant object-lessons to aid his teaching, and, since he led the way, many artists and designers
have gone thither for environment and for inspiration. The larger Northern villages, such as Camden and
Broadway, have, as a result, become well known —almost too well known yicrhaps. But most of the

I. — THE HOUSE FROM ENTR.VNXE TEKK.VCi;.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

Cotswold parishes retain tlieir old-world air, and ^Ir. Barnsley has settled ni one where that air is quite
uncorrupted. Nor will it be his fault if inroads are made upon its purity. For though the members of
the little coterie to which he belongs have built themselves new houses, and, b\' their introduction

of local industries,
have added to the
life and importance
of Sapperton, all
has been done with
a full appreciation
of the past and a
desire to infuse its
spirit into the
present.

Mr. Barnsley's
house is not built
from an abstract de-
sign set on paper
as the unrestricted
fulfilment of his ideal
o f form and
arrangement. It is
an adaptation to
circumstances of an
assertive kind. It is
included in this
volume, which has
been made as varied
as possible, not only
as a type of appro-
p r i a t e n e s s to its
surroundings, but as
an able solution of
the problem of how-
to Iniild a house that
shall fully satisfy the
requirement s —
aesthetic, ethical and
d o m e s t i c — o f its
occupants, on a site
that imposes definite
restrictions and
already has a build-
ing which is to be
retained and incor-
porated. There are
men in all avocations
who, when all lies
easy before them to
carry out what they
please, produce but a
commonplace and in-
eft'ectual result, and
only reach success
when they meet dif-
ficulty in the path
and work under con-
ditions of compro-
mise. Without for
one moment suggest-
Barnsley's powers are restricted to this field, it is beyond question true to say that he is
thoroughly at home m it. He had to deal with a site awkward in shape, access, aspect and gradient and

2. — ' THE BUILDING TOWERS UP FROM THE STEEP L.^NE.'

ng that; Mr.

UPPER DOR^■EL HOUSE.

a
w

w
u
z

O
i-J

w
ca

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO DA^'

^^:-v.

■«-«

THE HALL

having a plain and featureless cottage standing in its midst. None of these difficulties has he encountered
in a spirit of hostility or destruction. He has met them in a friendly way, has entered into partnership
with them, has disciplined them into line with his leading purpose. The house may be less complete,
balanced and co-ordinated than it would ha\-e been, had there been no conditions of situation to fulfil. But
it has gained rather than lost thereby, for it presents an unforced originality of outline and grouping, an
unpurposed individuality of disposition and arrangement, and an appearance of extent and spread. The
long, narrow existing cottage was so placed that it naturally and conveniently formed the centre, with the
new buildings as wings at each end, but wings of greater size, height and presence than the centre. The
house, therefore, covers more ground, and possesses more skyline, than is normal to its size, and yet it
does this not of conceit, but of necessity. It conveys the idea that it had to be so. It has the good
fortune of avoiding, without any affectation, the close-knitted squareness which, owing to right or wrong
views of convenience and inexpensiveness, is the characteristic of most small modern houses. Mr. Barnsley,
without any departure from architectural honesty, has been able to gi\'e himself ample space for the e5-e
to roam from feature to feature, and for the foot to pass from room to room. Yet the house is of the
simplest in design and in accommodation. The main approach is off the main road through Sapperton
and beyond the church. A little private way runs along the highest level of the ground, and widens
out into a terrace as it reaches the south-east or office wing. The whole building lies below this terrace,
and there is a homely, modest look about the sunk gable-end of the kitchen and the diminutive yard and
outbuildings reached down a flight of steps. Another flight of steps to the left gives on to the formal
garden and to the paved way \vhich leads to the porch. Though curiosity may attract us \\'ithin, the
charm of the little garden makes us pause without. It at once gives the impression that it is right ; that
it fulfils the particular requirements ; that it is of the shape, size, material and construction needed at
this special spot. This enclosure, dominated at one corner by the entrance terrace, bounded where the
ground rises by the house and where the ground falls by a dry \\all of local stone of such height that the
exquisite view of the narrow winding dale and the steep wooded hills is thoroughly enjoyed, is the requisite
semi-formal link between the straight lines of the building and the tumbled Cotswold landscape. The
building is not one of Palladian symmetry, therefore the garden is not rigidly geometrical. The house,
though with its outbuildings it covers some ground, is of cottage-like simplicity, therefore the garden is
^•erv small and of no architectural pretension. The walls enclose but the twentieth part of an acre.

UPPER i)or\t:l house. 5

They are nut perfectly rectangular and lia\-e cur\-ed corners, obe\'ini-' in some measure the lie of the
land. But the surface is levelled as a plat whose horizontal lines are in sympathy with the vertical ones
of the house, for its straight paths surround square and oblong flower-beds and borders, to which clipped
bo.x shrubs and hedges give point and \ariety. Here is very little expense of initial making or future upkeep.
That is worth attention in these days, \\hen the measure of the purse is in so many cases not the measure
of the love for the garden. But that lo\e may be indulged in without great outlay. It is a question of
taste, of a true sense of the fitness of things, rather than of money, of the paying for large and often
inappropriate works. This mechanical age, gi\"ing man command over natural forces, and therefore power
of emulating Nature's large way of doing things, has unduly developed our taste for bigness and costliness.
To have a thing larger and dearer than our neighbour lias become too common an ambition and is a very
stupid one. It is so much better to lea\-e our neighbour alone, and think out for ourseh-es what is just the
right life to live, house to inhabit and .garden to create according to the special circumstances of their plan
and position and of our powers and possibilities, mental and material. That surely is what Mr. Barnsley
has done, and that is \\hy his house and garden fit into their little corner of the Cotswolds and at the same
time represent his o\\n ideas and habits.

Of the exterior of the house one illustration is taken from the entrance terrace and another from the
lawn which lies beyond the little formal .garden. The original cottage was featureless and uninteresting,
but, owing to Cotswold tradition, both in material and construction was entirelv unobjectionable. The
new kitchen wing has been made of the same height, so as to continue the ridge-line, but it is turned at
right angles, the roof is brought down much lower, and two high-pitched gables are introduced. At the
other end. where the ^•iew is best enjoyed, and several rooms are needed taking up as little ground as possible,
height is given which affords the needed bedroom accommodation and adds much character to the group.
The full \'alue of this arrantjement is seen on the north-east side, where the building towers up from the

rilE SITT1.\G-1^(,K).M.

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

steep lane. Daneway cannot have been wliuU)- absent Irom the designer's mnid wTien he decided on this
feature. Here are the same proportions and Hne ot roofage as in the high part of that old house, but they
are carried out with more reticence and severity to suit a smaller and simpler dwelling. The walling is of
the local stone, to hand in abundance on Sapperton Common, needing only to be dug out from the quarry
and carted to the site. It is therefore an inexpensive material, and permits of both extent and thickness
of walls witliout great outla\'. On the other hand, the dressed stone used for the windows and coigns of
the house, and for the stepi and copings m the garden, comes from Minchinhampton, and its large use is to
be counted rather as a luxury. Stone tiling, jacilc priuceps of all forms of our native roofing, is of the
essence of all Cotswold building. In using it Mr. Barnsley continued what he already found on the cottage.
It is into the old cottage that we step from the porch — that is, into the space contained b}' its walls, for all
else has been changed. The ground floor has been cleared of partitions and made into a long hall whose
chiet feature is its ceiling. Mr. Barnsley belongs to the same school of thought as his friend Mr. Gimson.
To them beaut\' consists in line, proportion, texture, workmanship and most of all in appropriateness ;

R o ^ D

YD n^ I I VTT7TVT\ \\ \\\ rnTTTTTT! KZZ

6. — GROUND FLOOR PI..\N.

UPPER I)(JRVliL HOUSE. 7

indulgence m ornament lor ornament's sake, in patent decorati\-e medimns and m nieclianical patternmgs,
IS amonf^f the deadly sins. In Mr. Gimson's quite cottage-like house ornament finds no place. Mr.
Barnsley, working tin a slightly larger and more elaborate scale, righth' decided that it ought not to be
wholly absent from the composition. The hall, nearly thirty feet long and leading to the sitting-moin,
might be accused of self-advertising puritanisin, if it sternh' e.xcluded all the higher imaginings of skilful
craftsmanship. The plasterer, at his best, has therefore been given the ceiling as a field for his art. With
what excellent purpose the craftsmen of the days of Elizabeth and James wrought upon ceilings, e\en in
lesser folks' houses, may be seen near by at Danew'av ; and the Daneway ceilings, quite rich though quite
modest, rather rough but \-ery virile, commended themseh'es to those who wished, on no sumptuous
or extravagant scale, to take advantage of this re\i\iiig art. That it is a revi\'ing art. and that it can be
used with excellent effect in simple manner, is shown by the accompanying illustration of the hall. The
old school of plasterers were apt to reserve this form of ornament to rooms that had no ceiling beams, their
designs being, as a rule, of elaborate ribbing and panelling, everywhere heavih^ enriched and suitable to
large and lofty rooms only. But Daneway is one among several small houses where a beamed ceiling in
a low room has been sufficiently enriched to give it distinction without any sense that it has been overdone
or belongs to a room of another calibre. In exactly the same spirit has Mr. Barnsley worked. Heavy
cross-beams were necessarily present in his hall to support the floor abo\-e. To carry the ceiling below them
was to make the room too low. Moreover, the height and character of the room suggested the need of beams.
As they were the salient feature of the construction, so should they be the chief field for the ornament, and
they have been enriched b\' running" scrolls of \'ine, oak and rose lea\'es of simple drawing and in low relief.
The cornice round the wall carries out the scheme, but m its own manner. It is a little deeper than the
beams, and has a narrow running pattern at top and bottom between which are detached sprigs of such
flowers as flourish in the garden borders. The ceiling proper is very simply treated. It is in correspondence
with the plain walls, and with them forms the background and foil to the decorated beams and cornice.
The simple outline of ribbing is best seen in the plan, but it also just shows in the illustration with the small
insets of ornament at corners and centre. The furniture both here and in the sitting-room consists partly
of old examples and partly of new pieces designed by Mr. Barnsley and produced in Sapperton, One and
the other equally enter into the picture, and are exactly what we expect and wish to see there. In the same
manner the sitting-room, in the honesty of its construction, the sufficiency of its forms, the disposition of
its adjuncts, declares itself one in which thinking and working can be done at their best.

Of this house Mr. Barnsley was not only the designer and the occupier, but builder and paymaster
too. He therefore knows precisely how it has been done and what it has cost. It is done well, and therefore
it is not done chea])ly — n(.it, at least, in the unpleasant sense in which circumstance now forces us generalh-
to use that good old \\ord. In a right sense the work has been done cheaply, for there is real and adequate
value for the outlay. Mr. Barnsley has kindly supplied a schedule of the cost under the heachngs of the
different forms of labour and material, and it is as follows :

i s. .1. i S- ■'•

Mason — labour on housf .. .. .. 580 o o riuiubing on house. .

,, stable, etc. . . . . 98 7 10 Plaster fioors ,, . .

,, hauling .. .. ^5200 Dressed stone ,, . .

Carpenter ,, house .. .. .. 350 o o Timber ,, • •

stable, etc. . . . . 50 o o Cement ,, • ■

Tikr and plasterer — labour on house . . 199 o o

stable, etc. 4,1 o o £1.700 14 i

Deducting the sum for which the stable, garden and other adjuncts are responsible, the cost of the house
was about one thousand four hundred and fifty pounds, and though the centre part was there alread>% there
can have been little saving in retaining it. It is generally as dear to alter, convert and incorporate such
a portion as it is to sweep it awav and begin afresh. It was probably retained in this case in order to stamp
a character of growth and adaptation upon the completed work and not as an economy. Few, then, will
doubt that the sum paid was not bv any means too large tor the result attained. If all who have need to
build anew in the Cotswolds will build in this manner, that district will earn as high praise for its present
as for its past architecture

4.^

S.MALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

REDLANDS, FOUR OAKS

The Conditions of House Phmning-

Aspccts — The Lighting of Kitchcns-
Brickwork.

-Porches — Red and Yellow

IT comes to some architects to specialise in one tyy)e or anotlier of public building, such as schools or
churches, and to others to ran.i^e freely over the whole field, but nearly all take their turn at
domestic work. In such buildings as schools there is a code of rules laid down by the
Government department concerned, which leaves the architect comparati\-ely small scope for
invention ; but m domestic building the problem is never twice the same and the variety of plan
and treatment endless. There is, too, a human quality about the making of homes \\'hich is absent from
the design of buildings of a public sort (churches ah\-a\'s excepted) , and with churches the \'ery aloofness of
their aim lifts their conception on to another plane. One remembers Ibsen's Master-builder :

" I build no
more church-towers
now. Nor churches
either."

" What do you
build then ? "

"Homes for
human beings."

Though there
is an inherent false-
ness in this con-
trasting of home-
building and
church-building, as
Hilda W a n g e 1
shrewdly indicated
when she coun-
tered Solnes with
" Wouldn't you
build a little — a
little bit of a church
tower o\'er these
homes as well,"
one sees the Master-
builder's point.
There is an inti-
macy between do-
mestic architecture
and the common
life which it serves,
that demands of
the designer infinite
patience and sympath}" with people's habits and tastes. Because life is an endless succession of seeming
trivialities, successful house-building is based not so much on the gift of large conceptions, as on the observa-
tion of ordinary needs and skill in ministering to them. In such work Mr. Charles Bateman has built success
on large experience, and the arrangement of Redlands is a good example of convenient and economical
planning. To take first the question of aspect : the whole range of reception-rooms faces the south-east.
The contour of the site suggested it, and, though one hesitates to dogmatise on so thorny a question, it is
probably the best possible, for it gives sunshine in the dining-room both for breakfast and luncheon. The
drawing-room has a big bay also on the south-west front, so that it catches the late afternoon sun. The
cleverest feature in the planning of this front is in the lighting of the kitchen. A main window facing the

7 — THE ENTR.ANXE PORCH FROM THE STABLES.

KEDLANDS.

s?t^tefi?si«x

8. — Till': SOUTH-HAST I'RONl.

££■

9, — THE DRAWING-ROOM BAY

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

south-east \\liich let the sun stream in on the conknig range would ha\-e been a blunder ; but the range
has been most ingeniously set in an ingle-nook, which has windows in the east and west walls, and so secures
cross-lighting and cross-ventilation. There are also air outlets above the range, and the kitchen is thus
kept admirably cool. Some architects have laid it down that a kitchen should always project from the
main body of the house, and have windows at either side. This demand would often affect so materially
the rest of the planning (besides confusing the roof), and would create the risk of such serious draughts,
that Mr. Bateman's solution seems infinitely better and, indeed, ideal, for it gets the best of both worlds.
The covered j'ard between the kitchen and the forecourt is used for the rougher scuUerj' work. As it has
a sparred gate it is always cool and hygienic and ser\'es for the hanging of game, while the larder proper
opens from it. The kitchen is used for cooking onh', and the ser%'ants take their meals in the adjoinmg

room. The china pantry is bet\\een
the kitchen and the chning-room, and is,
therefore, convenient for serving. Special
attention may be drawn to the admirable
access to the verandah. Usually this is
possible only from one room, but here
doors open both from the dining and
drawing rooms into a little lobby, which
in turn gi\'es on to the verandah. As
the best aspect is secured for the three
reception-rooms, Mr. Bateman wisely
abstained from making a feature of the
hall. It is adequate in size, and forms a
convenient waiting-room ; but the stair-
case rises from it, and it is therefore not
used for sitting. In many houses illus-
trated in these pa.ges, the hall is the
principal living-room. In such cases it
is ob\'iously desirable to shut off the
staircase, and this can only be done
structuralh", if it is to be satisfactory,
for curtains are insufficient to prevent
draughts. At I-iedlands, however, the
hall takes a subordinate place, but is
cheerful withal by reason of its good
south-west window. The porch is a
fairlv but not \\'holly successful solution
of a difficult problem. As Mr. Bateman
(giving hostages to criticism) once wrote
himself in a valuable paper on small
houses : " Porches are not easy to treat,
as, \\-hen small and of the usual type,
the\' seem to be stuck on, and to ha\-e
the character of a dog kennel or of a
furniture van." He is doubtless right in
thinking more kindly of recessed porches,
but at Redkmds recessing would have
meant an abstraction from the hall of
space, which could have been ill spared.
The grouping of the stables with
is \'ery successful. Between the loose bo.xes
off from the forecourt and from the stable

10. — THE TERK.\CE.

the
and

house on the north-east
the carriage-house is a

side of the forecourt
washing space shut

court by big gates, and, as the first illustration shows, tlie archways make an agreeable feature. So
much by way of describing the plan of the house, which has many points of marked interest. The
exterior is treated in a simple and satisfactorv fashion. Mr. Bateman has eschewed anything like a conscious
feature, which is all to the good. He has relied on the dignity which is always secured by a long level roof-
line. The chimneys seen from the garden are bold, and their positions, tw^o issuing at the apex of the roof
and one, that of the kitchen, projecting on the south-east front, reveal another point of good planning. The
sitting-room fires are all in inside \\'alls, an arrangement which conser\-es the heat \\'here it is wanted, whereas
the kitchen is the cooler for having its range built into an outside wall. The mass of the kitchen chimney,
moreover, joins with the two-storey gabled bay in adding a touch of reasonable variety to the garden front.

REDLANDS.

1 111 nigh the garden wall which runs Injm the east curner ul
the house is high enough to provide good shelter for wall
fruit, it does not hide the charming little group formed by
the dovecote which serves to crown the stable wing. It is
not a mere constructed feature, but a reasonable and useful
way of finishing off the staircase from the liarness-room,
while the slightly projecting parapet to its left marks the
presence of a capacious soft-water tank. The onl\- con-
scious ornaments to be espied are the pleasant lines of the
gable of the main bay and the quiet patterning with
projecting bricks on its front, treatments very proper to
the material. It is a house like this, of red brick and
tiles, with foreground of gay flowers and bright-lea\-ed
creepers invading the red, and background of dark-lea\-ed
ftirest trees, that makes one wish that the keen eye of
Heinrich Heine had not formed his judgment of l{nglish
lirickwork from the tlour dirtiness of London.

It «'as in i8i8 that he published the brilliant impres-
sions of his ^'isit to that " forest of houses," \vhere he
anticipated, but did not see, great palaces. " These
houses of brick, owing to the damp atmosphere of coal
smoke, become uniform in colour, that is to sa\', <.)f a
brown oli\-e green ; they are all of the same style of
building, generally two or three windows wide, three
storeys high, and adorned abo\-e with small, red tiles,
which remind one of newly-extracted bleeding teeth ; so
that the broad and accurately-squared streets seem to be
bordered by endlessly long barracks." This is all in the
spirit of Ruskin, who saitl that e\'er\'tliing in the world
came to an end, e\'en Ciower Street. Like most swilt
generalisations based on imperfect knowledge, it is as
untrue of England at larije as it is coin-incingh' true of the

II — UN-. iiO\'ECOTE.

12. — THIi GARDEN' FRONT FROM THE E.\ST.

core of London. The
\ellow stock brick
of Kent, which was
the chief material of
London's building
before red bricks
were brought with-
in reach by cheap
transit, can be and
is a beautiful
material, if rightl\-
used

Nil line can
see the interior of
W e s t in i n s t e r
Cathedral without
delight at the dull
gold i^i its huge
expanses ot wall.
Eor exteriors, liow-
e\-er, it must be
confessed that red
iir purple brick is
111 ore a t I r a c -
live. The archi-
tectural taste of the
late eighteenth and
c a r 1 \' nineteenth

12 REDLANDS.

centuries took a gloomy view about red bricks and tiles, as is clear from Heine's rather savage reference
to " bleeding teeth " ; but fifty years of revived interest in trachtional ways has given back to the
clay-workei an tTsthetic place he is not likely again to lose.

Fine effects in brickwork are secured rather by the thought and care exercised b}' architects than by
any costliness in the method of building. .-Mthough Redlands is solidly equipped indoors with stone mantel-
pieces, substantial panelling and the like, Mr. Bateman's judgment has achieved its very admirable effects
at a cost per cubic foot of only sevenpence farthing, or, putting it another way, at sixteen shillings and
sixpence per superficial foot of ground floor area. The latter basis of cost for a typical lesser country
house, well constructed and well equipped, is likely to be of service to those who are dreaming dreams about
building ; but it will hold good only where the architect can be relied on for good planning and sound
judgment in avoiding costly features, and, of the two, the cubic foot price is the safer guide. W.

IJ. — PLAN OF REDLANDS

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

THE HURST, MOSELEY, BIRMINGHAM

Birmingham Archiicctitrc — Houses and Habits— The Placing of Organs — Leigh Hunt

on Brickii'ork.

indeed, it has grown up from its small (ieorgian
poor in public buildings. St. Philip's Church.

BIRMINGHAM is hardl\- an architectural paradise ;
beginnings in a very haphazard fashion. It is
now the cathedral, was the work of William Archer, and the tower and dome are a brilliant tour
de force. The na\'e is not notable, save for the windo\vs designed by Burne- Jones and made by
William Morris. They are ablaze with brilliant colours, and give beauty to an interior otherwise
uninteresting. The exterior was refaced some time ago, and in the process lost whatever character the talent
of William Archer had impressed upon it. St. Edward's School was the work of Sir Charles Barry, a fine.
masculine buikUng, but a little lacking in ima.gination. Pugin is represented bv the Roman Catholic cathedral,
interesting, too, but rather thin. Of the more modern pulilic buildin.gs little can be said in praise. The
Law Courts, built in the ei,ghties. are a
wild whirl of moulded brick and terra-
cotta, ornamented with a lack of reser\'e
which arises from their employment by
thoughtless hands. It must be con-
fessed that the Courts have had a very
unhappy influence on recent, architec-
ture in Birmingham. If so gra\-e a
business as Justice is to be housed in
a place where the decoration rollicks
unheeded and unrestrained, can one
wonder if other buildings have yielded
to an org\' of machine-made ornament
and a profusion of harsh colours ?

There are some among the more
modern offices, such as those by Pro-
fessor Lethaby and Mr. Leonard Stokes,
which help by their quiet character to
redress the balance ; but any general
survey of the architecture of the city is
bound to result in gloom. When one
comes to the suburbs and the outlying
villages which are rapidly linking them-
selves with the city, there is, happily, a
different story. Nowhere, perhaps, does
the professional and business man of
moderate means more readily accept the
idea that a house built for himself, and
not for some nameless abstraction, is
his proper habitation. For this reason
a vigorous school of domestic architec-
ture has arisen, which is a great credit
to the Midlands. It is inevitable, of
course, that the majority of folk should
still prefer the ready-made house of
the speculative builder. The alterna-
tive is the more troublesome, but in
the end less costly, process of employing
an architect to design a dwelling that

M-

-G.\TE AN'U rORCIi.

S:\IALL COUXTKY HOUSES OF TO-DAY,

fits its owner's tastes and habits. The Hurst, ^Moseley, is a good example of how such an indi\-idual
taste can find its proper setting. To Mr. A. J. Bowen, its owner, an organ is the most desired feature of a
home, but in an ordinary house its placing presents problems almost insoluble. The height required makes
it impossible to set it in a room of any usual dimensions. If the difficulty be e\'aded b}' separating the pipes
from the keyboard and making the connection electrically, the breaking up of the instrument has an
unhappy effect decoratively. even though it may have no disadvantage musically. People are generalh'
dri\'en to add to an existing house a music-room loft}- enough to take the instrument, but such a room tends
to remain separate, and useless for ordinary purposes. In the case of The Hurst, Mr. W H. Bidlake was
able to pro^•ide for the organ from the beginning, and very wisely put it in the sitting hall, w'hich he carried
up two storeys, and so allowed it ample room. The result is eminenth" satisfactor}'. The instrument has
been treated as an integral part of the design of the hall, and, indeed, of the house, the arrangements of which
are greatly modified by it, but in no \\'ay to their disad\-antage. An organ which has been added to a room

stands out with oppressive insistence

and o\-erwhelms
impressions. In

all other decorative
tliis case its own
chamber has been built, so that the
case projects into the hall only so far
as is needful to gi^■e right emphasis to
what is the main feature of the house.
The panelling of the room is carried up
to the same height as the case of the
organ, and a rich plaster frieze appears
above. The hall, as becomes so fine an
apartment, is the key to the planning
of the whole house. A ^•estibule separates
it from the porch and communicates also
with the servants' quarters, so that it
need not be crossed save for access to
the drawing-room. The gallery at the
east end of it is the main passage of the
first floor, and the risk of draughts in
winter can be ob\iated b\- heavv curtains.
It is not in the nature of things that so
lofty a room with great windows and
open gallery can ever be quite comfort-
able in cold \\'eather, but in smnmer it
is delightfully cool and airv. On the
first floor there are five bedrooms, and
above them four bedrooms and a recrea-
tion-room, which will presently be
(le^•oted to billiards.

It may be wondered wli\- the
aspects of the house are somewhat
unusual. The main rooms face the
west instead of the soiith and so get
only the declining rays. The explana-
tion is that, though the house looks
as though it should stand on a large and
free site, it is, in fact, in a suburban road, and the ground on which it stands has a frontage but slightly in
excess of the wddth of the house. It was, therefore, impossible to place it otherwise. The feeling may
arise that it is a pity to build a house of so much character and quality on a site which so narrowly limits
its possibilities ; but that seems hardly the right point of view. Rather may the owner be congratulated
that even for so small a site he allowed Mr. Bidlake to design so interesting a building the cosi of which
was three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds. Were all ow^ners (and in this case the owner is builder
also) so wise-hearted, the sting would be taken out of the usual gibes about suburban architecture. As it
is, good use has been made of the ground, and room found not only for a motor-house, but for stable and
harness-ioom for a saddle-horse. The exterior is conceived on typically Enghsh lines with the Tudor
feeling that is not unnatural from a hand which, like Mr. Bidlake's, has achieved so much that is distinguished
in ecclesiastical work. It is all very quiet and scholarly, but some criticisms suggest themselves.

The rather heavy horizontal moulding over the entrance doorway would have been better dropped to
lust above the arch, as it would have divided the height in happier proportion. On the garden front the

-THE HAI.L FIREPLACE.

THE HURST, MOSELEY.

l6. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

17. — THE EAST FRONT.

THE HURST, MOSELEY.

scheme of the hall reveals itself in the
great window with its nuillions and
transoms. This generous fenestration
has its dangers, for the big gable above
it seems to sit rather hea^'l!y on its
seeminglv slender supports. The little
projection built out to the north side of
the garden front, which serves the
necessar\' purposes of boots and knives,
looks like an after-thought, and seems to
disturb the gravity of the long front.
This is said in the full knowledge of the
cramped nature of the site, and the
arrangement may have been inevitable.
Perhaps the boots annexe might have
been incorporated with the harness-room
building by extending the latter a few
feet to the east. These, however, are
only slight blemishes on a design marked
by "great dignity. Not the least of its
merits is in" the long, unbroken ridge
of the roof. It is worth noting that
gables, ho\\e\-er \-aried in spread and
height, do not impart a sense of restless-
ness if they are backed by the serious
lines of a large and simple roof.

The house is fortunate in its
materials, for the bricks are good both
in colour and texture. And what an
atmosphere of enchantment there is
about this age-long trade, we have the
pleasant gossiping pen of Leigh Hunt
to put us in mind : " Why, the very
manufacture is illustrious with antiquity
— with the morning beams that touched

the house-tops of Shinaar ; — there is a clatter of brickmaking in the
we may be transported " into old Bab^don \\'ith its tower and its
our chariot on the walls, and conversed with Herodotus . . .

I6. - lilh H.\LL : (lRl,.\.\ .\\U G-\LLl.k\.

19. — GROUND PLAN.

fields of Accad ; . . ." and so
gardens ; and there we drove
and returning home what do we
descry ? The street
itself alone ! No !
Ben Jonson, the
most illustrious of
bricklayers, hand-
ing his trowel on the walls of
Chancery Lane, and the obsti-
nate remnants of Roman brick
and mortar lurking still about
London, and Spenser's cele-
bration of

Those brickv towers
The which on Themmes brode

aged backe doe ride."
But what has all this got to do
with Mr Bidlake and a house
in a Birmingham suburb ? Only
this, but it is enough — that
buildings, in suburbs and else-
where, will fail of their appeal
as homes, unless the imagination
can relate them credibly with
the houses of past days. W.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

LARKSCLIFF, BIRCHINGTON, KENT.

A Seaside Faniilv Hume— The Right Use of Rotigh-cast—An Uiildovr Dining-rooh

dreenhviise — . J tlic.

-Ali Biiba's Cave-

TO many who dwell in crowded cities, the call of the sea is insistent. In contrast with their hurried
In-es is the quiet of wide spaces, the breezy conflict of wind and water and the merging of the
horizon in an indeterminate haze of distance and colour. When to these natural elements is
added the human interest that belongs to the relics of the great name of Rome, we ha\-e unveiled
the secret of the prestige of the Kentish Coast. Nowhere is this greater than in the famous Island
of Thanet. So much one reflects naturally when contemplating the unbroken vistas from the windows of
the seaside home illustrated in this chapter.

The A-illage of Birchington is about a mile from the sea ; but a colony of Inmgalows (and among them
that in which Dante Gabriel Rossetti died) has sprung up between the station and the cliffs. \\'est of the
bungalows a building estate was schemed some years ago and a parade begun ; but, for reasons which are
not \-ery clear, building has been small in quantity and unpleasant in qualih'. The air of Birchington, like

20.

-LAKKSCLUF FKU.M THE S.WUS.

that of its bigger neighbours, \\'estgate, Margate and Broadstairs, is extremely bracing and of peculiar
value for young children. On the edge of tlie chalk clifts Mr. .Arthur T. Bolton has built a house that is,
above all, a familv home. The site has been admiraltly chosen and the house so devised that, in its main
outlook seawards, the \'iew is untroubled by buildings. Looking westwards, for fi\-e miles the open sea
skirts the ancient marshlands of Sarre, beyond the curving reach of ^linnis Bay, until it meets the venerable
ruin of Reculvers. The twin towers of the ruined church stand within the still more ancient walls of the
Roman fortress of Regulbium, that guarded the inlet of the sea which once made i'lianet an island in fact
as it is now only in name. The house stands on the chalk cliff which, reaching round from the ])o\-er head-
lands, is here about to disappear before the Thames estuary is reached. Eastwards, beyond the bungalows,
is the reddish mass of Westgate, and, some si.x miles away, the grey chequered outline of the older Margate.
Beside the house wild flowers and chalk weed grow in profusion. Larkscliff, as the house-name, has

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

21. — A WALL IN FLINT AND TILE.

ZZ. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

LARKSCLIFF.

its plain meaning. The larks, their song and their secret
architecture, have not yet been dri\-en away by man's
obtrusive building. It is obvious that such a situation
as is here described demands an architectural treatment
altogether different, both structuralh' and asstheticalh',
from that of an inland house. The designer had to bear
in mind that his building would be searched hv every
wind that blows. Just as the cliffs are being slo\\-h-
eroded, so the sea salt would affect his walling, while
the maximum allowance of brilliant sunshine, of which
Thanet is so proud, calls for special provisions. Raging
winds and driving rains are no respecters of the pictu-
resque conventions that may rightlv find their place in
the seclusion of a tree-embowerecf site, ^^'hether seen 111
a hot sunlight across a shimmering sea. or in the pearl
grey tones of its haze, ingenious combinations of poly-
chrome architecture will be neither restful nor agreeable.
In order to obtain the tone and texture that befit such
conditions and yet resist the penetrating force of angr\
gales, without recourse to the doubtful merits of hollow
walls, the house was sheathed in a rough-cast of granite
and cement. There is, perhaps, no treatment more apt
to be misapplied than rough-castin.g. 'Sir. Bolton has
adopted the logical idea of it, and treated it as a jiro-
tective cloak for the whole house. It is a too common
practice to rough-cast isolated surfaces, leaving the brick-
work of other parts unco^•ered. Sometimes also a brick

or stone

-THE ENTR.\NCE.

-4

I III'; I^PPliK CORRIDOK

arcli is
left uii-
treateil
to em-
phasise
the deco-
ra t i \- e

value of such constructional features. It would be unwise
to dogmatise on such a question as this, for it is closely
connected with the architectural needs and intention of
the particular house so treated. It is safe to affirm, how-
e\'er, that the uniform use of rough-cast at Larkscliff is
altogether wise. The speculative builder is much addicted
to what has been profanely, but not unhappih', called
the blouse-and-skirt stvle. This method leaves the lower
part of the brickwork plain to a height of from four feet
tn ten feet all round the house, the upper parts of the
walls being rough-cast. It has been whispered that this
is due to a passion to utilise, lor a large proportion of
the building, bricks so common, that tliey will not bear
the light of da3'. Not the least of the disad\'antages of
rough-cast is the question of colour. The mixture of sand
or fine ,gra\-el with Portland cement produces a cold, dull,
bluish grev tone, most unattracti\'e in itself, which is often
veiled b\- distemper of cream or other pleasant colour.
This, however, means a recurring cost, galling to the
economic mind of the householder. Mr. Bolton has solved
the difficulty by having his rough-cast made of red
Leicestershire granite. This is not so strong as to o\-er-
come the cement and produce a pink effect, but modifies
it to a warm and kindly grey. The roofing is of Kentish
tiles employed in the traditional way, I'lio eaves are
reslricled hv remembrance of tlv:' lifting; power of the

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

o
o

I.ARKSCLIFF.

gales that search the house vn all sides. The mam outline of the building is emphasised by the gathering
of the chimneys into two masses, whicli rise boldly abo\-e the roof. The broadly designed main gable is
a good feature, for it tells from a distance as well as clijse at hand. The bay windows of drawing and
dining rooms are subdued and embodied in the general composition of this gable. It is bv the merging
of lesser features in the main elements of a composition that a reasonable \-arietv is achieved without an\-
frittering away of the mass.

An essential element in the design is the outdoor dining-room, which is afforded by the verandah and
terrace adjoining the dining-room. Above it. the enclosed connecting balconv is not only a ver\- practical
feature, but gives a strong defining mass of shadnw, which adds \-alue to the design of the front. E.xcept
for a sundial, the owner's initials and a date in bronze, there is an entire absence of can.'ed ornaments. The
qualities of architecture ha\'e been sought — and found — elsewhere, but there has been no insistence on them.
The house has grown round its plan, on the traditional lines \\liich go\'erned tlie development of the farm-
houses of the county. The simple character of the exterior is helped and emphasised by the white-painted
weather-boarding, which has been so judiciously used. Any sort of elaboration would ha\-e been out of
place, for the intention was simple. A familv seaside home was wanted at an outlay so moderate that the
interest would mean an ordinary rental. Such a rental usualh^ gives the inferior accommodation of a
builder's ready-
made house, and
it was to escape
this that :\I r .
Bolt o n designed
Larkscliff for him-
self. The actual
cost, e.xclusive of
the garden walls,
but including more
than the usual
allowance of sani-
tary fittings, e.i^..
t w o bathrooms,
was one thousand
three hundred
pounds, which
works out at se\'en-
pence halfpennj' a
cubic foot. The site
included an old
chalk-pit, and this
presented obvious
advantages for
flower culture, as
a sunk garde n
escapes the gales
that come so

vigorouslv from the sea. In this valley, too, one may ha\-e tea comfortably without the wind
taking too violent liberties. For the formation of paths chalk was wanted, and was obtained 1)\
tunnelling. The inside of the cave so formed has been concreted and palisade gates put at om-
of its two entrances, the other being a rubble archway with a porch of stout poles brilliant m
July with rambler blossoms. We ha\-e said that Larkscliff is a family house. The uses of the ca\-e may
be divined. It is the home of Robinson Crusoe, the cave of Ali Baba's brigands, the scene of high smuggling
exploits, and even on occasion a Bond Street shop. In one of the illustrations can be seen three of the
dramatis pci'soiicc near the entrance of this novel playroom. An admirable feature of the garden, and one
that adds greatly to the privacy of the house, is the enclosing wail of rough flint and ciuarr\- tiles that looms
large in one of the illustrations^ As befits a wall in Thanet, it is built in the Roman manner. Tiles in flint
walls have a great decorative value, but like all good ornament thc\' lia\-e a strong structural significance.
They serve, in fact, as reinforcement, and notably increase the strength of the wall. The handling of the
flint shows that Mr. Bolton's early studies of mosaic art lia\-e not been in \-ain.

At Larkscliff the greenhouse" difficulty has been cle\-erly overcome. There is no question that green-
houses are the bane of an architect's life, "and on no other question is the garden-loving client so likely to
come into conflict with the architect. In big houses they can be exiled to a walled garden, but in the case
of a site of a quarter acre the chfficultv is insistent At the right-hand end of the garden Innit are two

25. — FROM IiK.\WING-KUU.\I TO UINIXG-ROOM.

LARKSCLIFF.

large, round-headed windows. These hght the little conser\-atory, which also has windows at the t\\o ends.
The space thus afforded is enough in proportion to the small garden, and though it lacks a top light, it i^
an admirable compromise between a conser\-atory, which would be a blot on the house, and none at all.
The windows in its back wall give added light to the kitchen, which is, however, adequatelv lit otherwise.
This brings us inside the house and at the domestic end. The kitchen arrangements are much more ample
than is usual in a house of this size. The inner kitclien is, in fact, a ser\'ants' hall, and the domestics thus
enjoy an uncommon degree of comfort. The reception-rooms are t\\-o only, the place of the third being taken
by the open-air dining-room. Thev can, howe\-er, be turned into one for children's parties, as they are
connected by folding panelling.

Other practical features of this well-thought-out plan are the children's lavatory on the ground floor
and the small room by tlie front door that takes the wheeled transport of the family. It is a great advan-
tage to get this accommodation at the front rather than the back of the house, and at Larkscliff there are
many wheels of all sizes to be "considered. The plan of the bedroom floor pro\'ides a complete suite of
bedroom, dressing-room and bathroom, either for guests or for isolation in case of illness — a thoughtful
provision. Once more, on the principle of jnniores prinres, the nurser\' h.is the central position on the
garden front.

The covered balcon}- is available for the little ones, either tor pla}- or as an open-air bedroom, while
it also gives access to their mother's room. It is, however, on the top floor of this children's home that they
find their paradise. The attic is given up as a playroom, and lined throughout with fireproof slabs. The
arching over the flues forms a natural proscenium for dramas more stately and ordered than belong to the
robbers' cave in the garden. Despite the fact that space has been everywhere economised, and chiefly in
hall and corridors, the stairs and passage on the bedroom floor have a pleasant character. Growing plants
are a hajjpy feature in a house ; but the casual flo^^•ur-pot is apt to suffer from the sudden movements of
the voung. A little opening to the left of the stairs has been given o^'er to tlie uses of greenerv, and leads
an agreeable freshness to the house.

The plan should be carefully studied, tor ii is the outcome of much thought directed to producing a
thoroughly comfortable and workable house. Its construction even recognises the age of the majority oi
its inhabitants. The floors and partitions are specially packed with sound-proof material to deaden the
noise of the young folk, who can enjoy their holidays unchecked and without undue reference to the nerves
of their elders. For the housewife, let us add that the cupboards are legion. She will probably replv that
in this richness are comprised both the law and the prophets of domestic architecture. W.

27. — GROUND PLAN

SiMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY,

BISHOPSBARNS, YORK.

A Pebbled Forecourt — Iiis.enioits and

Practical Planning — The Traditions of Yorkshire Building — 1 he
Right Use of Materials

BISHOPSBARNS derives its delightiul name not from any l)arn-like qualit)- m itself, but from tlie
fact that its site belonged to the See of York, and that barns were on the spot where the house
now is. If the truth is to be told entire, the house is not by situation a country home, for it stands
in a suburb of York ; but :\Ir. Brierley has so ingeniously placed it on its site that it lacks no
country quality either in plan or treatment. For this very reason it is the more fruitful subject
for study, and sho\\-s that in some sort the defects of suburban houses are due not so much to the inherent
difficulties as to an usual lack of skill in their solution. As the site is not deep from north to south, no
attempt ^\■as made to secure a front garden, but the house is set back from the road just so much as was need-
ful to pro\'ide an open forecourt before the entrance door. This has been paved with black and white pebbles
from the beach at Flamborough in a design of plain chequers, \\liich have this large ad\-antage, that they
give an air of coolness

to a colour scheme ~ ■ - —

\\'hich is dominated by
the rich red brick of
the house itself. Such
pa\ing has the prac-
tical ad^•antage that it
gives a firm foothold
to horses in all
weathers, and needs
no upkeep as does a
gravel drive. The
illustration of the
entrance front unfortu-
nately fails in one wa\'
to give a fair idea of
its proportions,
because, in the photo-
graph er's effort
to avoid an ugh' street
lamp by a side-long •
view, the left - hand
gable, with its massn'e
chimney, seems unduly
large compared with
its right-hand fellow.
The two are, in fact,
of the same size, and
the projections, which
they mark, stand out

solidly at either end of the long line of conca\-e roofing on the north side. The entrance door has a fine hood
in massive oak, with its supports admirably but unobtrusively car\'ed. We ])ass through a lobby into the
staircase hall, separated from the sitting hall by a screen of stout square-wrought balusters. Here and
elsewhere throughout the house, panelling and doors ha\-e the look of satinwood, but they are made of Kauri
pine untouched save for elbow and wax ]X)lishing. This is an admirable treatment and inexpensive for the
charming effect it gives, but it is possil>le only if done in jiicked pine, free from defects and perfectly seasoned.
The sitting hall is a good room to sit in and looks out through a long range of casements on to the brick
parlour or loggia which faces due south. The fireplace, which appears in an illustration, is of unpolished

28. — THE SOUTH FKOXT.

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

2q^ — FROM THE SOUTH-EAST

30. — THE STREET ERON 1".

BISHOPSBARNS

11. -THE SOUTH GABLE.

Hoptdii Wood stone, a material ot so quiet a c<.)lour that

one marvels it is not more generally used for such

purposes. Separated from the sitting hall by wide folding

doors is the drawing-room. Its ceiling is struck to a flat

and pleasant curve, and is decorated with plaster-work

by Mr. Bankart. On the other side of the sitting hall is

Ihe dining-room, with doors both from the entrance hall

and from the kitchen quarters. Rarelv does one see

pictures looking so well as here, but the background

e.xplains it : the walls are distempered a French grey

The brick parlour is so spacious that in summer man\-

meals are taken there. As it is set under the main roof

and thus protected fully from east and west, it is

thoroughly practical in every way. In this word " prac-
tical " one reads the reason for success at Bishopsbarns.

The arrangement of the house is a compendium of

domestic comfort, and makes for a perfect organisation of

household affairs. The kitchen is a business kitchen, with

a capacious sink, and the larder and pots- room open from

it. There is no scullery, and none is needed, for all work

is done in the kitchen, and the servants' sitting-room is

the place for their meals. This plan need not absorb

more space than the provision of a scullery in\'oh'es, and

it adds vastly to the servants' comfort. The tradesmen's

entrance is well away from the kitchen, which is placed

so that there is no traffic through it. and the art and

mystery of cooking can thus be pursued without interrup-
tion. In the housemaid's pantry there are three sets of

cupboards, for glass, silver and china respectiveh". The

lower range is kept for the things in daily use, the upper series is consecrated to spare sets. Here is

fi.xed a gas stove, a thoughtful arrangement which prevents the kitchen being disturbed by so light a matter

as the preparation of afternoon tea, and leaves the field
clear for the later solemnities of dinner. Ne.xt to this
pantry is the storeroom, a sanctuary of capacious cup-
boards, \vhere also flowers may be arranged. Altogether
it would be difficult to devise a plan for the working
(juarters of a house more convenient for their purposes.
We go upstairs by a simple, spacious stair\vay, to find a
scheme of floors which has many merits. The corridor
runs east and west, and, with the outer hall below,
dn'ides the house in an ingenious fashion which gives a
first floor only on the south side, where are the principal
betlrooms, and first and second floors on the north side.
The first of the latter is taken up chiefly by storerooms,
Imusemaid's room, etc., and the second by tlie servants'
bedrooms. This enables the ground floor and first floor
rooms on the south side to be lofty (a necessary condi-
tion where, as in the drawing-room, the ceiling is
arched). At the same time, it gives plenty of light and
pleasant rooms on the north, for the extra space on that
side is gained by keeping the ground floor oflices low,
height being there needless and, indeed, wasteful. The
exterior of the house is characterised by that breadth
i)f treatment and sedulous care for sound building which
belong to the architectural traditions of Yorkshire, and
find no more successful exponent than Mr Walter
Brierlc\'. The outside woodwork is everywhere of oak,
and the rain-water pipes are of lead. There is, conse-
quently, no repainting to be considered, with its inevitable
(iesl ruction of the creepers, which already begin to clothe
HIE Lu<.i.iA tiie house. The use of the best materials for outside work

s S.MALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

i n V (1 1 ve s, ot course,
some increase in initial
cost, but cheapness in
such a connection is
merely a will-o'-the-
wisp. A great archi-
tect of the last century,
who lacked a reputa-
tion for designing
cheap buildings, used
to say, " People forget
about the expense of
building. They never

forget bad work, for

is always there to re-
mind them." There
is a massi\'e common -
sense about this ob-
servation, which one
w'shes could make it
more widely accepted
by those who build.
It has obviously been
in this spirit that Mr.
Brierley has designed
for himself, and, in-
deed, always designs
for others.

The view of the
house from the south-east gives a good idea of the dignity ^\■itll
been massed. Anthnn\- Trollope made a jesting reference to

33. — THE SITTING H.\LL.

34--

-THE DRAWING-ROOM.

\\hich gables, dormers and chimneys have
an architectural truth when he commented
on the taste in dress
of one of his charac-
ters, " She well knew
the great architec-
tural secret of de-
c o r a t 1 n g her
constructions, and
never descended to
construct a decora-
tion." At Bishops-
barns there is no line
and no decoration
that does not arise
out of the nature of
the materials and
their workmanlike
use. The projecting
courses of brickwork
in the gables help to
throw the Avater clear
of the wall. The
tiling is " swept " to
soft curves (a tech-
nical word may be
pardoned, as it seems
expressive) to avoid
mitres. The lead
flashings are nicked
at the edges into a
gay little line. The

BISHOPSBARNS.

window-sills are ot ordinar\- ruotiiii; tiles, but the nibs
are turned outwards to serve as drips, and they give
little spots of shadow. On the gable ends the cement
vere-es are finished in a simple pattern witli'tlie point
of the trowel. It is to the wise choice of the chief
materials that much is due. Both bricks and tiles
are hand-made ; the former are only two inches thick
and of a rich red, while the latter are a full inch thick
and have weathered to a dark brown. It is an odd
thing that the ignorance in the right use of materials
A\liicli was universal during the first half of last
century and prevails to-day in ninety per cent, of our
building, drove people to make bricks thick when the}/
should be thin, and tiles thin ^vhen they should be
thick. It is in a reversion to the elder traditions that
Mr. Brierley has established a fine technique of
building, which shows his work informed with thought.
An architect mav, however, be defeated by a
careless builder. At Bishopsbarns the work is par-
ticularly good, for the builder took a pride in it. ^Ir.
Brierley adopted the satisfactor}- method of pacing a

ii'ilnih

T i 1

SCALE OF PceT

70 BO QO

^ — \ — T

36. — GROUND PLAN.

35. — THE ST.\IKC.-\SE.

percentage on the net cost, instead of entering
into the usual form of contract, and tlie cost ot
the house per cubic foot did not exceed ten-
pence. This is unquestionably the way to get
things \\-ell done, for the competitive system
breeds scamped work and inferior workmen.

For the garden at Bishopsbarns there can
be nothing but praise, for though it is small
the best use has been made of the available
>pace, and its planting was devised by Miss
jekyll. It is superfluous to say more than
that the colour schemes are w'orthy of her, and
that for summer and winter alike they lia\'e
been worked out in consummate detail. They
make one wonder once more how such elusive
contrasts can be conceived and set out in all
certainty without the practical aids of trial and
error. Sitting in the loggia, one sees across the
warm brick paving of the path the grey of
stachys receding through the light turquoise
of Japanese iris and the powerful blues of
delphinium to the backing of deep green in the
trim yew hedge. The illustrations show what
fine play is made with lupins. They do not
reveal (for the time was not ripe for photo-
graphy) the treasure ot rambleis on tlie big
oak pergola. Enough, however, can be seen
to establish for l^i-nopsbain= the charm ot
its setting and to win for the house itself a
generous appreciation.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

BENGEO HOUSE, HERTFORD.

Sanity in ArchUcctnrc — Thorciiu on Fitrnishinp, — The Importcuicc of Escaping the Inessential.

ENGEO HOUSE takes the place of an old building which was burnt to the ground not long
since. The north front does not lend itself kindly to photography, for it stands scarcely twenty
feet from the road and a rather high wall shuts out the lowest storey from view. Mr. Walter
Cave, however, elected to treat it on pleasant Georgian lines, and as both north and south fronts
follow the same motive, the garden elevations explain the whole. Fire happily spares gardens.

It is difficult to say whether one is more satisfied with the house within or without, for it is in every
way delightful, with sanity written all over it. The Luton brick walls, of a colour in which grey, purple
and brown mingle, have an air of ripeness which is enlivened by the bright red of the quoins, while tiles
which came from a demolished malting at Ware make a rich crown above the boldly treated cornice,
and southwards the outlook is across the level lawn flanked by fine old trees to the Ware Road
and Ware Park House — a characteristic Hertfordshire prospect, quiet and smiling.

S7-

-THE GARDEN FRONT

We reach the vestibule from the street door by a covered passage, and through it enter a charming
spacious hall, with the staircase rising from its corner. From the hall open the three chief sitting-rooms.
The kitchen is separated from the dining-room only by a passage and by the admirablv contri\'ed ser\'ing
lobby, from which also open the pantry and plate cupboard. In the drawing-room, as the accompanying
picture shows, is a fireplace of considerable merit, with a hob-grate of an old pattern which always
looks well. We go up the staircase, very well lit by a tall window in three tiers, to the first floor,
where there are eight bedrooms, and so to the attic floor, which boasts nine. Though the latter are
partly in the roof, and though, moreover, Mr. Cave has kept the dormers within reasonable dimensions,
so that from without they are in scale, the rooms are bright and charming. Everywhere there are
cupboards and household dodges of various sorts to make easy the working of the house. The simple fact
is that it is soundly planned and thought out in every detail, and there are no architectural fads. It is a
monument to Mr. Cave's common-sense, and no less to his economic skill, for, despite its fi\-e-and-twent\'

BENGEO HOUSE.

spacious room^, Bengeo House was
completed for less than four thousand
pounds, which represents eightpence
three farthings a cubic foot.

Too often an architect's intent is
defeated by his client's unhappy
activities in furnishing ; but here is a
house where moderation and taste have
directed it. It is hardly possible to be
too insistent against the overcrowding
of rooms with furniture. The Early
Victorian passion for what-nots cannot,
however, be dismissed as incredible. It
would be pleasant to think that those
egregious tiers of shelves were so called
because they \vere receptacles for what
not to exhibit to tlie public eye. Un-
fortunately, one cannot escape the
belief that they and the litter that
covered them represented a decorati\'e
policy ver\' dear t" people. Though
the what-not is dead, and people talk

of Art furniture instead, the spirit that created it is \'ery much ali\'e. Few of us lia\'e the courage to
abolish the inessential, whether in furniture or ornaments. Thoreau was brave. " I had three pieces of
limestone on my desk," he wrote at \\'alden, " but I was terrified to find that they required to be

5.-— GROUND PI..AN.

39. — FROM THE SOUTH -Wl.bl.

S.MALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

dusted daily, when the
furniture of my mind
was all undusted still,
and I threw them out
the window in disgust."
We need not take so
feverish a hate to house-
hold gods as did the
"transcendental
Y'ankee" of Stevenson's
phrase, but it would be
wise to accept his policy
to the length of keep-
ing them few and fit.
Our forefathers were
content to begin home-
making with a little,
and gradually to add a
fine chair here and a
bedstead there, each
beautiful of its sort,
and meanwhile to sit
and lie on simple utili-
tarian things, till they
all in their turn were
replaced by more as
beautiful. Perhaps it

-|0 THE H.ALI. .\XD STAIRC.VSE.

^I. — THE SOUTH-E.\ST CORNER.

42. — DRAWING-ROOM FIREPLACE.

BEXGEO HOUSE. 31

took a litetime to till the house \\orthily : but it is precisely to this policy that we owe the lasting con-
struction and decorative charm of the old furniture for which we compete to-day. The passion for filling
a house immediately with complete suites of everything is partly responsible for the shoddy stuff that
passes for Art furniture. There is at least comfort in the knowledge that posterity will have little
opportunity to gird at us for our folly in acquiring such things, for time and use will resolve them into
their original number of pieces before they can give evidence against us. The love of possession
is not in itself an evil, provided that the aim is tor quality and not for quantity. Great merit in furniture
must always be sought in hand-made work, and there is a plenty of fine modern furniture to be bought if
people will pay for it. Machine-made things may be, and often are, admirable, but it becomes an
absurdity when a scrap of carving here and a patch ot inlay there makes them masquerade as the work of
a live craftsman. It is a good plan, therefore, to be.gin by acquiring (if funds are limited) plain,
unornamented furniture, void both of offence and pretence, and gradually to replace it, as the exchequer
allows, with examples, whether of fine modern work or of genuine old work, but all the best of their kind.
Above all, the policy is to have nothing that is not actually needed. Once more to quote Thoreau,
" at the present our houses are cluttered with furniture, and a good housewife would soon sweep out the
greater part into the dust-hole and not leave her morning's work undone." This is as true to-day of
England as it was of Concord in the eighteen-forties, and it is, therefore, with pleasure that one visits
such a place as Bengeo House, where the furniture is aptl\- chosen and throws into relief, instead of
smothering, the proportions of the rooms.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

SUNNYMEAD, WADHURST.

The Planning of an Invalid's House — Ground Floor Bedrooms — The Cost of Building.

PERHAPS the most interesting thing about Sunnymead is its unusual ground-floor plan. Though
designed, happily not for an invalid, but for a man with a liking for a downstairs bedroom which
opens on to a loggia, it would be an ideal arrangement for an owner in ill-health, and may
be considered in that light. The main feature of its arrangement is the little suite facing south.
The ground floor bedroom is entered from the hall, but has another door to an inner and parallel
passage, from which open a room that would serve for a sick-nurse, the bathroom, etc. In the event of
open-air treatment being desirable, what more easy than to wheel a bed from the main bedroom through
its folding doors into the loggia ? The latter also communicates with the sitting-room, which has its
hreplace in an ingle. The room adjoining the kitchen is used by the present owner of Sunnvmead as
a study, but (still assuming a permanent in\"alid) it would serve as a housekeeper's or nurse's sitting-
room. The kitchen quarters are good, save for the larder, which is windowed to the west instead of to
the north, as is the better practice. L'pstairs there are four bedrooms and usual offices. The house is

43-

-THE ENTR.\NCE FRONT.

SUNNYMEAI).

\'ery solidl)- Iniilt, but
despite the use of
Dutch bricks, Mr.
Chesterton succeeded
in keeping the cost
down to one thousand
two hundred and fifty
pounds, representing
the very low price of
sixpence a cubic foot.
This economic achieve-
ment is, doubtless, due
in part to the sim-
plicity of the fireplaces
and other fittings ; but
when that is dis-
counted, the success
is none the less real.
Moreover, the lowest
tender for the build-
ing was set aside in
favour of another ami
higher one, and pre-
sumably, therefore, the
contract price was fair
and reasonable for
the work done.

The question as to how
need not be restated here.

' ■■ III
11 III
II 111

■Ki ir-
■II i>
■i« 11

HE 1

Sk- '

r-"Sfii;.

lar
Th

-I-). — FROM THE WEST.

cubic l(Hit prices are nf \-alnc luis been tliscussed
IS mctliod of calculating com])arati\e costs is of

ni the
import

Inln:
ance,

ducfion and
liowe\-et , in

^5.— -THE SOUTH IkOXl.

.|0. THE eo(;<;e\.

3-1

SUNNYMEAD.

47.— GKOIND FLOOR PLAN.

emphasising the a'l-important truth
that sound and artistic building does
not necessarily mean costl\' building.
The oft repetition of old saws, how-
ever untrue thej' may be, drives their
false doctrine into people's minds all
too surely. Thomas Fuller cannot
be b.eld guiltless, for this is how
he instructed his friends in the
seventeenth centurv : " In building
rather believe any man than an
artificer. . . . Should they tell
thee all the cost at the first, it
would blast a young builder at the
budding. . . . The spirit of build-
ing first possessed people after the
flood, which then caused the confusion
of languages. . . ." So much for
" The Marvellous Wisdom and Quaint Conceits of Thomas Fuller." The figures given throughout this
book, however, may do something to stop the dreamer of house-building dreams from being " blasted at
the budding."

But the e.xterior of Sunnymead claims attention. The entrance front is approached by a short drive,
and we are impressed by the sohd simplicity of its treatment. The chimney-stacks are massive, and, in
particular, that to the right of the porch has an added size from its being raised on the sitting-room
ingle. The porch is adequate, and the inner half of it goes to enlarge the hall, a neat point in planning.
The bricks came from Holland, and are nine inches long for the main walls and seven inches for the
chimneys, a well-chosen variation. Here and there tiles are built into the walls, not, as too often happens,
as a fad. but in odd corners where it \\^as normal to use them, because it saved the special cutting of
bricks. The house groups well from all points, and gains gravity from its unbroken roof-line. The
half-timbered gable on the south front is genuine timber-work, with filling a single brick thick, not a
wall with oak on its face. The exterior woodwork is all in oak which has weathered to a fine silvery
hue. The paths about the house are paved with irregular slabs of local stone, pleasantly water-worn.
Altogether, in the scale of the dormer windows, in the reasonableness of the bay that looks westwards
and in the carefully thought-out massing of simple elements and play of natural .textures Mr. Frank
Chesterton has created an interesting house on sound traditional lines at a cost that does him infinite
credit.

.(>^.- I'OKCH AXI) CIII.M.XLV.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

THE COBBLES, WALTON HEATH,

Thoreai

Hoifsc-hiiilding^Thc Size of Vcnimhth^-Thc Tyculmeitt of an Ingle.

THERE IS a peculiar charm in what Thoreau has to say about house-building for he had a knack ot
getting at the root of things. "There is some of "the same fitness in a man buikhng his own
house that there is in a bird's building its own nest. Who knows but if men constructed their
dwellings with their own Iiands, and provided food lor themselves and families honestly enough,
the poetic faculty would be universally developed, as birds universally smg when they are sd
engaged? . . . Shall we for ever resign the pleasure of construction to the" carpenter ? " \\'e need
not take Thoreau too seriously ; but that he was honest with himself is clear from his record of the house
he built for his own habitation at the cost of twenty-eight dollars tweh-e and a-half cents, and " Walden "
deserves to be read if only for this story. Mr. Crosbie's problem in building The Cobbles was one that
confronts many scores of architects to-day— to give to a house of small cost (it was built for seven hundred
and fifty pounds, and at se\-enpence a cubic fnot) something of character witliout straining after effect.

He has succeeded, and
though criticism finds
Its wiirk to do, there
is much that shows
tliDuglit and taste.
The verandah is the
teature to whicli some
^mall exception ma\-
reasonably be taken.
It is only six feet wide
and. therefore, too
luirrow to accommo-
date a table for an\-
> >utdoor meal except
.itternoon tea. It i-
im the other hand,
liirl\-one feet long
and, legarded as a
shelter for those who
watch .a game of tennis
' 111 the law II. unneces-
sarily spacious. ]n
|iractice a verandah is
not useful for the
larger meals unless it
is at the very least
eight feet wide, and
ten feet is a better
occupied only the central third of its present
int" the nursery and living-room respectively,
ordinary purposes except the larger meals.
On the other hand, there must be stated
when the sun is low in its travels, the

40. — THE SOUTH FRONT.

minimum. If the \-erandali at The Cobbles Iiad

length, leaving the two outer thirds to be thrown

sufficient outdoor space would have been left for all

and the floor area of the rooms by so much increased

the arguments for a narrow veranclali. In the winter,

light is not greatly impeded, while in the summer the shelter afforded to the south rooms makes

for coolness and pleasant shadow. On general principles, however, it seems better to provide a

verandah or loggia with a short frontage and running back about ten leet, taking care to light the room

which it adjoins by another window facing either the same aspect or another, as the rest of the jilan mav

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

determine. In other respects the house is admirable. All the living-rooms on both floors face the south,
save only the study, which looks to the north, and so secures the most satisfactory light for writing and draw-
ing. This avoidance of all but south aspects necessitates a long, narrow plan, and gives opportunities for
architectural treatment \\hich are more fruitful than with a more compact arrangement. It makes possible,
for example, the three pleasant gables on the garden front. In such simple little houses as this it is only in
the broad outlines of the building that any effect can be produced. Ornament and the richer sorts of
craftsmanship are barred by considerations of cost, and reliance must be placed on right proportions,
colours and textures. The roof is an important feature, and is very pleasant in its covering of old tiles.
So une\'en were the}' that it \\'as thought well to bed them in mortar, even though that meant some
strengthening of the roof timbers. The tile-hanging on the garden front is of a deep red, which accords
well with the roof, and the brick walls are rough-cast. It is possible to get tired of this latter treatment,
and for large and important buildings it is being less used no\v than a few years ago. It has, howcA'er, large
practical ad\'antages. Where cost dictates that the walls shall be as thin as is consistent with sound
construction, it is almost essential for exposed aspects that the brickwork shall have its resistance against

50. — GROUND PLAN.

rain strengthened by the protective coat afforded by rough-casting. IMoreover, some colour contrast is
desirable. In a large building, where, perhaps, porch and window dressmgs are of stone, the red m roof
and walls finds thus relief and lightening. In a small house built all of red materials there is apt to be a
hint of undue sameness. Internally, despite economies, there are touches of interest. The hall has a barrel-
shaped ceiling, which veils the fact that it is partly in the roof. In the sitting-room some Dutch panels of
oak, surround the fireplace, and the two slim columns of the ingle will be recognised as ci-dcvcini bedposts.
They seem a little thin, and something stouter would have been better. The ingle is a step higher than the
rest of the room. This separates it as a sitting-place, but it is a feature of doubtful wisdom where there
are little ones to trip and fall. It has, howe\"er, the advantage that the seats are wide close to the fire.

The staircase and upstairs passage are \-ery well planned to absorb the minimum ot room, while every
odd cubic foot of space is utilised for cupboards. The four bedrooms and bathroom are necessarily small,
and partly in the roof, but light and airy. Here, then is a house which shows that, if Mr Crosbie has,
in Thoreau's words, " resigned the pleasure of construction to the carpenter," he has devised a home which
has grown out of his " necessities and character." It shows him skilful in conceiving economies and happy in
stamping his own home with an artistic quality which is as agreeable as are all those things v/h:ch are not
the result of straining after effect. .

THE COBBLES.

51. — TI!K LlVlN(;-KOOM.

52. — THE ENTRAN'CE FRONT.

•^8

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

COLDICOTE, MORETON-IN-MARSH.

The Cotsit'cJd Traditions of Building — The Craft of the Mason — Stone Slating —
The Home of a Hunting-man.

OLDICOTE is typical of the earnest cleavage to old traditions of building which is characteristic
of the work of Mr. Guy Dawber. Li a parliament of architecture none would have a better
claim than he to sit as member for the Cotswolds. He has been a sedulous student of
what is perhaps the most attractive manner of stone-building that England affords.
There is an air of artless simplicity about these old manor houses and cottages that
.;ht tempt the casual observer to the belief that there is little to learn about their making. Two

or three gables
—these are the
pipes

are unknown save

and a bay. plain square chimneys, a stone panel or two, and simple porchless doors
ingredients. The minor arts are but sliglitly represented. Eaves, gutters and down-
on the greater houses. Here was no outlet for the cunning craftsmanship

of the leadworKer, who not only at
Knole and Haddon, but on many a cot-
tage in other districts, set up pipe-heads
which, gilt and painted, bejewelled fronts
that were other \\;se austere. The men
who set their homes on these roiling
hills were simple and straightforward
masons, but that is not to say their art
was meagre in invention. Nature, who
yielded them rich store of stone from so
many village quarries, was diverse in her
gifts. The various strata of the lime-
stone belt which reaches from the Dorset
to the Yorkshire coasts comprise all the
oolites and provide nearly all the build-
ing limestones used in England, At
some le\'els in the Cotswolds the stone
comes out in great blocks, at others in
rough shards, and a few rich pits yield
the laminated sheets which go to make
the slate roofs. These differences affect
profoundlv the nature of building from
\-illage to \'illage, and bring a sense of
infinite \'ariet\' and charm. Tudor House,
Broadwa\', for example, was built in the
richest manner of the mason in coursed
ashlar, with a finished surface. In other
houses the stones would still be coursed,
but in rubble, and with face left rough.
In humbler homes they were laid at
random as the}'' came to the mason's
jiand. In a neighbouring district the
thin, slate-like layers of stone, when
used for wall-building, would produce
\'et another technique. In Northamp-
tonshire the chances of variety afforded
by the presence also of red ironstone
suggested its alternation with bands
5,;. — nil': pokch. of limestone ; in fact, the possibilities

COI.DICOTE, MORETON-IN-:\IARSH.

54. — ENTRANXE GATE AXU LODGE.

1 KOM THE SOUTH-l'AST.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

are almost endless. The pictures of Col-
dicote show that ^h. Dawbei has adopted
coursed rubble as the most suitable treat-
ment for the thin layers in which the
local quarries, only two or three miles
away, provide the stone. It is built
without any dressing or cutting beyond
what is needful to make the pieces
roughly rectangular. By tins means, and
b\- raking out the joints deeply when the
mortar is partially dr^', a quahty of sur-
face and a texture are secured which not
only suit the material but are r>i the
essence of the local traditions. No
dressed stone is to be seen anywhere but
on the porch, which ^'ery properly is
reserved for this dignity of finer work-
manship. All angles and \\indow dress-
ings are in ordinarv walling stone, but
emphasised b}' the use of larger blocks.
The chimneys are built in brick for
reasons economical, .\shlar was ruled
out on the score of expense, and rubble
The treatment of the roof demands notice,
slates and the hard

is in the rough texture of the elder work. Of late years there has been a tendency to forget the meiits
and possibilities of stone slates bv splitting them too thin and too smooth, and by cutting their bottom
edge neatly and accurately. This passion for fussy exactness destroys their chief charm, and it is refreshmg
to see with what success the older manner has been followed at Coldicote. There is no affectation or
pretence, no attempt to imitate an old roof by copying the defects which the battery of Time inflicts.
The material is used simpl\- as it comes from the Eyiord quarries, w-ithout wasting labour in reducing
it to a mechanical precision \\'hich not only destroys its interest but means extra cost. It is supposed
b\- some that care in building in the \ernacular manner proper to any district involves costly workmanship.
The precise contrary is generalh' the fact, for the unnatural finish of materials not only gi\-es them
necessarily a dreary air, but often involves utterly misplaced and expensive labour.

The plan of Coldicote is interesting b\' reason of its compact and self-contained character. A demure
lodge guards the entrance to the dri\'e. The entrance front of the house is a little east of south, and

.56.-

SCAlt Cf FELT

-GROUND FLOOR PL.\N.

would have meant stacks disproportionately large.

The radical difference between the old Cotswold stone

blue Welsh slating to which modern builders have accustomed our unwilling e\'es

0/-

-IHK HiMK.\NCE l-ROM.

COLniCOTfv

58. — THK SOUTH-WEST FROXT.

59. — THE riKST IL(HJR lAXDING

42 COLDICOTE, MORETON-IN-MARSH.

shows a long range of building. To the right is an archwa}' to the stable-yard, flanked by a tower-
like projection, and to the left the drive leads us to the main entrance. The hall is small but
adequate, with the dining-room to the right and a parlour to the left. The billiard-room, however, is
the main living-room, for it has a pleasant bay looking to the south-west and doors to a good
verandah, while the fireplace is set in a comfortable ingle. As the room is over thirty feet long, there
is ample sitting space after allowing for the billiard-table. Upstairs the bedrooms are spacious and
pleasant, and an excellent feature has been made of the first-floor landing. Everywhere the
construction of the house is solidly comfortable, and despite the abundant use of oak for floors, a
pretty painted ceiling in the billiard- room, and modelled plaster-work in the dining-room, the cost
of the house worked out at no more than ninepence per cubic foot. Masonry is ordinarily much
dearer than brickwork, but Coldicote shows that, in capable hands and given good local conditions,
it can be as cheap.

The house reveals by its general scheme the tastes of its owner. For a family consisting of
three only the bedroom accommodation can be limited and the general plan simple ; but in the
home of a hunting-man the stable court must be ^\•ell equipped. The latter is entered through the
archway already noted, the gates of which can be locked. As it is entirely enclosed by buildings, it
is sheltered from cold winds and safe from marauders. On three sides of it are the coachhouse,
harness-room, loose boxes, garage and the engine-room, where electricity is generated for lighting and
pumping. The kitchen quarters form its south-western side, and everything is accessible from the
house and under immediate control. While the coachman and gardener live in the entrance lodge,
there is a messroom and a man's bedroom in the stable block, so that someone may always be on
the spot to attend to the horses. Nor has Mr. Dawber forgotten the unhappy lot of a sportsman
prevented by frost from keeping fit in his accustomed way. On the north side of the stable block is a
roofed squash-racquet court, which serves also in part to \\all the garden and to protect it from the
east wind. Here in wet weather or in frost is strenuous exercise to be had, and it serves also as a
tea-room when outdoor entertainments are afoot.

Perhaps in nothing does thoughtless architecture so readily stand condemned as in its back elevations,
when they are mean and fail to carry on the fair promise of the front. In old Cotswold houses there
are no backs (in the sense of the old oft-quoted gibe about Queen Anne fronts and Mary Ann
backs), and at Coldicote this good tradition has been faithfully followed. Coldicote might say of
itself, as Abraham Cowley made old Somerset House speak when Henrietta Maria restored its
shattered beauties after the Restoration :

As in kings we see
The liveliest image of the Deity,
We in their houses should Heaven's likeness find
Where nothing, can be said to be behind.

It is a long and rather pompous way of putting a sound bit of architectural criticism, but it is abundanth'
true of Mr. Dawber's houses, that " nothing can be said to be behind." Coldicote can be surveyed
with pleasure from every point of view.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

ELM TREE COTTAGE, FARNHAM

A Convenient Plan -An Old Fiinih.iin I n.iii-itry, Tile Making.

THE problem of the very inexpensi\'e little country home is of perennial interest, and Elm Tree
Cottage is an example of its solution which is commendable if not free from criticism. The
plan shows both skill and thought. Because it was desirable to reserve the maximum of the
frontage facing south for living-rooms, the entrance door has been put at the north-west corner
away from the road front. In a house of such small dimensions it is best to utilise the minimum
of space for the hall, and Mr. Falkner has contrived to do with only seven feet by four feet. This in\-olves
the entry of the study through the living-room, but that is a small disadvantage to set against the saving
in passage-way. A very con\-enient feature is the dark room opening out of the study. The drawing-room
is of good size with a bay window to the west and a little loggia, nine feet by four feet six inclies. The latter
just gives room for two people to sit down to tea, but it is a tight ht. As a door to the garden from the

drawing - room is a
\'aluable feature, and
it is difficult to make
such a door weather-
tight unless it is
roofed in some way,
the loggia is justified.
The corresponding
projection at the east
end roofs the cycle-
rniini. A rather dis-
turbmg little break
is macie in the roof-
hne by the projection
of the first-floor bay ;
but the amenities of
the room are greatly
bettered by the in-
creased space and
mitlook it affords,
the north front is
happier in its design,
but the triangular
l)atch of tiling which
forms the porch
breaks up the roof.
Had tiie slope of the
latter been continued
and the corner sup-
roof-cupboard secured in

ii I II I l;i IN I .

space

for

ood

ported by a plain post, the effect would luu'e been simpler and
the west bedroom, but the porch would ha\'e been unduly lofty

That Elm Tree Cottage has excellent features is clear when it is noted that it was built at the
unusually low figure of fivepence per cubic foot. This is a very ordinary cost for workmen's cottages ; but
Mr. Falkner has contrived by economical planning and construction to find money for artistic albeit simple
joinery and for good fittings. In the living-room, for example, is a well-designed barJess fire, of make by
no means inexpensi\-e. and an oak mantel-piece. It is onl\- by taking considerable thought that l)uildings
like this can be cheapened and yet be structurally sound. Windows and doors nmst be made each in, say,
two sizes onlv. The habits of tiie local builder need to bo considered and his suggestions for small economies
given a sympathetic hearing. The green hearth-tiles m the li\-ing-room deserve more than mere mention.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

Ot late 3'eais there
has been a successful
and, it must be
admitted, a justified
invasion of England
by Dutch tiles, not
only of the figured
type, where slight
sketches in blue ol
genre subjects, wind-
mills, etc, are seen
on a white ground,
but of the glazed tiles
in plain colours. The
success of this im-
portation was due to
the fact that the tiles
were inexpensi\-e and
h a n d - m a d e , an d
showed a richness of
colour and vitality in
their surface which
had almost died out
in England owing to
the abandonment of
hand-making for the
a 1 1 - c o n q u e r i n g
machine. The latter turned out a product of
respectable and totally lacking m interest, ft

6i.

62. — LIVING-EOOM FIREPLACE.

-NORTH FROM AND ENTRANCE.

perfect smoothness and accuracy of size, which was highly
was cheap, and had every demerit possible to tiles. The
Dutch tile which largely supplanted it in the affections
of architects has a surface mechanically imperfect, and
for this very reason delightful. It had no affectations of
antiquity, such as have made the very word " antique "
of ill omen. By its depth of colour and by the reflections
which played elusi\'ely over the une\-en surface of its
lirilliant glaze, it brought back to remembrance the
natural beauties of old pottery, which the dull regularity
'if the machine-made tile had well-nigh caused to be
torgotten. Happily, English manufacturers have not
lagged for many years behind their Dutch confreres, and
it is now possible to get hand-made glazed tiles which
are equal to the foreign product. The interest of the
green glazed ware at Elm Tree Cottage is due, however,
to the fact that it is of local production, and that its
making has been carried on at Farnham, with some long
intermissions, from the sixteenth century unto this da}*.
On August 19th, 1594, Sir Julius Caesar, Treasurer of the
fnner Temple, wrote to Sir William More, Constable of
Farnham Castle (the See of Winchester then being
\-acant). He asked that the bearer of his letter might
have hberty, as in times past, to dig, out of Farnham
Park, " certaine white cley for the making of grene
l>ottes, usually drunk in by the gentlemen of the Temple."
It does not appear from this whether the clay was turned
nito " grene pottes " at Farnham or elsewhere, and there
is nothing by which they can now be identified, for the\-
were doubtless of the ordinary late mediaeval type.
When Farnham pottery began again to be made, greens
were not attempted ; in 1886 there came an order to
copy some French green glazed vases which had parth-
perished from the severity of English winters. 'Sludi

{

ELM TREE COTTAGE.

experiment was needed belore a glaze
could be devised to suit the local " body,"
but the difficulties were eventually over-
come. All colours of glaze are now
employed on Farnham ware and a
mediaeval craft has come into its own
again. The old claypits in Farnhani
Park have long been closed, and the cla\-
now used is so different that new colours
and glazes had to be devised The old
method was to sprinkle copper or brass
filings on the ware, after it was glazed
but before firing. It is unfortunate that
when a kiln, probably of Roman times,
was recently discovered near I'arnham
during the excavation of some founda-

GROUNU PLAM.

tions, no fragments were found to prove

that the same tradition went back fifteen hundred years e\-en before the gentlemen

were so concerned about the continuing supply of their green pots.

This IS a diversion

Cottage, but not a useless one if it draws attention to the continuity ol

of the Temple
from Elm Tree

0.|.

l-KO.M MR.VWING-l.Ou.M TO G.VKLKN

the lesser building arts and
to the way these
are woven into the
mesh of English
history. And so,
to sum up, this
little place may be
set down as one
very interesting
solution ot the
problem of how
may be pro\-ided
three sitting
rooms, kitchen
offices, four bed-
rooms and bath
room at a low
cost. The exact
figure is not ascer-
tainable; but
another cottage
which Mr Falkner
lias designed near
by, of practically
the same plan but
eight feet longer,
cost five hundred
and thirty pounds,
inclusive f)f
drainage and water
supply.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

SOUTH HILL, HOOK HEATH, WOKING.

Felicity ill Building — Tlioinas Sicift

on Surrey — .4 True
Without Roughness.

Cottage — Conceits in Thatch — Simplicity

1~> HE dictum of Sir Joshua Reynolds that art comes " by a kind of felicity and not by rule " is never
more true than when it explains such an engaging thing as Mr. Horace Field's cottage. One is
more ready to associate his name with work of a graver sort, where ordered forms and conscious
rhythms play their own very excellent part. A thatched cottage built at the foot of a sharp slope,
which is approached down a path so steep that from the ,gate one expects almost to touch the
chimneys, demands, howe\-er, onh' the felicitous touch that gives simple grouping and pleasant outlines.
Any formality in the elevation, any nice balancing of solids and voids, would be hopelessly defeated, sa\-e
on the terrace front, by the wayward points of view \\'hich alone are possible to the observer.

Hook Heath is almost due \\-est of Woking Village, and forms part of the higher ground which runs in
a south-westerly direction from Maybury Hill to Pirbright Common. Although the ele^•ation above sea-

]e\'el is not verv
consitlerable, these
rolling moorlands,
with their sand\-
soil, heather gro\vn,
give a fine feeling
of freedom and ex-
panse, while the air
is keen with the scent
of pine trees. \Mieii
the cousin of Dean
Swift was a Surrey
\'illage parson at Put-
tenham, not manv
miles from Hook
Heath, his enthu-
siasm for his home
made him write it
down "so healthy,
as to deser\-e such a
remark as the best
pen could give it."
Thomas Swift did not
possess the literarv
gifts of Jonathan,
Init he was some-
what of a prophet.
" Such is the salu-
brity of its air, as did
those wealth}' citizens
know it, who want nothing so much as health, I might say . . . that they would come and make
a city here." Time has shown that this knowledge has come not only to wealthy citizens, but to many
who are content in simple homes to enjoy the delights of Surrey heaths as well at Woking as at
Puttenham, and in vastly greater numbers.

The photographs show how attractive is the situation of this cottage, which is indeed a cottage. Look-
ing from the terrace front, one sees that the building is wholly protected from the north and north-east winds
and almost entirely from the east by the hill and a generous grouping of trees. To the south and west the
ground slopes away gently, gi\ing opportunity for wide terracing, and affords a \-iew across a large expanse

0.^.

THE WHST I'KOiXT.

SOUTH HILL, WOKING.

66. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

\i>^)Lu-t

67. — FROM THE NORTH-EAST.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

-LOOKING XORillWAKDS.

ot well-timbered plain. Looking dawn irom the garden

gate, which is reached by a leafy lane from the heath,

the full charm of fine thatching is apparent, and we note

the pleasant conceits that are the prerogative of that

ancient craft. At the points of the gables are plaited

crowns, and on the ridge of the eastern dormer roof

perches a peacock in straw, a quite convincing bird.

There is a good deal of complaint made that thatching

is becoming a lost art ; but \\-ith such a recent example

before us there is no need for undue pessimism. It

should be noted, moreover, that these imaginations in

straw are not a product of the drawing-board, but the

spontaneous expression of the thatcher's pleasure in his

work. It all looks very simple, the thick rich covering

and the pleasing lines of the plaits that tie down the

mass ; but few are aware of the arduous work it entails.

Many young men who are apprenticed to this work

abandon it owing to its very tiring nature, and, indeed,

it requires no small strength and resolution to do a day's

^\•ork at it. especially in the sun. Mr. Field has not been

afraid to varv his roofing materials, and has thereby

a\-oided any sense of undue emphasis. The bay window

on the Rortii and tlie door-hood on the east are leaded,

and the contrast between thatch and lead is very satis-
factory. As we reach the bottom of the steep path we

come between the cottage and the rose garden. The

latter is prettih' trellised, and the chains from post to

post seek the invasion of ramblers, while a joyful little

,gar den

god presides within on a sturdy pedestal. The door-hood
is extended to the right to shelter a little paved space
where one may sit and regard the roses. Abo\-e the door
Mr. Aumonier has carved amid a trail of conventional
leaves tl;e pious legend ;

Enter, dear Lord, mine house with me.
Until I enter Thine with Thee.

We go into a tiny hall, and its picture is worthy con-
sideration because it points a notable moral. It is too
much the habit in the architecture of cottages intended
as the homes of cultivated folk to assume that simplicity
must find its expression in rough brickwork and in
coarse-hewn timbers. Time has tempered in old cottages
the rawness of finish which came from lack of finer
materials and ignorance of more genial methods.
Refinement is, however, as needful an atmosphere in a
cottage as in a palace, but it must be obtained by
studiously simple means. The gracious se'verity of the
two unmoulded arches and the judgment which used the
sli.ght recess as background for the enchanting little figure
of Narcissus (from the original in the Naples Museum)
make an appeal to our taste as immediate as it is
ine\'itable. One may go far before seeing a treatment so
satisfactory and so much in the spirit of cottage archi-
tecture, yet informed by scholarship. The floor is of
red tiles, waxed to a rich finish. Opposite the staircase
is a parlour, and facing the front door the big sitting-
room. The west windows of the latter are high up, \\ith
bookshel\-es under, and between them is the door, which
leads down two steps to Mr Field's study. This room
takes the place of a vernndah which was first designed,

6(J.- TKIXLIS .\:.[) KOSES.

SOUTH HILL.

but It gives no idea ot after-thought. Its httle root and chimney
group to admiration with the main part of the cottage. As
becomes its use, nearly half its wall space is taken b}- windows
which look both westwards and southwards down a" miniature
a\-enue to the garden beyond. The garden door is placed in
the passage between the study and sitting-room. The kitchen
quarters are well arranged. As there are" but three bedrooms
upstairs, the maid's room is on the ground floor. From the
kitchen there open the pantr\- and sculler\-, while the larder,
with its north light, is entered from the latter. Throughout the
interior one has the pleased sense that the furniture is exactly
right for the cottage. There is no affectation of simpilirity, but
simphcity itself. The \-iew of the \vest front from the garden is
particularly attractive As the bedrooms are all parti\- in the
roof, there was an excellent opportunity for \-ar\ing treatment
of the thatch, which is carried o\-pr n little rough-cast gable in the
middle and trimmed o\-er dormers on each side. The brickwork
IS everywhere (except in the case of the little building wlurli

JCOAX cf

J-M-M-M

liO

^..lU

70.

-THE H.\LL.

7'-

-GROUND PI.\N.

contains the stud\-) rough - cast and
finished with a wash which has a hint
of warmth in it. Nature has helped
;\Ir. Field with the garden, which has its
own note of quiet formality, heightened
by the judicious use of treillage. The
soil is sandy, for the site is neighbour to
the heath, and wallflowers, Canterbury
bells and dahlias each in their season
take to such a home with a profusion
almost riotous Roses are successful ;
but that, no doubt, is clue more to the
skill w^hich tends them than to the
inherent qualities of the soil.

The homes which architects build
for themselves are always of interest,
because they represent the designer's
mind unhampered bv the special desires
of clients, who sometimes are less know-
ledgeable than determined. One may
go far, however, before finding a cottage
which is so truly unaffected and charm-
ing, and where the graces of simple
comfort sit so naturally, as in this
little jilace that Mr. Horace Field has
made as a refuge for quiet work
tempered with golf.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

A HOUSE AT SAPPERTON.

Aulobiography in Buildiu'^ — Rohcrl Kerr on "The Gentlein.in's House" — The Value of Simplicity —
.-1 Triumph of the Thatcher's Craft — Cotsuvld Masonry.

R, GIJMSON'S home near Daneway, but in Sapperton parish, is another case of an architect buildint;
for his own use, a circumstance ad\-antage3us to the result, which becomes the direct
interpretation of an idea. A thoughtful designer does not agree with Talleyrand that words
are gi\'en to disguise thoughts ; he conceiA'es, rather, that not only words but even stone and
wood are his for the accurate and direct expression of thought, and he therefore uses his
professional experience to make every part of his house in accord with his mind. Such houses ma^•
therefore be treated as if they were an autobiographical ^'olume in \\hich one ma\' read their designers as
men Avith personalities, with decided aims, social and cTesthetic, and with \-igour of mind and bodv to
pursue them successfuH\-. The text of " plain li\-ing and high thinking " has been taken for sermons
many in number and great in diversity. It is the corner-stone of this house at Sapperton, which rests

THE W,\V IN LKUM THE LAxNE.

A HOUSE AT SAPPERTON.

on it securely and tnithfull\- ; yet it equally fits many another and quite different superstructure. In
this particular case simple habits and informed tlioui;lit are to have an en\-ironment resulting from delicate
esthetic perception, and forming a dominating influence. The house suggests that its designer's ideal

must be that of the old. free village communit\

altered to suit an age of large organised masses

and of wide humanitarian and intellectual intercourse. It seems to plead that there should be
no extreme distinction of classes, no deep gulf between the mode of life of the highest and
the lowest ; but a pervading sympathy and neighbourliness of feeling, founded on a common
intercourse in the various departments of labour in which all, in some one of its manv forms, should
be equally interested and engaged; and, above all, that those forms which are irksome and brutalising
should be modified or abolished, for labour should be a delight and not a drud,ger\-. Surely this
house is " the material expression of its inmates' habits of life and turn of thou.ght." " It is severely
restricted in its accommodation. Not onl\- is no ornate feature introduced for the sake of ornament';

7J--

-THE GARDEN SIDE.

decoration is even absent from necessary features. But form and material, texture and colour have been
so studied by an adequately trained eye that the whole thing is a joy-giving ornament to the charming spot
of Earth selected for its site. It is amid " little glyns of difficult access," whose steep and twisting banks,
clothed in timber, enclose the view and give a sense of privacy and retirement to a house which is really
in close touch with Sapperton Village. Past its church and the spot where once stood its manor house,
a lane horizontally bisects the hillside. At its end, and at the same pleasant mid-elevation, is spread out
the cottage home, ample in its proportions and extent by reason of the sufficiency- of its adjuncts -shedding
and workroom, yard and terrace, garden wall and yew hedge. Though small, it is a complete settlement
for a family, not a cube containing so many rooms set down gaunt and unsupported on a roadside plot.
The designer has considered the general lie and also each special undulation of the land. He has used
Nature's differences of level and peculiarities of cur\-e to weld his homestead into the landscape com])osition
and to give it purpose and distinction. The building stands at the top of its ground and looks down into

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

the narrow vale. Across a little raised forecourt we pass from the lane to the ample stone-tiled porch,
which opens direct into what in old time would have been termed the house-place-

-the one and onlv '"itting-

room of the house. It is amusing to contrast the mental attitude which has dictated this arrangement
with that one more usual even now, and much more so fifty years ago, \\-hen Mr. Robert Kerr wrote his
" Gentleman's House." His favourite words are " propriety " and " impropriety." To reach the
former — even to understand how it is to be reached — is evidently a difficult task. The latter meets you
at every turn, and you are up to your neck in it if your little villa has not exactly the same disposition as
the mansion " fit for the purposes of a man of rank." Decent society will almost cut you if j'oui kitchen
doorway " exposes to the \-iew of everyone the dresser or the cooking- range." But the real test of a man's
worth is his mode of going to his meals, which he should call " the act of proceeding to and from dinner."
A doorway between dining and drawing rooms is a " grievous informality " ^\•hich even an inter\'ening
lobby scarcely palliates, for " however small the house may be, to pass through a door of inter-communica-
tion or to slip out of one door and in at the other i= always undignified." What words, then, are there to
express the case of a man who has positively abandoned " the act of proceeding to and from dinner
entirely ; who passes through no doorways at all, but merely moves from one chair to another in the same

room ? Mi Robert
Kerr would have
made short work of
such doings. "This
is not a ' Gentleman's
House ' at ail," he
w o u 1 d have
explained, and he
would ha\'e passed
by on the other side
in search of a " ^■ery
superior house "
where the diawing-
room paper imitated
white - watered silk,
where the consoles
of gilt composition
imitated carving, and
where the japanned
iron coal-scuttle was
adorned ni front
with a painted land-
scape and was called
m the auctioneer's
catalogue a " pur-
donium, liner and
scoop." There is, of
course, no reason
whv a reaction from
the horrors of a
inspiration of such pimciples should dri\-e us
at Sapperton takes us. Yet it is difficult to

without realising
■ very superior

74.— TIIH L.\'I.\L.-KUU.M.

habitation planned, built and furnished under the
as far along the road of simplicitv as the house

approach, enter and examine it without being peivaded bv the feeling of its sufiicienc\
that a single living-room ma}' be a temple of elegance and refinement, while a
house " may be a den of vulgarity and coarseness. What component parts does the room possess to
produce this feehng ? A floor of exceptionally wide oak boards carefully selected for their grain and
figure A white-washed ceiling di\'ided into compartments b\' two oak beams, plainly chamfered and
restmg on stone corbels. Low \\-alls \\-hose thickness is revealed by the recess of the mullioned windows
giving depth for a seat. A large open hearth containing logs that rest on wrought-iron andirons, while
wrought-iron implements, perfectly simple and yet satisfying in design and craftsmanship, are set or hung
around. The book-filled recess and shel\-es imply the student, the spinet the musician. There is practically
nothing here which is not for use. Not only is decoration totalh" absent from the fabric, it is scarcely
represented by any of the objects in the room except the one bowl of flowers — proof of kinship with Nature,
of intimacy with her profusely-given charms. But this absence of ornamental superfluities produces no
effect of conscious and militant Spartanism — no Trappist determination to mortify the flesli. It merely
gives full value and effect to the quality of the furniture and implements. There is no elaboration or

A HOUSE AT SAPPERTON

.^:;

'T'i.-r'zV^^^

-^-.-},-f-'.x^'^:^

75 — THE ANGLE OF THE HOUSE.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

luxuriousness about them ; they are almost austere. But they are ail so right in their line and propoition,
so finished in their handling and workmanship, that they fill in the picture, raise it out ot the common and
stamp it with character. The rest of the interior, kitchen and stairs, workshop and bedrooms have the
same merit and tell the same straightforward tale of their maker's purpose. Yet it is less the mterior than
the exterior of the house which arrests attention. This is partly because there is so much more of it. It
the underlying principle demanded an interior which many might deem rather exiguous, the love of a free-
handed use of material has created an exterior of considerable presence. The illustrations do it bare justice,
not because the photographer has at all
failed in his art, but because the lie of
the ground and the presence of trees
interfere with the best points of view.
The wing \\ith its open shed resting on
rough stone pillars, and having the
workroom over it, gives a valuable
extension to the building, which thus
acquires an L shape, and the angle
shelters the yard. The gable end of the
living-room, standing above the garden
slope, affords, with the tall, massive
chimneys, the \'ertical lines which aptly
break the general horizontal sense pro-
duced b}' the descent of the roof to a
single storey height. This roof is an
incomparable piece of thatching. The
whole scheme and its every detail have
been carefully thought out as a matter
of design and grouping, while the actual
laying, fixing and dressing of the straw
manifest the high point which the art
has reached in the thatcher's hands.
The Cotswolds, with their natural yield
of stone tiles, were, of course, never an
exclusively thatched- roof district, as are
so many parts of Devon, Dorset and
Wilts. 1 he real home of thatch is the
down country, where cereal agriculture
freely yielded what geology denied — a
roofing material. Here, too, the thatch
blends most perfectly with the land-
scape. The swelling outlines and suave
hollows of the downs seem like the
mighty model that was copied in the
curves of the modest roofage of the
habitations. But the Cotswolds were a
wheat as well as a sheep growing region,
and thatch was much used by the
humbler folk, so that for a dwelling that
aims at the expression of humilitv the
roof of the cottage rather than that of
the manor house is rightlv adopted.
Indeed, it would have been a real loss
had this house lain in a place where its
designer's- correct sense of adopting local
material would' have forbidden the use
of thatch. He lias a full mastery over it arising out of his warm sympathy for it. He knows that tc>
stint it is false economy, that, if dexterously wrought, thickness means duration as well as equable tempera-
ture within the dwelling. The straw has therefore been used with lavish hand, and its great depth at the
eaves is most pleasant to see. But that is not all. From the thickness of this coating largely springs the
excellence of all the roof curves. The quiet swell of the hoods o-ver the dormer windows reminds us of a
summer sea. They rise out of and fade back into the general lie of the roof imperceptibly, and yet they
reach a considerable elevation at their highest point. The ample fold wrapping round Ihe living-room

-GROUND PL.\N

A HOUSE AT SAPPERTON. 55

chimney and puurnig oxvx Uie round-angled projection of the staircase again brings to mind the action ol'
the main in its most friendly embrace of outlying rocks on the Cornish coast. The humping up of the central
portion of the roof for the evident purpose of giving headroom in the attic, whose windows appear on each
side of the ridge, is one of the many instances where advantage has been taken of a necessity to produce
a desirable effect, while the weaving and pegging of the ridge gives a charming finish in the manner of a
hem-stitched edge to sheeting or table-lmen. A roof of such ampleness and substance, although not reall\-
as heavy as one of stone tiles, calls for solid-looking walls to satisfy the eye. The thickness of the walls
and the massiveness of the masonry of the chimney-shafts may be precisely gauged by a glance at the ground
plan, but the full sense of this is also given by their appearance as shown in the illustrations. The rubble
stone of the walling looks like a slice out of a Cotswold quarry, and its use for the pillars of large diameter
on which the wing roof rests completes the sense of adequate solidity. Where the windows are stone-
mullioned, an ashlar of good grain and vein, not too smoothly finished, is used in a large manner. This
comparative roughness of the masonry surfaces and the careful dressing of the thatch reveal a due sense
of the A-alue of texture. However great the thatcher's skill and finish, the straw will yield a surface of
sufficient variety, and one on which light and shade will play a myriad of engaging pranks. But the mason's
finishing tools must be used with judgment and withheld at the due moment. Here that judgment is
rightly exercised and that moment is exactly caught. The care with which the external features and the
general grouping have been thought out is well shown In' the picture with the do\-ecote in the foreground,
which forms the frontispiece of this book.

Need more be said to prove that the house is a success and that it was built by a man who knew (juite
well what he wanted and what effect he wished to produce, and has had the skill to realise it. There is
nowhere the obtrusion of a good feature overdone, nowhere the jar of a bad one half hidden away. The
whole is an entente cordiale between the utilitarian and the beautiful. There is no feature, no material,
no workmanship that sets out to be ornamental, none that fails to be charming. The impression carried
away is that the accommodation and the disposition desired were carried out in materials close at hand,
and fell into the shape and assumed the appearance before us out of the sheer necessity of the case. It all
looks as clear and simple as that two and two make four, and that is win- it is a trium]ih. The road to success
in the domain of art is apt to be through a A-ery Slough of Despond. But it is the part of Art to hide the
effort and the falterings of its footsteps and appear clean-footed and clear-browed at the goal of its endeavour.
At Sapperton this has been done, and done without undue expense. In these days of processes and manu-
facture, when men's chief function is to turn a handle or stoke a fire, specialised handicrafts successfulh-
exercised are apt, however simple the outcome, to be costly But this lionse has been built at sevenpence
per foot cube, and considering the amount and the quality- of the material and wcrkmanship and the
special and individual characteristics of the work, this is encouragingl\- reasonable. It is not e\-erybody's
house. It is, in e\-ery sense, the home of its particular occupant, and that is its most priceless quality.
But the general manner of it must warmly commend itself to all who look out, \\itli intelligence, on to the
problems of right living ; and the fact that building and furnishing of this kind may be seriously attempted
by the man of moderate means for his necessary home, and not lightly jilayed with by the millionaire for
his occasional diversion, is a matter of wide and deep iniportniice.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

THE THREE GABLES, LETCHWORTH.

The Disappoin'nienls of the First Garden Ciiv — Technique of Thatching — An Interesting Plan-

Pyoblem oj Small Gardens.

-The

CH\\0RT}1 IS a little disappointing. The name of " Garden City " calls forth the picture of a
Terrestrial Paradise from which the Serpent, in the guise of the speculative builder, has been rigidlv
excluded But it wculd really appear that at Letchwnrth he has not merely glided in, but has been
gladly received. There is a lot of very poor buildmg at this first Garden City. The impression
that anyone has been allowed to put anything anywhere is the first to be received. It is an impres-
sion which, fortunately, is afterwards somewhat modified. There has been a certain amount of town-planning
— rif rules and limitations as to building, of planting, road-making, spacing and general lay-out. More,

perhaps, cannot ha\'e
been expected of
pioneers. Their experi-
ment was venture-
some, and this led to
its being carried out in
tentative manner, and
with a good deal of
submissiveness to the
bad practices and
sordid results which it
was designed to
correct. \\' e must
accept it as a step m
ad\-ance. and not as
the ultimate ha\'en.
That must be reached
in the future by those
who can mark the
deficiencies but gain
courage hy the success
of the premier under-
taking. And there are
successes to record.
Such stalwarts as Mr.
Baillie Scott and Mr.
Geoff ry Lucas, among
others, have erected
most pleasant little
houses, while a great
school commands real
respect by the dignified simplicity of its mass and the right proportion of its details. All these
buildmgs entirely depend upon themseh-es for an\- amenity thev possess. The\' ha\'e a \'ery uninteresting
setting that lacks trees and natural features. All arouncl the station there is a large region that has
this character. But there is something better to the south, and again to the north. Go a mile in the latter
direction and you are among pleasant farm lands well clothed with giant elms in rows and groups. It is here
that Mr. Cecil Hignett, rightly imdeterred by the note of remoteness, or by the almost primeval condition
of the track now called Croft Lane, pounced on a site for the charming thatched cottage lie has built
for his own occupation. Elms guard both the north and the east boundaries of his tiny domain, and it is
between two of them that we find the wicket-gate and pass up the flagged \va\- to the house. The charac-
teristic of the elcA'ation that faces us is the great sweep of roof descending unbroken from the ridge of the

77. — THE SOUTH FRONT AND THE G.VKDEN POOL.

THE THREE GABLES.

. ■ -: ' ;:t .

■

pi. p^Vi"!P

'i 1

"■i

^'^K^iSSi:

7iS. — FKOM Tilt NUKTII-WEST.

7y. — IIIL WAV IN

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

house ovei the cycle shed and
the porch. It is composed of
fenland reeds and is fifteen inches
thick. Nothing can be better
than the craftsmanship of the
men employed. Very often the
sheer ability of thatchers is their
worst snare. They are apt to
be a little too anxious to exhibit
their own cleverness and distress
the eye with " ornamental
thatching." They will put on
layer after layer of reeds and
shape the edge of each layer in
various patterns. They are so
pleased with their power o\'er
their material that they seek to
give the sides of their dormers
the straight appearance which
they woxild have if carried out in
slate or tile, and thus they lose the

.'Tsi:.':

&3-a3i.;

E^^fcima

8l. — GARDEN PLAN, SHOWING COMPLETE SCHEME, PART OF
WHICH SriLL REMAINS TO BE CARRIED OUT-

GROUND PLAN.

delightful curves and suave lines which are
natural to thatch. Thanks to Mr. Hignett's
supervision, nothing of this appears at The
Three Gables. The ridge is neatlv plaited,
but is straight edged. There is no break in
the roof-sweeps except the thoroughly easy
and agreeable hipping at the gables and
o\'er the windows. The criticism might be
made that there is a superfluity of upstair?
windows, causing a restlessness of the roof-
lines on the south side. Had there been no
break except that of the central gable the
effect would have been quieter, but the
bedrooms would have lacked some of the
abundant morning sunshine which they now
enjov. As now arranged , the bedroom over
the Ii\-ing-room is so liberally windowed
that, with the addition of door and chimne>-
piece. there is not much wall space left for
bed and wardrobe ; but for a sunny room
one is ready to sacrifice something. He is
captious, indeed, who has any other fauU
to find with this clever little dwellin.t;.
The plan is effective. Listead of squeezing
in a drawing and a dining room, we find a
large and picturesque living-room, and a hall
and loggia, or garden-room. Each is ratlier
small, but they may, in a moment, be
thrown together to form one — an open-air
room. The division between the two is
composed of glazed doors, which fold back
out of the way. A bench, which uses one
of the doors as its back when the latter is
closed, also folds away, and a perfectly
adequate and convenient space to sit round
a table for meals or work is pro\ided. In
such matters as the falling front of the coal-
box, the top of which is a recessed seat, we
get further examples of ingenuity, which

THE THREE GABLES.

82. — THE HALL AS AN OPEN-AIR KDO^L

S3. — THE LIVIN<;-KO()M INCILE.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

add much
reserve as

to the convenience
to a\-oid all feelin"

so well shows the hall and loga;ia
But a few points of detail should
struction as a contrast of colour and
below the b2im of the loggia openint.

of the cottage, and yet are carried out with
of the complexity and mechanism of a ship's cabin.

such taste and
The illustration

thrown together that
be noted. Red roof

texture to the rough-casting of the walls.

no further description is necessar^^
tiles have been aptlv used in con-
They form corbels
and a drip course above it. The local pattern of tile is made
to hang on its lath by three semi-circular teeth, and by placing this end of the upper tile of the drip course
outwards (a device which one associates with Mr. Brierley),a slight ornamental value is given to this utili-
tarian detail. The windows are topped with the same arrangement. Tiles ha\-e also been freely used in
constructing the fireplaces. That in the hall, where space was \'aluable, is a circle with a break in its ring
of tiles at the bottom for the ash tray. The keystone projects upwards a long way so as to support a small
shelf or bracket. The effect is not so thoroughly pleasing as that of the more extensive fireplace which
runs right across the ingle in the living-room. In the centre is a large arch flanked by small ones, all carried
out in roofing tiles, while pa\'ing tiles fill in the general face. These present the appearance of a diaper,
such as old builders produced with cut flints and chalk. Red quarries are set up vertically, showing their
face, and stabilit\" is given b\' filling the alternating spaces with half-a-dozen Iniff quarries laid horizontally,

and slio\\ing their ends. The
general effect of colour and
texture is very pleasing,
although the designer is not
quite satisfied that the
crimson tone of the red tiles
harmonises with the flame
colour of the fire. The ingle
is fitted with seats ; that at
the window end is long
enough for use as a couch,
and both seats are screened
with a di\'ision \\'hich sup-
plies bookshelf room, but
lias an aperture to see
through. The general effect
would ha\-e been quieter
without the latter ; there
would ha^•e been more book-
shelf room and the seats
would ha\'e gained in
seclusion and draughtless-
ness. The room has a beam
and rafter ceiling. The
rafters are whitened, but the
beam is self-roloured. It is
of elm, like most of the wood-
work in the house. Elm is the
local timber, and iS therefore, rightly and representati\'ely used. lis tendenc}' to warp and wind, objection-
able, no doubt, where high finish and classic perfection of line are needed, is no disadvantage where it is
simph' and massively used as in the present instance, while the tone and the grain are excellent. Well
feathered and figured planks have been chosen for the panels behind the seats and in other conspicuous
places, with good result. The furnishing of the room is apt. The gate-legged table, the rush-seated high-
l>acked chairs, the fine oak dresser of Oueen Anne type, liberally laden with a good collection of pewter, all
help to make of this living-room a successfully realised conception. The same may be said of the rest of the
house. The details are well thought out as parts of a general scheme. There is nothing cheap, in its evil
sense, but inthing costly. The dwelling is a cottage and in nothing departs from the cottage spirit. The
ledged elm doors, for instance, with T hinges stretching across the ledgers and with handles of good form
but quite practical and inexpensive, are in no point other than one could wish or expect. Again, how neat
and apt is the bedroom curtaining ! The rods are of ashwood, the rings of bone and the curtain material
is an indigo blue linen. The general effect of this in the whitewashed rooms is charming. But convenience
has been fully as much considered as appearance. The kitchen is very fully fitted, and upstairs the bath-
room leaves nothing to be desired ; while the hot closet and linen cupboard arrangement next to it may well
be en\'ied by many housewives much more amph' domiciled. The cost of the house was fi\'e hundred and
thirty pounds, which works out at sixpence three farthings per cubic foot.

eS..

-IX Till-, lJ\'IXC-KOO.M.

■ THE THREE GABLES. 6i

To the illustrations and plan of the house, a sketch of the garden scheme is added, because it offers a
good example of an effective yet inexpensive lay-out. It afforcls considerable variety and interest, but is
in scale with the size and character of the dwelling with which it is associated as a single composition. Tlie
area of the site is about a third of an acre. The house stands fift)- feet back from the road, and the ground
on this, the north side of the house, is planted as an orchard. East and west of the house are small lawns,
but the real garden is on the south side. Here, centring with the garden-room, a parallelogram, eighty- feet
by sixty feet, has been taken, with pergolas as its east and west boundaries, while the south end has only
low espaliers flanking its alley. In the middle of the scheme is an octagon lih- pool with brick walls rising
some two feet from the paved way that surrounds it. In the wall are four openings. As these might prove
an attractive source of danger to the child that appears in one of the illustrations, wire protectors have been
hooked on. The same octagon form is given to the little rose gardens that occupv the two quarters next
to the house. For shelter as well as for effect they are sunk a couple of feet. The further quarters are laid
out in beds cut out of the turf and dedicated to herbaceous plants. The work of garden-making has been
mostly done by ^Ir. Hignett in his leisure hours. It has, therefore, been a source of much pleasure and
little expense. Gi\-en a well-considered little design like this one, the difference of cost between carrying it
out or ha\ing the featureless dulness of the usual A'illa plot is \'er\- trifling, but the difference in result is
enormous. The Three Gables is a cottage, but, small though it be, it is a complete country home to be
cccupied with satisfaction to body and to mind.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

THREE LITTLE HOUSES

Thomas Fuller on Building Extravagance — The Doom of the " Desirable Villa "■

Halls — Compactness in Planning.

-Staircases and

THOMAS FULLER
is best known for
his " History of
the Worthies of
England," but in
another book, " The Holy
State," he delivered himself
of nine maxims " Of Build-
ing." The seventh may be
quoted as a pleasant scrap
of wisdom on the economics
of domestic architecture in
the seventeenth century:
" A house had better be too
little for a day, than too great
fur a year: And it is easier
borrowing from thy neigh-
bour a brace of chambers
for the night, than a bag
of money for a tweh'e-
month. It is vain there-
fore, to proportion the
receipt to an extraordinary
occasion ; as those who by
over-building their houses

tS3 — RHOSWYN COTTAGK ; ENTRANCE FRONT.

86. —GROUND PLAN OF RHOSWVN COTTAGE.

have dilapidated their lands, and their
states have been pressed to death under
the weight of their house." The judi-
cious old cleric had doubtless pondered
on the havoc wrought in Jacobean times
by the craze for costly and ostentatious
mansions. Not a few of the fortunes
made by merchant venturers in the
days of Elizabeth and her successor
had been, as Fuller says, " pressed to
death " by over-building. It is, per-
haps, from those days that there sprang
the notion that " Fools build houses for
wise men to live in." However true
that mav be of a period of wild archi-
tectural extraN'agance, it is a proverb of
crystallised stupidity to-day. Armed
bv its sanction, too many people abstain
from building for themselves houses
which would fit their taste and habits.
It is an odd reflection, but out of ten
men who would complacently purchase

THREE LITTLE HOUSES.

87. — GKOrND PLAN OF THK CROFT.

inevitable if tlie architect be equipped

a ready-made house, it is vmhkely tliat there would be one

who would contemplate the buyui!,' i)f readv-made clothes.

Yet the speculative builder flourishes exceedingly, and not only

over the suburbs, but up and down the rural districts within

reach of towns scatters his unlo\Tly and thoughtless handiwork.

It is not merely that clients conni\'e at an esthetic crime by

encouraging the making of houses that affront the country-side

and flout the building traditions of the locality, but in the long

run it is expensive to the offenders.

It is safe to say that ne\'er was the smaller t\-pe of hi3use

better understood or more carefully designed than by the abler

men of the present school of domestic architects. This will

be readily agreed by those who read this book with care. The

aspect of the question that is, perhaps, of most urgent interest

is the economic one. It is ob\-ious that many men abstain

from building their own house for fear they are embarking on

an amusement of uncertain costliness. They would rather

commit themseh'es to the tender mercies of the pur\'eyor of

ready-made houses of which the cost is a known quantity. In

this chapter are shown three typical houses, differing in treat-
ment yet all characteristic of their designer, which have been

built at prices much below the average cost of the ready-made

" desirable villa." That a man's house be different from

his neighbour's is surely, nuich to he desired ; it is more — it is

both with capacity and a good conscience. Every site, even if it offers only a fifty-loot frontage

to a suburban road, sets up its own conditions, and the variety of plan seems inexhaustible. Some line of

view towards distant country, an old tree that one would not sacrifice, or the contour of the ground, suggests

some new arrangement. Individuality may often be won by breaking away from the absurd idea that

the house must be built up to the frontage-hne of the road. There is no virtue m the notion, too widely

accepted, that the " Chamliers of Delight " (as an old book on building pleasantly calls the reception-rooms)

should be in the front when the aspect calls loudly for the reverse arrangement. In the interior planning of a

small house it is generally a mistake to tr\- to turn tlie staircase into an architectural feature. With notliing has

Mr. Morley Horder
been more skilful,
in the three little
houses now illus-
trated, than the
way in which he
has maintained the
privacy of the hall
as a Ii\'ing - room
instead of confusing
it with the staircase.
The least expensi\'e
of the t h re e ,
Rhoswyn Cottage,
(ierrard's Cross,
shall first be de-
scribed. The cost
of this simple and
dignified little
h o ni e w as but
se\X'n hundred and
twenty pounds, in-
clu'-.ive of frnciu,g
and of (lie brick
path wliicli makes
^o pleasant a fea-
ture ol the entrance
Iroiii. To secure a

88 —THE CROFT, CHFSH.\M ; l-NTK.WCF FRONT. llOUSC With lliree

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

8q. — LANE END : GARDEN FRONT^

90 — LANE end; hall LOOKING INTO DRAWING-ROOM.

THREE LITTLE HOUSES.

sitting-rooms and four bedrooms of good size (tlie drawing-room is eigliteen feet six inclies bv thirteen feet
six inclies) it was necessary to devise a plan of peculiar compactness, so that every cubic foot of space served
a purpose. Where one servant is employed and back stairs are, for every reason, impossible, the staircase
must be arranged so that it gives access privately- to the upper floor and takes up little space. Mr. Morley
Horder has placed it in ordinary cottage fashion, between partition walls. Incidentally, there is no need
for expensi\-e stair carpet, as the stairs are hardly visible from any point, yet they are readily accessible
both from the hall and kitchen quarters. The arrangement of the latter with respect to the dining-room
is very neat. Serving is done from the kitchen through the pantry, where the mistress of the house can
supervise china and the like and have her store cupboard. To save space, the usual scullery is omitted,
but a recess for pots and pans preser\-es the comfort of the kitchen, where an admirable sink is pro\'ided.
To reduce labour, the whole of the ground floor is laid with plain red tiles, save in the dining and drawing
rooms. Both the latter ha\-e windows to the south as well as to the east, and a pleasant verandah faces
both aspects.

What then is the explanation of the low cost, seeing that all usual comforts are provided ? Economy
has been sought and found in e\'ery way. Externally there is an absolute simplicity of wall and roofing.
The \'erges, etc., are all in plain tiles, and one notes the absence of external woodwork except in doors and
windows, with a
consequent low cost
of upkeep. The
fireplaces are in-
geniously arranged
so that only two
chimney-stacks are
needed, but the
latter are built
solidly and 1< irm
outstanding
features in the
sober grouping of
simple elements.
The \\- a 1 1 s are
hollow, built of local
m a n ^■ - CO 1 oure d
bricks and the roof-
ing is of dark hand-
made tiles. Inter-
nallv the walls are
distempered one
colour throughout
and the woodwork
treated with a
creosote stain and
wax polished.
Where hard woods

such as oak are denied for reasons economical, this treatment is sound and needs no upkeep. The cost
of the house works out at less than sixpence per cube foot, a fair standard for a workman's cottage, yet
none can deny that the house is refined and indi\'idual.

The next house. The Croft, at Chesham, involved an expenditure at the rate of eightpence per cul)c
foot (this cube foot standard is by far the most informing), and it will be useful to enquire the reasons of the
increase. They are in the main two. The plan of Rhoswyn Cottage was extremely compact, whereas
here not only is the arrangement more spread and the grouping more diverse, but the materials
are more costly, notably in the large use of old oak. The spread of the plan involves the need for four
chimney- stacks as against two at Gerrard's Cross, and the external walling is of much greater amount in
proportion to the spaces enclosed. The result is vastly more picturesque, and gives the general impression
of greater size ; and \et the hall is only a little larger, the drawing-room, though of more interesting shajie,
has about the same floor area, and the dining-room is actually smaller. On the other hand, the extended
plan in the Chesham house involves a much larger floor space absorljed in jiassage.^, which are reduced to
a minimum at the Gerrard's Cross cottage by its very compact arrangemi'iii . Clients would save them-
selves some disappointment, and their architects much wasted labour, if they would, at the start, clarify
their ideas as to their needs. Picturesque and irregular grouping makes for additional cost. It maj'
very well be worth it, but architects cannot be expected to design a house thus treated which will work

1. — l..\Sh LNl) : .\1IK1H FRONT.

THREE LITTLE HOUSES.

out at so low a cost per cube foot as a building conceived on simpler lines. Before leaving the Chesham
house, attention may be drawn to the charming effect of the timber work, with its tilling of brick mostlv
arranged in herring-bone, and to the agreeable sense of enclosure and comfort given to the dri\'e b\' the low
wall, which reaches outwards from the house.

The third. Lane End, is at Walton Heath. The plan is less spread than at Chesham. but more so than
at Gerrard's Cross. The cost, therefore, might be expected to come between the two. It \\orked out
at sevenpence halfpenny per cube foot, and would have been less but for the heavy expense of carting due
to the distance of the site from the station. It must be understood, of course, that these comparisons are
only possible or useful because the internal finishings of all these houses are on simple lines. Lane End is
a good example of a successful small house built in obedience to a sound maxim, that the smaller the house
the less assertive should be the materials, and the more economical of broken lines should be the design.
The north front shows the dignity which follows the perfectly natural use of simple brick and tile. A
pleasant variety of colour is secured by the judicious contrasts between the rough plum-coloured bricks
which are used for the bulk of the walls and the bright red corners and dressings, while a touch of interest
is given to the walls near the \-erandah on the south side by six bands of thin red tiles set with wide cement
joints. The hall opens on to the verandah and dining and drawing rooms, yet it is cut off from the front
door. The placing of the windows and their aspects are so ^^•ell managed that, though they are small enough
to give a sense of great comfort, the lighting is ample. The picture of the hall shows the simplicity which
is characteristic of the whole house. The settle is open to criticism. It is an inexpensive feature and useful
to ward off the draughts from the verandah door, but nothing will convince that it makes a comfortable
seat. A good and economical treatment of window-sills is to make them, as here, of thick red tiles a foot
wide. On tlie first floor are five bedrooms and abo\'e them a fine attic. The pictures hardly do justice
to the garden, which was laid out by Mr. Morley Horder, because a wall now encloses the dri\'e before the
entrance and runs where the j^oung shrubs appear in the view of the north front. The garden has grown
up since the photographs were taken, and Nature has brought her softening graciousness to aid the designer's
art ; but these early pictures, perhaps, do Mr. Horder the more credit, since the house speaks for itself without
adventitious aids.

Lane End is, as its name tells, at the end of a pleasant byway, and looks on to the Heath. It is
one of many houses which have sprung up since the Walton Links took so firm a hold on the affections of
golfers, but none shows a greater convenience of plan married to sane and simple treatment at a lower if
at so low a cost. The next chapter illustrates a larger house by the same architect. It is, perhaps, an even
better example of the rigid economy which is compatible with interesting design, and shows a decorative
treatment within the building more ambitious than suited the small scale of the three homes just
described.

Fee

92. — GROUND PLAN OF LANE END.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

INVERLEITH, NORWICH.

A Frugal Expenditure — The Planning 0/ Motor-houses — Adaptation of Old Panelling and Doors —

Windoifs and Their Hangings.

WHEN discussing in the last chapter the economical aspect of Mr. M(jrle\- Horder's \vori<. old
Thomas Fuller was brought in support by the quotation of one of his buildmg maxims. It
is doubtless true that the conditions of modern life are responsible for the all but unix'ersal
desire for inexpensive building ; but economy has always held an important place in the
formulas supposed to govern architectural practice. Nearly all the literature of the art is based
directly or indirecth' on the writings of Mtruvius, who set out the principles of Greek architecture for the
benefit of the culti\-ated public of Rome, at some date undetermined, but probably during the Augustan age.
He lays down six elements of which architecture consists. The last, and for the present argument the most
important, he calls Distribution — a not very illuminating word. He defines it, however, as " an advan-
tageous use of the
materials and the
site, and a frugal
expenditure in the
execution," and he
gives us a still clearer
lead by setting down
its Greek translation,
" oikonomia," which
is simply our
" economy." One
may be pardoned for
quoting so thread-
bare a truism as
" there is nothing
new under the sun,"
fnr It is of interest to
lind an author of
nearly two thousand
years ago lecturing
us like any modern
architectural pro-
fessor to his students.
Tlie house now to be
described, In\'erleith,
Nor w i c li . will
be found a strikmg
example of \'itru\Mus'

sixth principle — a frugal expenditure. It stands in the outskirts of that enchanting cit\-, which perhaps
may fairly boast more buildmgs of profound interest for its size than any other English town. Though
the blighting hand of the ignorant restorer has not left it unscathed, it has been jjeculiarly fortunate in this
way, and the recent reparation of the Town Hall shows how well such necessary- work can be done, if wisely
directed. The outskirts of the city are attractive. The road in which Invcrleith stands is api)roached
by a long straight avenue of fine trees, an example for the town-planner. The site of the house was entirely
lacking in interest and gave no hint of privacy. The latter quality is of the essence of the intelligent treat-
ment of house-planning, and has been well won by putting the entrance door in an inner court and approaching
it by an arched entry. The north front, which one sees from the short drive, gives a satisfying sense of balance,
and the bringing down of the main roof to form a hood for the archway affords a pleasant feature without
any feeling of effort. The trades entrance to the left communicates directly with the scullery and obviates

93-

-THE G.\RDEN FRONT.

S.MALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

any need ior cart
and errand-boy to
go through or into
the entrance
court. Until the
advent of the
motor-car, the
tendency had
been, for obvious
sanitarv reasons,
to increase the
distance of the
coach - house and
stables from tlie
main building. A
motor - house, if
adeqviately p r o -
tected from risk
of fire, can, how-
ever, be included
under the main
roof, and in thi-
case it add?
greatly to the
scale and import-
ance of the
building \\'ithout

any countervailing disadvantages. The chiet entrance in the court is very simple,
only by the projection of the tile-hung work above the door, a treatment which seems a
enter, a door in front leads to the kitchen quarters, and another to the right into the hall,
of small area in order to allow of a large billiard-room. The latter is entered by a pair ol

94 X(iKllI-li.\bl C(JK.\HK, SHUWIXI, .\KCH TO CUUKl.

95. — THE ENTRANCE COURT.

It is emphasised
little bald As we
which was planned
wide folding doors,
which have the
effect of making
the hall and
billiard-room
practically one
room on occasion.
The owner, Mr.
Da\'idson \\'alker,
also stipulated for
a like treatment
of billiard - room
and d r a \\' i n g -
room, and, as the
picture shows, a
long vista is
achieved by the
wide opening in
the di\-iding wall
when the doors
are open. The
particular charm
of these three
chief rooms is
derived from their
enrichment
with eighteenth
century panelling,,
doors, etc. It
mav be objected
that their delicate

IN\ERIE[TH.

f)9

conventions do not accord very happily with the character
of the outside of the house, which seems to call for a decora-
tive treatment within of conscious simplicitv. The Norvvich
Union Insurance Company has recently built new offices of
a massive and none too lovely sort, and these decorations are
the discarded refinements of the old building. It happened,
however, that Inverleith was well advanced before such
delightful spoils became available. They proved too irre-
sistibly attractive to be abandoned at the bidding of any
formula of style. Great patience and judgment were shown
in adapting the panelling to suit its new home. It came

rooms, and a

very

drastic remodelling was

g6. — GROUND FLOOR PLAN.

from lofty

inevitable. In the result it has been made to suit the new

proportions with much skill. After the first hint of surprise

at finding such rich work in a house otherwise so modest, it

fronts us with an air of the inevitable, and is abundantly

justified in its use. In addition to the panelling there are the

mantel-pieces which the illustrations show, and some splendid

old mahogany doors which just appear on the right side of

the picture of the dining-room. Last but not least are the

delightful carved mouldings which have been disposed to

such rich effect on the drawing-room chimney-breast, and

others (too delicate to show clearly) which ornament the

door architraves. A word must be said of the ceiling

decorations, which, though very slight, are of interest.

Parts of them, to save expense, were done in fretted

wood instead of plaster, and though such an unusual treat-
ment needs particular discretion, the result is satisfactory.

The arrangement upstairs will win the sympathetic admiration of the lamentable company which regards

with disfavour the practice of going downstairs to breakfast. The morning-room is en suite with the prin-
cipal bedroom. It would be possible (should such an idea ever enter the mind of the owner of Inverleith)

for the first meal
to be negotiated
in a dressing-
gown. A thought-
f ul housewife
might object that
breakfasting up-
stairs means extra
trouble in ser\'ice.
As, however, the
room is just at
the head of the
back stairs which
lead down to the
kitchen quarters,
the criticism would
1)0 unreasonable.
r ii e further
a c c o mniodation
on this floor
aiuounts to SIX
bedrooms and a
dressing-room.

T h e photo-
graphs were taken
when the garden
had been made
()iil\ six months,
a n d I li (■ \' con-
seiiuenlh' dn not

'J7-

-THE U1NL\G-RUUM.

IN\'ERLEITH.

reveal the meaning of its lay-out. With a bare site, it is important so to subdivide the land that the
lines of the house may be emphasised by being carried out to the boundaries. Time will produce this effect
at Inverleith ; but, so far, the pink thorns, planted by the drive which leads to the arched entry, are little
more than shrubs. A good proportion of the available space has been set aside for the kitchen garden. This
just provision would have pleased old Thomas Fuller, who seasoned his last maxim of building with a healthy
pietv : " Gardens are to attend in their place. When God planted a garden eastward, He made to grow out
of the ground every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Sure. He knew better what was proper
to a garden, than those who now-a-days therein only feed the eyes, and starx'e both taste and smell." The
loggia on the garden front is unaffectedly contrived, and the better for having its east end glazed. There
seems to have been a little lack of thought in the arrangement, on the east front, of the do\\n-pipes, which
make ugh' upright streaks on the tile-hanging. The worst offender, how'ever, is one demanded by bye-laws,
which will not be denied. The same criticism applies to the corner by the front door, where the pipes are
very obtrusive. Lastly comes the question of cost. The house was built for less than sixpence per cubic
foot, an achievement on which the architect may be congratulated, for it is no more than the rate for a
well-equipped workman's cottage. Nor can this result be attributed to construction erring on the side of
flimsiness. So far from that being the case, the local bye-laws insisted that what \\ould ha\'e been the
reasonable construction above the first floor, viz., of timber with tile-hanging, should be set aside, and the
full bve-law thickness of brickwork was used behind the tiles. The economical result ma\' be attributed, to
some extent, to the ground floor rooms being only eight feet high and the bedrooms being partly in the
roof. Low rooms offer no disadvantages provided always that they are efficiently lit. At Liverleith the
windows are adequate and the lighting and ventilation consequently leave nothing to be desired. Architects
are often accused of making windows too small. This is not a question that can be judged on general
grounds. In comparison with the dreary expanses of glass that the familiar type of villa has made normal,
the windows at In\'erleith ma^' seem small, especially to anyone who does not realise how much lightint;
area may be cut off by unnecessary and generally costly drapery. It is only the ill-designed room that
needs a plethora of hangings to create in it an air of comfort. Given the reasonable casement curtains
that are seen in the pictures of the interior, the windows are of ample proportions for their purpose.

The low cost. then, should be attributed to careful planning and to the omission of elements which are
essential neither to comfort nor to architectural fitness. Altogether, Inverleith may be taken as a good
example of a house which wins its picturesqueness by natural means. It is free from anv striving after the
merely quaint, a snare into which has fallen too many a designer of small houses in the last few years.

q8. nRAWING-ROOM, looking IXTO BILLI.Min-ROOM.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

BROOKSIDE, CHESTERFIELD

The Cost of Masonry-

-The Question uf Local Bnildtnti Tradilunis-
Draughtsman — ■■ Roses in the Heart."

-The Evil oj the Biiilde

THE building traditions of Derbyshire are essentially those of a stone country, and the following of
such traditions is of the essence of reasonable and right architecture. ' Builders of centunes
gone by, before railway transit began the annihilation of distance, built in their local materials
because they were to their hand, and none was cheap that came from afar. In these days, how-
ever, brick is nearly always the cheapest material, and that is sometimes true even in the heart
of a stone country with quarries in the next field. The reason is simple : machine-made bricks are
turned out with the minimum of labour, while masonry demands skill in quarrving. in shaping and in
dressing, which usually more than balances the cost of carriage from a brickfield. Tliis is especially the
case where ashlar masonry is used ; with rubble, as at Brookside, the cost is less. That Mr. Houfton has
not been put to great expense in building by the use of the local materials is clear from the low cost of his
house, which totalled
only nine hundred
pounds. This in-
cluded drains, fences,
gates and some stone
paving, but not, of
course, the levelling
and planting of the
garden itself.
Brought to the con-
venient standard of
cubic measurement,
it works out at six-
pence three farthings
per foot, a figure
which does credit to
the designer's care
and tlioughtfulness.
Had it been the case,
however, that to
follow the traditional
masonry of the
country involved an
extra cost of, sa.\,
twopence per cubic
loot, it is possible
that Mr. Houfton

would not have faced a situation in which respect for architectural considerations dictated a money sacrifice
of, say, the value of a room. Questions of this sort have to be borne in mind before any hard-and-fast
rules are laid down about the employment of local materials. Cheap transit is a fact that cannot be explained
away, and the assumption that bygone builders used local materials because they loved them best is at least
an arguable one. If there is something intrinsically immoral about material foreign to the locality, many
medi;eval church-builders, who went for stone not merely to the next county, but to Caen, must be condemned
as incompetent persons, poisoners of the wells of asthetic truth. One remembers, too, that I'urbeck marble
shafts appear fairly often up and down the land. The truth is that the mediaeval person did not bother
his head about traditions and theories, and would be very much astonished to hear all the subtleties with
which modern writers credit him. When he wanted a good piece of stone or wood, if he could afford to get
from a hundred miles away a better one than the next field afforded, he sent for it hot-foot without prick

99.

-ENTK.WCK IKOM.

SMALL COITNTKY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

of conscience or any emotion except pleasure in getting
good stuff. If, tlien, he did not mind paying more for
good brick or stone from anotlier county, why should our
architectural consciences shudder at paying less ?

As the result of confused thinking, a good deal of
criticism has been written on this question of materials
which is not far removed from cant, for the real crux is
not in the stuff, but in the way it is used. To employ
stone in a brick country, or brick in a stone country, is
no crime ; the folly begins when a t3'pe of house which
took its character in one county from the nature of the
local materials is repeated in another county where a
different type had evolved. It is not the materials
themselves, but their handling, which make for architec-
tural folly or wisdom. Red brick is capable of \-ery
elastic and various treatments. If it is cheaper in a
stone district than stone, it can be plastered, not to
imitate stone, but to give the same general colour effect
in a landscape where red is not customary, or it can be
simply colour-\vashed. In some districts timber was
always scarce, and half-timber work there becomes a
foolish offence against local methods, whatever they may
be, as well as a construction which belongs definitely to
the past almost everywhere in England. " Half-timber "
becomes credible when it is literally half timber and half
brickwork. The building bye-laws of some districts
require a fixed thickness of brick wall, whether there be
timber with it or not, in which case the timber becomes
a sheer superfluity.

It has been Mr. Houfton's skill and good fortune to build
architects must not be scolded because thev have not built as

lOI. — THE SOUTH SIDE.

100. — THE PORCH.

in a credible local way at a low cost ; but
their forefathers did, until, first, the views
of their clients,
and, secondly, the
pro\'i?ions of the
b\e - laws, have
been ascertained.
The country-side
is admittedly
covered with
houses that offend
against every
canon of sense,
whether common
or artistic. Let it
be remembered,
however, that not
one-tenth of the
houses of England
are, even now,
built to the designs
and under the
superintendence of
architects. While
ninety per cent, of
English homes are
hashed up by a
local builder with
the aid of
an unqualified and
half-educated
draughtsman and

BROOKSIDE.

about architecture, but I know what I Uke," the present

sold to the pubhc that says, " I know nothing
state of things is not hkely to improve.

But to return to Mr. Houfton's house at Brampton. The masonrv is of a greyish brown stone of the
same formation that yields the blue York stone, but from the top beds', which give tlim pieces suitable tor
rubble. From lower beds in the same quarry come the bigger blocks which are dressed for quoins, etc.
The ro'.)f is co\-ered with new red tiling, which is patched with black, a circumstance due to the exposed
tiles of the stacks ha\-ing \\-eathered as the\' awaited use. A pleasant vitality is gi\'en to the western slope
of the roof by the apparent sagging which is due to the tilting of the tiles at the verge. This practical
method keeps the water from being blown over the edge on to the gable-end. The little dormer gables
are tile-hung, which helps them to maintain their character as part of the roof. The plan is admirable,
for the minimum of space is absorbed
in passage-ways. The li\-ing-room has
recesses at either side of the fireplace,
five feet bv seven feet, one of which
takes most of the piano out of the
floor space of the room, and the other
is to be fitted up as a tinv study. Such
recesses give a feeling of partial pri\'acv
which is better than nothing, and at
least delimit the sphere of untidiness for
the musical and literary members of the
famih'. The floor is of oak boards
nailed on three inches of coke breeze
concrete, \\ith four inches of ordinar\'
concrete belo\v. From this room to
the garden there is a door, which is
protected from the weather by the
south wall being continued thirty inches
eastwards as a screen ; an excellent idea.

It should be noted that the kitchen,
living-room and principal bedroom, all
have windows both to the north and
south. This is good not only for the
excellent light afforded, but because the
window away from the pre\-ailing wind
can be opened for ventilation. A good
feature is the masking of the trades-
men's entrance from both front and
back garden by screen walls, which with
the boundary \vall of the site make a
miniature kitchen court. Upstairs the
bedrooms number four. Mr. Houfton
has experimented with his joinerv,
using great elm planks for doors. They
do not succeed if left plain, owing to
serious shrinking and warping, but
seem satisfactory when waxed. The
garden is delightful. It was a wet,
unhappy site, gashed b\- a great
ditch ; but levelling and draining,
joined with good design in its lay-
out and fine existing trees, have made

a very pretty, homely place. The paths are ot generous width and pa\'ed witli big stone slabs,
as is the coping of the terrace wall on the south front, which is made needful by the rise of the ground
southwards. The device on the lintel of the entrance porch deser\'es a word. Mr. Houfton had been
considering what should be carved there, when he was called to Caunton Manor, Newark, tlie old home of
the late Dean Hole. The famous rose' garden recalled to his mind the Dean's aphorism that " He that
would have beautiful roses in his garden must have roses in the heart." Where a definite idea can be reduced
to so few words as this, it is difficult for decoration to tell the same story to as good effect, but the designer
rose to the occasion. On the lintel the local mason carved for him four Tudor roses, within an outline
which, though much conventionalised, represents a heart. By such a jTetty fancy the treasures of the

102. — FROM THE E.\ST.

BROOKSIUE.

garden find a
spiritual expres-
sion in a svmbol,
w h i c h remains
through the dead
months ot winter
to keep alive the
''roses in the
heart.'' It is
precisely by such
little subtleties of
decorative mean-
ing, which convey
nothing to the
passer-by, that an
intimacy is
established with a
home that belongs
to one's self and
not to another.

God gave all men

all earth to love,
But, since our

hearts are small,
Ordained tor each

one spot should

prove
Beloved over all. lOj;

The idea is at the

heart of home-building, and has inspired the renascence of country architecture. This enthusiasm
is partly due to a revived interest in the artistic side of building, but it has its roots deep in
social life and in the possessive instinct which finds expression in the tag, " An

-THE LIVING-ROOM.

Englishman's home

is his castle." On other men's houses we may not carve, and do not want to carve, the monogram that
is dumb to strangers but eloquent to us, a poignant date, or roses reminiscent of a kindly epigram. It is
in the home which is our own, the " spot beloved over all," that such innocent intrigues of sentiment are not
I inly allowable, but becoming, and it may be doubted whether anyone has found a whole content who lacks
the right to car\'e his roses on his lintel.

104.

-GROUND PL.AN.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

THE OLD POUND HOUSE, WIMBLEDON.

An Appropnak Hcitsc-ninne^Eightecnth Ccnlury Trudilioits and TJuir Influence To-day -Pcpys on

Regular Elcvalions-~LiU'rature and Architeciitre

IT is rarely that a new house in a London suburb can by its name ally itself with local customs so
reasonably as does The Old Pound House. One often notes a group of houses which, with a large
patronage of the trees of the field, take to themselves the style and title of The Oaks, The
Elms and The Beeches, with never an acorn or a broad leaf in sight. Some kindlv philosopher
should write a guide to the wise calling of houses, and so save the builder from being driven to
many an odd shift when adding to his local habitation the dignity of a name. The old paternal rules
for the due ordering of Wimbledon Common, however, served Mr. Frank Bullock better than any
imaginative flights. Opposite the entrance to his house is the old pound, into which they used to
drive the cattle that straved about the common, and we may hope that its stout timbers will long
remain to make this pleasant house-name something more than a memory. The house will be
familiar to the
many who motor
from Putney to
Kingston, its cheerful
red front looking
across the common.
A feature of the gate
piers is the use of
iron cradles to sup-
port the stone balls,
an interesting varia-
tion of design. The
mass of the house
is of dark red Crow-
borough bricks, with
dressings of a
brighter hue. In the
big pediment there
are carved a
cartouche and swags
and the stout wood
cornice is pleasantly
adorned with egg
and tongue and
dentil mouldings.

From either of
the entrance gates
one notes the happy
proportions

and quiet ornament , ,,, , , ,-i i , ,i

of the main doorway, with the door itself well recessed. We enter through a vestibule into the
hall with the stairway facing us. Round this hall the reception-rooms are grouped. To the right
are the drawing and morning rooms, both with bays looking southward on the garden. Ihc lornu-r
also is windowed to the west, and the narrow opening which adjoins the front door has a practical
value as it lights the piano, a need not always considered in the planning ol drawing-rooms. It is
an example of the importance of considering the satisfactory placing of usual furniture when the
arrangement of doors' and windows is being committed to paper. The dining-room, though entered
from the hall has its second service door separated from the kitchen onl\- hx the widtli ol a passage.

105. — THE ENTRANCE EKONT.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY,

->2A

I06. FROM THE GARDEN.

107. — FROM THE SOUIII-WEST.

THE OLD POUND HOUSE

ftCKI
— eNTOSNCC

N-^^

scALt orj^

rtir.

I08. — GROUND FLOOR.

Tlie latter leads also to the bill ard-

room, a single-storey addition \\ith

a top light, which groups admirably

with the main block. The arrange-
ment of the ground floor is very

satisfactory except for one feature.

To pass from the trades entrance,

wine and coal cellars, etc., to the

front hall necessitates going through

the kitchen. This not only invoh'es

the disturbance of culinary mysteries,

but, as there is no servants' hall,

lessens the amount of privacy and

quiet which it is reasonable to accord

to servants. \\'ith this type of plan

it is clear that something has to be

sacrificed, and the extension of the

serving passage to the trades entrance

would have meant a slice off the

billiard - room. All planning on a

restricted site is a matter of com-
promise, and it may lie that of two inconveniences the least has been chosen. Tlie entrance to the

The sundial is reminiscent
of Time's destruction, for the baluster
which supports it came from old Kew
Bridge. The south front is simple and
symmetrical, with its two tile-hung
bays, but on this side and on the
east the proportions are rather marred
by the \-ery large dormers, which tend
to o\'erpower the roof. This is in
some sort the defect of their qualities,
for they make the attic rooms very
light and spacious, but it would,
perhaps, have been better to omit
their pediments so as to lay on them
the mmmium of emphasis. The house
cost in 1903 five thousand and eighty
pounds, inclusive of motor-house,
boundarv walls and gardening works.
It boasts ten bedrooms and dressing-
rooms on its first and second floors,
and the contract price works out at
elevenpence per cubic foot.

Considered from the point of view
of design, The Old Pound House is a

garden from the hall is under the stairs, and a verv agreeable garden it is

log.-

-UOOKWAV ANU PEUIMENI.

sign of the architectural times. The
tendency of to-day is to cleave more
closeh- to the quiet traditions of the
late seventeenth and earl}- eighteenth
centuries. The Gothic revival was a
necessary movement that lifted archi-
tecture out of the dreariness of stucco
and of those thin refinements which
alone justified the era of Nasli and
the \a])id respectabilities of Regent's
Park. Mediaeval ideas, however, were
too remote from the current of modern
life to make them feasible as an
enduring inspiration, save in such root
principles as the right use of materials,.

IHE OLD POUND HOUSE

and the large
genius of Eden
Nesfield, George
Devey and Mr.
Norman Shaw
gradually broke
away from the
use of Gothic
forms and found
outlet in the
grave field of the
Renaissance. This
tendency con-
tinues to stiffen,
and, in so far as
modern architec-
ture can be said
to have any
definite purpose,
we are moving in
the direction of
another eighteenth
century. An
American critic
has recently
reminded us that
an age of ardour
must always be
succeeded by an
age of law, to keep
the foundations

sure. The Gothic re\-i\-al provided the ardour, and we are watching the growth <jf something hke a
new law, which attaches increasing importance to symmetry and sobriety. The general current of
modern taste is curioush' like that of Pepys' day. In 1662 he wrote ; " Up to Hinchingbroke, and there
with Mi. Sheply did look all over the house, and I do, I confess, like well of the alteracions, and do hke
the staircase, but there being nothing to make the outside more regular and modern, I am not satisfied
with it." It is precisely this plea for an " outside more regular " which is influencing both architects
and the public generally. The Gothic re\'ival was in some sort a necessary sequel to the Romantic
revi\-al in literature which we associate with the Lake poets. The force of the latter revi\'al seems spent,
and the world is so set on the practical pursuits of sociology that there is in sight no fresh impetus likely
to produce a new school of romantic literature. L'ntil such a school arises it seems unreasonable to
suppose that architecture will get any fresh start, and. indeed, it is doubtful whether any is wanted.
The present need seems rather to gather up the threads of the sound traditions of building that were
broken at the end of the eighteenth century, and to look askance on the various new gospels of design
■which are preached from time to time, only to find their place in a kindly oblivion. There is ample
room for experiment in the right use, on traditional lines, of the many new materials which science is
continually pro\-iding for the exercise of the designer's in\-ention. For the present, at ail events,
English architecture is in need of nothing so much as rest, so that it may absorb into current practice
SLich of the results of fifty years' chaotic experiment as seem to ha\'e some elements of permanence.
This is true particularly of domestic architecture where the practical needs of house-building do not
call for the solving of engineering problems, such as may be met by new employments of steel and
concrete. These will, it is to be hoped, bring into being architectural treatments which suit their
nature ; but enough is known of them to make it highly doubtful whether they will ever displace
masonry and brickwork for the building of country homes. The place the\- may fill in the construction
of city buildings, already an extensi\'e one, is another and separate problem, both in construction and
design, and, as it is unrelated to the subject of this book, need not here be discussed.

no. — THE H.4LL .\N'L) ST.AIRCASE.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

THE HURST, FOUR OAKS.

A Beauliiiil Mantd-piecc — Montcupw

on Lihrarics — Reslnunt
m Architecture.

Furnishing — The Spirit oj Adventure

THOUGH the most devoted lover of Birmingham cannot say mnch bv \\a\- of praise of the cit\- itself,
the near countr\--side is full of beauty, whether in the gentle leafv lanes, which are characteristic
of so much of \\'arwickshire, or m the sterner upland country about Sutton Coldfield. Though
distant only about eight miles from the heart of the city, the countrj' atmosphere is singularly well
preserved at Four Oaks, a happy state of things due largelv to the great expanse of Sutton Park.
This supreme pleasaunce of the Midlands is owed to the foresight ' and generosity of Bishop Vesev, who
was born thereby in 1452. A friend of Wolsey , and Bishop of Exeter, he did'not hail with any favour the rigid
Protestantism of the earl\- \-ears of Edward \'L, and he retired to his native place, where he built himself
a house. His benefactions to Sutton were well-nigh endless, but of them all the greatest has been well

called " tiiat won-
'^'^ttA.Jf'SU^M^tS.'.^LfW^BO^ derful experiment

in municipal
socialism," the gift
i)f Sutton Park to
the people. The
x'ast acreage of the
'iriginal gift has
been whittled
down by enclosure
and dishonest
grant, but it re-
mains a marvel-
lous prospect of
coppice, moor and
pool. The site of
Fhe Hurst is in
Lady Wood, and
a more ideal situa-
tion for a house
co^ad scarceh.- be
tound.

The house is
built on an L
plan, with its
entrance near the

III.-- IKO.M THE SOUTH-WEST,

iKirtli - west

ner of the

cijxil arm.

through a

])orch. we
the accompanying
, while at the end '

cor-

prin-

Going

small

come

into a spacious \'aulted hall, the delightful simplicity of which appears in
picture. Nearly facing the entrance are the doors to drawing-room and library
folding doors invite to the dining-room, and through it, by a flight of steps, to the garden beyond.
The main features of the drawing-room are the exquisite marble mantel-piece and the fine plaster-work,
the latter by the hand of Mr. Gimson. When one remembers the orgies of jiilasters, consoles and shelves
which Early \"ictorian architects dignified with the name of mantel-pieces, this simple thing strikes the eye
with a sense of gratitude. The quiet alternation of green and white slabs and the austere little mouldings
that form the inner and outer frames give a feeling of large satisfaction, while, above it, the dull w liite and the

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TODAY

112. — THE SOUTH-EAST CORNEK

113. — THE GARDEN AT THE HURST.

THE HURST. FOUR OAKS

rich, low modelling of the plaster foliage give a pleasant
relief both in colour and texture. The library is a good
room, and, as becomes its purpose, has a bay. Lovers
of Montaigne will say that no room can be a true library
\vithout a bay, though perhaps they will not go so far as
to demand the true Montaigne quota of three. The
library at The Harst falls, too, below the standard of the
chateau of St. Michel de Montaigne, in so far as it is not
in a tower ; but if it does not enjoy that " farre-extending
rich and unresisted prospect " which so delighted the
wisest and most detached of Frenchmen, even his fas-
tidious taste would ha\'e approved the trim yews and
rich lawns which form the outlook at The Hurst. It is
difficult to read with happiness in disagreeable surround-
ings. Some heroic souls can adjust their attention to
serious books in a railway carriage ; but such detachment
is denied to most. Few readers worth\- the name are
content to have only one or two books within reach ; in
fact, a library is the place for this emplovment. " There,"
as the seigneur of ;\Iontaigne writes, " there is mv seat,
that is my throne. . . . There without order without

method,

a n d b y

'■^"i"-; (L ~ .xy'™"","" V e e c e -

114. —THE HALL.

m e a les
I turne
o\-er and
r a n -
sac ke ,

nowe one booke and now another . . . and walking
up and downe I endight and enregister these my humours,
these my conceits. . . . There I passe the greatest
part of my live days, and weare out most houres of the
day." It is not too much to say that this library at The
Hurst is just such a room where one could (in the
enchanting words of Florio's translation) endight one's
humours. Nor is this happy atmosphere due only to the
grave and pleasant art of !Mr. Lethaby. The house has
been furnished by Colonel \\'ilkinson with that wise reti-
cence that is at once so rare and so desirable. It is too
often the case that furniture and ornaments smother a
room, and the intention of the architect in its proportions
is buried in an aggregation of chattels. It is the old story
of not being able to see tlie forest for the trees. It is not
necessary that we should imitate the Japanese economy in
this matter, and let a mat, a low table and a bronze vase
w ith a branch of cherry blossom ser^-e us alone as house-
hold gods ; but we can at least let the mind of the builder
of our home be revealed, and this has been done at The
Hurst. The pieces of furniture are few and lit ; no pictures
are seen save those that are beautiful and rich in their own
right. On looking up the stairs from the hall one sees only
the cast of a head on the wall ; another space is
provided onlv with a little piece of an ilhnninated .MS.
simply framed. By such restraint each little treasure
gives fully of its own richness, and throws into strong
relief the large simplicity of the architecture which
frames it. The dreadful o\-er - furnished state of most
houses is due perhaps more to a lack of moral fibre
than to a double dose of original sin in matters
artistic. Who is there who does not look with

THE HURST, FOUR OAKS.

inward ijrief upon some picture that is hung because it is a gift ? Are there none who writhe under the
dreadful briUiance of a cabinet containing useless silver objects, the penalty of marriage ? There are few
things from the pen of De Ouincey finer than the essay on " Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts."
It remains for some great spirit, goaded by the burden of possessions as innumerable as they are useless,
to pen some splendid epic in praise of burglars who can relieve the oppressed (as they relieved this writer)
of a \\-hole cupboardful of costly gimcracks. Of objects rare and beautiful in themselves there is no lack
at The Hurst, but they are not obtruded on the eye, and the house remains a home, and does not become
a museum. In particular there are a few fine harpsichords which recall the history of bygone virtuosi.

Of the dining-room no more need be said save (in Pepysian phrase) that it is answerable to the dignity
of the rest of the house. Its bay fronts the east to catch the morning sun, and there is a window to the south.
The corridor and upstairs rooms are of the same admirable lightness as the ground floor, and a charming
touch is the picture of a fallow deer done on the panel of a door by the architect himself. When we go to the
garden and sur\-ey the ele\'ations of the house w^e are at once struck by the
sober and masculine character of Mr. Lethaby's art. He is one of the few
men living who can at once create real architecture and write about the subject
of h:s preoccupations in luminous fashion. It might be thought that by now
ever\'thing that could usefully be written about the art and mvster\' of building
would alreadv be on record ; 3'et I\Ir. Lethaby recently made a pronounce-
ment on the spirit of adventure in architecture which has set people thinking.
Here is a fruitful saying : " True originality is to be found by those who,
standing on the limits of the sphere of the known, reach out
naturalh' to some apprehension and understanding of what is
beyond ; it is the ne.xt step in an orderly de\'elopment." The
Hurst is a comparatively early work of his design, but it exhibits
that combination of reasonableness and originalitv which we
expect from him. The simple roof-lines, the quiet masses of the
bays, the cur\-ed heads of the windows and the restrained touch of
gaiety in the diamonds of green tiling which adorn the chimne\-s
make up a whole which is eminently
satisfying and expressive of sober
strength. Mr. Lethaby has not set out
to astonish us, and there is no one fea-
ture which calls aloud for notice. It is
representative of the time. It presents
to us no spirit of romance, but stands
confessed a simple, modern home. As
its creator has said. " \Mien poetry and
magic are in the people and in the age,
they will appear in their arts, and I want
them, but there is not the least good in
saying ' Let us build magic buildings.
Let us be poetic' " \\'hat delights in
The Hurst, then, is its honesty of pur-
pose and the success with which it fills
its place.

Of the garden a few words must
be said. It forms a beautiful frame
for a notable building. The yew

hedges are in perfect verdure, and the grassy terraces lead to a pond of flowers, a gentle gradation. Every-
where there are masses of blooms, and most of all in the great border by the south front, which flings its
perfume through the library windows. There is enough restraint in the use of shrubs against the house not
to mar its features. The main terrace is upheld b}' a fine retaining wall with simple buttresses, in the corners
of which manv exquisite shrulis might be grown. Here is a fitting home for choisya, myrtle, escallonia and
ceanothus, none of which seems to fill its rightful mission in the life of the garden save in such situations.
If there is one doubtful feature in the gardens of The Hurst it is the spotty quartette of shrubs which stand
sentinel by the little pond, for they rather mar the dignity of the greensward. As becomes a true garden,
there are surprises, and one comes on a little rose garden, the more pleasant for its stone flagging All these
beauties, whether of house or banks of flowers or trim hedges, find their fitting background in the trees which
bring the old forest life of Sutton to the very door.

116. — GROUND PLAN

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO- DAY.

POYNDER'S END, NEAR HFTCHIN

The Use of the

Miller Ijiiihfnig Arts-
Scale ill Bitildiiie

All Archi/ecliirtil Expression of ilie Simple Li/e-
-The Ri'^ht (nirdeii Frdiiiiii'j, 0/ a House.

-Breadth and

GEOFFRY LUCAS is perhaps best known to the pubHc by his work at the Hampstead Garden
Suburb. It shows him as. an architectural economist, winning his effects b\- snnple dispositions
of mass, roof-hne and gable, and \\ith small aid from the minor building arts. At Poynder's End
he was free to call in those crafts which bring di\-ersity and with it richness. It is a house
most simple in arrangement, yet with a large dignity The broad span of the roofs, the solid
way m \\luch the bays jut out and the .gravity of the gables are emphasised bv a restrained use of \-aried
textures. The north-east bay is sheeted with lead, a feature not merely decorati\e. but liighh- practical
in resisting the penetrative power of dri\-ing rain. The gable abo\-e it is weather-boarded, and the natural
the unsquared planks gn^e

edges of

an agreeable yet reasonable air of
irregularity. This device for adding
interest to outside boarding was \'ery
successfully employed by that great,
but too little known, architect, the late
George Devey. Below the larger gable
of the north-west front is a long row of
casements divided bv two blank spaces,
which are plastered and treated with
incised decoration. It will be noted,
however, that these enrichments and
the rather massive wood mouldings at
the top of the bays serve only to throw
into relief the prevailing sense of sim-
plicity. It has been said that it is not
mere aesthetic beauty but the quality of
expression which entitles any work
possessmg it to a place among the
thin.gs to be regarded as fine art. This
is peculiarly true of domestic architec-
ture. It is not enough that a house
shall please the eye and be con\enient
and well built. We are entitled to
expect that it shall express some defi
nite mental attitude in its owner

Mr. Hugh Exton Seebohm, for
whom Po\-nder's End was built, is a
student of social conditions and im-
])ressed with the importance of sim-
plicit\- in living. The term " simple
life " is perhaps best a\'oided, as it
has come to connote some rather
farcical aspects of a reasonable posi-
tion. To other interests Mr. Seebohm
adds a taste for serious farming, and
this site of one hundred acres, about
three miles from Hitchin, includes an
old and picturesque farmstead where
In'es one of the farm hands. While

117 — LE.\ni;i) i;.\v .\m) wiv.miuck-uo.vkding

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

Hi'. — UNE END Ul- nil. HALL.

-amm^m

119. — THE ENTRANCE FRONT.

POYXDER'S END.

120. -GROUND FLOOR PLAN.

'Sir. Lucas has
refrained from
giving to tlie
build i n g a n y
i m i t a t i \' e
flavour of the
traditional
farmhouse, the
simphcity o f
its arrangement
reflects the
tastes o f its
o w n e r . This
needs to be
taken into ac-
count when ex-
a m i n i n g the '

plan, which presents some unusual features. The carriage dri\-e approaches the house from the south, which
e.xplains why the office wing is not in line with the main body of the house. The porch is in the smaller
gabled projection on the north-west front. It opens into an inner porch-like space called the entry. To the
left a door opens to the hall, and to the right another to the foot of the stairs and the passage to the kitchen
quarters. This is a development of the rather barbarous custom of letting the porch give direct on to the
hall when it is the main living-room. The dining-room opens out of the hall and has also a door to the
ser\-ing lobby adjoining the kitchen. The hall is of impressive proportions. The two illustrations of it show
respectively the fireplace end and the return end with the dining-room and staircase framed in the open
doorways. The panelling is simple and effective, and the fireplace of generous size, with a pleasant lining
of tiles arranged edgeways in herring-bone. The square bay facing the north-east and the octagonal bay
look out over a magnificent sweep of country to all sides save the west, stretching away even to Sandy and
Wrest Park in the far distance. The bronze casements have been glazed-with plate glass divided into sheets

of reasonable size in-
stead of with the
smaller leaded lights
used in the upper
rooms. This seems
a sound compromise
with the idea of
single sheets of glass,
\\'hich are best for
seeing the view, but
do not give a fitting
sense of enclosure.
The dining-room is
also rich in windows,
and has a door to
the garden porch, or
loggia. Both these
rooms are loft\-, and
,gi\"e in some measure
the feehng that their
scale is over-large in
relation to the plan.
The hall has rather
a barn-like air. It
is frankly a little
bald. This would
ha\-e been avoided if
there had been some
sort of screen (how-
ever openly designed)
between the two
parts into which it

121. — DINING-ROOM AND STAIRCASE SEEN FROM THE HALL

POYNDER'S END.

seems naturally to divide itself. The floors and doors here are all of oak, and the latter are fitted
with thumb-latches of polished steel. The sense of massive architectural well-being is heightened by the
staircase, with its treads of solid elm and sturdy balusters. On the first floor above the porch is a delight-
fully treated study, while three of the bedrooms benefit by the bays being carried up to the eaves. The
second floor provides a great woikroom.

When we regard the exterior of Poynder's End as a whole, we are struck by the natural and easy way
in which Mr. Lucas has .arrived at an interior notably light and airy without interfering with a due propor-
tion between solids and voids. The entrance front in particular is characterised by an admirable air of
breadth. The large light-giving capacity of projecting bays has enabled him to leave his main wall spaces
but little broken. Breadth and scale are two of the most valuable qualities of architecture, and both have
been acliieved on the entrance front. It is enough to imagine the effect of comparatively big windows
inserted in its two gables to see how valuable is the right proportion between openings and wall space.
Large openings would have destroved the sense of breadth which is afforded by the gables, and accentuated
by the bulk of the chimneys. Of the garden there is little to be said. The site slopes away rather sharply
from the house on one side, and offered opportunities for terrace and yew hedge and wall that would have
added greatly to the amenities of tlie building. A scheme has been prepared by Mr. Lucas, but not yet
carried out. When it is, the hint of bareness which gives to the grouping something of gcmcherie will
disappear. The more civilised the type of architecture (and Poynder's End, for all its simple plan, is a
finished product and shows no small scholarship), the more needful it is to provide by gardens of formal
type a middle world between the house and the country beyond. One looks for some spreading of the
influence of the architecture to its immediate surroundings. The dim distances of rolling hills and plotted
fields need the garden as a foreground of ordered beautv. It is just in such a situation as Poynder's End,
where the wide outlook gives the sense of a large freedom, that the view seems to demand in the immediate
fuiroundings the repose of quiet lines and conscious art.

122. — THE STAIRCASE.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSlvS OF TO-DAY.

MIDDLEFIELD, GREAT SHELFORD

Hvracc Wnlpole on

Deliberate Trees — Mass ,
Brickwork — A Notable

Svmmctrv and Proportion —Repose in Architcctitre — Dutch
Plan — Charles Lamb (Did Staircases.

fl(>\\er.

TDDLEFIELD is an example of purely country arcliitecture, and one cannot imagine it anywhere
but on English soil. It stands on a site as yet absolutely bare, and looks southwards down
a gentle slope over a characteristic but, it must be confessed, not highly attractive stretch of
Cambridgeshire farm lands. The gardens are so far on paper only, and the building, therefore,
owes nothing in its pictures to the charm which Nature adds with a setting of tree, shrub and
The house sits starkly on the ground, but pergolas have been schemed, which will creep out from

the loggia and from the other end of the south front to enclose a garden. It is in such early da\'s of the

surroundings of a house that one remembers with sympath\- the irritation of Horace W'alpole. " The

deliberation wdth which trees grow is extremely incon-
venient to my natural impatience. I lament living in

so barbarous an age, when we are come to so little

perfection in gardening. I am persuaded that a hundred

and fifty years hence it ^v•ill be as common to remove oaks

a hundred and fifty years old, as it is now to transplant

tulip-roots." He wrote this in 17-18, and his limit of

time is passed by twelve years, yet the promised specific

for ready-made forests lingers. Perhaps, ll0we^"er, he did

not expect it in a large sincerity, for he also prophesied

whole groves of humming-birds and tame tigers taught

to fetch and carry. In any case ^liddlefield is so far

nothing but a house, and if it is an ordeal to show it

without the framing which is due, the success which it

achieves is at least owed to no external aids. Mr. Lutyens

has probably done nothing more austere, nor indeed can

one imagine a countr\' house relying more exclusively on

the qualities of mass, symmetry and proportion. There

is nowhere an external moulding but in the windows

and doors, which are of extreme simplicity, and in the

subtle line of brickwork which marks the slight recessing

of the lower part of the projecting wings on the north

front. Perhaps an observer will look for relief in a

carved tympanum here or a keystone there, and missing

it will bring against Middlefield a charge of baldness.

With such a criticism one could not argue, but it would

be based on a large misunderstanding of the princijile

which seems to have inspired the design. Were it made,

it could best be met as Pope Julius II. was countered

when he complained that there was no gold on the painted

figures of the Sistine Chapel. "Simple persons," replied

the painter, " simple persons, who wore no gold on their

garments." It lias been always the finest types of small

clomestic architecture which disappoint the unthinking critic by kicking gold on their garments, buildings

which have won their place in our affections \,y the very fact of being " simple persons." Such

hf>u3es. like the people whom they represent, ha\-e the gift of repose, and it is precisel\- in that sense that

l\liddlefield will impress the thoughtful. The perfect suavity of the lines of the roofs, which are kept in

harmonious and unbroken planes, the masculine tower-like bulk of the three chimneys, the windows few

but large, the dormers with their angles swept in generous curves so that they grow organicall}' out of tiie

roof — all these things ])ro(luce an efiect of extraorflmary repose.

THK HNIKAXCI-- DOOR.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

w
u
z

ii '1

MIDDLEFIELD.

The detail picture of the entrance door gives some hint of liow the mass and outline are helped bv the
texture of the bricks and tiles. The house is not large, and its scale is made tlie greater by the smallness of
the bricks. Thev came from Holland (needless to say, they are hand-made) and are only seven inches long by
one and three-quarter inches thick. There is a charm about Dutch bricks which it is difficult to explain.
Though they are well made and hard, their faces ha\"e that hint of cushion shape which lets the play of
light send a ripple of colour over the wall. The wide white joints, more plentiful than in normal English
brickwork, help to give a roughness of texture which adds vitality to the surface. Happih', English brick-
makers are realising that for buildings that belong to architecture the dav of machine-made bricks is over,
however useful they may be in engineering works. Already hand-made bricks have been produced which
touch a verv high le\'e! of achievement, and tliere is a growing tendenc\- to impirovement. It need not be
doubted that the study of the methods used in Holland, where the traditiim of hand-makin.g never died out,
will ser\'e as a stimulus to hnnii the English cla\'-worker to the same level of perfection. This use of foreign
materials at ^liddleheld, whatex'er sober reflections it may raise as to the backwardness of an English craft,
is no1 an extravagance, for the total extra it involved over the cost of native bricks was only sixty pounds,
an amount which must be less than the increased cost of carriage. This is another example of the effects

-FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

which are to be got simplv by wise choice of materials ; for no small part of the charm of Middlctield would
be lacking had the bricks been of ordinary size and inferior texture.

Now as to the plan of the house. It is often supposed by the unthmking that there is some special
cleverness in houses that are broken up into odd nooks and corners, features that are externally emphasised
by turrets, chimnevs and gables of queer shapes, placed in an irregular fashion. Some suppose, in fad,
that such exercises serve best to exhibit an architect's ability. Notiiing is further from the truth. The
combination of symmetry outside with well-shaped rooms con\-enientl\- disposed withm needs far more
thought and skill. Middlefield is an example of large success in this direction. The entrance on the
north front opens into a long hall, which has no pretensions to being more than a convenient passage-way.
From it is entered the whole suite of the ground-floor rooms. The kitchen quarters are to the east, the study
and garden-room to the west, while the dining, drawing and school rooms face due south. Particular attention
must be drawn to the hygienic virtue of the plan, a quality to which far too Httle attention is ordinarils'
given. By opening a few doors and windows at Ihe same time, perfect cro.ss-\-entiIation is secured and
the free air will blow through the house. This is an ad\-antage olten lacking where rooms are grouped
round a main hall. The same simplicit\- which informs the exterior is carried into tlie treatment of the
rooms. The fittings throughout are of the plainest and least expensive. In the drawing-room a litt'e

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

126. — FROM THE NORTH-EAST.

127. — THE STAIRCASE PILLAR.

128. — IN THE DKAWING-ROOM.

MIDDLEFIELD.

129.

-GROUND PLAN.

more elaboration has been

allowed in the mantel-piece,

but even that maintains the

prevailing note ot gravity.

The doors are all of two

panels only, and the lock

handles are very small round

knobs. The windo\\s in all

the rooms except the attics

are sliding sashes, for the

site is so wind-swept that

casements would lia\'e been

hopelessly inconvenient. The

sash-bars are half round in

section, and their stoutness

adds no little to the general

effect. Some people have the idea that hea\'y bars cut off too much light, and this may be true of town

houses with little windows. At Middlefield, however, there is not a room in the house but is lit not onlv

well, but brilliantly. The loggia is convenientlv placed with doors from the dining-room and from the

kitchen quarters, and makes a fine open-air meal-place. The dav nursery is above the dining-room, and

has a casement door opening on to the flat roof of the loggia, which some day is to have railings added, so

that it may serve as an outdoor nursery.

Not the least of the difficulties involved in a svmmetrical plan is the adequate lighting of the main
staircase without interference with the balance of the windows. This has been accomplished by placing
the bathroom window in the corresponding projection on the other side of the front entrance. The gaiety
of the main staircase is a biilliant foil to the gra\-ity that rules everywhere else. There is a touch of way-
ward fancy about the use of a single twisted pillar that sends the mind back to the letter that Charles Lamb
wrote to Coleridge in 1800. He had received from Cottle a copy of that worthv bookseller's epic " Alfred."
" When he is original," writes Elia, " it is in a most original way indeed. . . . Serpents, asps, spiders,
ghosts, dead bodies, staircases made of nothing, -.cith adders' tongues for bannisters. What a brain he must
have ! "

It would be a libel to liken Mr. Lutyens's delicately-turned balusters to adders' tongues, but the pillar
suggests just that delightful hint of extravagance in design which bnngs Lamb's criticism to the memory.
That is not to say that tradition has been flouted, for a doorway at King's Lynn of 1708, attributed to
Henry Bell, has a pair of twisted Corinthian columns which strike the same attractive note. The staircase
itself is somewhat unusual in its equipment, and would not be convenient where old people lived. In
some places — Birmingham, for example — no staircase is permitted to be built which lacks a hand-rail on
the open side, or a wall-rail on the other. Neither is to be found at Shelford, and the ascent would offer
considerable difficulties to the infirm. That, however, is a small point, to be corrected easily enough by
fixing a wall-rail, or, better still, a stout cord running through ring brackets. The outstanding fact remains
that in a house notable for breadth and sobriety Mr. Lutyens has given rein to his fancy and produced
a feature which offends against no rule of reasonableness and yet entertains us hugely.

Middlefield is altogether a shining example of the admirable results which come from a mastery of
line and proportion. As one drives to Shelford from Cambridge, the eye is tired by the range of architec-
tural mediocrities lining the pleasant roads that lead from the town with its fine colleges to the open countrs'.
Here, however, is a home to which one turns gratefully as to the shadow of a great rock in a weary land

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

HOMEWOOD, KNEBWORTH.

A Sludy in Gables — Ionic Pilasters and Vernacular Traditions — The Fusion oj Architectural Styles — The
Buildings of "The New Republic" — .4 Richlv-furnished Garden

THE last chapter showed a house but recently built, which lacked the kuidly setting which Nature
gives. In Homewood we ha\'e an earlier work of Mr. Lutyens — it was built in 1897 — and
the garden frames the house to admiration. If Middletield is a study in hipped roofs, Homewood
owes its beauty to gables. Nothing could exceed the welcoming charm of the entrance front.
A short dri\-e brings us from the road to a square gra\'elled space before the entrance which is
marked by a delightful round hood. The vestibule, with a lavatory opening from it, is unprotected by
an outer door, and indeed there is no need for one. At its end, a door facmg us leads to the kitchen quarters
so that the servants need not enter the hall when answering the door bell, and a door to the right gives the
visitor entrance. The rooms are rather low, yet perfectly light. \'ery delightful are the quiet dignity of the
staircase ascent and the treatment of the first-floor landing, as the pictures abundantly show. It is. how-
e\ex. rather in the handling of the exterior that Mr. Lutyens's enchanting art is so strikingly apparent. The

IjO. — THE ENTRANCE FRONT.

HOMEWOOD.

I ^I.— FROM THE WEST.

t •' -'

.r,4V!ir>;iti.

IJ2.— THE SOUTH-EAST FRONT.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

south-east front ^vlth its loggias is a conception of extraordinary grace. There is a hint of the South African
stoep in tlie broad space in front of the dining-room windows. No roof hangs o\-er the latter to keep out
the sunshine, as the pair of loggias stand clear at the sides, and nothing checks the view from the windows
over the quiet rolling landscape.

The brilliance of the design of this front is in the neighbourhood of Ionic pilasters to the simple elements
of roof and gable, which are the essence of a treatment characteristic of farmhouse traditions. Like so

much that Mr. Lutyens does,
it was an experiment that few
\\ould ha\-e dared to make,
and fe\\er brought to satisfac-
tory achievement. People
sometimes talk as though
architecture had come to an
end, as though there is nothing
to be done except to copv the
woik of our forefathers. This
garden front of Homewood is
a small, albeit delightful, thing
in itself, but it is symptomatic
of much. It proves, what
people are slow to believe,
that in the new arrangement
of traditional forms, perhaps
themselves of widely differing
pro\'enance, there is room for
infinite originahtw We do not
Avant new forms, but new light
on the old, a new perception of
their possibilities, and it is
precisely this illumination
which the work of Mr. Lut\'ens
affords. Happily the days are
gone when they talked of
"pure styles" and the work
of some periods (notabl\-
English of the fifteenth
century) was dismissed as
"debased." In Mr. Mallock's
Nnt Republic the makers
of modern taste were happily
touched off for us under
pseudonyms which concealed
little. Walter Pater was made
to masquerade as Mr. Rose,
and if the portraiture is a little
malicious in its delicate parod}-
of the Pateresque position,
Mr. Rose's dicta are luminous
even when they are exag-
gerated. A sly hit is made
at aesthetic posing, by now
almost entirely buried under a
I ;; IN II \i;i' II Kspi, ii\i. mound of ridicule. Mr. Rose

was expatiating on the joys of
upholsterers' shop windows : " I seem there to ha\'e got a glimpse of the real heart of things ; . . .
indeed, when I go to ugly houses, I often take a scrap of some artistic cretonne with me in my pocket
as a kind of aesthetic smelling salts. . . ." This is simply admirable fooling, but in his pontifieations
about the architecture of the future, about the buildings which should gloriiy the metropolis of the New
Republic, a note of serious truth sounds clearly.

'■ If you will just think of our architecture, and consider how that naturally will be "

" Yes," said Mr. Luke, " I should be glad to hear about our architecture." (Luke was Matthew Arnold.)

HOMEWOOD.

-r '

1J4 — MhP^ AMI >M( lil LOGGIA.

Ij5. — FIKST FLOOR LANDING,

Ip. -IIIL SOLTII-WESr FRONT.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

" How that naturally will be," 'Sh Rose went on, " of
no style in particular."

" The deuce it won't ! " exclanned ;\It. Luke.

•' No," continued Mr. Rose, unmoved. " No style in
particular, but a renaissance of all styles."

This should not be read as a plea for eclectic imita-
tions, but rather for an or,£;anic fusion of differing motives.
It was preciseh' this readiness to use all elements that
made Sedding so successful with Holy Trinity Church,
Sloane Street, and it appears to be in the same spirit that
Mr. Lutyens apphes a Greek order to the front of a
vernacular English cottage, and achieves a certain success.
In his later work he has played on the same string in a
more assured fashion, but ne\-er in a more winning way
than at Homewood. A further word by way of
description must be added. The boarding of the great
gables has weathered to an exquisite silver grey,
throu,gh which the grain of the elm is wonderfully
pictured, and on the sunless north front the dripping
rain has marked the boards with bands of greenish
stain. On the south-west elevation fig trees and peaches
flourish, protected from the winds by the raised lawn.
American vine climbs freely, and even in late September

ScikkC Of FttT

137. — GROUND PLAN.

Over one loggia pa\'ilion a broad-leaved
is brilliant with colour and rich

the garden

with quick scents.
As oire walks round
the house e\-erv step
shows a fresh picture,
and the low spread-
ing roofs fall into a
new grouping. For
all its diversity of
mass and the
shadows which its
broken outlines
throw, there is an
underlying gra\'ity
which comes of the
considered symmetr\'
of e\-ery front. Add
to that the subtle
massing of
the simply
washed brick
base, the

I -iS. — THE SOUTH-WEST FRONT.

colour
white-
at the
broad
of silvery
and the
medley of red roofs,
and Homewood
stands revealed as
the notable work of
a notable man

spread
boarding

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-I)AV.

ROSEBANK, SILCHESTER COMMON.

UEb-KiXlil) BY .MK. MER\Y.\ E. MACARTNEY.

<'G}!ccr}iiiig Co/tiigcs — Gardens the Archilecfs Prvvince — Mr. W . Robinson's Cri/icisnis

at Roschank — Frogs in an Italian Garden.

-Formal and Xalural

little farm.
<)bser\-ations

HEN Samuel Tavlur Culeridge took to satirical poems,

but in one eftort. " The

wisdom. His Majesty,

risen from his brimstone

bed. \'isits his snut;
the Earth. .Anions/ Ins

le ,L;enerall\' wrote dreadful doggeiel ;
Devil's Thou,s;hts," there are buried some crystals of savage

He saw a cottage witli a double coach-
house,

A cottage of gentilitv !
And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin

Is pride that apes humility.

It would be harsh to apply " S. T.C.'s "
criticism too closely, but it makes one
think that the name cottage is often
applied rather foolishly to buildings of
some pretension. Such a shaft would
fall very wide if chrected at the
delightful little place built by Mr.
Macartney on Silchester Common. It
is a real cottage in size and equipment,
but with all the refinement in simple
things that we are entitled to expect in
the work of the surveyor to St. Paul's
Cathedral, who is also the historian of
a great period of English architecture.
I\Ir. Macartney is a discerning enthusiast
for the art of the English Palladians.
but in this cottage he has adhered to
the simplest traditions of local building.
Nowhere, howe\'er, is he more in his
element than in garden design. It was
Chambers who wrote in 1759 oi the
craft in England ; " Ornamental garden-
ing, which in Itah'. France and other
countries of the liuropeon Continent
constitutes a part of the architect's
profession, is here in other hands, and
with a few exceptions, in verv improper
ones." This criticism continued to be
just for about a century, but for some
years now architects have been coming
into their own, and it is to men of the
ability of Mr. Reginald BlomfieM, Mr.
Lutyens, Mr. Macartney, Mr. Inigo
Thomas and others that we must
largely attribute this happy renaissance

131). — r.\mi!I.i;r .and crehper.

There are still many de\'out lo\'ers and masters of gardening
who think the incursion of architects into this domain has been niarki'(l b\' unfortunate results ; but tlie\' are

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

140.-

THE GARDEN ENIKANCE.

in a dwindling minority. The battle is really joined on the distinction between " formal " and " natural "
gardens. Mr. W. Robinson has written pungently about " frivolities of paper plans," and to his rare sympathy
and insight, which come of vast knowledge and experience, all respect must be paid. In his enchanting
book, " The Garden Beautiful," he has dealt with manv architects who were also garden-designers on the
traditional Irish method of " When vou see a head, hit it." Specially did he rend the memory of Nesfield

I/jI. — THE SOUTH ELEVATION.

ROSEBANK.

and Barry under the common condemnation of " broken-
brick gardeners." It is fair to say, however, that most
wise architects who concern themselves with gardens are
as keen as Mr. Robinson himself to join the beauties of
woodland with those elements of formal gardening
which bring Nature into right relation to the house.
The ordinary garden-lo\-er has no opportunity to a^•ail
himself of what De Ouincey delighted to call " forest
lawns," and must fall back on the formal garden as the
best treatment for strictly limited spaces. At Rose-
bank Mr. Macartney has achieved a peculiar success
in a setting especially favourable. He began with an
ideal site on the edge of the common, covered with pines
and purple heather. His ability has been exercised in
making the garden beautiful and cultivated in itself, while
yet in keeping with its framing of the wild, like a gem in
rough but rich setting. He has kept before him the

143. — THE LUNG WALK.

142. - niL Ul^.VWl.XG-KUUM (.,,\BLE.

suuplicity of the cottage which it serves,
and has been careful, while creating a
garden of considerable extent, to keep it
unpretentious and its many parts m
scale with the building. It is a pleasaunce
in a wood, unsophisticated for all its
skilful design. The bird's-eye view shows
how skilfully the natural and the formal
have been mingled. On the edge of the
common is a simple iron entrance gate
hung to brick piers, which are supported
b\- curved wing walls. The structure
w'ith its wide flat roof gives something
of the feeling of a lych-gate. As we
enter, the straight path stretches away
in the distance — its vista emphasised by
the sundial set where four paths meet —
and ends in an indeterminate back-
ground of woodland. Right and left
are close-trimmed hedges of yew. .\s
the eve follows the main walk it lights
to the left on a little old cottage, heavily
thatched, which has been preserved for
the gardener's use. The walk is gay
with a broad herbaceous border, and
behind it a holly hedge serves to screen,
now the practical precincts of the
kitchen garden, and now wide spaces of

£00

SMALL COUXTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

purple ling. The sundial comes at the corner of the tennis lawn, which is stolen from the heather and
framed \n pines Right and left, paths stretch away and disappear into the wood. As we return to the
house, openings in hedge and trellis lead us to new countries. To the right is an orchard lawn, strewn with
windfalls in early autumn Everywhere pergola and trellis are richly covered, and a fine feature is the pier-
like extension covered with blossom which juts out from the front of the house. The bowling green is sunk
about eighteen inches and girt about with a loose-built brick wall, its reds and blues weathered in streaks of
green and gold. In the late summer days the walls of the house can scarcely be seen, so rich are they
with the creepers that enfold this garden habitation, luit the little gable to the left gives the needed touch

of variety. The roof-line is restrained
and simple as can be, but one cannot
help regretting the need for rather
disfiguring yellow chimne\' - pots — a
sacrifice to fitful winds. Berkshire is
well wooded, and timber therefore takes
its fair place in the construction. The
east gable is covered with tarred weather-
boarding, and for the gutters cast iron
has been eschewed. They are made
\'-shaped of two narrow boards, and
\ery simple and practical they look and
are. This de\'ice is found in the greatest
of all timber counties, Cheshire, but it
is n!>w rare in the South of England,
though it can be seen at the Charterhouse.
In Friesland not only gutters but even
ddwn-pipes are made of wood, just as in
the stone country of the Cotswolds down-
pipes are sometimes fashioned laborioush'
of stone. The illustrations are eloijuent
enough of the rich waj- that Nature has
sect)nded the designer's ideas ; but the
greatest beauty of this place is seen where
the art has been most conscious — in the
tiny Italian garden. In the little sunk
square, framed in low fruit trees, is a
round stepped basin of stone. In its
midst presides a battered little god ;
gold-fish swim among the lilies ; but
pleasantest of all is a great familv of
frogs. A score and more were counted,
ranging from a pale yellow through
olden brown to a .sjrey-black.

bright

Some were swimming with the slo\v ,^g
stroke and hands behind the back that
is the despair of the mere man wlm
delights in water sports Others sunned
themselves on the step or perched
immobile on the stems of water plants.
Had the garden been devised for the
shade of Aristophanes, it could not have
fitter denizens.

The cottage itself is small, but has
been smaller. A drawing-room was
recently added ; originally the sitting-rooms were two only. Everything is liable to the faults of its
qualities, and beautiful as are pergolas and trellis when rich with leaf and blossom, if close to the house they
destroy the view. The floor line of the added room, therefore, was raised five steps above the ground-le\-el
of the house, and the little undercroft so formed serves as a cellar. This room has nothing above it, so
opportunity was taken to treat the ceiling as a barrel vault, which gives a pleasant touch of the une.xpected.
From its windows one can see over the wealth of growing things towards the common. The dining-room
and study both have doors to the garden. The former had its walls painted a brilliant post-oftice red. The
fireplace is lined with little terra-cotta bricks about four inches by three inches by three inches, ornamented

144. — thf: it.\lian garden.

KOSEBAXK.

lOI

with fleur-de-lys, lions and double-headed eagles in delicate relief. They are tree translations of an old
example, probably Dutch or South German, which can be seen at the Brewers' Hall, Antwerp They
have this advantage over tiles — they cannot tall out. If tiles are properly cemented in. they should not
become loose : but in practice they often do If bricks be used, however small, the\- can be built in solid
fashion and will never give trouble.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms and a dressing-room. The\- do not call for particular remark, save
tliat the best bedroom in the overhanging bay has a pleasant polygonal ceiling. This enables part of the
roof space to be used, and thus adds to the cubic air contents of the room at a trifling cost and with marked
increase of effect over an ordinarv lean-to treatment.

Altogether this cottage is an admirable example of a home for week-ends and for the holida\- month.
The rooms are small, but the cost of building was small also — seven hundred and sixtv pounds, which
works out at a shade over six-pence halfpenny a cubic foot. The situation could not be more delightful.
On the edge of a common fringed with old thatched cottages and but a short walk from the excavations of
Silchester, the only perfectly explored Roman town in Britain, there are riches of natural beauty and
antiquarian interest at the \'ery gate But the cottage has this grave disadvantage — with such a garden
in which to dream away a holiday, it is possible that even the interest of a long-buried city would hardly
tempt one to forsake the shade of hedge and pergola. Rather one would seek to earn Evelyn's benediction
asa Hortulan Saint.

14.5-

•.\ BIRD S-EYE VIEW.

102

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

GILHAM'S BIRCH, ROTHERFIELD.

The Sussex Traditions of Building — Modern Needs in Planning — A Man's Sitting-room — The Dairy
and Its Lighting— Sussex Hearths and Firebacks — Iron-casting in the ]\'eald — .-1 Wheelwright's Gate.

GILHA^M'S BIRCH is to be regarded as an example of an admirable de\'otion to vernacular
buildmg, untinged by imitation of local characteristics which have lost their significance. A
bon mot by Mr. Lethaby may help appreciation of the architectural quality of this house. He
had been poking gentle fun at the passion for building houses to look like old farmsteads and
cottages, and quoted a storj^ told by Mr. Gerald Horsley. Passing down a back street in
London, the latter saw a card in a grocer's window, " Fine jam, good strawberry flavour, 4d. a lb." Mr.
Lethaby assumes very rightly that it is not the fla\'our of architecture we want, or the suggestion of age,
but the intrinsic beauty which comes of building in a reasonable and traditional way to suit modern needs.

Gilliam's Birch
has long been a
place of habita-
tion. There stood
on the site a
cottage, w h i c h ,
from the evidence
of the fireplace
n () w illustrated,
must lia\'e gone
back some
hundreds of \-ears.
They say. indeed,
that Cromwell's
soldiers were quar-
t e r e d there in
those davs of
stress. The stone
jamb has its corner
rounded by the
sharpening of the
knives of many
generations, a n d
the oak beam
which crosses the
recess is also a
memory of the
original home-
stead. Local
t r a d i t i o n

associates the place with William the Conqueror, hence Gilliam's (Guillaume's) Birch ; but that is
a dim byway which need not be pursued. The main fact is that Mr. Ma\' has succeeded in imparting
to the house a purely Sussex character, while yet it is m no way an imitation of an old
farmhouse. The massing of the roofs is of a greater irregularity than the old builders employed,
and for a \-ery sufficient reason. The arrangement of the elder homesteads of Sussex was on
more primitive lines than suits modern life, and the greater complexitv of plan is re\-ealed by the increased
elaboration in the grouping. Mr. May was designing a house to ser\-e the purposes not of yeomen, but of
gentle people. Four sitting-rooms minister to the comforts of modern life ; and. in particular, a man's
room immediately by the entrance porch and cut off from the three other living-rooms is a measure of large
convenience. Here business mav be transacted with callers whom it is inconvenient to introduce into

14b.-

-THE NUKTH-WEST CUKNEK.

GILHAM'S BIRCH

103

1^7. — A STl'DY IN SUSSEX ROOFING

.^^

148. — SUL^IU ll;oNl.

I-ig. — FROM THE ROAD,

10^

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

the more private part of the house- The pro\Msion of this rt)om makes a projection wliich brealis the hues
of wall and roof. Again, in a country home a dairy is a valuable addition, and it is desirable to lisht it from
the coolest aspects, north and east. This makes another projection, in the plan, with its consequent break
in the mass of the house. By the same token the other kitchen offices work out the modelling of the south-
east end of the building, and the loggia makes its mark on the south front. Modern planning thus dictates
a grouping which is delightful, not only because it is pleasant to the eye, but because it is the reasonable
and natural expression of the inner character of the house, and at the same time carries on the local traditions
of brick-building and tile-hanging. There are happy Sussex touches in the little gables which make a
finish to the hipped roofs, while the fine colour of the local bricks makes a pleasant background to the garden
which has grown up since the house was built in 1904.

It is good to sit in the hail, with its great open hearth in an ingle which is lighted by a little window
from the south. There are three things which are of the essence of the old home-building in the \\'eald
— a great hearth, a great chimney and Sussex oak — and this ingle shows them all. The hood of the fire
is large, but its ornament unaffected, and it makes the fire burn well. The most characteristic Sussex
feature, however, is the old
cast-iron fire-back, and when
one is writing of Rother-
field is a good occasion to
make some reference to a
delightful bygone craft.

Some eight miles distant
is Burwash, in whose church
is the well-known gra\'e-
slab of John Colins, a work
of the fourteenth centurw
the earliest-known example
of mediffi\'al iron-casting,
and perhaps itself a
memorial to the first of a
family of founders, (irave-
slabs are, howe\'er, rarities
in iron, and it was pro-
bably the Sussex men who
took to making those earliest
cannon which Edward IIL
employed in Scotland. From
then o n w a rd s to the
eighteenth centurw ^\•llen a
Rotherfield iron - master,
dying in 1708, left half his
fortune in a stock of iron
guns, the men of the count\-
did \\ell with the making of
cannon, and it was the
Vnirning of the forests to
feed their furnaces and
the lack of coal when wood was gone which made the industry desert the South. We are concerned,
howe\-er, now with less deadl\' things — fire-backs. From the first use of chimneys they became
ob\-iously useful, for fire will destroy both stone and brick walls, and the old passion for making
the useful beautiful soon led to their being ornamented with coats of arms and the like. As
the Gothic manner died with the rebirth of classical ideas, wreaths, crossed palms and little Biblical
or classical scenes ser\-ed to decorate their surfaces. It is one of the latter scenes in a framing of
floral pattern which protects the brick chimney at Gilham's Birch, and very good it is to see the old back
filling its function with continuing usefulness. A word of warning may be added here to the address of
the amateur collector. The forger of antiques has not been unmindful of this, a valuable field for his
employment. A skilled Sussex antiquary has lately confessed that both he and a Sussex museum ha\-e
discovered that two of their respecti\-e treasures are identical in details which leave but little doubt that
some very modern founder is the richer for their enthusiasm.

An interesting feature of the original trade in heraldic fire-backs was that people seemed to ha\'e bought
them bearing the arms of anyone thej- fancied. One Giles ^loore, a parson of Horsted Keynes, in the middle
of the ^^'eald, kept a diary from 1653 to 167c). He se\-eral times mentions purchases from the local

150.-

Tin: ILM.I. FIREPLACE.

GILHA:\rS BIRCH.

105

ironworks, but the following most concerns us : " An iron plate for my parlour grate w itli ?ilr. ]\liclielbourne's-
arms upon it, ten shillings " ; and again, " for a plate cast for my kitchen chimney, weighing loolb. and
3qr. marked G.]\I.S., besides two shillings gi\en to the founders for casting, thirteen shillings." The good
rector seems to have realised that the ironfounders' life is a thirsty one. Perhaps the oddest thing
about the iron-foundries of the ^^'eald, the most important of which were at Mavfield. Heathfield and
Lamberhurst, was their limited range of production. .Vndirons went with fire-backs naturally enough,
grave-slabs and cannon ha\'e already been mentioned, and their activities seem to have gone no further.
The iron railings of St. Paul's Cathedral, which ga\-e Wren such a lot of trouble, seem to have been a sporadic
case of taking up a new idea, and the Lamberhurst folk charged eightpence a pound for them as against
a penn\' for fire-backs and a halfpenny for ordnance.

But to return to the house. Of the dining-room and drawing-room no more need be said than that
they are pleasant, well-lit rooms, all furnished as becomes the house, and the same is true of the five bed-
rooms upstairs. Not the least notable fact about Gilliam's Birch is one that does honour to Mr. May's
economic skill — it cost less than one thousand two hundred pounds, which represent? only se\'enpence
farthing a cubic foot. The garden makes a happy frammg for the house. The approach is by an
entrance gate which speaks for itself in the picture. The site stands so high abo\'e the road that the
garden is held up by a retaining wall of the local freestone of creamy tone with streaks of gold.
The path to the porch is sunk between two banks and flanked by dry stone walls rich with plants
of everv sort. The brick steps are set round an old millstone, and the path leads on with random
flagstones. The gate itself is worthy ot note, the handiwork of an old wheelwright. Mr. May holds
(and this example makes one inclined to agree with him) that a satisfactory gate is no work for a
joiner, that it does not lend itself to being made at that craftsman's bench. A wheelwright is a man
accustomed to the working of cur\-es and to following the natural disposition of his material. Hence the
agreeable outline of the top rail and of the brace. Another good feature of the garden is the big stairway,
built, not too carefulh", in the local stone, which leads from the rustic pergola down to the lawn. W'e lea\'e
Gilham's Birch witli the feeling that Mr. May has created not an imitation of an old farmhouse, but a home
in little for a countrv irentleman of to-da\-.

151. — r.Korxi) PL.\.\"

MAih RO.AD

io6

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

THE THATCHED COTTAGE, LLANWERN.

A Cottage in Fact — Tile-uvrk in Walls — A Sease of Material — The Training of Builders-
Reasonable Simpliciiy.

THE Thatched Cottage at Llanwern. Monmouthshire, occupies a site close to a road on the west and
has a south-eastern slope and outlook from the rather bare meadow in which it stands. There
are woods on the other side of the road ; the forest-land of Gwent rears its altitudes to the
north ; to thS east, across the lush meadows that border a trout stream, rise the lesser but
picturesquely broken slopes of the grandly timbered park of Llanwern ; while to the south a peep
is obtained down to the rich pasture tract that borders Severn Sea. Much planting of trees, setting of
orchard, building of terraces, making of borders and laying down of lawn have taken place, so that the
place is rich in hope ; and the good soil and

mild chmate have encouraged such growths ■ . ' -.-.,-.-. ..-^--.-- :?

as already give the pleasant little domicile a
settled air. It is called a cottage, and the
simple lines, the low elevation, the long sweeps
of thatch perhaps entitle it to this description
as it is at present understood, for the dictionary
informs us that the term was " formerly applied
to a hut or hovel, now to a small, neat dwelling."
Hut or hovel we have not before us ; neat
dwelling we ha\'e, and though it has three
sitting-rooms of adequate size, yet it may rightly
be called small, as it was designed for a lady
with one servant, and has only four bedrooms.
Nowadays the artisan prefers to dignify his
tenement hx the name of house, and the cot-
tage is become the residence of the well-to-do

15J

A TEKK.VCE W.VLK OF KOUGII FL.\GGIXG.

132. — GROUND PLAN.

who seek simplicity in their mode of living. Sim-
plicity, of a thoroughly educated and tasteful kmd,
rules at Llanwern ; it was strongly in the architect's
mind when he designed it, and has been realised by
the owner in her treatment of it. And so, despite
its parlour and its dining-room and its " own "
room, it is in the spirit of the cottage, and the purist
in language will permit the designation. Cottage,

THE THATCHED COTTAfxE.

107

15^. — THE ENTRANCE.

howe\'er, is a word that is suffering sadly from a sort of

fashionableness, and is being contorted out of all semblance

of its right application by house agents. Not long ago a

leading London firm ad\'ertised for sale " a reproduction of

an Early English Cottage residence." Early English, in-
deed ! This would be a " hut or hovel " in real earnest,

and a study of it would surely teach us much of how the

villein lived in Plantagenet times. Unknown though it was

to the late Mr. J. R. Green and to M. Jusserand, it would

seem that the villein's dwelling contained " billiard room,

hall, loggia, four reception rooms, winter garden, small

private chapel, eleven Ijed and dressing rooms, bath, three

staircases and ample othces." The only point on which

information is denied us, and that is disappointing, is the

precise spot where the original of this egregious " reproduc-
tion " is to be found ! Luckily, at Llanwern, there is no

reproduction. We ha\'e a thing which belongs to to-day ;

a little home in full accord with the best traditions of old

cottage building, and yet accepting modern teaching in

material, manner and disposition when these promise to add'

to comfort and convenience. From the wicket gate set in

the road hedge a flagged way bordered by grass plats leads

us to the hooded entrance door. The walls of the house are

of lias limestone, dug out near at hand, and, therefore, used

Avithout stint. Of many tones from yellow to brown, it has

to be used as it is dug out, for its weather- resisting p(jwer

depends upon its retaining its surface. It therefore appears

in many sizes and of rough te.xture, the largest and squarest lumps being re^er\"ed for the quoins. Over

the windows it is set up on end to form a low relieving arch, and the space between that and a narrow

projecting drip-stone above the wooden window frame is filled with red roofing" tiles. Such tiles have

become, with many architects, a fa\'ourite material for obtaining by simple and inexpensi\'e means an

occasional change of tone and texture, and Mr. Milne has much recourse to them. Where as here they are

used to fill putlog holes they appear as insignificant insets in the walling, the stonework of which already

exhibits such diver-
sity of size, colour
and surface that
these small spots of
tile ,go near to de-
s t r o y i n g the due
sense of breadth and
restfulness. But in
other positions the
tiles are introduced
with aptness and
success. As a string-
course they carry the
line of the door-hood
along the massi\'e
structure of the
neighbouringchimney
and again appear on
it higher up in order
til help the rough
stcine to fit round the
panel of arms and to
make a le\'el platform
from which the brick
shaft springs. In the
nil if, in the larder
and below the floor-
155. — THE COTTAGE AND ITS TERRACE. 1 e \- cl they are

io8

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

ventilating louvres,
w h i 1 e set herring-
bone-wise they form
the back of the
parlour fireplace.
Thatching in ;\Ion-
mouthshire has been
held to be a lost art.
and we are apt to
hear that corrugated
sheets must replace
stra\\' as the co^^ering
of hay and corn ricks.
These difficulties are
frequently much of
people's own making.
There has been a
submerging of the in-
fluences which pro-
duced the \vhole race
of handicraftsmen b\'
a general content-
ment with mechani-
cal methods and
effects. The draw-
ing-board architects
of the nineteenth cen-
turv knew and cared
little for the subtle
effects derived from
the right choice and
A\ithered from neglect
pro\-ed b\' the results

156.— IN THE PARLCJUR.

manipulation of materials. 1 he instinct of the craftsman for colour and te.xture
, but it has not entirely perished. That under proper culture it will rapidly revive is
obtained at the cottage we are studving. TJanwern is a perfectly rural parish, with

a sparse population,
but it is on the edge
of, it is threatened
with invasion by, a
modern mushroom
.L;r(i\\th of mdustri-
alism. Nothing can
be newer — newer in
the most repellent
phases of newness —
than ]\Ionmouth-
shire's big town of
Newport. Its net-
work of streets, its
miles of buildings,
ne\'er at any one
]ioint display any
attempt t o w a r d s
acceptable domestic
architecture. What
is not ^■ulgarly showy
is sordidly mean, and
all has the same
machine-made look.
Architect, builder
and workman luu"e
been in the grip of
1,57.— THE DTNIX'G-ROOM the modern monster.

THE THATCHED COTTAGE. rog

and its iron hai entered into tlieir soul. xAnd yet at the call of Mr. ;\Iilne. a Newport builder, who has no
doubt taken his modest part in defacing God's earth with rows of " desirable " tenements, and has not so far
known or recognised that anything different was desirable or possible, set to on the right lines. Mr. Case
went through Mr. Milne's plans and specifications, and saw his way to carrying them out for the modest sum
of six hundred and fifty pounds. Perhaps he hardly knew what lie was m for, and what time and trouble it
would take him and his men to call back lost ideas and habits and to build after the manner of their
forefathers. But if they had to use their faculties and be on the alert rather more than the average
Englishman of to-day cares for, they succeeded perfectly and the\- liked it, and the Thatched Cottage is a
job in which Mr. Case feels some pride. It is a little flower of the field amid the great crop of coarse
artificial growths that environ it. And this he has come to recognise. He sees there is something in it,
that the very simple means, good and unpretentious, b\- which the ri,ght effect has been produced and a
character , given to this dwelling which nothing near it shares, is perhaps a thing which should be aimed at.
A seed has been sown which may germinate and wax great.

The contract price of six liundred and fifty pounds at once pro\'es that no costly materials and no complex
workmanship were demanded. In these respects it is a cottage indeed. Everything is of the plainest.
There are no mouldings to the windows. The doors are ledged and fitted with quite ordinary hinges and
latches. The fireplaces are built in with stock bricks, and the least possible woodwork has been used for
chimney-pieces. If, then, the result pleases, it is not from elaboration. It is just because it is meet ; because
the sense of scale has been thoroughly preserved. Every form and proportion suits its neighbour and suits
the whole. Every material is allowed to be itself, and all seem to belong to the same familv. A single
mode of expression has been used throughout, and if it is not a grand one it is entirely wholesome.
It says that " poor and content is rich and rich enough," and it spreads around it its self-evident
contentment with its own lot in life. It fills \'ou with the same feeling and convinces you then and
there that it has enunciated a reasonable doctrine. Marble halls are right enough when their possessors
are able and willing to live up to them. But playing at them with cheap scenic imitations is neither
comfortable nor \\'holesome, while little \'ulgar efforts at introducing a semblance of their qualities in the
jerry-built \"illa are sheer depra\ity of the reprehensible type that is stupid and ugly. Llanwern Cottage
makes no pretence of representing" an exiguous form of existence. It is spacious, con\'enient and well fitted,
but at the same time its simplicity and straightforwardness encourage natural conduct. If you wish vou
mav perfectly well be found baking the scones and boiling the water with an apron on, and the \-isitors will
feel that to lend a hand is an enjoyment. Such action fits in with the picture and suggests self-help. altlKjugh
the whole setting speaks of ease, taste and comfort. A few additional expenses, such as an oak fioor for the
parlour and an oak staircase, were ^•entured on after the first estimate was sent in, so that the whole cost,
including' the architect's fee, reached a sum between se\-en hundred and fifty and eight hundred pounds.
The whole cost, including that of the drainage, etc., worked out at nmepence halfpenny a cubic foot.
The furniture is perfectly apt. It consists almost entirely of Welsh farmhouse pieces collected with great
judgment. Thev are the products of small self-providing communities. A neighbour has made them foi
a neighbour. ;\iechanical methods and wholesale principles ha\-e not touched them e\-en with a breath.
Like the home they suit so well they seem to be the immediate output of the head and hands of in(li\-i<lual
men and to have taken on something of their personality.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

A HOUSE AT AMBERLEY, SUSSEX,

A Difficult Sile — Old and Ncii^ Mafcyitils — Concerning Chimneys — The Hoitsc-place:

THE river Arun bisects Sussex from north to south, and flows through some of that county's
choicest lands. It waters a country- of rich flats and moderate elevation during its upper course,
but long ere it reaches Arundel on its way to the sea it encounters the South Downs, and has to
make many a bend and circuit to enable it to pass through this barrier. This lends much pic-
turesqueness to its valley, on the edge of which, looking southward on to the down-encompassed
vale, stands the subject of this chapter. Crossing the bridge from the West Burton side and rising from
the river, the road on its way north-east to Amberlev Village skirts the Down above the slope which the
house and garden occupy. This lie of the land has been seized upon to gi\"e character to the setting and

laying out of the
buildmg and its
environment. It
has been done
very successfully,
though the neces-
sity of duly treat-
ing a difficult
piece of ground
without outrun-
ning the available
sum was no easy
matter. It is
coping with diffi-
culty that breeds
skill, and though,
of course, a bot-
tomless purse
could ha^'e pro-
duced bigger re-
sults, the great

merit and interest
of this little
place is that, in
mass and in
detail, it possesses
charm and distinc-
tion and has not
been expensive.
The entire cost
o f house and
grounds, includ-
ing paving, turf-
ing and fencing, of everything, in fact, down to the smallest detail, was £2,126 17s. iid. The house
itself cost eightpence farthing a cubic foot. It stands thirty or forty feet west of the road and
is approached from it diagonally down a broad flight of steps and along a pathway of local stones,
flat but unsquared, w^hich leads to the door at the back or north side of the house. Westward of this
door, the office wing springs out of the main block of the house at an angle corresponding with
the angle of the entrance steps from the toad. The precise direction of the fall in the land made
this the line of least resistance, occasioned the least movement of soil and building of retaining
walls, and was, therefore, the most economical scheme. A note of pleasant originality joined with

158. — THE SOUTH OK GARDEN FRONT.

A HOUSE AT AMBERLEY.

Ill

practical utility was thus obtained. It was not a conceit artificially dragged in, but a business-like
arrangement that came about naturally.

Though quite recently erected, it has no look of rawness, because it is very largely composed of old
material. Bricks, tihng, and timbers of demolished buildings in the neighbourhood were available, and

159. — THE ENTRANXE OR NORTHERN FRONT.

were gladly seized upon and used with judgment and success. The great roof, typical of the county's
ancient homes, shows a slight wave and has a mellow tone. The old oak timbers of the southern gable
and of other projecting parts lend an air of venerability to this youthful structure, and the effect is well
carried out by the rough finish of the plaster. As circumstances permitted this look of premature age

112

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES Ob lO-DAY

to be given to the exterior in generaL it seems rather a pitv that the desired effect should be marred bv the
use, in the occasional weather-boarded portions, of painted deal of the most smooth, finished and mechanical
modern sort. Paint and regularity combine to create a dissonance. The whole aspect lacks harmonious
completeness. There is a want of loving relationship between the members, a slight hostility of the parts,
as if the\' rather resented their enforced juxtaposition. This would have been avoided by using rough-
sawn elm for the weather-boarding, which, in two seasons if not in one, would ha\-e assumed a wa\'\' irregu-
larity of line and a silver greyness of tone giving an air of close affinity to all the materials used. This
treatment, owing to the inevitable winding of this wood, calls for felt between it and the wall behind if the
latter is composed of 42in. quartering filled in with brick, but the expense is small, and it has been used
for the upper floors of quite cheap cottages for farm labourers. The house is of so engaging a kind, and so
much taste and feeling have reigned over its contri\-ance, that importance is given to the least jarring note,
to a defect which, in the general run of houses, would escape detection. That is why the chimney of the
low office wing catches the eve as it should not. The great stack at the east end, with its three elaborate
shafts, is admirable. It has presence, size, balance. It draws due attention to its honourable function
of serving the principal rooms. Equally good and appropriate is the more massive stack that rises out
of the main roof further westward. But where the modest part of the house is reached, no feature should
attract attention by the saliency of its proportions. Stuck centralh- on the ridge of the humble outhouse

roof, the single shaft,
shooting up high and
shm, asserting itself
by its diagonal set-
ting on its base and
by its enrichment of
many mouldings, is
certainly out of place.
Its presence, rising
through and above
the pergola, as seen
m the \'iew taken
from the west garden,
was so distracting in
an otherwise delight-
ful composition that
it has been effaced
down to Its plain
^i|uare base. If the
Illustration of this is
compared with that
in which it is retained,
the ad\'antage of its
remo\'al will be clear.
Of course, the present
base is not of itself
suflicient for the prac-
tical purpose of carrying away the smoke, but it should be raised as little and as simply as possible.
i.-„- The southern elevation and terrace ha\"e a considerable space between them and the road, which is
not at right angles to the house. This space is separated from the terrace by a retaining wall, and the
growth of hedge and trees will soon give shelter and pri\'acy to the garden. A broad flagged way runs
along the south front and there is access to it from the house through an open-sided room or loggia. Bevond
the house, this flagged way passes under a pergola of rough timbers — a wall sheltering it on the north —
and then reaches a flight of steps descending to a lower garden of mixed flowers, fruits and ^•egetables. As
regards the interior, the plan of the ground floor will explain itself without much description,
especially as an illustration of the main living-room is also given. The conception of the plan tends towards
a re\'ersion to the house-place of old-time dwellings of moderate size, such as Gervase Markham figured
and described in James I.'s time. There are, indeed, at Amberley an entrance or vestibule and a dming-
room ; but the main feature is the room which occupies the whole east end of the house. It is in two sections
on different levels. It is principally lit by a five-light casement window to the south. Its north side is
open to the upper section, which is balustraded off exce])t where three steps give access to it. At the back
of this section rises the main stairway, while an ample, many-mullioned oriel occupies its eastern side. Space,
incident and variety are thus given to the room, which must be a most pleasant one to li\-e in, though there
are some who would prefer the additional privacy of the stairs opening from the \-estibule. This is a matter

A'lyi'

'3?

•a

!teS«S..»

lOo.

-IHE HOUSE AND ITS SHE.

A HOU^E AT AMBI-:RLKY.

lOl— IKOM IHi; VVbSl OK LOWER GARDEN.

1(J2 ~1HH LiVlNG ROO.M.

114

A HOUSE AT AMBERLEY.

tor individual feeling. Certainly the
present arrangement is the more
picturesque, and this stair is only
meant for the use of the occupiers of
the room out of which it rises, as there
are back stairs at the other end of the
house. The main stairway, moreover,
is shut off at its summit by a door
which opens on to a gallery 30ft. long
and loft. wide, having a great bay
window over the front door and a
fireplace opposite to this feature. It
therefore fulfils the function of an
additional sitting - room, and also
affords an air of spaciousness to the
upper floor. From it the four principal
bedrooms are entered. Through an
arched opening at its west end a cross
passage is reached leading to the ample
bathroom and the well-contrived hot-
linen closet, housemaid's accommoda-
tion, etc. Here, too, are the back
stairs rising from the kitchen and con-
tinuing up to the attic bedrooms. The
interior finish is simple and pleasing.
The plain but well-proportioned panel-
ling and the doors and chimney-pieces
are kept white, and above them the
walls and ceilings are washed white
also, the latter being occasionally
broken and relieved by old oak beams.
The furniture, the china, the pictures,
the implements are also in many cases
old, and in all cases are well chosen
with precise reference to the character

of the rooms and to the effect desired. it)3.-

There is throughout a happy conjunction of the old and the new
rigid archaism and self-conscious eccentricity are wholly avoided.

-SOUTH-EAST GABLE.

The spirit of the past is here, yet

erro.ce

164. — THE GROUND PLAN.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

11 =

LUCKLEY, WOKINGHAM.

The Influence of Norman Shaw — Planning, Symmetrical and Otherwise — Plaster Cornices-
Trellis Staircase Railing — The Baluster — Bedroom Windows.

HERE is a story — no voucher is given for its truth — that an enterprising critic set out to write a
liistory showing the development of domestic architecture ckiring the second lialf of the last
century. Alter some labour in collecting and sorting his material, he concluded that the task

of the work of Norman Shaw and of those he mfluenced. While

I really narrowed itself to a survey
this \'iew is too exclusive, and
does some injustice to many eminent
men such a*; Philip Webb who have
left our architecture the better for their
achie\'ement, it is worth recording.
The students whose earliest inspirations
were guided by Norman Shaw make
a long and distinguished list, and
among them was Mr. Ernest Newton.
His work early took on. and with con-
sistence has maintained, a delicate
individuality which separates it from
that of his contemporaries.

During the thirty years that he has
practised on his own account the
fashions of architecture have been many
and changing ; but ^Ir. Newton has
pursued his way unaffected by the
foibles to which many able men have
turned for a time. In all domestic
work there are two opposing tendencies
in planning. The one is to devise an
arrangement of rooms solely with regard
to the nature of the site and the habits
and needs of the future occupants. This
means that the elevations may have,
more or less, to take care of themselves.
They are the natural outcome of the plan
and are governed by it. The result,
however admirable in its own right, is
likely to be deficient in balance. At its
best this method of planning produces a
picturesque arrav of features, among
which each projection or gable reveals
and emphasises the plan. From the
outside the building is full of the charm
of the unexpected, and it is only by
acquaintance with the inside that the
external irregularity is seen to be justified
by the fitness of the interior. At the
worst this disregard of regularity
produces an incoherent mass which
reveals no sense of purpose. At the
other end of the scale is the plan w liicli

105.

-THE ENTK.\XCE.

ii6

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

is governed by the proportions of the facades. The style adopted perhaps postulates a middle door of
entrance and an equal number of windows at each side of equal size. The ele\-ations are the fi.xed element,
and the rooms have to be planned to fit them.

The middle course (and the !7'(( media is dear to our architecture as to other things English) is to equip
one principal front with that balance and proportion that give to a building the great quality of restfulness,
and let practical needs determine the rest of the plan, even if it involves some irregularity in other ele\-ations.
Of this middle course Lucklev is an admirable example. ^Ir. Ne\\lon has emplo^-ed a ground plan that is
a favourite with him, and that commends itself for dignity and convenience. It is in outline a traditional
English arrangement, commonly called the H plan. Popular over a long period, it is here adapted to
strictly modern needs. In effect it consists of two narrow parallel wings, in one of which are the sittnig-
rooms and in the other the dining-room, kitchen and other offices. Connecting the two wings is a narrow
body, which inchides not onlv the main staircase, but a corridor from drav.ing-room to dining-room, serving
the pleasant function of a processional path for the rites of English hospitality.

The illustrations show that Mr. Newton has allowed the entrance front to have one wing \\-ider than
the other (thus giving ample space to the kitchen premises), and has elected to get his symmetrical effect

on the garden
front, which is the
chief elevation. On
the right one sees
the kitchen offices
set back, but the
two wings, with
^■' -•- •"% "-y ■ T^^^^^Ba^^s^g'^fea^^'tei^^^JB^Bm^gT their orderly

arrangement o f
bow windows and
pairs of triple
lights abo\-e. stand
out clearly
balanced. The
projecting
windows compose
happih' with the
c u r \- e d and
pillared portico.
This latter feature
is repeated e.xacth'
on the entrance
f r o n t and is
characteristic o f
Mr. N e w ton's
work. The house
is here at its
narro\\est. and on
arri\'ing at the
entrance the
\- 1 s 1 1 o r looks
t h r o u g h b o t h
porches on to the
It IS in such small details as the pa\-ing of this court that a just sense of the value of
materials makes itself felt. The footways are covered with large red quarries and the wav to the lawn is
flanked with spaces of rough flags in the wide joints of which rock plants flourish.

The general view from the garden is eminently satisfying. The house stands on the site of an earlier
building, well bowered in trees. The walls are built of Sussex clamp bricks whose purplish tone is lightened by
bright red dressings from Wrotham. The tiles are of the dark hand-made sort that give a homel}- texture
to the roof and weather quickly in uneven tones. Dignity is given by the bold dentil course that supports
the eaves and runs round the house, save where it stops for a projecting chimne\\ There is no eftort to
interfere with the natural position of the chimney-stacks as determined by the plan, and the central placing
of the staircase in the connecting stroke of the H puts the middle chimney a little out of centre as seen from
the garden front. This is all to the good. A lesser designer would have played tricks with his bedroom
planning in order to avoid this irregularity. .\s it is, the chimne}' is a nai\-e index of the upstairs arrange-
ments to those who ha\-e the e\-e to mark them.

l66.— PORCH AND G.\RDEN FOKECOURT.

garden court

LUCKLEY.

117

j\Ir. Newton is
an old friend to
the varied uses ot
lead in architec-
ture. The hall
dome roots of \hv
bays and the
curved hood of the
porch are covered
with the charac-
teristic English
metal. Elsewhere,
as at Red Court,
Haslemere, the
architect ha~
given an addei 1
charm to these
dome-shaped roofs
by finishing them
with a deep square
gutter in cast lead,
drained by a stout
lead pipe with
traditional orna-
ment. Here the
scheme of treat-
ment is on simpler
lines, and the
gutter and down-
pipe are of plain cast iron. Before going indoors we must note the stables, which lie to the left of the
carriage drive and group pleasantly and frankly with the house. In the old foolish days of Capability
Brown and even of his more intelligent successor, Humphry Repton, stables and the like were tucked
away behind screen walls, as though they were disreputable adjuncts to " the .gentleman's house." A

167. — E.VST CORRIDOR, LOOKIXc; TOW.XKDS H.VLL.

■ii-izl ■ ■ a ^ '''^

Pfflniii

168. — THE G.^RDEN FRONT.

ii8

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

169 — PART OF THE DRAWING-ROOM.

^XK^'^mt,

?»"'

t\' '

^pm

tl V"

% J

^c#l

^j-^'S^^^

..-3!!

mSSZS'i^WPi WiM^^!^

ifiiiij

#^tiy

JP^

v*^

170. —THE HALL.

LUCKLEY.

119

saner \-iew of tluiif;s as they are leads us to-day to regard such outbuildings as deser\-ing architectural
treatment in a frank way that will bring them into obvious and wise relation with the main building.
This has been done in sound fashion at Luckley.

The interior has the same quiet dignity that the outside presents. The sitting hall is panelled in oak
by the fireplace, which is screened from the passage-way, and the beams show. The overmantels, both
here and in the drawing-room, have the triple arches which are so favourite a decorative motive with
Mr. Newton. Throughout the house there is an absence of cornices, or of any ornamental ceiling treat-
ment, except in the drawing-room, where there is an unobtrusi\-e co\'ing. The way that modern architects
have freed themselves from the tyranny of the plaster cornice is altogether to the good. The layman may
not realise that even modest cornices add about five per cent, to the cost of a house. It is not many years
ago that the suggestion of omitting the cornice in a sitting-room, e\'en of a suburban villa, would have been
thought an outrage verging on the indecent. To-day they are still used to excess, but the wise architect
omits them unless he can employ them without having to save on the quality of materials elsewhere, as
used often to be done.

The fireplace in the drawing-room is in a recess, lighted on the left b\- a bull's-eve window — as happv
a feature inside as it is in the e.xternal elevation. The staircase has snnple rails of a wide trellis pattern,
an agreeable \-ariation from the usual baluster. We have come to regard the baluster as an essential
architectural feature, but it is one of the few elements that we owe to the Renaissance. The history of
Roman architecture may be searched for it in vain, and the same cannot be said of broken pediments and
other devices which are commonly attributed to the revival of classical art.

A hint of practical value is given by the ventilation of the bedrooms. In the days of the Gothic revival
there was a return to muUioned and transomed windows. The transom had this practical value, that while
the lower casement was hinged sideways, the upper one could be hung at the top to open outwards. There
is obviously no more wholesome way of ventilating a bedroom than by such a transom light. However,
transoms are, if not impossible, at least absurd, with rooms of ordinary height, and give a needless emphasis
to the horizontal lines. The device at Luckley is to divide the metal casement into parts, the upper third
hinged from the top and the lower two-thirds opening sideways. The metal fillet connecting them is not
noticeable from the outside, so the causes both of ventilation and sightliness are served. The general
impressions one takes from the house are that it is imposing in a reasonable way for its size and
accommodation, and that the design is throughout sincere and coherent. That economy has been considered
is clear from the cubic foot cost, which was no more than se^•enpence halfpenny.

Sui£ CF fi I . i-ji . .

^ ? ^

-^r,.

171. — THE GROUND PLAN.

120

bV.MA. COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

LONG COPSE, EWHURST, SURREY.

Mediceval and Modem Wav^ of Building — Sgraffito Work — .i Cure for Porous Stone

Walls — Thatch and Heeling.

A BUILDING of which G. F. Watts said that it was the most beautiful in Surrey has obviouslv
quahties of value. Long Copse, Evvhurst, won this praise from the veteran artist, and though
the dictum seems rather in the vein of lu'perbole, when one remembers what Surrey lioasts,
^ none will deiu' the house a large merit. When the ordinary person contemplates the building of
a country cottage, there are two courses open. One is to go to a local builder, describe the
accommodation needed, give vague ideas as to materials, and trust to the Englishman's luck to muddle
through. That way lies extravagance and dissatisfaction, and generally a building that is an astonishment
and a hissing. The other is to employ an architect and let him see the house built to his plans by a
builder. The " architect and builder " method, if an unhandy phrase may be forgiven, is partly the
outcome of social conditions, but largely of the artistic revolution which we call the Renaissance. In
mediffival times architecture was an art little conscious of rules, and doubtless impatient of rulers. The

owner of the building, were he la\'man
or cleric, had probably a larger know-
ledge of the building arts than the
average client of an architect to-da\'.
It is true that the sum of technical
knowledge then a\'ailable was markedh-
smaUer. The complexities of building
bye-laws, often futile and always
hampering, were unknown. Materials
were simpler and fewer and, save for
great buildings, limited to those that
the neighlMiurhood sup])lied. Certainlw
tiir small houses and in the countr\' the
architect was unknown and the \'ery
name did not appear until 1510. His
place, was taken in great buildings by
tlie master of the works. For little
houses the owner contracted direct with
the master-mason of the village, talked
o\'er plans with him and the carpenter,
and settled details with the smith and
plumber. All this was possible when
the process of building was unconscious.
They built in the customary way.
Style developed steadily for fi\-e cen-
turies, but eclecticism was unknown.
A man in the fourteenth century built
as he did because he li\-ed when he did,
and not because he liked his style
better than some other. With the
Renaissance things changed, and learn-
ing and culture got mixed up with
building. The time had gone for a
man to build as his father before him —
in the light of a great tradition. He
must build in the Roman manner, after
-THE VER.\NUAH Willi scKAiiiTu ULCuKATioN reading Vitruvius and Palladio. Thus

i;rai.».(5Sjtii

LOXt; COPSE.

122

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

design became the business of tlie cultivated man who could understand hard words, and craftsmanship
took a subordinate place. It \\ould be as foolish as it is useless to regret the change. Without it \\'e
should ha\'e had neither Inigo Jones nor Wren ; but, as in all upheavals, there were great losses to set
against the compensating gains. The architect did not kill the crafts, but he maimed them. Responsibility
was taken from the master-craftsmen, with the result that their hands lost much of their cunning.

Long Copse, apart from its intrinsic beauty, has the special claim, of our interest that it was built in the
mediaval spirit. It was designed, in consultation with Mrs. Muche-Cooke, by Mr. Alfred Powell, and he acted
as master of the works. He bought all materials, and the craftsmen (save the plumbers — an entertaining
exception) were L'ni^'ersit^' men who worked \\ith him. Between the owner and the craftsmen, therefore,
stood one man onh', who both devised and wrought, instead of the usual two — an architect who designs
only and a builder who hardly e\'er works with his own hands. The result is instinct with simplicit\' while
free from affectation. The site is ideal. On the south-west slope of Pitch Hill, between Gomshall and

I7.I. — THE DINING-ROOM.

Cranleigh, a clearing has been made m a dehghtful wood, and there nestles this thatched homestead.
Immediately in front of it the garden slopes down the hill and the long copse flanks the site, while the lower
lands towards Cranleigh spread themselves out like a map, and Hindhead opposes its heights in the distance.
The building gives that sense of vitality which is the evidence of healthy growth. Simple as it is in plan
to-day, it began even more simply. Mrs. Mudie-Cooke's idea was to have a little country retreat of the purely
cottage type, with a single living-room, into which the entrance door gave. This was well enough in summer,
but winter brought devastating draughts. It was impossible to add a porch without interfering with the
cur\'ed wall in which the circular stair is set, and thus making an addition which could not fail to disturb.
An extra room, marked on the plan " dining-room," was provided by converting the original kitchen and
building a new kitchen and offices beyond. At the same time there were pro\dded additional bedrooms
on the upper floor and a verandah by the outer door of the dining-room. Sgraffito work is little used
in England, but on the back wall of this verandah Cavaliere Formilli has scratched a picture of peacocks

LONG COPSE

123

in light red and white. It sounds an amlntious treatment fur a cottage verandah, but the straightforward-
ness of the technique and the reasonableness of the subject make it a desirable decoration by a skilful hand.
The plan of the entrance front is made especially interesting by its break in wall-line at the circular stair.
One unsatisfactory feature of this otherwise delightful stairway is a lack of headroom, a little thoughtlessness
which could easily have been a\'oided. It was a happy notion to emphasise the position of the staircase
in the body of the building. There is a tendency m modern architecture to pursue the quaint and to invent
features for their appearance sake. Here, howe\'er, is a legitimate practical need organicalh' emphasised
in the plan, a sober piece of building which yet has a marked decorative value.

The construction throughout is massive and traditional. The walls are of the local sandstone, of a warm
yellow and two feet thick. Though the stone (as usual \-ery soft when quarried) has now hardened from
exposure, the searching gales from the south-west drove the rain through the outer wall, despite its fortress-
like thickness. It is useful to know that the painting of the outside with water-glass, a colourless and
cheap liquid, stopped the pores of the stone and cured a ver\' trying fault. The technique of the masonry
is admirable. Note the strong and sober effect of the mullions flush with the wall on the outside and
spIa^•ing slightly inwards. On such a building one feels the simplest moulding would have been a blunder.
The chimnev treatment is bold and adequate. The original cottage was content with a single central
stack, but the addition necessitated a second, which groups with its fellow admirably.

The original roof idea was to tile, but for the cottage as first built Norfolk thatchers came with their reeds,
and a beautiful roof they made. The addition was roofed with Horsham stone, better perhaps than the
thatch, for heeling is vernacular in this neighbourhood and thatch is not. There is a tenderness about the
way the moss and willo\v weed grow on this stone roof, that seems Nature's benediction of the use of local
things. The interior is simple and dignified. Nothing but oak is used for beams, flooring and doors, and the
great timbers are rough from the adze. Some of the uprights are left in the round, stripped of bark, but
unsquared. This seems just to overstep simplicity and to plunge into the crude, for the saving of labour
and material invoh-ed in omitting the sciuaring seems too slight to make it worth while. The whole of the
woodwork construction was arranged so that the timbers could remain exposed. This allowed them to
be cut from the green tree and used straightway without seasoning. The trees were chosen to gi\-e in their
natural shapes the required curves for the roof principals. For the joinery work, such as doors and windows,

175. — THE SITTIN'G-KOOM.

124

LONG COPSE.

only thoroughh" drv wood was used. The walls are whitewashed, and the house is umocent everywhere
of both paper and paint.

The furnishing is of a grave and simple sort throughout. Many of the pieces are old, and, where new,
they accord with the cottage atmosphere. The fireplaces in sitting-room and dining-room are open, with
wood fires burnmg on plain stone hearths. In the case of the sitting-room the fire is very wisely supplemented
bv a hot-water radiator at the far end, which is worked from a stove built in the thickness of the outer wall
of the dining-room. The installation is absolutely inoffensive in appearance and has the great practical
advantage of keeping the house well aired during the winter. After fire, a word as to water. Wells are
a difficultv on Pitch Hill, and there was much vain digging at Long Copse. Resort to the hazel twig and the
spirit of divination had happy results, and in the one hundred feet well there is always forty feet of water at
the driest times, when neighbouring wells yield nothing. The domestic arrangements are of peculiar
simplicity. There is no accommodation in the house for serv'ants, who have their quarters in an adjoining
thatched cottage — another aid to the owners' pursuit of perfect quiet. The whole of the upper floor, with
its fi\'e bedrooms, bathroom, etc., is tlius available for the family and guests. Behind the ser\-ants' cottai,'e
is a long range of stables, etc., for the owner has not yielded to petrol, but still thmks horses are of the
essence of countr\' liie.

It is after one has spent a dav in and abfiut a house of this kind that one is tempted to define the dis-
tinctions between building and architecture. Here is a successful example of the return to traditional ways
of building, a return which is clearly possible to-day. It has none of tlie complexity of the conscious style ;
it is not, in fact, architecture. The ele\-ations grow- simply and reasonably out of the plan ; the plan has not
been contrived to lead up to effects, but is determined by the site. There is no conscious irregularity on the
one hand nor contrived balancing of architectural elements on the other.

Long Copse does not give the feeling of having been devised. It seems rather to ha\-e happened. For
the simple domestic building this is high praise, but hardly excessive. The experiment of departing from
usual methods has been justified ; but ;\Ir. Alfred Powell and those who worked with him were not usual
men, and they were not working for an usual client. For the ordinarv man to depart from customary ways
is a desperate enterprise, and Long Copse in its success is but the happy exception to a wise rule which is
based on experience.

^^^m OaiaiiVAL WALLS'

S:\IAL1. COrXTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

133

WEST CHART, LIMPSFIELD, SURREY

TLKXl'LR POWELL.

Surrey Tradiiiuns vj Biiihliiig — (Tullciiii:^ — .1 Man'

Old Malenals.

Room — TiU'-Hitiigiiig -The Use of

ALTHOL'GH Surrey does not boast any compact woodlands (if \er\- large e.xtent, it is one of the liest
timbered counties in Eni^land. and nearly tweh'e of e\'er\' hundred of its acres are covered with
woods and plantations. It is to this characteristic that the site and surroundings of West Chart
^ owe some of their beauties. So far back as the Domesday Surve\' the largest wooded tract in
Surrey, outside those in the Royal possession, was one held in Oxted bv Eustace, Count of
Boulogne, which is described as worth a hundred hogs from the pannage. This luxurious quota of oaks,
the acorns they gave and the noble herd of swine thev fed have gone into the limbo of forgotten things ; Ijut
enough trees of pleasant growth are left to make Limpstield a \'er\' agreeable jilace in which to build a home.
Surrey is peculiarly a county of domestic architecture,
and for many reasons. It lacks great towns and rich
industries and, in consequence, great public buildings.
Southwark, indeed, had its palaces, but time and the
receding tide of fasliion have destroyed them. Other
great palaces, like Richmond and Nonesuch, are known
to us only from the pens of long dead draughtsmen, and
tholigh such places as Loseley and Sutton testify to
Surrey's one-time \\ealth in great houses, it is perhajis
of its smaller architecture that the county may most
reasonably boast. It is unquestionably the favourite
county for the homes of those who work in London, antl
this eminence in the favour nf Londoners is no new-
thing. As far back as the reigns of Elizaljeth and
James I. the servants of the Court aimed to make
enough (by means perhaps not always fanatically
honest) to ensure retirement to a small estate in Surrey.
To them, and to the latter race of wealthy citizens of
London, we owe the numerous small houses \\hich fixed
the type of local architecture. It is therefore a happy
event when the designers of modern houses are found
following straitly in the paths of their forerunners and
building in the traditional way.

The district is rich m building materials. It is more
a Ijrick than a stone county, but it is by no means poor in
the latter. From the hills south of Guildford is quarried
the rich brown stone called Bargate, and though not
ordinarily fit for fine dressing, it has a strong texture,
and is eminently suitable for walling. The rough shapes
into which it ordinarily breaks when quarried make it
convenient to build it with wide mortar joints, a use
that brought in its train the delightful practice of
decorating the joint by sticking in it little scraps of
other stone, generally ironstone, a trick which goes
by the engaging name of " galleting." The Romans

employed this black ironstone for cubes in their mosaic floors, and it is used tii-da\- lur pax-ing with admirable
effect. The bricks and tiles of Surrey have the great advantage of a touch of iron m their cdinposition,
which gives that richness to the red that can nowhere be bettered. In the habit <il tile-hanging
walls this county and its neighbour, Sussex, strike their most characteristic note. It is iKit. howex'er. a
practice of great antiquity, for Mr. Ralph Nevill, who has gi\-en much study tn the subjccl. is not inclnuMl to
date its introduction earlier than about 1700. The shapes <if the tiles are mam . luit Ihe iii(>--l u<ual. except

'//■

IIU', i'DKCIl.

126

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

I7^. — SOUTH-WEST CORNER.

179. — NORTH Fl^ONT.

WEST CHART.

127

the simple oblonjj;, is the rounded end. Where this weatlier tihng was used there was obviuusly a difficulty
at the corners of walls. The ingenuity of later days has adopted the angle tile, but originally it was the
practice to stop the tiles against a corner post of oak. So much by way of rough outline of the more usual
Surrey building methods of bygone days. Let us see how Mr. Turner Powell has maintained the customary
ways. West Chart is perched so high on the side of the hill — the doorstep is only a little under six hundred
feet above sea-level — that a winding carriage dri\'e had to be made, which brings us up at the north-east
corner. Confronting us is the great kitchen chimney, built partly of stone and partly of brick, the masonrv
joints being galleted with the black ironstone that was excavated on the site. The varied views that strike
the eye as the porch is approached conspire to give a sense of breadth and comfort. The house is long
and low, and the roofs of a rather flat pitch, which is accentuated by the breadth of the dormers. The
porch is a charming feature, built of stout oak posts on dwarf stone walls, and roofed with Horsham stone
(or, to give its correct name, " heeling "). The porch steps are of ironstone, and its ceiling rudely plastered.
At the north-west corner is a loggia, whence may be seen as fine a view as any place so near London can
afford. Straight across the valley northwards is the long range of the northern downs of Surrey, to the
left is Caterham and due west is Box Hill. It is not too much to say that the outlook is magnificent.
Continuing our survev
of the house, we note
the broad overhang of
the roof on the west
side, and tucked under
it a window bracketed
out enough to prevent
any loss of light. The
feature of the south
side is the big weather-
boarded gable which
hangs over the pa\'ed
space, and makes it
in ptactice another
loggia. Note, too, the
modest little window
in the western face of
this big gabled pro-
jection, with its sill
much lower than the
long ranges of case-
ments each side of it.
This is the babies'
window, of which
more anon. The south
loggia also has the
ironstone paving,
which is here enlivened
by being laid r< lund an
old millstone. At the

south-east corner is the low roof of the mot(.)r-liouse, which groups delightfully with the main building. So
much for the exterior, which is a true descendant in the line of Surrey traditions, and so admirable in its
sort that one is loath to criticise. It may, howe\er, be said that there is just a little tendency to overdo
features in themselves attractive. To the left of the porch there is some confusion in the management of
the roof.

The next question of interest is the plan, which is \'er\- much like that of (iilham's Birch, also illustrated
in this volume. Mr. Turner Powell evidently shares with Mr. E. J. May a liking for that excellent device,
a library or man's room to the right immediately the house is entered, with the dining and drawing rooms
on either side of the sitting hall and facing the south. West Chart is a larger house than (iilham's Birch,
and there is consequently a passage running right through from the entrance hall to the trades entrance.
The folding doors between the sitting hall and the drawing-room enable them to be used as one room if
desired, as may be seen from the illustration. Attention is drawn to the brickw^ork above the drawing-
room fireplace, which perhaps may be recognised as a glorified trimmer arch, which carries the hearthstone
of the room above. Perhaps it is laying rather too much emphasis on a not very important structural
feature, but it is an entertaining dodge. The sitting hall has a comfortable ingle with a little window to
the south. In the latter is a fine scrap of old glass of a very tender blue from He\-er Castle. The door from

180. — FROM DKAWING-KOUM TO JI.\LL.

128

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

the hall tv the south
loggia opens in two
halves horizontally, like
a stable door — a very
practical device. It
enables the air to come
in freely when the upper
half is open, but keeps
out the autumn leaves
w hen the wind lifts them
up into little whorls.
The dining-room has a
great open brick fire-
place, with the timber-
ing showing above and
plastering between,
while the red of the
brick is brought to a
fine richness by bees-
waxing it. A variant
of this construction is
in the library, where the
fireplace is built of iron-
stone, and the wide
joints are galleted with
scraps of red tile, a
simple device which re-
verses the usual prac-
tice and makes an agree-
able touch of warm colour,
particular is lighted to perfe:

i:s2.

l8l. — FIRST FLOOR LANDING.

The servants' quarters are botli spacious and practical. The kitchen m
:tion, and the china pantry opens out of it conveniently, as well as the scullery.

One big cupboard is
fitted in a novel fashion,
with a long rack for
brooms, which usually
are tloonied to be
thrown into corners,
and, themseh'es the
ministers of tidiness, are
themseh'es untidy. A
short passage at right
angles to the main one
leads past \'arious offices
to the motor-house, a
convenient arrange-
ment, for if the car be
housed in an adjoining
shecL a dash across the
yard in pelting rain
does not endear people
to motoring. \\' e s t
Chart boasts a hot-water
s\-stem, worked not from
(he kitchen range, but
from a separate boiler,
and this serves the
radiators in the motor-
house. These are the
more needful as this
house is of one storey
-DiNiXG-K'ioM FiKEPL.\CE. only and has an open

WEST CHART.

129

root. We return now to the main staircase, which, as it takes up httle space, rather baffles the camera ;
but the picture of the first-tloor landing gives some idea of the fine sohdity of the oak framing. The stairs
themselves are well constructed, the treads being of waxed brick and the risers of oak. Stairs altogether
of brick are a mistake, because the edges are bound to break away in time ; but this compromise seems
a reasonable one. Here, too, must be mentioned a very ingenious use of the space under the stairs. It
was not practicable to employ it as a cupboard opening to the inside, so rather than it should be wasted,
it was turned into a tool cupboard with a door to the garden, and very convenient it is, K\-en in the small
area of the stairs two fine clocks reveal themselves, evidence of the owner's (Mr. George Frederick Forwood's
discriminating taste in clock collecting which makes ignorance of the time at West Chart of no excuse.
The first-floor rooms are all particularly fresh and airy, and in the day nursery one sees the meaning of the
babies' window noted from the outside. The sill is level with the floor, so the young people can sprawl about
safely and yet see what goes on in the garden. Here and elsewhere Mr. Turner Powell's practical instinct
flowers in a plenitude of cupboards, a \'irtue on which one need not tire to dwell, for it means a reduction
of the furniture with which the floor must be cumbered.

Altogether West Chart does its designer credit. He has combined competent planning with pleasing
treatment in the vernacular manner proper to Surrey ; but it is fair to let the reader into one of the secrets of the
old-world eftect «hich has been won. The house with its garage cost nearly three thousand pounds to build
(which means a shilling a cubic foot), and this includes the cost of a fine old barn bought at East Grinstead, the
old oak timbers and roofing tiles of which were taken to Limpsfield and used in the building. By care and
ingenuitv the cur^•ed braces and the solid posts ha\'e been worked in to fill a new function at West Chart, and
how naturally and well mav be seen in the pictures of the landing and the dining-room fireplace. A good deal
may be said in condemnation of taking new materials and treating them so that they put on a spurious
air of age, for such a policy is simply that of the maker of " faked " furniture. When, however, an old
barn has fulfilled its career of usefulness as a barn, and must come
enlightened method of storing the kindly fruits of the earth, surely
bones and skin than to build them afresh into a habitation which \vi
while it benefits by their solidity and beauty.

down to meet the ends of a more
no l)etter use can be made of its
1 enable them to renew tlieir vouth.

10 5 o

I .. ■ . :

6CALE OF rLtT

185. — GROUND PLAN.

130

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

FOUR BEECHES, BICKLEY PARK, KENT.

piece of ground, and perfectU' reasonable and normal in desip

Roof Lines — An Excellent First-floor Plan — A Low Cost of Upkeep.

HOUGH Four Beeches is a charming little place, consistentlv fitted and furnished, it is not one of
those rather eccentric houses which architects occasionally erect for themselves as representing
somewhat experimentally their aims and \-ie\vs. ;\Ir. Ouennell wisely decided to house himself
in a dwelling which in size, cost and character would neither burden him while he possessed it, nor
make it difficult to dispose of, if he ever wished to part with it. It is a small house on a small

disposition and cost. Yet it possesses
quality. The site had two character-
istics. Its eastern edge dropped rapidly
on to a well-wooded prospect, and it
possessed a little clump of fine beech
trees. Had these occupied the space
to\\-ards the back of the site, and so
formed a decisi^•e lawn feature, it
would ha^'e been better. Still, there
are elms at that spot, and the beeches,
rising from the south-east corner and
hanging over the road and house, group
charmingly and shade the house in
summer from the hottest sun. The
house stands on a bank above the road,
and, except for a low retaining wall, is
open to it. The absence of the usual
ornamental fencmg and laurel thicket
gi\"es a welcome air of a country farm
rather than of a suburban ^•illa. To
the eye the general effect produced by
this elevation is that of long and low
walling surmounted by a little-broken
and ample roof. The lUustration does
not quite reproduce this, as the camera,
owing to the nature of the ground, had
to stand below and look up at it. In
the matter of colour, too, photography
necessarily fails to do justice. A hand-
made and sand-faced brick has been
used. Though hard and durable, it
has open pores and une\"en surface,
giving texture and inviting the tone
and gro\\ths of Nature. It is also
exceptionalh' agreeable in the matter
of colour, tlie prevailing red being of
many shades, from a suggestion of
yellow to the purple-brown of a burnt
end. One can trace the varied action
of the fire in the kiln — the licking of
the live flame here, the prevalence of a
mere dull, smoky heat there. To

iS.^. — SUNDIAL AND TRELLIS SHELTER.

roofing, walling and woodwork Mr
Quennell gives due attention, both as

FOUR BEECHES.

131

185. — FOUR BEECHES.

186. — THE PARLOUR.

132

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

^^^^g-ajBy

187.

-PLANS.

to what IS used and how it is used.

Ornamentation is practically- absent from

his elevations, but form and material are

so presented that this absence is perfectly

acceptable. As regards the east elevation,

it must be confessed that the breaking

of the roof line by two of the bedroom

windows is unfortunate. The building

rules of the local authority required

windows of this height. To have raised

the walling of the house i8in. would not

merely have added to the expense, it

would have destroyed the whole of the

proportions, which depend on the accen-
tuation of the horizontal lines. But

there was an alternative. In houses

wliich are kept low and wliere the

bedrooms are part of the roof space,

surely the gable ends are the place

for windows. True, in this case

the open aspect was to the east,

and the gables only look on to the

neighbours' plots. But the end

bedrooms might have had top light

and air from tall, narrow windows

in the gables, while a long, low window,

such as appears over the porch, would

have gi\-en the morning sun and framed

a charming view. A generous fenestration

of the bay flanked by an extent of plain

wall would have more completely realised the conception of lowness and simplicity \\hicli was aimed

at. So much informed thought has been expended on the house that the least jarring note is noticeable.

Let it at once be said that none will be found
when we cross the threshold. The interior of
the house is really very good indeed. Perhaps the
cleverest point here is the contriving of the landing and
bedroom passage. In a quite small dwelling, where the
utmost available accommodation is the chief aim, this
section is too often planned on the barest utilitarian line:^
— hardlv efficacious and certainly mean. At Four
Beeches it is thoroughly gay and inviting and makes a
charming picture. Yet the effect is obtained by very
simple means and with no addition to cost or sacrifice of
space. The stair rises from the west side of a good square
hall and is amply lit by a four-light window containing
examples of painted glass. Its last step is reached so as
to allow admission to the bathroom and la^•atory depart-
ment, entered through an archway, while a second arch-
way leads to the northern rooms, used as day and night
nurseries, and, therefore, shut off by a gate. A passage-
way runs round the upper part of the hall far enough to
allow access to the south-west bedroom, and its support
by a column rising from the first newel-post below is
very effective. The only oak used about the staircase
is for the upper member of the hand-rail and for balls on
the newel-posts, added since the photographs were taken.
The rest of its woodwork — indeed, almost the whole
woodwork throughout the house — is of deal treated with
Carbolineum, an effective preservative, which gives the
wood a pleasant grey-brown tone, and is so thin that
-PART OF GALLERY AND CORRIDOR. it does not obscute the grain of the wood. Attracted

FOUR BEECHES.

133

by the landing, we have entered the house somewhat in aeroplane fashion and must now go downstairs to
the sitting-rooms. To the left, when the front door is entered, lie the workroom and parlour, connected by
folding doors, so that on occasion a single floor space 34ft. long can be obtained. The parlour is a very
pleasant room, a comfortable appearance being given by bringing down the ceiling in the bay window and
the chimney recess. In the centre of the latter is a cove where an electric lamp is placed, which sheds
ample light around the fireside without anywhere catching the eye. The ceiling is decorated with set squares
of ornamental plaster, and the general expanse has been left with a rough trowelled surface, an excellent
idea seized with more zeal than judgment by the workman, who carried "it out with a little exaggeration.
The dining-room, with pleasant china-
filled dressers, has the morning sun
streaming through its great bay win-
dow, and looks out on the wooded
landscape, where the nearer houses are
all agreeable e.xamplesof Mr. Ouennell's
designing. A service door from the
dining-room leads immechately to the
kitchen and offices. All the arrange-
ments here are thorouglilv \\ell thought
out, and the pantry and kitchen sinks
are set in great slabs of teak. Upstairs,
the bathroom, though small, is charm-
ing in appearance and quite luxurious
in fittings. The bath has its douche
and the basin its shampooer, while an
ample airer assures the warmth and
dryness of the towels. The walls are
lined with hand-made Dutch tiles, with
their mellow look and pleasant undula-
tions of uneven glaze. They are plain
white, except that here and there a
little subject piece in blue is let in to
attract and amuse. If we find perfect
"simplicity" about the house, there is
nowhere an\' unwise sa\'ing leading to
later trouble. Durability has been con-
sidered ; the treatment of the woodwork
and the use of green glazed tiling for the
inner side of the window-sills are e.x-
amples of how the cost of upkeep occa-
sioned by need of repainting and
renewals is kept at a minimum.
Together with this practical \-irtue
there are little touches on all sides
telling of the informed taste which
has ruled not merely the general design,
but also the small details. The panelling of tlie doors is extremely quiet and effective. They are fitted
with wrought-iron latches of the Norfolk type, which strike one as perfectly appropriate. They are so plain
and simple that they attract no attention, but, if examined, they will give pleasure as be ng the product
of handicraft and not of the machine. The casement fasteners are of the same school. Homely pieces of
old furniture are set about the rooms, and one really fine Italian walnut-wood cabinet is to be found in the
parlour. But there are also good examples of modern make, and all the furniture in the guest chamber
is from Mr. Ouennell's designs. The\' are agreeable in appearance, good in workmanship, reasonable in
form. It is to be hoped that there is a large future for distinctive furniture designed by able architects,
and made under sound conditions such as those that obtain in the Lambeth workshop where Mr. Ouennell's
furniture was made. When people revert to the old view that a little that is good and quiet is better than
a plethora of showy rubbish, both their rooms and their minds will be wholesomer.

A final word as to outlav. The cost per cubic foot amounted to eightpence onl)', so that it is seen
that a roomy house of excellent appearance and sound construction, with all the adjuncts of modernity fviUy
represented, has been obtained at a low cost — moreover, this cost included the making of the garden —
in a district where the London rate of wages prevails and hauling and carriage expenses are somewhat higher
than the\' w,)uld he in the town itself.

ItSq. — LOOKING INTO THE I'AKLOUK FROM HALL.

134

S]\1ALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

WOODS IDE, GRAFFHAM

Sir Geoygc Sifwell on Gardcn-inakui^ — The Choice f>i n Sih' — Colony in Architecture — Workrooms for
Mind and B'^dy — An Upen-itir Bedroom — 2ilr. de Morgans Tiles.

TWENTY'-THREE years ago Mr. Halsey Ricardo came upon a pine-bowered site at the foot of the
Sussex Downs and was conquered by its beauties. Straightway lie set about preparing it for the
house that he built there only five years since. During those eighteen years of interval Nature was
also making her long preparations for the building that was to follow. Too often one sees houses,
in themselves perhaps beautiful, thrown down, as it were, on a barren field where the eye aches
tor a sense of shelter Such houses seem to be accidents that might have been prevented, awkward intruders
in a landscape which can retaliate only by making them look thoroughly uncomfortable It is not the least
of the charms of Woodside that it reflects the mature thought of its maker and owner. Mr. Halsey Ricardo
has written no httle of things architectural, and his words always arrest. His large kno\\'ledge and a taste

highly individual

. ' are thrown into

relief by a literary
style vivacious to
the point of rol-
licking. The art
he serves he finds a
jocund mistress.
When he has a
homih' to lead us
( )f e.xternal colour
decoration, he
must needs wear
tlie mantle of
Landor and let
us hear imaginary
con\-ersations with
Alessi and Perino
in Andrea Doria's
Palace. Out of a
rich \-ocabulary
li i s criticism
gathers pungent
yet kindly force
by the aid of what
Rossetti called
"stunning words."
So much by \\ay of
saying that the
designer of \\'ood-

side has views, and strong ones ; yet the house does not show, save in a restrained way, that devotion to
chromatic treatment which we associate with ]\Ir. Halsey Ricardo. But we must get back to the site. The first
work was to ]e\-el and terrace it, and plant it about with those shrubs «-hich lo^'e best the sand\' soil of Graffham.
Azaleas begin the flowering year, rhododendrons follow, and they in turn give place to kalmia. Arbutus,
magnolia and tulip tree have taken to their home in strong profusion. Happilv, few of the trees needed to
be felled. The figure of the site suggested that the main front of the house should look to the south-east.
West and north it was fully protected bv a fine forest of Scotch firs, which fill the air with their sharp fragrance.
To the east this wise preparer for the future house planted more trees, so that now there is protection on
all sides save the garden Iront, whence one looks out over the rolling country to a distance of wooded hills.

190.

-THE SOUTH-E.\ST FRONT.

WOODSIDE.

135

i^^^amai

191. — EAbl CORNER.

Tf'/^/V'

192. — LOOKING SOUTH-WEST.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

The slope is quick and the terraces called for retaining walls, which were built forthwith. At the same time
were planted the yew hedges of the upper lawn, which enhance the garden's air of age. Thus field and hill-
side ha\-e slowly turned to garden, and when one sees the red light of the setting sun through the wood,
as it touches the pine stems to a slow flame, the sober beauties of this Susse.x home and its setting become
impressive even to the casual visitor of a summer evening. Mr. Ricardo has not dragooned Nature, but
has slowly tempered lier disorder, and she has rewarded him with prodigality. When Sir (leorge Sitwell
wrote " On the Making of Gardens." he told us " The great secret of success in garden-making is the profound
platitude that we should abandon the struggle to make nature beautiful round the house and should rather
move the house to where nature is beautiful." Not one in a thousand can view the question in such a lavish
spirit of abandonment. Better far the profound foresight which this chapter records. It is one of the trivial
disad\"antages of a wooded site that photography meets \\'ith difftculties. It is practically only the main
garden front facing the south-east to v/hich the camera can do justice. It \vi\\ be noticed that the mass of
the building steps up, as we face it, from left to right. This was done of conscious purpose to balance the
upward slope to the left, which is better seen in the picture, " Looking South-West." The elevation is severely
plain, both in form and colour. The preacher of colour has restrained his hand, but for reasons obviously

sound. In cities
the need of it is
clear, for half the
\'ear their aspect is
grim and dreary,
and " the only
refreshment the
eye gets " (Mr.
Ricardo is quoted)
" is in the glimpses
of the sky over-
head, the shop
windows and the
hoardings." The
colourist's claim
for streets gay
with large surfaces
of brilliant hue
need not be fol-
lowed here, the
more so as the
well-known house
in Addison Road
is a monument to
Mr. R i c a r d o ' s
\' i c w s . In the
country " the
need of artificial
c o 1 o u r is less
insistent ; we have

but to open a shutter or draw a curtain, and we disclose a painted window. We look out on a garden of
living enamel." In an England of perennial colour the builder is wise not to compete with the green and
scarlet, gold and russet, with which Nature has enriched him. At Woodside the e.xterior boasts nothing
save the red of tile and brick, while the jalousies are a strong green on which time and weather will
develop a blue bloom. The outlines of roof and gable are grave and balanced, so much so, indeed, as
vaguely to suggest an institutional character, which a little wars against its domestic realities.

One feature of the front may be noted as unusual ; the sloping rain-water-pipes connecting the two pairs
of pipe-heads. It is customary and perhaps better to use in such a case a horizontal bo.x-shape gutter ; but
there was a desire to avoid too great emphasis of horizontal lines. In any case the pipes, though of ample
capacity for their work, look small and trivial in comparison with the big, simple pipe-heads, which bear the
initials of Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo. The chimneys are of a fine solidity and group pleasantly with the gables,
while the railing of the balcony gives the needed sense of substance and safety. A word may be said of the
colour of the rough-cast. It is a rich cream, and has stood for five years quite unharmed, whereas it is usual
after such a period to note some small shabbiness. This satisfactory result is due to the lime being slaked
with boiling water. It causes the ochre, which is added to produce the creamy tone, to amalgamate with
the plaster and wear well. If the slakiiig is done with cold water, the colouring is apt to wash out. The

i')J

I HI. ll.M.L

WOODSIDE.

137

inside of the house is extremeU' simple in arrangement. W'e look from the entrance porch through the
small hall to the garden, with the clra\\ing-room and dining-room left and right. It might be said that a
little too much floor area has been absorbed in vestibule and passage, and that the kitchen is of rather sump-
tuous proportions compared with the dinmg-room ; but when a man designs a home for himself, he knows
his own requirements accurately and is likely to depart in some things from normal methods. Precisely
such a personal need has produced the delightful garden-room, which serves Mr. Ricardo for a studio, where
he may work undisturbed and cut off from the rest of the house. If the work of the mind is done in the
garden-room, labour of the body has its place in the workshop, which has no door to the garden front, but is
entered from the kitchen court. Upstairs there is another sitting-room, with a spacious balcon\' which has
sometimes been used as an open-air bedroom. On the first ifoor are four bedrooms and the like number
on the second floor, and all may be described as large. They have this supreme advantage in common —
that everv window frames a \'iew.

Though the exterior is conceived on lines almost austere, with an entire absence of modelled decoration,
and with the simplest and broadest colour treatment, the picture of the drawing-room shows that Mr. Ricardo
has a joy in ornament righth' placed. The plastering of the deep beam, with its decoration modelled
by Mr. Ernest
Crimson, is natural
and charming, and
in happy contrast
to its soft white-
ness is the bril-
liance of the tiled
fireplace. It is
only fair to Mr.
Ricardo to point
out that the deco-
rations of the
house are incom-
p 1 e t e . The
picture-rail, which
gives a hard hori-
zontal line, is
merely temporary,
and the intention
is to fill the space
between the top
of the tiles and
the ceiling with
more plaster- work.
Unhappih', too,
the monochrome
of the illustration
can give only
an idea of the
pattern but none

of the amazing richness of colour that belongs to Mr. William de Morgan's
that few of the thousands who delight in " Somehow Good " and the other
pen of Mr. de Morgan realise that they are the product of

I'M-

-DRAWING-ROOM.

tiles. It is probable
novels from the able
the elder years of an artist whose early-
association with William Morris proved so fruitful. Together they worked in the painting of stained-glass
windows, and out of that developed the tiles which have made the name de Morgan justly famous. Most
of those used at Woodside are of the early days when the house in Queen Square, Bloomsbury, saw the revival
of so many aspects of decorative art that are now taken for granted. It is not too much to say that the early
de Morgan tiles ha\'e entirely cau.ght the spirit of the splendour that belongs to old Persian work. In some
of the examples that front the fireplace at Woodside one looks into pools of colour that are like the trans-
parent living blue of the deep sea. It is a melancholy reflection that though people talked a deal about
Mr. de Morgan's work, it was not supported by adequate purchase ; and there is a limit to the labour and
expense to which an artist can go for an unappreciativ. public. Told shortlv, the secret of the eftect of these
tiles is m the depth of the glaze. This is impossible if they are made in the ordinary way of compressed
dust, for the glaze splits the tile. It is a cumbrous and costly business to form the " biscuit " or body of
the tile by the wet process, but it renders possible the richness of the glaze which will make the name de
Morgan remembered among the great ones of the I)ecorati\-e Revi\-al. How powerful was his personal

WOODSIDE.

influence is very clearh' seen by companng the tiles made (inginally by hmi with tliose later examples by
his workmen who followed his methods, but lacked his immediate super\'ision.

Mr. Ricardo found it necessary to make up his sets of the earler examples with some later ones. The latter
are still good, but the master touch is lacking. However, old and new blend well, and the tiles in their framing
of Istrian marble form a sumptuous picture. It is not always that an architect who is greatlv concerned
with the artistic side of his work busies himself with those structural trifles that collecti\'ely add so much
of comfort to the home. Woodside is full of what may be not disrespectfully called " dodges." Here are
a few of them. It is often alleged with justice against curtains that it is needful to make windows much
larger than they should be, because a proportion of the light is blocked out by the hangings. Mr Ricardo
provided recesses in the architra\'es into which the curtains go when thrown back ; in fact he recognises
them as part of the architecture and provides for them. Too often they are an after-thought and look it
It has been said that sliding sashes are so called because they usually will not slide. This sticking is often
caused by the part of the frame on which the sash works being painted. If it be made of teak, even a
hardened painter is likely to leave it untouched. Wooden casement ^^indows are more liable to admit wet
than sashes ; if, however, they shut against flat iron slips, screwed to the frame and projecting a httle from
it, the risk of a pool of water on the window-sill is greatly reduced.

Then as to floors : It is usual on the ground floor to leave a space of 6in., or more, between the con-
crete foundation and the floor-boards. The space thus provided has to be ventilated from the outside, and
in any case forms a needless arena for the Olympic games of mouse and cockroach. If the concrete is struck
to a level surface and painted with pitch the boards can be nailed directly to it and the result will be a much
warmer floor. The backs of the wooden skirtings are usuallv nothing but vermin galleries ; if worked in
solid cement that nuisance is avoided.

A word as to heating : In the ordinary way the heat, once it has passed from the fireplace, is lost up
the chimney. At Woodside the fires of the drawing-room and hall are back to back. An inlet from the out-
side air is brought between them, zigzags to and fro, and delivers a good volume of heated air into the hall
at no extra cost. There is no space to describe a clever idea for disposing of the grease from a scullery sink,
but enough has been written to show how carefulh' the details of construction ha\"e been watched. One
fact must be added — that the house, including a great rain-water tank of 8,000 gallons, w'as built for £2,600
which works out at a cost of ninepence halfpenny per cubic foot.

50 .■V' f" L'-

195. — GROUND PL.\N

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

1.39

ROSEWALL, WIMBLEDON

Siihiitbciii and Coitntrv Houses and Their Difjcrcnces — The Limitations of Snhurliau Planniiit; — 'The

Functions oi the Hall —Open Fireplaces.

SUBL'RBAN houses built on small plots of land create problems of planning which are absent
trom country houses where sites are not only larger but more widely spaced. It is worth while
to consider the influences which have created the average home of this sort, the more so as
it has resisted, much longer and more stubbornly than any other, the rise in the tide of better
taste Domestic architecture in England shows us its long story of de\'elopment by innumerable
houses of many pericids and of all degrees of importance, but these e.xamples are mainly in the country.
The economic changes of town life have swept away nearly all the old city dwellings, and even where
the outsides remain, whether untouched or restored, the interiors have usually been remodelled. Most
of the remain ng town houses of any antiquity which stand as they were built date from the seventeenth
centurv' or later They

are the outcome of - ,.,.-..-....- . - .. - -.-.^ -■•,

Renaissance ideasboth
in arrangement and
design ; they belong
to modern life, and
differ markedly from
the ordinary town
house of the Middle
Ages. L'ntil the indus-
trial development of
the nineteenth century
created a vast and
prosperous middle
class, there were prac-
tically only the two
types — the countrv
house and the town
house. Increased pros-
perity meant the crea-
tion of a third type —
the suburban house,
which neither needed
the severe economies
in extent of site which
the \'alue of city land
made necessary, nor
allowed the prodigal
enclosures possible in
rural districts. The

iq6. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

Great Exhibition of 1851 may be taken as a great symbol of the industrial and commercial might
of England in Early \'ictorian times. It none the less marked the lowest depths of aesthetic degradation
to which this or any other country had fallen or could fall. It was, therefore, in an atmosphere the
most unpromising that the suburban house increased and multiplied. Itself an outcome of our
industrial supremacy, it seems to ha\"e gathered during half a century nearly every element of the
unloveliness which gave the greatest impetus to its increase. It was Goethe who called Gothic
architecture a petrified religion. It would be fair to say that the suburban house which took
its character from the Great Exhibition was a petrifaction of money-grubbing. Nor was
it merely that the houses were ill-proportioned and sometimes built of such intrinsically ugly material

140

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

as white brick. Their builders too often sought to hide by ornament the want ot art. Ornament
may be offensive, when it is in itself good, if it be overcharged and placed in a meaningless way.
When, in addition to being ill-placed, it is vulgar in feeling and mechanical in execution, it can create
nothing but a sense of disgust.

Here, then, is the gravamen of the indictment against the bulk of the English suburbs. They are
a wilderness where vulgar ornament is the weed that has choked architecture. If it be true that a
nation gets the government which it deserves, it may be agreed that the people of English suburbs got
as good an architecture as they could appreciate. The revival in domestic work which we associate with
the names of Norman Shaw and Eden Nesfield has taken many years to reach the suburban house, for
the architectural education of its public has proved a slow process. One of those two great artists used
to say that when he was a young man he could get no work, and when he was old the public would not

leave him alone. Now, however, there
^ are scores of architects who devote to

i the problems of the suburban house a

: wealth of ingenuity and a real artistic

power. These qualities show that the
more enlightened folk who desire to build
for themselves not only deserve, but can
get, suburban houses which will hold
their own and honoured place in the story
of English building. Among such is to be
placed Rosewall, Wimbledon. The way
it is planned and grouped is the outcome
of two chief factors. The site is small,
for land in Wimbledon is costly, while the
Toa.d and the best \-iew are on the south
side. The practice in suburban building
estates is to lay down a building-line a
fi.xed number of feet from the road, and
to forbid the placing of houses in front of
that line, which is generally determined
to allow of gardens front and back.
Nearlv all speculative builders, and not
a few architects, accept the building-
line as though it were bound up with
the Law and the Prophets, and never
build behind it, with the result that all
the houses in the road conspire to create
a dreary uniformity of frontage. Had
Mr. Baillie Scott kept to the line, the
back garden would have been sunless,
and the south windows, while com-
manding no \-iew of it, would instead
ha\'e been subjected to the dust of the
road. He therefore put the house towards
the back of the site, a course which has
produced a front garden unusually
ample, with room for a lawn tennis court,
ancl a small kitchen garden behind,
instead of two equal gardens, both
All this is obviously to the good, but there were risks to be guarded against. At present there
are no houses on the plots immediately adjoining, but they will doubtless come, and it was needful to
remember that, if they kept to the building-line, they might be an eyesore to the dwellers in Rosewall. In
order to avoid such a possibilitv, the plan of the house has been most judiciously contri\-ed. The middle
part of the south front is recessed, and the two wings brought forward with a double break, so that they
act as screens. Another danger, viz., a lack of privacy in the front garden, has been skilfully avoided by
setting the drive at the side and dividing it from the garden by a tall treillage. A hedge will protect the
garden where it fronts the road. Reference to the picture of the south front will show how completely
and successfully Mr. Baillie Scott has broken away from all the miserable conventions which have too long
held suburban architecture in thrall. LJnhappil}', black and white can g\\e no idea of the quiet warmth
of the admirable bricks which came from Cranleigh, Surre\-. They tone in the mass to a rich plum

197. — TERRACE AND PAVED WALKS.

trivial.

ROSEWALL

141

r^-- ■---■ ■■■■•■■ ^J:..'--.!

— Si'

fi^-j\-ir^-

ENTRANCE COURT

colour, but seen close at hand are a medley ot purple, red and gold. Their vaned colour is due to
their being burnt in clamps in a primitive way. A touch of vanety is given bv the bnght panels of
white plaster, which are formed by the half-timber of the recessed front, while the whole composition
is balanced by the chimney-stacks that flank the main gables. Their diagonal placing with re.-pect
to the lower parts of the stack and the herring-bone arrangement of the brickwork in the main
gables give distinction and interest without any increase of cost or creation of unstructural ornament.
The picture of the terrace shows with how just a judgment the house has been brought into relation
with the garden. Privacy has been given to the terrace by the extension of the south walls of the two

\'erandahs wliich open out of study and
-.A-J^s.'^sa^^^^-^y.Vjjr-'.^] drawing-room. The paving, which is of

**■ rough stone flags, overflows (as it were)

by round steps on to the upper part of
the garden, is continued as patlis round the
rose-beds and leads down to the tennis lawn
by more semi-circular steps. The sundial
and the trim little trees m tubs add a
gracious touch of formality. The house is
entered on its west side and we pass across
the inner hall direct into the house-place or
sitting hall. The hall is the key of the
planning throughout. The pressure of
the economic limitations of small houses
IS often applied equallv to the plan as a
whole, with the result that all the rooms
become resolved into little rectangular
boxes. The architect of Rosewall holds
that such an arrangement is not the
expression of normal needs and that the
comfort of an average family is best secured
by providing one room of ample size, the
house-place, with (jiie end reserved for
meals, and by appending two small rooms
for special purposes, the study and drawing-
room. In order to save space, the end of
the hall which is used for meals is fitted
with permanent seats, so that the long
dining-table projects the minimum amount.
This dining recess is reached directly by a
door from the kitchen quarters, and can
be separated temporarily from the body of
the hall b\' the curtains provided.

The chief objection that can be
brought against this arrangement is that
the smell of food cannot be excluded entirely
from the sitting hall ; but one cannot have
everything with a limited expenditure, and
the pictures show how spacious and
delightful a room is secured. It is wholly
divided by doors from passages and stairs,
and the long low window with its deep seat,
the massive oak beams, the dado of oak
boarding and the great open fireplace give
a peculiar sense of comfort. The fireplace is the feature of the room, and it may be said without
hypercriticism that its proportions are somewhat too ample for the size of the room. In
this matter of open hearths, the French proverb, // jaiit sonflrir pour iire belle, is apt to force
itself on the attention of the owner. Since the jthotographs were taken a large and, it must
be confessed, an unsightly hood has been added in the attempt to minimise the smoke
difficulty, which has proved highly disagreeable, but without complete success. in the drawing-
room, too, a small open hearth has also given trouble. Open types of fire])lace almost iiu'ariably
work badly until the flue gets seasoned. They present a most exasperating problem. E\-en if
one that works perfectly be imitated exactly in every detail of construction, the copy, for some

198.

-PL.^N OF ROSEWALL.

142

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

igg. — THE FIREPLACE AND DIN'IXG RECESS.

200. — THE HOUSE-PLACE.

ROSEWALL. i_l3

reason wrapt m mystery, may smoke abominably. It seems, on the whole, wise to use modern slow-
combustion grates in every room except that in which the architectural scheme (as in the hall at
Rosewall) calls loudly for an open hearth, and, with the latter, to settle down in philosophic calm to a
period of discomfort \'aried b\' experiment. The ideal arrangement is doubtless a system of heating
by hot air or radiators coupled with wood fires on the open hearth. It must be confessed that coal does
not take kmdly to basket grates and wide chimneys. The fact that for generations it has been burnt in
grates of a more enclosed form is an indication of its wishes, which can be ignored onh' at some peril.

When we lea\'e the ground floor we find the bedrooms approached by an oak staircase of charming
design, with a hint of Jacobean feeling in its newels. The bedrooms are six in number, with a bath-
room, and on the second floor is a large attic, admirably lighted. It would, perhaps, be indiscreet to
describe in any detail the troubles bred by the building bye-laws, which at Wimbledon are singularlj' strict.
Suffice it to say that the plans were submitted to the local council, duly approved and signed, though
they did not complv with the regulations in certain quite unreasonable particulars. The authorities did
not, until the work was well advanced, realise their own reasonableness, but, having done so. demanded
that the plans thev had themselves appro\'ed should be altered to comply with the bye-laws. This course
would have meant practicallv the demolition and re-building of Rosewall ; but happil}' the trouble was
dissipated by the blessed spirit of compromise. That any new demands should ha\e been made after
the formal approval of the plans is, however, a circumstance sufficiently extraordinary, and the st(.)ry is a
useful warning as to the treatment sometimes meted out by local authorities to those who build.

One feels that the simplicity of Rosewall is real and not mannered, for, with all its solid oak
construction, the price of the house represents only eightpence per cubic foot. It is such a building
which makes true the phrase of Ruskin : "No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple ; which
refuses to address the eye, except in a few clear and forceful lines ; . . . and disdains either by the
complexity or the attractiveness of its features, to embarrass our investigation, or betray us into deliglit."

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

HARPSDEN WOOD HOUSE, HENLEY.

The Balance Betiveen Science and Art in Building — The Problem of Trees Near a Hoiise-
The Hall — Varying Levels — The Electric-light Plant.

T Harpsden Wood House, Mr. Maberley Smith has had a free hand, for the house was built for
hi.= own occupation, and as regards plan, design and material he was free to carry out his o\\-n
ideas
and

aims.
As regards cost ,
while checking
any tendency to
extravagance, he
was read\' to incur
all that ^\' a s
necessary for the
adequate building
and appointing of
a house where
simplicity was to
be a ruling prin-
ciple, and charm
to depend on form
rather than on
ornament. There
is much, both
within and with-
out, on which the
eye dwells with
pleasure. But
there are also
clever planning
and thorough
engineering. The
most is made of
the accommoda-
tion both in
respect of quantity
and of disposition.
The offices and
water services
leave nothing to
be desired, and
the electric light-
ing is not only
adequate, but easy
and inexpensive
to work. Much of
the spirit which
we admire in the
architecture of the
past has been

20I. Tin: H.ALL AND GALLKRY.

HARPSDEN WOOD HOUSE.

145

146

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

caught and is brought into amicable partnership with all those comfortable contrivances and mechanical
conveniences which pass under the name of " the needs of the day." It is a product of a practical brain
that has nevertheless forbidden the science of construction and sanitation t(.) usurp a territor\- which it should
share with the art of architecture and of living.

Harpsden Village lies south of Henlej', and after lea\'ing the low-lying church and Court the
road rises and passes through a wood. That wood, and a large tract of land h'ing west and
south of it, have been laid out as an estate of \\-hich the fringes are to be built on and the middle
occupied by golf links. A well-considered and definite lay-out for the building portion, with a
proper oversight as to the design of the houses, \\'ould ha\'e added value to the estate and amenity
to the locality. Signs that its omission is unfortunate are already not wanting. Mr. IMaberley Smith's
house will add to the agreeableness of outlook from the other residences, but it is to be feared that some of
the latter will not be improvements to the landscape. The site of Harpsden Wood House consisted partly
of wood and partly of open field ; and it is in the latter part, and at some distance from any tree, that he
has placed it. There is something to be said for and against this position. It gives a site open to the south,
\\ith \\'ide views to the \\'est and sheltered by a belt of trees to north and east. But the house and garden
are, and must long remain, rather bare and shadeless, while there is no linking or cohesion between the
two portions of the ground, no merging of terrace and lawn into woodland, no gradual passage from full
sun to deep shade. As the wood not only forms an eastern belt, but stretches west\\'arcl at the northern
boundary, a more agreeable
grouping, a more matured
composition, might have
been obtained by cutting
away sufficient of the wood
for the house to have stood
partly within its area, and
to have had a few single
trees and small groups near
it to aft'ord shade and to
give foreground and \'alue
to the distant outlook.
This would have meant
the sacrifice of a large
number of trees and some
limitation of the westward
view. The more heroic
plan was adopted of setting
the house in the open field
and awaiting the growth
of new plantings for the
lull realisation of the
amenities of the environ-
ment. The drive leads
through the east section
of the wood and then
nms parallel with the
north belt, which forms
side, while to the west
the porch to the left, and

a studio, which will appear as a pavilion, and will greatly assist the grouping and sky-line of the building
The walls of the house are mainly of a red brick of very pleasant colour and open texture made at Nettlebed,
near by. They show an agreeable variety of tone from the kilning, and seem to have a power of attracting
natural growths, for a yellow hue that can only come from a microscopic lichen is already making its
appearance here and there, especiallv on a high wall with a central archway throu.gh it which separates the
dress from the untidy garden. In some portions of the upper part of the house the brick is varied by the intro-
duction of solid oak framing with a filling-in of plaster. This occurs between the windows at the north-east
corner of the house and on the south side abo\'e the great bay of the hall, where it fills in the gable and
stretches out on either side until it reaches steadying masses of brickwork in two chimneys. Beyond
the stack on the left this work breaks out again, as the excrescence of the sitting-room and of the
bedroom above it is so framed, much of the filling being of glass forming long lines of casements. All the
window frames and mullions are of oak pegged and unmoulded, giving the whole house an aspect of seriousness
and solidity, which the simple and little-broken lines of the tiled roof accentuate. Yet there is nothing dull

20.1

-THE GUEST P.\KLOUR.

one side of the forecourt. The house and its offices lie on the opposite
a line of low roof juts out, of which the centre is an open loggia with
to the right is a bicycle shed intended in the future to be expanded into

HARPSDEN WOOD HOUSE.

147

or heavy about the appearance. The change of material where hghtness was desirable, the detail of the
hall bay and gable, the elegance of the shafting and moulding of the chimnev-stacks, the right placing and
proportions of the windows, the sufficient but not obtrusive projections, all join to make up a picture of
a satisfying kind. To the south, the ground rises slightlv, and scope is thus given for a certain amount of
terracing and stairways which, when yew hedges are fully formed and new-planted trees and shrubs are
grown, will gi\'e the house a dignified garden setting.

As to the arrangement of the rooms, the annexed plan speaks for itself, or if the language occasionallv
seems foreign to those who are little accustomed to drawings, it is easily intelligible with a little translation.
A lofty central hall is the dominant feature ; around that the rest of the rooms cluster like chickens about
the mother hen. But this is not the central hall of mediaeval planning. It is its length and not its width
that runs through the house, and therefore its gallery is a connecting link to the two portions of the upper
floor, which the mediaeval arrangement absolutely severed. \\'ith our present ideas of service the strict
revival of the old is extremely inconvenient, and only an antiquary bent on giving an exact reproduction
of the past, both in his house and in his mode of dwelling therein, should indulge in it. At Harpsden we
get merely a savour, not an imitation, of old times. The house is entered at the north-west corner and past
a lavatory and a
staircase ; the broad
wav leads to the
guest parlour, known
as " the afternoon
room " from its
aspect. Thus the
hall, wliicli is the
principal sitting-
room of the family, is
pri\-ate as regards
outside callers. It
has a floor space of
some i8ft. by 28ft.,
and it has this to the
full, as the fireplace
is slightly recessed
from the side wall.
It is framed in by
pilasters and by the
cornice which runs
round at gallery
height, and its
various projections
and shelves are all
faced with tiles. The
plain ones are of the
mottled surface and
soft tone known as
" antique white,"
while the subject

pieces are mostly Dutch and blue ; but the three of large size, one of which represents a duel, are
brightly coloured, and are therefore rightly placed as the central objects abo\'e the open hearth. The
hall is lit to the north by low windows both above and below the gallery, while to the south the great
double-transomed bay admits floods of sunshine. On each side of it are the double doors opening into
guest parlour and dining-room respectively, and when they are open a vista 53ft. long is obtained, with
the recessed chimney-piece of the dining-room at one end and the west window of the guest parlour at
the other. It forms an extensive but quite homely composition.

Though the hall is lofty, it is not of the height of the two storeys of rooms on each side of it. There
is no more than enough headroom both below and above the gallery to walk along without feeling that the
rafters are oppressively near. This needs about lOft. from floor to ceiling of the hall, and no more pleasing
height in relation to the general proportions of the room could have been chosen. On the other hand, the
sitting-rooms and the bedrooms above have an altitude of over qft., and thus the two staircases lia\-e needed
careful planning to arrange the various upstairs le\-els without awkwardness. The accommodation at the
west end consists of a bedroom over the l(jw entrance, and therefore level w ith the gallery, and of a bedroom
and bathroom over the guest parlour reached by four additional steps. It is tlie same with the three

-THKOUGH THE H.\LL INTO THE DLMNC-ROOM.

148

HARPSDEN WOOD HOUSE.

bedrooms at the east end, while their batlirooni

is on a shghtly higher level, for it has two storeys

below it, a larder and some other offices in tlie

half-cellar and the servants' sitting-room on the

half-landing. The attic arrangement consists of

a fine lofty bedroom and of a roomy gallery

passage over the hall, while on the higher levels

at each end are airy servants' quarters.

Changes of level and heights in rooms are

always rather an engaging feature, but are

difficult to combine with that complete con-
venience and economic use of space which we

expect in small-sized modern houses. The quite

satisfactory solution of this problem at Harpsden

is one of its successes. The conjunction of the

agreeable and of the practical is everywhere

present. The arrangement of the gallery ,gi\"es

an idea of the quite entertaining glimpses which

the house affords. It also shows the \-ery

acceptable character of the woodwork — solid and

simple, but good in form and grouping. The

same attributes apply to the bedroom fireplaces. The general form, the placing of the mouldings and

the spacing of the white glazed earthenware blocks in the example illustrated are just right, and the little

oak entablature above is neat. On the left, part of a wash-table shows. Mr. Maberley Smith has used

the form and detail of one of the small shut-up washstands of the eighteenth century, but has, as it were,

pulled it out to make apt dressing and wash tables. The change has been made thoughtfully and without

destroying the balance and sufficiency of the design, and very satisfactory pieces of furniture are the result.

As much of this architect's work lies in the domain of hospitals, it is needless
to say that the sanitary side of the house has received full attention. The glass
shelves of the larder, the fittings of the pantry, scullery and bathrooms all show
the scientific advance, joined to good taste, which now rules over this very
important department of the building craft. The electric installation is typical

Fuhr^ I of the handy, efficient and economic manner in which small country houses can

Sr^dto S"' '""I now be lit. It is a 25-volt plant using metal filament lamps. The dynamo is

dri\'en bv a 2 b.h.ji. engine. The cost was as follows :

: tessss^ Wiring sixty points

Battery, engine, dynamo, etc.
Fittings and lamps

205. — \ BEDROOM FIREPLACE.

10,=;

know that

£210 o 0
including this item, the total outlay on this very
well finished and completely appointed house has been under :£3,ooo, and the cubic
foot price works out at ninepence halfpenny. The whole thing is a praiseworthy
piece of work.

206. — THE PLAN.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

149

FIVES COURT, PINNER.

Ingenious PUnuiing lor a Sloping Si/c — .1 Fine Marble Fireplace- A Children's Gale on a Lamiing-

Space-saving Furniture.

PINNER is only thirteen miles from London, but when we pass from the station into its wide street
we find ourselves in an old-fashioned English village, and not in a mushroom suburb. Fine
chimney-stacks of early seventeenth century type rise through ample tiled roofs, and the general
appearance of the houses and shops is that of a well-to-do late Georgian agricultural community,
for a wide-spreading farm, with its great barn, breaks the line of the street near the church.
Houses of the type which London citizens built for their summer residence when thev still mostly lived
at their places of business are still t<i be found on the outskirts of the village, nestling amid the tall elms
and surrounded by the rich meadow lands. Thoroughly in unison with its environment is the house which
has been built for Mr. Ambrose Heal. It is a place which anyone who onlv enjovs the elaborate
and the ornamental in architecture will
pass by with a sniff. The simplest forms,
the plainest materials have been chosen.
Its rough-cast walls are pierced with wooden
casement windows. Rough-cast chimneys,
devoid of detail, break its stretch of red-tiled
roof. A gable or two, a lead-roofed bay
window, an oak-posted loggia are the only
incidents except the little arrangement of
outhouses that makes the ii\'es court
which gives the cottage home its name.
Nothing more than this was needed to
give it, in a modest but undeniable
way, the cjualities of distinction and agree-
ableness. Of course, it needs its setting.
That is part of the considered composition.
The shady gro\'e of tall trees which called
for the covering of the chimney tops as a
preventive to down - draught ; the cle\'er
trimming of two young hedgerow elms into
a dignified archwav over the entrance gate ;
the little gravelled terrace in front of the
loggia ; the broad grass way between her-
baceous borders leading the e^'e to the box
hedges, the rose arches, the orchard and
the distant trees and meadows- these, and
other garden incidents, are integral parts of
the picture. The deft touch is even more
apparent in the interior than in the exterior
of the Fives Court. It is all done in simple
fashion, but to the appreciati\'e appears at
once as the result of verv considerable
thought. Much has been clone to use all
a\-ailable space not onh" to the utmost con-
\Tnience of the body, but also to the
largest satisfaction of the eye. The
arcJiitects had to deal with a site which
slightly sloped from north to south. Here
was a little 'Ait of Nature not to be

207.

THE w.w IN.

^50

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

208. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

209. — THE LOGGIA.

FIVES COURT.

iSi

missed. Small as the house was to be and normal the accommodation, a note of mdividuality

might be struck b\' following the lie of the ground and introducing two levels. But how should

this be done without awkwardness and inconvenience ? The answer was given bv a clever bit

of planning. The house is entered through a lobb\- which opens on to the side of the passage.

Corresponding to the lobby at the other end of this passage is the spring of the enclosed staircase, and the

space between them is the opening into the hall, which is fitted with three steps. This opening is about

seven feet wide and four feet deep, and tb.ere is a slight cove in its ceiling which allows segmental panelling

on each side. The hall on the lower le\-el is a pleasant spot, with a large window to the east" ; while its soutii

side is occupied by a chimney-piece and

the wide door into the drawing-room.

The result of the arrangement is that

this hall is screened from both the

entrance and the stair, although the

passage these are in is made part of

the hall by the se\'en-foot opening.

The two le\'els, the steps between and

the breaking of the ceiling into three

sections, give size, dignity and variety

to a very small space, and cause a

pleasurable surprise to tlie visitor.

The effect is so far unusual as not to

be expected and yet so unstrained as

to be accepted at once as fitting. The

illustration is taken from the lower

level looking north, and the open door

reveals the dining-rcom occupying the

north end of the house on the higher

level. It has a curved bay to the east,

while the northern portion is arranged

as an ingle with a lower ceiling than the

main part of the room, round which

runs a plaster frieze of rope pattern.

Behind tlie dining-room are the offices,

and the kitchen is remarkablv well

fitted and arranged. It \\ill be seen

that it IS approached through tlic

pantry. In a small house \\here there

are only maid-servants this is a ver\-

good disposition. The pantry is onh'

vised for the washing and storing of

glass and silver. There is, therefore,

no objection to its use as a passage

which shuts off the sounds and smells

of the kitchen without wasting an inch

of space.

The south end of the house is
devoted to the drawing-room and loggia.
The dining-room, offices and staircase
are all on the same level as the front
door, and the level of the garden door
and terrace is the same as that of hall,
drawing-room and loggia, so that the
three steps into the hall are the onlv
ones needed, and being broad, and in the full light, they can occasion no stumbling. Until recently the
drawing-room was small and had a corner fireplace. It has been much added to, and now is a room of size
and presence. The new fireplace, being of marble, is rather more sumptuous than anything else about the
house ; yet it produces no dissonance because it is perfectly plain. A great semi-circle of marble forms
a raised hearth ; the grate itself is of iron, but it is framed in marbles of two kinds, the projection of
which, without any cornice, forms the mantel-shelf. The panelling of the upper part of the chimnev-
breast completes an e.xcellent composition, full of character and reserA-e. The loggia, which is much
used for sittmg, eating and even for open-air sleeping, is formed \>v bringing down the roof in a sweep.

210,

-THE ENTR.\NCE.

152

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

211. — THE ROSE AKCHES

212. — IHE PAKLOUR.

FIVES COURT

153

that also co\-ers the projecting part
of the parlour and the garden entrance
into the lavatory. It is rather a pitv
that the exigency of light on the upper
floor has needed the breaking of this
fine stretch of tiling by two rather
spotty little dormer \vindo\\"S. \\"indows
set in the wall at either end would
hare been preferable.

Ascending the staircase, the first
landing leads to a very complete set of
rooms over the parlour, loggia, etc.,
dedicated to the use of the children.
The suite is shut off by a gate of the
simplest pattern of the Chippendale
Chinese fret period, copied from an old
one at the village butcher's shop. A
short second flight of stairs leads to the
ample landing and rooms over the
dining-room and offices. At the Fives
Court there is complete harmony in
the furnishing, though much that dates
from to-day is associated \\ith examples

THE H.^LL .VM) DINING-ROOM.

214. — GROUND FLOOR PL.\N.

of the se\'enteenth and
eighteenth centuries. There
are some \'ery ingenious
new pieces in a dressing-
re k mi where space is
hinitcd. The semi-circular
washstand, into which an
old copper basin is fitted,
is con\-enient and pleasant-
looking. The looking-glass
on the dressing-table slides
forward so as to allow the
casement to open, which
it does inwards, as the
window is fitted with
outside sun shutters. The
attic floor should be \'isited.

154 FIVES COURT.

The southern end of the house, which, as we have seen, is lower than the other portion, is left open
on this top floor and forms a long gallery with sloping ceiling, as was often the case in Jacobean houses ;
in fact, the famous galleries at Little Moreton and at Hever are finely wrought adaptations of such a space
on a large scale. On the higher level are the ser\'ants' quarters — remarkably bright, picturesque and
comfortable roof-rooms, not to be included under the rather opprobrious term of garret. The architects
have, in this case, been fortunate in working for a cUent who, in his manner of furnishing and livmg in the
house, fulfils their conception. That is why a dwelling which in idea and in substance is modest and
unpretending yet produces a sense of satisfaction and aptness. It needs no soaring ambition to dwell in
sucli a habitation. But it needs something which is almost as rare — an educated taste that sees wherein lies
the essence of quiet beauty and informed mode of living and infuses that essence into the substance of the
dwelling and the spirit of domestic habits.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

155

ACREMEAD, CROCKHAM HILL, KENT.

Sir Henry ]]'o//on on Siirs — Walls in Kciiidoin Kiihhic — An Unbuilt Billiard-room- A Study in

Terraces — Hot-air Heatina.

a landslip
needed the
made. As

the side of Crockham Hill is a site that was known in the old
and had been for unrecorded years a hopfield. It faced a
ideal aspect. On this side oi the lower greensand range
sharp that it is difficult to perch a house on their sides,
a

removal of some thousands of loads of soil, a delightful and unusual 5
one stands on the upper terrace the fertile Weald of Kent stretches out

tithe-books as Acremead,
trifle east of south, the
the slopes are often so
and impossible to form
At the point chosen by Dr. Philpot, however, there seems to ha\-e been
some time remote, for the slope is flatter, and by dint of laborious terracing, \\iiich

arden has been
ike a map

garden

due south to Crowborout,'h, while Leith Hill

middle distance give
A site so precipitous
indicated a house
long and narrow, a
form which ariO\\'s
of dignified elevations,
but demands that skill
in planning which is
evident here at all
points. In order t"
ensure an easy ap-
proach, there is but a
small forecourt of
pleasant shape be-
tween the road and
the north front. By
this means has been
met the delightfully
worded warning of Sir
Henry Wotton regard-
ing the " scituation "
of a house, viz..
" That it bee not of
too steepie and incom-
modious Accesse to
the trouble both of
friends and familie."
There is nothing too
" steepie " at Acre-
mead, lor both car-

an individual touch to

rears itself to the
a landscape of a

west, and the
beautv unusual

poplars in the
e\-en in Kent.

215. — THE ENTRANCE, NORTH FRONT.

motor-car can readily reach their

their occupants. The entrance

wings of masonry topped by an

decoration of modelled plaster.

homes from the road, without any quaking m the

door is an outstanding feature, with its massive

arched hood, the under-side of which is made

Above, the triple overhanging weather-boarded gables-

r.age and
breasts of
projecting
gracious bv

happy sense of relief without taking away from the sobriety of the general effect. The
Acremead is kindly to the gardener's zeal. By the porch trails the Tropaeolum speciosum,
a capricious growth which does best in a north aspect and demands that its roots be cool.
Here its brilliant red flowers look delightful against the local sandstone, whose gold weathers in
patches to a warm gre\'.

It had been intended to use brick for the house, and this was done lor the stables, which were
built first. The preparation of the site, however, yielded such a store of stone that the house was.

give a
soil of

156

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

^- J '^'"^

2l0. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

J I

* --

■iiii .1

■luka mi

■■nil tot

217. — EAST FRONT AND PERGOLA.

ACREMEAD

157

218. — THE PERGOLA FROM THE WEST.

built ot it, and the
architects have fol-
lowed a custom which
may be noted oiten in
the district, of build-
ing in random rubble,
using stones roughly
squared onlv for the
quoins. Tliisandthe
making of all the
windows of teak give
an altogether valuable
feeling of mass and
of contempt for the
gales which blow
against the house from
the unsheltered south.
The change from brick
is justified, not only
in a lower cost of
building, but in
honour benig done to
local materials and
methods. A greater
repose in the texture
of the walling would
have been won if the
masonr\- had been of

squared stones throughout ; Init the cost of the house. £-|.jOO, would ha\e been much uicreased
therebv. The cube foot price of slightlv over ninepence tells little, for owing to the slope of the gro'ind
it is difficult to arrive at a fair cube measurement. As we enter, the old millstone which paves
the porch attracts notice. A small l()bb\- leads into the \'estibule containing the staircase, and the
hall is wholly a sitting-room, save for a northern arm which serves as passage to the morning-
room and the drawing-room door. The dining and drawing rooms both possess bay windows, and
the simple decorations and mouldings have the air of refinement and scholarship which is characteristic
of the work of Messrs. Smith and Brewer. Particularly are these qualities to be seen in the attractive
lead gutter whicli forms a parapet to the top of the drawing-room ba\-. Of the kitchen quarters no

more need be said
than that they are
c o m p a c t 1 y
arranged. A serving
hatch between the
kitchen and the
servants' luul is a
useful contri\'ance,
which enables the
maids to take their
meals away from
the disorder ol the
kitchen, with a
minnnum of extra
labour. This, in-
deed, seems a more
justifiable use of a
liatcli than between
kitchen or pantry
and dining - room.
The desire to sa\"e
work is laudable,
as is an\' device
that will nre\-ent

2iq — GROUND
PLAN.

158

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

the cooling ot hot dishes ; but it should also be borne in mind that a dining-room hatch is m the
nature ol a megaphone to the servants' quarters, and that with it the pri\'acy of after-dinner discussion
is endangered, if not destroyed. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the house-plan is that which
has not yet been built, the billiard-room. Its site has been put to delightful use in relation to the
pergola and to the garden generally. The north wall of the room is there, and serves to screen
the entrance gate from the stepped pergola. The latter would well serve as the text for a sermon on the
right use of garden architecture. The solid masonry piers bring it into relation with the construction of
the house, with which it directly connects. The stepping of its open timber roof emphasises the drop
in the ground, while the whole composition flanks the upper terrace, separates it from the simpler
stretch of garden to the east, and leads one to the bastion at that side of the lower terrace. Here we
find a dip well, which serves the garden, and is a charming decorative expression not only of that
practical purpose, but also of the need to find an outlet for the rain-water from the house roofs.

The illustration of the lower terrace shows the dip well in its more ornamental function of a
lily tank, to which one goes down by steps to find it pleasant with pigmy water-lilies, Japanese iris
and ferns. This same picture also shows well the rampart-like boldness of the compacted masonry
which holds up the upper terrace and seems to buttres? the very foundations of Acremead. By a
wise economy, which also brings its reward in heightened effect, the upper and lower retaining walls

of the lower terrace are built of dry
stone, i.e., without mortar, and rock
plants are beginning to make their home
in the crannies. The upper terrace has
been wisely made of generous width, and
the great flagstones, not too evenly laid,
with their joints hospitable to stray
tufts of weed, are eminently satisfactory
111 carrying on the idea of solid well-
being. The making and maturing of
such a garden as this is a matter of
time, and the interest here is enhanced
by the co-operation of architects and
client. The work on the lower terrac-
ing and garden has been carried out not
only under the constant direction of
Dr. Philpot, but often with his own
hand. There is a keen pleasure for the
man whose larger life is spent in the
solution of problems which play round
the issues of life and death, in attacking
the small but for the time engrossing
problem of how best - to split a flag-
stone and to lay it well and truly. In
the outcome of such labour there must
always be for the self-appointed mason
a peculiar charm, a feeling that his
home is essentially his own. It is the
same direct personal interest which has
made its mark on the house itself. It
was originally designed without dormer
windows, but the desire for useful attic
rooms caused a modification, and these
windows were added. It is often that
dormers spoil a roof, but here they are
unobtrusive and by their existence
make possible much extra accommoda-
tion, without any aesthetic disadvan-
tage. A word must here be said of a
charming internal effect produced by
the north slope of the roof. The
ceiling of the first-floor corridor is for
this obvious constructional reason sloped
on one side. This gives, in conjunction

220

-THE LOWER TERRACE

AC HEME AD.

159

with plain, cream-coloured walls and
green carpet, an air of cloistral tresh-
ness that is most attracti\'e. In all
practical devices the house is lich. It
is lit bj' electricity. The well is in the
stable-yard and all ancient methods of
raising water ha\-e abdicated in favour
of a pump driven by a small motor
which is run off the cells. Within the
house every room has its fireplace for
cheerfulness, but there is a highly suc-
cessful installation of hot-air heating,
which keeps all the passages at an even
temperature People are apt to think
that central heating is a modern arrange-
ment. It is nothing of the sort. Sir
Henry Wotton, already quoted, reminds
us (he wrote in 1624) that Palladio " ob-
serveth that the Ancients did warme
their Roomes, with certaine secret Pipes
that came through the walles, transport-
ing heate (as I concei^•e it) to sundr\-
parts of the House, from one common
Furnace ; . . . which whether it
were a custome or a delicacie, was
surely both for thrift and for use, far
beyond the German sto\-es ; And I
should preferre it likewise before our
owne fashion, if the verv sight of a fire
did not adde to the Roome a kinde of
Reputation." By the combination' of
open fires with central heating, one gets
the best of both worlds. Perhaps one
more quotation from the same enchant-
ing author may be pardoned. He began
his " Elements of .Architecture " with
a maxim about the aim of the Mistress
Art. " The end is to build well. Well
building hath three conditions. — Com-
moditie, Firmeness and Delight." It
can be truly said that Acremead abun-
dantlj- lulfils these demands. " Com-
moditie," its fitness for its use as a
home, is written over all its arrange-
ments. " Firmeness " is expressed m the simple massiveness of its masonry, and " Delight " in the
charm which comes to us on its ample terraces from the view which lies open across Kent to the hills of
Surrey and Sussex. Wotton lays down a number of rules (based on Vitruvius) which deal with the
design and comfort of buildings, but, when he has said all, he falls back on the wise generalisation :
" The rest must be committed to the sagacitie of the Architect, who will bee often put to diveis
ingenious shifts, when hee is to wrestle with scarsitie of Ground." The designers ot .-Acremead had
no " scarsitie " to face as far as concerns actual area ; but there was no flat surface to suggest any
inevitable plan, and the " sagacitie " with which they have schemed a wholly attractive house on a
difficult site is evident at every turn.

221. — THE UPPER TEKK.\CE.

i6o

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

BELCOOMBE, SAXLINGHAM

A Doclor's House — The

Surgery and lis Approaches — A Curved Garden Wall-
Craflsnuiuship — The Avoidance of Cleverness.

-Architects and

THE planning ot a doctor's house presents all sorts of problems which are absent from an ordinary
country home. The surgery and its approaches are obviously features of great importance, but
the success of the architect will appear chieflv in the skill with which he works them into the general
plan without taking away the precious element of privacy from the residential quarters. That
Mr. Troup has at once fulfilled this condition and devised a house unobtrusive and entirely
characteristic ot Norfolk traditions, this chapter and its illustrations will show. That he has done
it at an unusually small cost is clear from the total expenditure of ^1,420. which works out at the
very low figure of 5kl. per cubic foot.

Dr. Hugh Webb- Ware, for whom the house has been built, was fortunate in obtaining an attractive

site, an orchard of
four acres, with
some oaks and a
great walnut as
well as fruit trees.
There was a small
old house near the
road, now de-
molished. The
new house is set
well back. It is
the ad^'antage of
such a site that
the old trees give
a feeling of
maturit\', but the
number of them
affects the light
and consequently
the design of the
house. A casual
glance at the
illustrations sug-
gests that the
w i n d o w s are
unusualh' m a n y
and large. Actu-
ally they are
needed to counter-
act the over-
shadowing of the
trees, and the interior gi\'es the sense of right lighting. The house is approached by a long avenue which
branches to the left for the forecourt and main entrance, and to the right for the surgery court with its
door to the waiting-room, and for the kitchen court. The latter is divided from the surgery court by a w all
that veils the domestic concerns of the household from the visiting patients. The forecourt is enclosed by
a low wall of pierced brickwork, as effective in appearance as it is inexpensive. The entrance door has a
flat hood with a valance of sheet-lead wrought lace-fashion, a little mark of Mr. Troup's keen interest in the
art of the plumber. After crossing the forecourt we turn round to the south front of the house. Here is
found a delightful loggia which runs up the height of two storeys, but is dn'ided at first-floor level by an

222.

-WALL OF PIERCED BRICKWORK AROUND THE FORECOURT.

BEL( OOMHE.

i6i

-BELCOUMBE.

224. — THE SOUTH FRONT.

l62

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY,

open timber framing, well seen in the picture of the loggia. Climbing round the brick piers and laced through
the oak joists is a wealth of purple vine, wistaria and clematis. The plan shows a pergola bay added to
this verandah. It will increase the vista which is now seen framed by the round brick arch. The pergola
has not yet been built, but when it comes it will greatly add to the effect of this side of the house and of
the lawn it faces. Already there is a valuable sense of privacv, for the verandah is altogether mvisible
from the avenue or forecourt ; but the pergola will shut in the picture and emphasise the feeling of
enclosure.

In garden-planning, as in much else, there is merit in a touch of mystery. A reasonable amoimt of di\'ision
gives the onlooker the feeling that there is a beyond where are fresh fields for the conquest of pleasure.
The west front looks out over a large croquet lawn with the fine old walnut tree in the foreground. This
has been made the happy excuse for a seat with a circle of paving. We follow the path round the kitchen
premises to the well which heads a long walk fragrant with lavender on one side and gay with herbaceous
plants on the other. The boundary wall is cur\-ed on plan, a device valuable for many reasons. It looks
attractive, it provides for wall fruit concave bays that serve as sun-traps, and it can be built one brick thick,
which is impossible with a straight wall of such a height. Although the linear measurement is obviously

greater, the cubic
measurement is onl\^
a b (1 u t fiA'e-eighths
as compared with
the content of a
straight w all two
bricks thick. If this
were generally recog-
nised, curved walls
would doubtless be
more often used.
There is a similar
wall but planned in
small semi - circles
with short straight
connecting pieces, at
\V r o X a 1 1 Abbey,
Warwick. It is not
built on the
economical lines de-
scribed abo^•e, being
i8in. thick for the
first 2ft. and I2in.
above but neverthe-
less has a special
interest. The Abbey
was bought by Sir
Christopher Wren,

and it is alleged (with what truth deponent knoweth not) that the great architect was himself the designer
of the wall.

But to return to Belcoombe. The building itself has an entirely local character. The bricks were made
in the village and the pantiles three miles away. The tile-hanging was done with the spoils of the old house
which was pulled down. But, no — " pulled down " is not wholly true, for the walls were left to such a height
as is befitting for a small walled garden, and, stripped of their plaster, now form the home of fruit trees —
an econom\' none the less highly ingenious for seeming obvious. Of the brick summer-house thatched in
Norfolk fashion and other charming features of the garden there is no room to write ; but the birds deserve
a word. It is not often that one is driven to complain of nightingales, but at Saxlingham they are a grave
cause of insomnia. Mrs. \Vebb-\\'are is a lover of birds, and the trees are well supplied with bird-boxes.
Wrens, nuthatches, owls and four kinds of tits return her affection and are almost as friendly as the doves
which flutter round the loggia tea-table for crumbs.

The plan of the house within is simple, yet with a simplicity that meant skill and thought. The surgery
and its offices are in direct communication both with the entrance hall and with the kitchen quarters, yet
entirely separable from both. Happy the doctor so ideally housed ! The hall is reminiscent of the timber
treatment which was customary in the neighbourhood. The beams here and elsewhere in the house are relics
of the older building, the floor-boards from which were used to line the hall walls for lack of better

-THE LAVENDER \V.\LK.

BELCOOMBE

163

outstanding features that

entirely characteristic of its designer's art

226. — THE LOGGIA.

panelling. They are fixed with hand-made hurdle

nails, a pleasant variant from the odious machine-
made nail of commerce.

The hall ceiling takes an arched form, but was

not made in that shape merely out of fancy.

There were many old oak joists left over, but no

beams. Mr. Troup therefore used the short lengths

as bracket-pieces for the joists of the floor abo\'e

and filled with laths and plaster between the joists.

The doors are ledged and braced, fitted with

wooden latches and leather thongs instead of the

more sophisticated lock and handles. On the first

floor are si.x bedrooms and a dressing-room. A

fragment of the upstairs plan is reproduced to

emphasise an ingenious arrangement wherebv the

two chief bedrooms secure large cupboards. These

are available either as wardrobes or as tiny

dressing-rooms to take a washstand. The latter

use is particularly satisfactory in a room which has

no dressing-room opening out of it. The attics are

fine rooms, at present unused, but one is destined

to become a billiard-room. Until recently the

house was lit by oil-lamps, but an air-gas system is

now at work, to the great saving of time and

temper.

The impressions to be taken from Belcoombe

are wholly satisfactory ; but some might find it

difficult to give a reason for this, since there are no

seize the eye. This is
which is

none the less real for being modest. Mr. Troup is

one of a small band who would, and they could, revolutionise the training of the budding architect. He

calls for a course of education which shall Imve an element of the severely practical, while it does not neglect ,

of course, due
instruction in the
theory of this
most exacting art
o f architecture.
He would send
the student to the
bench to work for
a time at the
crafts with his own
hands. He is
scornful of mere
paper designers
who have had no
experience of
actual craftsman-
ship and are con-
sequently apt to
design without
reference to the
(] u a 1 i t i e s and
capabilities of the
materials to be
employed. H i s
icsthetic gospel is
of that restraint
which shall
227. — THE CURVED w..\LL. destroy the

i6/|

BELCOO.MBE.

element ot the self-conscious. There is no demand that the student shall acquire a smattering of all, or
even half, the arts that go to house-buildmg, but that he shall at least learn the rudiments of one or two.
B\' this means he will win a kind of instinctive knowledge of the rest, and, by learning the limitations both
of handicraft and material, may escape many pitfalls into which the ignorant too often fall. Mr. Troup
has insisted long and emphatically on these aspects of his art, and the following quotation from a lecture
delivered at Carpenters' Hall is characteristic :

" In designing, above all things avoid being merely cle\-er for the sake of effect. Cleverness is not art
— more often it is mere licence and a want of restramt. Be certain of this, that \'our best work is not that
part of it which you most admire yourself, and you will be safe ruthlessly to cut out that part from \-our design.
The clever features are like the smart savings of an author. The latter often ruin a book as the former
may ruin a design — they distract and disturb, even if they tickle the fancv. .\lthough they may be admired
for the moment, it is more than likely they will live to be laughed at."

All this seems to be the outcome of a massive common-sense. Perhaps some will bring the railing
accusation that it leads to the apotheosis of the commonplace. Even so, Mr Troup's withers would be
unwrung, for he would wisely reply of smartness, voila rennemi. A joke is a good tiling, but when frozen
into a feature of a building, unhappy is that man who has to live with it.

ORCHARD

228. — GROUND AND UPST.\IKS PL.\NS.

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

i6s

THE PLATTS, NEAR PETERSFIELD

A Sdtistiicfury Gi-diipiiig — Opeji Fircpliices — Sir Joshita Reynolds on the Composition oj Buildings — .1;;

Admiralilc (nirdcn

THE counties of Sussex and Hants meet in a \-ery picturesque embrace, and their borderland is lull
of l)oth landscape and architectural charm. It is a country of hill and dale ; of breezy uplands
and well-watered hollows ; of shady lanes prudently circumventing or boklly breasting steep
hillsides, and serving scattered homesteads or secluded villages that presers'e many of the pleasant
dwellings of the yeomen of Stewart days. No wonder, then, that Mr. W. F. Unsworth should
ha\-e chosen this locality for his home. He was one of the first of our architects to appreciate fully, to feel
inwardly, the principles and practice which made the modest local architecture of humble men of old so
excellent and so sympathetic. Before moving to the neighbourhood of Petersfield he had built himself
a house near Woking, amid the pine woods that line the Thames and Basin.gstoke (.'anal. The district was
exen twenty \ears
ago a i e r r\' -
builder's promised
1 a n d , a n d Mr.
Unsw^orth's home
stood out like a
little jewel in an
immense setting of
pinchbeck. Since
then much has
been done to drag
our nati\'e archi-
tecture, as applied
to modest domestic
M'ork, out of the
Slough ol Despond
i n w h i c h .M r .
Unsworth . as a
lad. f o u n (1 it
wallowing ; a n d
the fifty houses
illustrated in this
book will con\-ince
readers that it w ill
not be the fault
of the 3'ounger
race of architects
if Englishmen
remain ill-housed
But our gratitude

is due to the \-eterans who began the good hglit
he is still \'er\' much on the active list in conjunction with his son
work of to-da\' that this chapter is concerned.

Si) recenth' has The Platts been built that its garden has as yet scarcely taken shape, let alone reached
the stage of maturity. The growth of plant and of shrub, the weathering of wall and of roof, are needed
before the designer's conception of the finished product is realised. Yet the composition is so good, the
materials so well chosen, the features, simf)le as they are, so rightly ordered, that even now it is the permanent
and inherent merit of the work rather than the present rawness of its imnu-diate environment that strikes the
eye. It is just an unambitious home, neither large nor costly. It contain^- a hall and three parlours

229. — THK KECESSEI) ri-:\TKl-: DF THI-. Sdl" I H I'i;0\T.

Among these

.Mr.
and

\V. 1
Mr.

. Unsworth take>
Inigo Triggs, and

lu,i;h rank, yet
it IS with their

i66

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO DAY.

2',0. — THE FORECOURT AND NORTH FRONT.

1 1. — FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

THE PLATTS.

167

downstairs, nine chambers
upstairs and fully sufficient
offices. It works out at about
eightpence farthing per cubic
foot, bringing the full cost to
two thousand five hundred
pounds, with some two hundred
and fifty pounds to be added
for extras. It is thoroughly
well built and well finished,
but without any elaboration or
ornament. It is an L-shaped
house, the office wing running
out at right angles to the main
block, which itself is long and
narrow. Two sides of the fore-
court are thus obtained, and a
breast-wall completes the enclo-
sure, which is entered at the
corner between two round
piers constructed out of the
same local rubble stone that
forms the walling of the house.
Much of it comes in small
pieces, though due selection
gives the right air of soUdity to
the quoins, while variety of size,
tone and surface produces a very
agreeable sense of texture in the
walling. The chimney-stacks
are of red brick, and exceedingly

-GROUND PLAN

233. — THE FORMAL GARDEN.

well shaped and
grouped. The
bricks are narrow,
hand-made, open
gramed, yet hard
and weather resist-
ing, and they har-
monise well with
the red tiles whicli
cover the roof and
the upper storey (if
tlie wing. On the
garden side,
between the two
projecting gables,
oak framing, mas-
sively used and
pegged together .
projects beyond
the facial line of
the hall wall and
rests at the ends
on stone piers and
centrally on the
great beams of the
hall ceihng, wiiich
are projected
through the wall
for this purpose.

1 68

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

The scheme of windows has been well thought out. It is extremely restrained on the entrance side.
The house does not unbosom itself, does not shower indiscriminate friendship alike on stranger and on
intimate. He who gets no further than the forecourt will ha\-e the impression that he is being treated
with ample courtesy, with finished manners, but with some distance and a total absence of effusi\'eness.
He mav be cold and inimical like the north wind which blows on to this elevation, and the windows, studiously
small in number and size, betoken a severity of deportment called forth by the circumstances. But he
who, like the south wind, is a friend of the house, will go round to the garden side, where all is smiling and
open, where windows, frequent and large, greet yon warmly, and where glazed doors open their two arms
towards you and hivite you in. You find yourself in a hall twenty-four feet long, lit on both sides, and
with an agreeably designed open hearth and chimnev-piece of Ham Hill stone at its western end. Ne.xt
to it is the door mto the drawing-room, an apartment of rather large size and with abundant outlook. The
northern wmdow is high-silled, but those to west and south enable the sitter to see into the garden. Here
again the hearth and its framing are of an engaging design, but the too generous opening is a temptation
to the smoke to take to e\-il and undisciplined wavs, which it showed a readiness to adopt, and the copper
hood that has been introduced may be curative, but, like many a medicine, it has unpleasant ingredients.

234. — THE ST.\IRC.\SE .\ND UPPER CORRIDOR.

In this case the hood takes on something of the outward forms lo\'ed by the art noiiveau school, and jars sadly
with the rest of the work. The entrance into the hall from the forecourt is well managed. The porch,
with its round-headed archway and its coped gable, is a marked and charming exterior feature. Between
it and the staircase projection a pent roof carries an annexe to the hall, which forms an entry from the porch
and adds much to the feeling of privacy in the ' sitting " hall. Beyond this lies the staircase hall, from
which doors open into the library, the dining-room and the office wing. The staircase is of oak, solid and
simple, yet perfectly apt and pleasing. \Ve ma\' righth' praise both design and workmanship, and. as to
the latter, it is interesting to note that the influence of Mr. Ernest (limson has spread from the Stroud Valley
to Hampshire. It is a craftsman trained in his workshops who, ha\'ing set up for himself in the Petersfield
district, wrought the staircase at The Platts. The offices are well ordered. The lighting of the kitchen
from both sides is a comfort to the cook at both her sto\'e and table operations. The water service and
drainage of the house, on both the ground and the upper floors, are at once con\'enient and concentrated.
The yard arrangement is effective not merely from the utilitarian, but also from the ssthetic, point of view.
It is an important part of the general composition. It proves that the same fundamental architectural
principles applv equalh' to a hu.ge pile like Blenheim and to the smallest country house, so that one may
sav of Mr. Unsworth as Sir Joshua Re\-nolds did of Sir Tohn \'anbrugh. that lie took care that his work

THE PLAITS. 169

" did not abruptly start out of the ground witliout expectation and preparation." Now that so few out-
buildmgs are essential to a moderate-sized house, and that clients are not often prepared to incur the cost
of raising unessential " supports " to the main block, architects are apt to trnd the problem of avoiding a
packing-case appearance clifticult of solution. But it is evident that at The Platts some moderate outlay
was allowed, beyond that needful to wall and roof of the necessar^' lodging, and the architect, while respecting
the client's purse, has taken good ad\-antage of the permission. Thus, the little yard and its encircling
buildings are the modest link between the ground and the main building. E^•en the dwarf forecourt walls
play their part in this scheme, while on the south side the different levels and simple terracing of the formal
garden afford just the right connection between the work of man and that of Nature. The house stands
on ground sloping slightly to the south, and full use is made of this circumstance. The centre of the house
is recessed about eight feet, and thus a very sheltered pa\-ed nook is obtained, which a low wall di\'ides from
the main terrace. An awning has been found convenient here, but, unfortunatelv, was not provided for
in the original design, so that the wood posts that help to fix it have but a makeshift appearance. There
is a single step down from this nook to the terrace, which is itself raised five steps above the parterre — a
square of about a hundred feet. It is kept up at its southern edge by a dry \vall, in the centre of which
a low arch carries little stairways down to the lower level and creates a play of both shadow and reflection
on the water of the semi-circular lily pool whicli lies before and under it. The middle portion of the parterre
is arranged in beds di\'ided by narrow paved ways, the circular centre luuing a nine-inch drop and a round
pool in the middle. As the disposition shows very well in the illustration, a plan of it is not i^iven. Its
design reveals a nicely ordered judgment. Without elaboration or expense it gives interest and distinction
to the garden, and in .size and character it fits in perfectly with the house with which it is associated. It
is part of the composition. It is here pictured in its raw state. With double arabis and aubrietias, Alpine
pinks and rock roses succeeding each other in its dry walls ; with sizable but well-selected herbaceous stuff
in its broader borders ; with tall clipiped yews marking its points and giving vertical lines ; with close and
disciplined growths tilling its smaller and more elaborately shaped centra! beds without unduh" obscuring
the geometrical lines by too wild a trespass o\"er the flagging — with such svmp;itlietic cultniv it will prove
a thing of beauty and a lasting pleasure.

I/O

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

THE HOMESTEAD, FRINTON-ON-SEA

Sincerity in Building -Sham Half-Timber Work — Foolish Bye-Laws — Unity of Design — Fitted Furniture —

Sai)it Francis and the Birds.

FEW will be found to cavil at Ish. Voj'sey's dictum that " true originality is tlie outcome of
sincerity." It amounts almost to a truism when applied to architecture, but is none the less
\-aluable or worthy to be repeated on that account. One could wish that the makers of
Frinton had adopted it as a working principle. It is not that the buildings there are inferior to
the usual equipment of an English seaside place ; they are pierhaps rather above the average.
The town has been laid out on broad lines, its roads and avenues have a certain dignity, and the
landowners, by their building co\-enants, ha\e ob\-iouslv laboured to secure a satisfactory type of house.
When all is said, however, the results cannot e.xtort much admiration. It is true that original features

of a sort are
present in some of
the houses, but
sincerity of artistic
motive is hard
to find. It seems
to ha\'e been the
prevailing idea
that half-timber
work is the be-all
and end-all of
domestic a r c h i -
tecture. In the
early days of
Essex, w li e n
\\'altham Forest
covered a great
part of the
country, timber
took a large place
in the making of
its homes, and
the more so as no
building stone is
(juarried within its
borders. Brick
and timber were
therefore the chief
materials, and
what stone we
see was imported.
To-day all that is
changed. Epping Forest, though still spacious, is of trifling size when compared with the great wooded
tracts which it has survived, and, needless to say, its trees are jealously preserved. Probably ninety-
nine per cent, of the timber used in the modern buildings of Essex comes from abroad, and a form of
construction which makes pretence of a richness long departed seems as futile as it is insincere.

To speak of the black and white confectionery which adorns so many of these houses as a form of
construction is to do it an honour it does not deserve. Most of them which ape in this way the building
manners of a bygone day have simple brick walls on which boards an inch thick ha\'e been nailed,
and, behold ! half-timber work. Sometimes their authors have not even troubled to remember that at

235. — THE ENTR.\NCE FRONT.

THE HOMESTEAD.

17T

"T^

236. — FROM THE WEST

237. — THE SOUTH-EAST CORNER.

172

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

238.

-FROM THE GARDEN'.

corners tlii^ pleasant
method demands two
boards if the simih-
tude of a post is to
be indicated credibly.
A single board show-
ing its inch-thick
edge IS a piece of
incompetence even
as a fraud. This
elegant insincerity
does not, however,
always make so large
a concession to archi-
tectural decency as
is involved in a
board clapped on
the wall. No little
of the " half-timber "
is no timber at all,
but broad, raised
bands of plaster
duly painted black.
It is almost pitiful
to record the bril-
liant achievement ot

one plasterer who was observed by this writer laborioush' scratching the grain of oak timbers on the wet
plaster. Can ingenuity go further ? After this it is a small thing that the struts and braces are
indicated in shapes that no earthly tree ever produced, and tliat the mazes of lines and the wealth of
quatrefoils profess to indicate a construction that the old-time carpenters never attempted in their
most luxuriant moods There is another point by no means deser\-ing of neglect. Year by year the
nation spends increasing sums in building and staffing technical schools, whereat craftsmen are to be
taught not only the mechanical but also the artistic sides of their trades. No sooner have competent

and sympathetic in-
structors turned
them out imbued
with some idea ot
truth and beauty in
their handiwork than
tlieir masters, im-
pelled thereto by a
tradition of insin-
cerity, set them to
scratching the grain
of oak on wet plaster,
flow satisfactory it
is to be quite sure
that we are a
practical nation !

It is therefore
with a sense of re-
freshment that one
turns from preten-
t i o u s futilities i n
sham half-timber to
the quiet sincerity ol
The Homestead
The walls are of
brick, co\-ered with
white rough - cast,
w 1 1 li dressings oi

llU; P.VKLOUK.

THE HOMEbTEAL).

173

Bath stone, and the roof is covered \\ith green Westmorland slates. The whole effect is cool and pleasant,
and the slight patches of red in the tile arches at the entrance and on the little roofs of the chimne\' offsets
give a grateful touch of warmth to the colour scheme. The site, which runs up to an acute angle at the
junction of two roads, dictated the plan of the house. The building co\'enants of the estate demanded
that the frontages should be set twenty-fi^•e feet from both roads, and the north ele\-ation breaks back at
the porch to follow the road-line. The entrance hall is small, and we find the dining-room on the left. It
is of an interesting shape, suggested b}' the fact that no one sits in the corners of a room. One of the
angles is cut off and thrown into the hall, two more are fitted with big store cupboards and the fourth
with a sideboard. The more usual square is thus turned into an octagon, and the room adequately
furnished without any loss of practical floor space. Adjoining the dining-room is the big parlour, which
not only serves as the general living-room, but houses the billiard-table. It is a fine apartment, floored

with black Dutch tiles, and the fireplace,
with its lintel in black-leaded oak, is
set in a spla^-ed ingle. The whole of
the timber used in the house, whether
for construction or furniture, is linglish
oak, which gi\'es a valuable air of
solidity and architectural well-being,
but is me\'itably costly It is not
(ifteii that an architect has the oppor-
tunity, as Mr. Voysey had at The
Homestead, of designing not onlv the
building but e\'er\-tliing that equips it,
Irom the billiard-table to the dinner
ser\'ice, and the house and its furnish-
ings thereby have a unity which is the
outcome of a single aim. As the south
Iront faces a plot of land which will be
tilled with another house, it is but
sliglith- windowed, but in the par-
lour it has a circular light, which, as
Ijecomes a seaside house, suggests a
porthole. The colour scheme is pleasant
— white walls and black floor, gre\-oak,
green carpet and upholstery, their cool-
ness briglitened by the scarlet of the
curtains. A feature of the bedrooms
is the use of fixed furniture built into
its place. In a bachelor's room is a
fitment which comprises wardrobe,
chest of drawers and washstand, an
arrangement which economises space
and gives a certain dignitv to the room
despite its smallness. In an exposed
situation like that of The Homestead
the treatment of chimnevs demands
great care, if the trouble of smokiness
IS to be a\'oided. Mr. \'oysey has
gone about it in a thorough fashion.
Under each grate is an inlet from the
shaft in the chimney-stack, a de\-ice
efficient but costly. On the west front a big \'erandah opens from the parlour, and from it one goes
through a massive pergola down the steps to the garden. The wind is an enemy here, but euonymus
hedges are growing up to protect the pergola, which now is stripped by the blustering north-west gales.
Roses have proved impossible in this gusty spot, thou,gh they flourish e.\ceedingl\- in more sheltered
Frinton gardens, and berberis flowering shrubs have taken their place.

The character of The Homestead is most apparent when one sees it from the golf links, and compares
its quiet, grey roof, dropping in four steps as the site falls, with the rather clamant red roofs of its neigh-
bours. The \-ery inconspicuous nature of the house makes it stand out as a thing of character, and marks
it as truly a country home. On the links Nature dri\'es awav the ideas of suburban trimness which
much of the architecture of Frintnn l)i(.ls us reniemijer. Ivflicient drix'ini; and ]nittinu is seriously

2-|0. — HALL .\ND ST.MRC.\SI-:.

outer air, and in the chimney-breast an outlet leads to a separate

174

THE HOMESTEAD.

imperilled by the singing of larks. One needs the deafness of the Philistine or of the wholly nispired
golfer to disregard the full-throated song, which seems the rather to increase while the lark mounts
and. still mounting, disappears.

It may be that East Anglia is no richer in feathered life tlian the rest of England, but, for this writer
at least, its birds have conspired to make an urgent impress on the mind. Not many miles from Frinton
is a village church where at vespers one summer e\'ening the birds seemed to have won a peculiar
dominion. Two swallows flew in and out through the open porch, while the lesson told of the ravens'
ministry to Elijah, and the psalm was of the young ravens which cry. On the bench-end was carv^ed a
pelican in her pietv. and on a hatchment there gleamed the tarnished gold of a phoenix. The church was
dedicated to St. Lawrence ; but it seemed a mistake, and that in some sort the Poverello had been
defrauded of his own, for St. Bonaventura's story of St. Francis came insistently to the memory :
" When by reason of the twittering of the birds, they could not hear each other reciting the hours, the
holy man turned unto them, saying ; ' My sisters the birds, cease from singing, while that we render our
due praises unto the Lord.' Then the birds forthwith held their peace, and remained silent until, having
said his hours at leisure and rendered his praises, Francis again gave them leave to sing. And, as the
man of God gave them lea\'e, they at once took up their song again after their wonted fashion "

FLOWERS

EXISTING i"~*-TREES

241. — GROUND PLAN.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

175

BREACH HOUSE, CHOLSEY.

Vanishing Roiids-

-Reasoiis jof Using Old Tiles — Proportion and Symmetry — Concerning
Dormers — .1 Point in Kiiilioi Phinning.

Hinrhcliffe had given the car a senerous throttle and she was well set to work, when without warning
the road — there are two or three in Sussex like it — turned down and ceased. " Holv Muckins," he cried, and
stood on both brakes.

G.\INST tlie time when ]\Ir. Kiplins sliall rejoice us with another " Steam Tactics," a road near Choisey

may be commended to liim, for it plays the same engaging trick. When the writer of this chapter

/ \ reached the village by way of \\'ariingford, he was informed, and with childlike faith beheved, that

£ ^ Breach House was a mile or two up the hill that leads to the Downs. The turning was missed.

A mile or two more, and the road turned down and ceased on a broad and grassy down. While

many will sympathise with Mr. Kipling's passion for Sussex, he should know that Berkshire is not behind in

this matter of vanishing roads. There was no need to call loudly on a patron Saint, as did Hinchclifte,

for no unwelcome
passenger w a s
aboard. Ltdeed,
the great wood
to the right, the
level springy turf,
the keen air and
the splendid soli-
tude of the great
ridge \vooed rather
to adventure. For
miles the car sped
down the long
slope, but no
Breach House
appeared till it
had returned the
same way again.
The wood A\-as
Kingstanding Hill,
where King .Mfred
camped before the
great fight with
the Danes, and
the ridge of turf
tlie Fair Mile which,
passes through the
Roman Camp and
so on to Ilsle\-.

The Berkshire Downs have a character wholly their own, and as the turf of the Fair Mile roiled up behind
the car like a green ribbon, the sense of open distance brought back the flavour of another of ;\Ir. Kipling's
creations, the Thirty Mile Ride in " The Brushwood Boy."

The house which Mr. Edward P. Warren has built for himself stands m a lane which owns the charming
name of Halfpenny Lane, perhaps from some forgotten toll. It stands out graciously yet vigorously on its
wind-swept site. On the east side a plantation has been begun, which in time will temper the present sense
of bareness and give shelter to the garden. The garden front looks to the south-east down the Thames \'alley.
Westwards and southwards are the Downs. So happily placed is the house that the views on all sides can
only be described as magnificent. Tlie walls, of Basildon brick, ha\-e been coated with sand-faced cement

242.

-THE E.NTKANCE.

176

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

243--

-THE LOGGIA.

slow-fingered,

(a wise provision

for so exposed a

site) and colour-
washed. The roof

is of old red tiles.

One has heard

people talk of such

an use of old tiles

as though it grew

from some faddish

liking for old

materials. It may

be admitted that,

testhetically, they

are eminently de-
sirable, for they

give an air of

mellowness which

a new tile will

take many \ears

to achieve. But

they have two

great practical

advantages. The

beautiful tones

that variegate the

colour of an old

tile are due partly

to the tiny lichens, to which (as Ruskin splendidly wrote) " slow-fingered, constant-hearted is entrusted

the weaving of the dark, eternal tapestries of the hills." Partly, too, are they the result of dimly understood

of the tile, to which, even in the clean airs of a Berkshire down, the

In any case, time has the effect of weather-proofing their surface, which

if hard surfaced, will ne\'er take on those tender shades which

crown the
beauty of old
farmsteads. If
they are soft
surfaced, their
resistance to
tlie weather is
at first so
much the less.
\ flat tile
should have,
both in length
and breadth,
slight curves,
for thev pre-
vent rain from
being held
between the
joints. If there
is a little
space, the rain
will run down
at a lull in the
wind. Tiles
which are
truly flat and
slates are
both apt to

chemical changes in the fabric

chimney's contribute sometliing

IS one practical gain. New tiles

2-\^. — THE SOUTH-E.\ST FRONT.

BREACH HOUSE.

1/7

iiold the water

once it has been

blown between

them. Modern

tiles are mostly

made by machine,

which gives them

a deadly accuracy

and flatness and

enables them to

pack more easily

and travel more

safely. Thus the

risk of breakage

is decreased and

their popularit\'

with builders proportionately

them are better. So much

J^r

V--

245. — CROUND PL.W.

old

use

tiles and the
of old tiles,

old hand-making ot
if such were needed.

enlarged. Eor all that, the
by wa}- of af)clo<^ia for the
The elevations of Breach House, and notably that of the south-east front, give the spectator considerable
pleasure. It is worth while to consider whence the pleasure comes. The theories about arcliitecturat
design are innumerable, and the words used to express them legion. Most of them darken counsel and
make the wa\- of the student of architecture devious and weary. It is doubtful how much of definite
value people lia\-e taken e\'en from " The Se\'en Lamps of .Architecture." Erom Ruskm may be acquired a
general tendencv of thought in the direction of architectural righteousness ; but. as Mr. John Belcher, R..\.,
has said Ruskin had a difficulty in pre^•enting the " Seven Lamps " from becomiui; " eight or nine
or even a whole \'ulgar row of footlights." Ruskin di\'ided his illumination between Sacrifice. Truth, Power.
Beautv. Life, Memor\" and Obedience, but did not raise to the dignity of capital letters the principles, qualities
and factors which are also of the essence of good architecture. Among the man\' factors which go to create
the happ\' impression made on our minds b^• a .good building, two at least are notably present in Breach
House — proportion and svmmetry. The nature of proportion need not here be discussed, for it is a \-ery
baffling studv. People are more apt to talk about its harmonies than to disco\-er what produces them.
Robert Morris set up a magnificent theor\' based on parallelopijieds (whate\'er the\' may be), but it now

reposes peacefully
on the everlasting
dustheap. Suffice
it to say that at
Breach House the
relations of the
two wings to the
centre and of the
wa!h of the build-
ing to the roof
lea\-e one satisfied
that the propnr-
tion is riglit and
the theories can
be left alone.
Tiien as to s\in-
inetry — it is more
important that
this factor be
observed in public
buildings, where
it serves the
purposes of a large
dignity proper to
civic life : but it
1-- I if great \'alue
in domestic archi-
tecture if it can
be achie\'ed

240-

IHE Il.\l L.

178

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

2^7. — FROM HALL TO DIXIXG-ROCM.

2^8. — DRAWING-ROOM,

BREACH HOUSE. 179

without pomposity. This is clearly the case at Breach House, where wings, dormers, chimneys and
windows preserve a perfect and unaffected balance without straining the natural arrangement of the plan.
Particular attention may be drawn to the unobtrusi\-e way that Mr. Warren has managed his dormer
windows. Their little roofs harmonise admirably with the hipping of the main roof (there is not a gable
anywhere). Too often a roof, otherwise e.xcellent, is ruined by dormers that o^•er-emphasise both
themselves and the attics they light.

As we reach the entrance doorway we note it as a very refined feature of the north-west front. The
curved head with cartouche beneath and the pendant strings of fruit give an air of scholarly richness in
happv contrast with the rectangular sobriety of the windows and moulded panels. The hall is a dignified
composition. An ample staircase ascends to the right after the front door is entered, while to the U^ft a
corner fireplace forms the raison d'etre of a sitting-place. It is well lit both from the entrance front and by
the long high row of casements which give on to the pillared terrace. To the left are the two chief reception-
rooms.

As the present uses of the ground-floor rooms are to be regarded as temporary, one piece of rather obvious
criticism falls to the ground, for the position of the present dining-room in relation to the kitchen seems
faulty. From door to door they are 42ft. apart, and the pantry has to be threaded and the hall crossed
when dishes are carried for meals. Mr. Warren's desire, liowever, was to treat the dining and drawing
rooms decorati\'ely as one, di\'iding them by wide folding doois. so that for occasional purposes they could
be used actuallv as one room. That in a relati\'ely small house a large room can be impro\'ised by opening
a pair of doors is obviously a great measure of convenience. The more natural arrangement will be to use
the present schoolroom as the dining-room, and vice versa, and this is contemplated for days when the
schoolroom will no longer be used as such.

The loggia, with its two simple columns, is a pleasant and useful feature of the house, and serves as an
open-air sitting-room and for meals in fine weather. Unhappily, the day on which the photographs were
taken was dark and lowering. They consequently lack those strong shadows which would have emphasised
the projecting eaves and told of the sunny atmosphere so usual at Cholsey. On the north-east front is another
little loggia, which is reached from the drawing-room bv casement doors. The picture of the latter room
shows the restrained and delicate ornament and mouldings of the chimney breast which are characteristic
of their designer's art, while the pictures there and o\-er the hall fireplace are reminiscent of early
eighteenth century overmantels at their best.

The kitchen and offices are in a western wing of one storey, and adjoining, but not connected, is a stable,
with coach-house, etc., which groups pleasantly with the main building. The first floor of the house provides
not only seven bedrooms, but a study. This Mr. Warren has made his own, a refuge for quiet work, an ideal
retreat for the busy architect delivered from the bondage of the telephone-bell. It is in such a country
home that one realises, even more sensitively than Claudian when he wrote in the fourth century, the longing
for " freer air, a grander, broader sky."

On the second floor are four bedrooms and the indispensable lumber-room. In so exposed a place some
heating system was clearlv indicated, and Mr. Warren has installed low-pressure radiators. All other prac-
tical things are well devised. For bathing and cooking the rain-water is filtered and stored in a large under-
ground tank, while drinking water comes from a deep well, .\ltogether. Breach House is a \-ery interesting
example of the family home costing ;f3,ooo. The cubic foot price of the house itself was tenpence
halfpenny, and of the stables and offices sixpence. The last memor\- is of the garden, not yet matured —
the house dates only from 1905 — but brilliant with masses of great daisies. ^,

i8o

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

THE RED HOUSE, UPTON, KENT

. I Laiidinurk in Ihc Hisiory of Hansel, iiildiiif: — The House o/ Williain Morns — The Great Settle- A Clothes
Press pAijited liv Rossetti — Defective Plmtiiing — The Roofed Well — Three Mnin Factor'^ in Desit^n.

THE RED HOUSE was built as lonj; ago as 1859, and is illustrated here not as a typical work bj'
Mr. Philip Webb, but as a fresh startin::^-point for domestic architecture, of which the importance
cannot be exaggerated. It stands for a new epoch of new ideals and practices. Though the
French strain which touched so much of the work of the Gothic revivalists is not absent, and
the Gothic flavour itself is rather marked, every brick of it is a word in the history of modern
architecture. The circumstances of its building must first be set out, for they are intimateh- bound
up with the revival of the decorati^•e arts. This is now regarded as part of the established
order ol things, but in 1S50 it was a stumbling-block to many and foolishness to the rest. .\t Oxford
in 1857 William Morris became engaged to Jane Burden, and in the following summer he and two
of his friends (and later partners), Mr. Faulkner and Mr. Phihp Webb, the latter then senior clerk to
G. E. Street, rowed down the Seine in an Oxford boat. jaunts ot this kind are usual enough in these days,
but represented almost unheard-of ad\-entures in 1858. For the present story, however, the feature of the
\'oyage was that they discussed the building of a home to v\-hich Morris should take his bride. As
Mr. Mackail has eloquently written in his " Life of M )rris " " a new kind of life opened out before him, in which
that ' small Palace of Art of my own,' long ago recognised h\ him as one of his besetting dreams, was ni)w
peopled with the forms of wife and children, and contracted to the limits of some actual home." The dream
materia'ised in The Red House, for which, after many journeyings, a site was found at Upton, then a little
\ illage three miles from a railway station. Fifty years of development have brought the railway closer
and have crowded Bexley Heath with man\- unbeauiiful little hf>uscs ; but therf^ remains the orchard in \\hich

the house ^\■ a s
built, and the
garden is an oasis
m a district not
conspicuous- for
either natural or
ordered beaut y.
Here, then, near
the Roman
Watling Street,
the great Dover
Road, trod b\' the
feet ol countless
Canter b u r y
pilgrims m medis-
\'al da\'S, Morris
and Pliilip Webb
devised the house
which was the first
fruits of a notable
reaction from the
drearx' futilities
"f liariy \'ictoriau
building. Mr.
-V\ nier \'allance
111 Ins " V\'illiam
Morris " (another
\' a 1 u a b 1 e bookl
cl-iimed that it
ijC). wi:sT I' Ki ).\ I . w a s t h e f 1 r s t

THE RED HOUSE.

i8i

modern liouse in which red brick found its artistic use. Certainh" it was one of the first, but absolute
pnority cannot be claimed for it. (ieorge De\-ey had already for some vears been busy with the
creation of worthy houses, and in 1856, or earher. reintroduced the curved' Dutch gables in red brick
which torm so charming a feature of some of the small Kentish houses of the seventeenth century.
In these days, when red brick is the commonplace of house-building, it is difficult to remember that
in 185Q the world still ,gavf- its devotion to what Morris loved to stigmatise as square stucco boxes
with slate lids. A red hou^e was then The Red House, and no more distinctive name could
be found foi it. Before describing the house we may jump forward and consider one of the results
of its building. The actual construction presented no particular difficult\-. It needs no great
imagination to suppose that some trouble must ha\-e arisen in getting workmen to carr\- out the ideas of
Morris and Mr. Webb in anything like the traditional wa\- at that time so long forgotten. Be that as it
may, the designs were there, and no difficulty could have ])resented itself so insurmountable as to prevent
the shell of the house being built to the architect's drawings. The question of decoration and furnishing
was another story. Practically nothing modern that Morris could ha\-e tolerated was to be had for lo\-e

250. — SOUTH-E.AST CORKER .AND WELL.

or money. A few things e.xisted, it is true. In 1851) the rooms at 17, Red Lion Square, once occupied
by Rossetti, were taken unfurnished by Burne- Jones and Morns. The \'ictorian stuff then purchasable
could not be thought of, and Morris hastily designed tables and chairs of a massi\-eness that suggested the
Dark Ages, and in particular a settle of Brobdingnagian proportions. These things were made by a local
carpenter, and rather a scene was created by the home-coming of the settle (the dimensions seem to ha\-e
got increased by a blunder), for it filled a third of the studio. Rossetti came in, " laughed but approved,"
and designed some paintings for the panels, which, however, do not now adorn the settle, which was removed
to the drawing-room of The Red House, and forms the subject of an accompanying picture. For the hall
there was made a big combined bench and clothes-press, which was begun to be painted, probably also by
Rossetti, with scenes from the Xibelungenlied, but never finished, as can be seen from the illustration. Much
of the rest of the furniture was designed by Jlr. Philip Webb, and built under his supervision, and he concerned
himself as well with table glass, copper candlesticks and the like. The great dresser in the dining-room
was (this writer belie\-es) designed by Morris. In common with the other two great pieces already mentioned,
it was too bulky to move when ^lorris sold The Red House in 1865 to return to life in London, and the three

rSi

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

remain there to this day, and are duly treasured by tlie present owner, ^Irs. ^laufe. Some stress has been
laid on this furniture, because it was symbolic of much that was to follow. The Red House was ready for
occupation in the early autumn of i860, and in April of 1861 the firm of Morris, Marshall Faulkner and Co.
was founded, an undertaking destined to affect the decorative ideas not only of England, but of the civilised
world. Of this firm Mr. Philip Webb was one of the seven original members, and the actual work he did
in the designing of furniture was considerable. The Red House was the outcome of Morris's growing passion
to be up and doing things to change the domestic art of England. It is also true that its building and
furnishing served to clarify his ideas and bring to the point of definite enterprise the manufacture on a
reasonable and artistic basis of " every article for domestic use." as the firm's first circular put it. But we
must close this brief ri-sumc of the place the house takes in the wider history of its time, and attempt some
detailed description. It was notable in i860 not
only for an exterior of red brick, with its red roof
of lofty pitch, but for its then unusual plan —
L-shaped instead of box-form. One enters through
a wide porch with a painted arch and carved
over the door is the text :

DOMINUS CUSTODIF.T EXITUM
TUUM ET INTROITUM TUUM.

Tl'.e hall is wide, and the dining-room parallel with
it on the right. The fireplace here must ha\'o
astonished the people of i860, for it lacks anv
mantel-shelf, and is built in simple red brick.
That of the drawing-room is e\'en more ambitious,
for it slopes up\\'ards and backwards almost to the
ceiling. The dining-room ceiling was originally
patterned in distemper, the outlines being pricked
out on the plaster so that the colouring could be
renewed easily. To the left of the hall are two
sitting-rooms, in one of which, the library, is a
simple painted corner cupboard, a relic of Morris's
occupation. The L of the plan is marked by the
corridor, which is at right angles to the hall and
runs to the garden door and loggia. Here, again,
in the leaded lights that fill the windows there is
e^•idence of Morris's passionate return to reasonable
craftsmanship. There are not only figures of Love
and Fate in stained glass, but pretty devices in
simple outline. The staircase is markedly Gothic,
and is built in the internal angle of the L with,
over it, a tall pyramidal roof, left open on the
inside and patterned in blue and green, a little
Persian in feeling.

The drawing-room is on the first floor with
an oriel window, which is carried from the ground
by a stout buttress. It has an open roof, and its
chief piece of furniture is the great settle of which
the early history has already been gi\'en. It has
been called the minstrels' gallerv, for a wooden
ladder stood at one side leading up to its top,
from which a small door communicates with a loft
beyond. How these facilities could ever have
been used in practice can onl\' dimly be imagined.
Right and left of the settle are pictures in tempera b\' Burne-Jones, from the story of Sir Degravaunt, a
romance in which Morris delighted to the end of his life. The other large room on this floor, at the east
end of the north front, was his workroom. Connecting the two, the corridor has round windows with
leaded lights that bear the motto, " Si je puis." Of the bedrooms, it need be said only that the fireplaces
are of heavy masculine design and built in red brick.

A word now as to the plan in general. It must be confessed that it has many faults, a statement
in which Mr. Philip Webb would be the first to concur, for though his plans are often unusual, his later work
follows all the ordinary laws as to aspect. The south faces of the house are altogether \\-asted, one on
corridors, the other on a kitchen court. The kitchen looks to the west, and is insufferably hot in the evening,

251. — CHIMNEY AND ORIEL.

THE RED HOUSE.

183

when the preparation of dinner ought to find it at its coolest
The two cliief fronts are to the north and east, botli un-
pleasant. The only good feature to be espied is that both
dining and drawing rooms catch some rays of the setting sun.
One must assume that fiords had some odd predisposition in
favour of cold and sunless rooms, though that idea seems
foreign to his large and generous nature. The site does not
suggest any reason, and though it is on record that the
building was planned with a view to causing the least
destruction of orchard trees, that can hardlv be the explana-
tion, which perhaps may be sought in the fact that the north
faces the open country. When we come to regard the
outside of the house, the voice of criticism is stilled. Looking
northwards from the garden, the well with its conical red-
tiled roof is a delightful feature.

The stair-space, with its loftier roof finished in a leaded
lantern, almost takes on the quality of a tower. The bullseyes
of the upper corridor are simply charming. The use of
sliding sash windows gives food for thought. The gift of
architectural common-sense, which has always been Mr.
Philip Webb's, showed itself thus early. Few men would
have dared at that date to mix sliding sashes with pointed
door-heads — the useful with the ecclesiastical ; but here
it is, and how reasonable it looks! This corner in its
orchard setting would be an achievement if devised to-day.
Remembering that it is a work of fifty years ago, we may
well admire. The west front is of a graver sort, but the
flat, dormer-like projections and the fine gaunt chimney,
with its cleverly diminished top, give it a character all its own.
The stable is an attracti\'e little building with its high-pitched
roof, neat dormer and herring-bone brickwork in the gable

2^2. — DINING-ROOM FIREPL.\CE.

25J. — illli SETTLE.

end. When it is
remembered how
the spirit of the
Icelandic sagas
clutched at the
heart of Morris,
there is a pleasant
sense of fitness
( albeit inadver-
tent) in the
knowledge that an
Iceland pony lives
in this stable to-
day. Of the garden
there is no space
to write more
than a few words.
The orchard gives
the note of a nch
domesticity, and
the long bowling
green of a return
to gracious homely
sports In such
surroundings
Morris dispensed
hospitably to a
wide circle of
friends, whose

I84

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

names are inseparably associated with liis m those great days
of artistic aspiration and achievement. The garden was his
especial delight, and (once more to quote ^Ir Mackail) " of
flowers and vegetables and fruit trees he knew all the ways and
capabilities. Red House garden, with its long grass walks,
its midsummer lilies and autumn sunflowers, its wattled rose-
treliiscs inclosing richly-flowered square garden plots, was
then as unique as the house it surrounded apples

fell in at tlie windows as they stood open on hot summer
nights."

With this hint ol open-air idylls we may well take leave
of a buildmg which has flung its influence afar on the making
of English homes.

In the davs when The Red House was built, L'pton
had no water supply from the public mains and the well

25_|. — THE STABLES.

was a need. How delightfully Mr. Pliilip Webb has made an
artistic virtue of a necessity is abundantlv evident. With a
cliaracteristically Northern touch he has emphasised the
protecting roof rather than the well-head itself, though the
latter is supplied with an encircling bench which reminds us
of the immemorial usage of wells as resting-places. The
lofty conical roof is reminiscent of the French feeling which
was running through the work of many Gothic designers in
those days. In Eden Nesiield the influence went so far
that his earlier work can hardly be recognised as English,
though he later shed the extravagances which marked the
intrusion of an art beautiful on its own soil but alien on this.
Nothing, however, is more notable in Mr. Webb's long career
as an architect than his steady consistency. It is the mark of
an unstable mind to be swayed by passing fashions, but
there are few with the strength to be untouched by their
environment. Among them is the architect whose first work
is here illustrated.

Once more must be emphasised the unique character ot
the Red House. Not only was it the starting point of a
renascence of English domestic work, but it stands for a

-DD-

-DIN INC- ROOM SIDEBOARD

25fi

-CLOTHES PRESS AND BENCH.

THE RED HOUSE.

<lcfinitc architectural polic\'. It cr\-stallises the re\'olt against reproductions of byegone art, where tliat
art was based on conditions wliich have gone, never to return. Mr. Webb ahvays followed traditions
of sound building with a reverence none the less deep for being regulated bv a fine independence of
thought, but the formulas by which historical design was ruled he rejected with vigour.

It has been well said that, apart from the imagination and inventive power of the artist and his
technical skill, there are three main factors that contribute to a work of art — observation, selection and
convention — and that the best results are got from a due harmonv in the contributions of all three
elements. This was applied to sculpture, but is equalh' true of architecture. It is the disadvantage of
what is unpleasantly called " art criticism " that a cloud of words, mostly long, seems to be inevitable tor

the e.xpression of very simple notions. Hence one mav, perhaps, add a gloss.

Observation " shows an
enables him to draw out

architect the capacities of the site in relation to his client's needs, " selection '
from the Pandora's box of varving forms and arrangements those which will precisely clothe them, and
" con\-ention " guides him to those traditional uses which make a building at once the expression and the
satisfaction of those needs.

0 5 10

SOFcet.

GROUND FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

PEEat

257-

-PLANS.

1 86

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

UPMEADS, STAFFORD.

Architecture in Lapiita — Flat Roofs, Their Advantages and Defects — Austerity v. Prettiness-
Placing of Windoiiis — .4 Stimulating Conception.

-The

THOUGH the merits of LTpmeads are considerable, it will be generally agreed that the house is unusual
to the point of oddness. It rather recalls the criticism which ^Ir. Norman Shaw made on a design
submitted for the Soane medal by an architectural student — " rather boxy, isn't it ? " Despite
the criticism, the bo.xy design won the coveted prize, and L'pmeads cannot fail, by its logical
qualities, and (one may safely add) by its originality, to rivet the attention of everyone and the
admiration of not a few.

^^■hen Gulliver made his voj'age to Laputa he found " a most ingenious architect, who had contri\'ed
a new method of building houses, by beginning at
the roof and \\orking downward to the foundation,
which lie justified tc me by the like practice of
those two prudent insects, the bee and the spider."
Perhaps Jonathan Swift was here satirising
some architectural fad of his day, but there is
nothing faddish about Upmeads, because Mr.
Edgar Wood has pursued a perfectly logical
purpose. He is convinced of the practical
advantages of flat roofs, and for the following
reasons. It is sometimes supposed, rather
thoughtlessh', that a house can be planned
simply with reference to the required disposition
of its rooms, but that is not the case. If a
pitched roof is contemplated, it has to be
considered from the start, so that its gables or
hips may be rightly contrived. A markedly
irregular ground plan involves all sorts of
difficulties with eaves gutters and other practical
necessities, and the original scheme has often to
be modified to ensure satisfactory roofing. In
that sense the Laputan system of beginning at
the roof and working downwards is a common-
place of planning. The employment of flat roofs
simplifies things immensely. The plan can have
any sort of projection or recess \\'ithout the
creation of difficulties higher up. >,Ir. Edgar Wood
is also insistent upon other advantages. Access
to a pitched roof for the repair of slate or tile
or for the change of a chimney-pot is often trouble-
some, and not seldom involves the use of
scaffolding. A flat roof can be made absolutely
w-eather-proof , though the emplo\'ment at L'pmeads
of concrete alone is unduly optimistic as to its
wet-resisting pow-ers. A layer of asphalte is a
wise addition, and gives the certainty of absolute and permanent resistance to the weather. Anotlier
practical advantage is the reduction in the number of clown pipes necessary to carry oft' rain-water, and the
immunity from the vagaries of wind and driven rain and snow, which are apt to tr\- slate or tile be\-ond
their endurance. From the point of view of habitability must be mentioned the avoidance of sloping ceilings
in attic bedrooms, though they are no great harm, and the provision of an additional outdoor living-room in
summer. From such an elevation there may perhaps be enjoyed fine distant \-iews, invisible from

-THE ENTR.\NXE.

UPMEADS

187

m an\' c

ase the garden itself lies open beneath one's

the garden by reason of encirchng trees, and
eyes like an unrolled map.

The general aspect of Upmeads is fortress-like. Tt not only lacks anything approaching prettincss, which is
all to the good, but presents an air of austerity, which shows the designer's devotion to extreme simplicity and
restramt. There is, of course, nothing novel about flat roofs — they were common form in the last half of the
eighteenth century, when a crown of red tiling was regarded as the mark of a taste not only vulgar, but depraved.
Such houses in the classic manner had the relief of pilaster and cornice, while the windows were adorned with
projecting architraves and pediments, which gave a rhythmic \-ariety and balance to the composition, and
the sky-line was perhaps lightened by an open balustrade. !\Ir. Wood, however, starts out on a fresh quest.
His fronts are balanced only when symmetry is the natural outcome of the plan. Some of his window
compositions are long and low, and he has realised to the full the large restfulness of great surfaces of
unbroken brickwork. The whole scheme of design brings into play new ideas, both structural and festhetic,
and creates new problems which are capable of interesting and subtle development. The objections which
may be put in array against such a new departure, or rather against a fresh presentment of an old idea.

259. — ENTRANCE COURT .\M> SOUTH-WEST FRONT.

5 mind is always ready to revolt from the

are in part those which confront all development. The middlin

unusual, relying on the principle that what is new is not true. Criticism of Mr. Wood's standpoint must
start, however, from something more than prejudice against change. The question that arises is whether
any given departure from traditional methods carries with it the seed of enduring betterment. The case
for the flat roof has alreadv been stated, but the pleas of tradition must alike be heard. The pitched roof
has many justifications. Its timber construction is markedly cheaper in first cost than the steel and concrete
of the roof at Upmeads, and the useful space of rooms partly in the roof is secured at a lower cost per
cubic foot than is possible in a flat-roofed house. Rain is thrown off readily, whether the eaves are fitted
with gutters or not. The air space between tiles and ceilings serves as a non-conductor, and makes the
upper rooms cool in summer and warm in winter. These are utilitarian points, but architecture is not
merely a matter of accommodation and cost.

The roof is the crown of the house. Among imperial ornaments the Iron Crown of Lombardy has
its own charm of austerity, but none will deny on that account the beauty of crowns of gold that, brilliant
with jewels and blazing with colour, typify the rich \-arietj' of royal power. So it is with houses. We

iS8

s:mall country houses of today.

are not all or always in mood to hail with pleasure
the presentment of a strength which has a
thought of the forbidding. W'e are entitled to
demand of the house we dwell in, as of the life
we live, that it shall be crowned with graciousness
as well as girt about with strength. The withers
of our taste may well remain un\\rung, if we look
to our roofs to cut against the skv \\ith outlines
even playful, to intrigue our interest with
unexpected gablets and with dormers slyly
issuing from broad slopes of tiles. W'e are
assured that there are nine-and-sixty ways of
constructing tribal lays, and the same is true of
home-building. It suffices now to welcome
Upmeads, as illustrating one of the nine-and-
sixty, and as a wa\- which gi\-es a pleasant
stimulus to thought.

And now for some description of the house
itself. It stands on the south-east slope of a hill
which looks across to Cannock Chase. The
eutrance court is on the nortli-west front and
the front door is set in a porch of Bath stone,
which is carried up to the parapet of the attic
storey, and by its rigid veiticality gives effect to
the flat and outward reaching curves of the brick
front. A similar tall stone panel is the central
feature of the south-east front, where the hall
door and window emphasise its upright lines.
Very ingeniously contrived is the upper terrace,
which appears in the accompanying picture, with
its curved steps relieving the prevailing severity.
From this point the ground falls away quietly
to the road with appropriate terracing. \\'e enter
the house from the garden, to find a hall which

^:'?:^SRt^:L%miBe]vS^:

260.-

-ON THE G.\RDEX FRONT

runs u p t w o
store\'s, a n d i s
crowned with a
simple \' a u 1 1
Opposite its lofty
window is a balcony
projecting a httle
from the first - floor
corridor. Its
balusters make a
graceful feature and
have an ingenious
touch in their
design, for tlie
square members are
slighter at the top
than below. A hall
like this adds
g r e a 1 1 y t o the
spacious, airy
character of the
house, but this
very merit defeats
iis use as a sitting-
1 oom , and i t absorbs
a good deal of space,

2fal. — FROM THF SOUTH-EAST.

UPMEADS

189

262. — HALL BALCONY FROM CORRIDOR.

263.-

-THE HALL.

the area, in fart, of
an extra bedroom.
The dining-room is
notable for the well-
designed mantel-
piece. It is of green
marbles, Swedish
green and Irish
moss, while the
lining abo\-e the
shelf is Siena
marble, like (iii\'x.
The drawing-room
is large, and it
suited the owner of
Upmeads, Mr.
Frederick Bostock.
to lia\'e it thus,
rather than to make
two small rooms of
it, a wise decision,
which might be
followed often with
advantage. In both
these rooms Ihe
windows are carried
right up to the

264. — GROU.ND PLAN.

ceiling and the
trans o m - 1 1 g h t s
afford good \'entila-
tion and brilliant
light.

L"p>tairs the
windows are kept
some wa\' down
from the ceiling, as
too much top light
is dazzling in sleep-
i n g - r o o m s The
first - floor passage
is particularh" light,
an incidental
ach'antage of the
flat roof, which
makes s k \' 1 1 g h t s
simple. The work-
in,g parts of the
hou^e a re w e I 1
arraii,ged .Ml the
water-pi])es in the
scullery are cased
m cement, which is
not only neat, but
protective against

igo

UPMEADS.

frost. At the west corner, with its door only to the garden, is a good room, where are stored garden
chairs and tools and the equipment of the croquet lawn ; but it seems of doubtful wisdom to have
pro\"ided no access to it from within the house. In addition to the accommodation shown by the
ground plan there are six bedrooms and one dressing-room. The house cost under £3,000, and the
price per cubic foot worked out at 8|d. It will thus be seen that the flat-roof method does not greatly
affect costs. Even were it rather more expensive at the onset, the after cost of repairs is likely to be
low, and it is, moreover, worth something to be relieved of the bother of them. ^Ir. Edgar Wood has
embarked on a way of building which is distinctive and interesting, and we can always be grateful
for the thing that stimulates thought and makes us enquire a reason for the architectural faith that
is in us, whatever it maj- be.

265 — DRAWING ROOM FIREPLACE.

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY 191

OF THE REPAIR AND ENLARGEMENT

OF OLD HOUSES.

WIIH (ine f\cei)tion, where an old cottage forms the core of a new house which entirely
doniHiates the old work, the houses so far illustrated in this book hax'e been new buildings.
The\- represent orignial thought to which architectural form has been given to meet
modern needs. The Red House, designed for \\'illiam Morris, was included because it
was feit that no survey of modern domestic architecture can. be complete witliout some reference
to that notable and epoch-making work of Mr. Philip Webb. Bv it and by his later work he has
exercised an influence on the art of his day which is lieing understood all too slowly. Sa\-e for The Red
House, then, the houses thus far described are essentially the work of the twentieth century. There is,
however, a branch of architecture which links the Imilders of elder times with the designers of to-day — the
repair and enlargement of old houses. Si.\ examples of such treatment find a place m the following pages,
and because it is of great importance, some prefatory words on the spirit in which it should be approached
may be useful.

There is, perhaps, no more searching test ()f the general fitness and capacit\' of an architect for his task
than his manner of dealing with additions and alterations. In the case of a dwelling the process calls for
more inventi\-e ingenuity and for no less conser\-ati\-e restraint than in the case of a church. How hopelessly
architects have failed to appreciate how the latter work should be performed, the sad condition to
which most of our churches have been brought k)udly testifies. Yet in church "restoration" the
architectural and historical side can recei\-e large, nay, often exclusi^'e, consideration, whereas in house
alterations, the utilitarian requirements of the inhabitants are apt to dominate the position and render
the most capable and symjiathetic architect's labours ecjual to those of Hercules — e\'en of Sisyphus, Many
a rich man has expressed his admiration for an old house and bought it. Yet he has bidden his architect
convert its moderate accommodation and primiti\'e planning into a residence " fit for a family of
distinction," as house agents phrase it. Too often the old house is smothered l)y the additi(jns, overwhelmed
by the greater size and ambitious showiness of the new work. Nor is this misfortune limited to places
of some importance. England is peculiarly rich in its yeomen's homes. Picturesque dwellings of a
native type, and varying with local materials and customs, form one of the great delights of rural life in
many parts of England. Iliey are often seized upon for inhabitance b\' those who demand \-ery different
accommodation from what was needed by the original builders, and the result of the consequent altera-
tions is apt to be the disappearance of the old charm. This has probably depended not so much on any
fineness of design or elaboration of workmanship, as upon complete adequac\' of line and i^roportion to the
size, character and purpose of the house and its outbuildings. It does not need the crushing juxtaposition
of large additions to throw such a group out of harmonv. The intrusion of differenth' proportioned windows,
the breaking of a roof-line, the spoiling of the existiut,' tone and texture, mav all together or one alone be
sufficient to produce this misfortune. Must, then, sik h liiiildini^s [»■ left untouched ? That were in many
instances to doom them to destruction. Changes of habits and the development of the locality too
often make them unpopular as the dwelling of a small agricultural holding, and the\- are either roughly
patched into a semblance of unintelligent modernity or left derelict. On the other hand, there is a growing

192 SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

pleasure taken in such little places by people of educated thought and taste, whu understand the ethical
as well as the ssthetic conditions which have been at work, and are willing to pay some homage to them
and to submit themselves partially to their rule if only a measure of reform may be introduced. The\'
will use what the\' find in its own manner and for all it is \\-orth if some modifications following in the lines
of amplitude and convenience are permitted. Seldom need a proper e.xercise of judgment and ingenuitv
fail in producing a satisfactory compromise, in transforming what already is, or threatens to become, a
ne,glected wreck or a slovenly makeshift into a little homestead that will still impress by its pleasant old-
time spirit, and yet amply fulfil the needs of modern habit and hygiene if they are kept within \-irile and
simple bounds. But before an enlerJe cordinlc, free from disruptive tendencies, can be established between
the old and the new, careful preliminaries of peace should be drawn up. Anybody seeking one of the delightful
little cottage homes of seventeenth centur\' type which are still plentiful in the out-of-the-wav parts of
Kent, Surrev and Sussex, should be certain that the one he settles upon already satisfies him, in the matter
of character and size, as the dommant partner in the future arrangement. If the old has merit and is worth
preser\'ing it should be gi\'en its full value, and any additions made should be its humble supporters, not
its domineering masters. It is a pity and a waste to lose the scale and qualit\' of a distincti\'e piece of
seventeentli century* architecture, howe\'er humble, by making it the dwarf annexe of a modern house.
The modern house would probably be better, as a piece of design and of planning, without it, while the old
work is bereft of its purpose and hes like an uprooted specimen on a museum shelf. This ma^■ be laid down
as a general principle. Lesser points and details can only be considered righth' in the ligiit of concrete
examples, for which the reader is referred to the stories of the six houses that follow.

In some cases, of course, the amount of the new work is comparatively trifling, and the labour of the
architect is chiefly directed to the wise repair of tottering walls and decaying floors and roofs. For such
an enterprise two qualifications are peculiarly necessary — re\'erence for the old work and a large knowledge
of the materials and workmanship which made it what it is. Often the first and most important point
to consider is as to how far the accretions of later years are to be swept away and how far they are to be
regarded as an integral part nf the structure, and deser\'ing, therefore, of jealous preservation. Too often
domestic work of the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries has been ravaged by ignorant " restoration
in the nineteenth. It is impossible to lay down rules as to what should be kept and what may be remo\-ed ;
but this general advice seems to be safe — tliat nothin.g be held common or unclean which was clone while
a definite tradition still go\'erned England's building. In the nineteenth centur\" no such tradition sur\'ived,
and onlv now is it bemg slowly, laboriously and, it must be confessed, fitfully renewed. The old idea that
an Elizabethan house is defiled hy an eighteenth centurv addition is, happih, dvin,g, but it is by no means
dead. The passion for uniformity of style at &u\ cost of destruction was, perhaps, the most deadly vice
of nineteenth centur\' restoration. The men who were devoted wholly to Gothic would sweep away the
fifteenth centur\' porch of a thirteenth century church, and substitute a sham erection in the latter stj'le
because, forsooth, they chose to regard Perpendicular work as debased. Debased is a fatuous word to apply
to the work of an\' period \vhich is m the normal line of architectural de\'elopnient.

When it comes to the detailed consideration of how particular damages are to be repaired and how
additions can be made so that they harmonise with the old work, no better ad^•ice can be given than that
an architect with experience in such matters shall be consulted. The fnllnwing pages show how diverse
are the problems involved when an old house has to be dealt with, and more is to be learnt from the
treatment of definite examples than from \'ague information unrelated to actual facts. Practical points as
to the treatment of masonry, timber, ironwork, etc, are treated at length in a little book published by the
Societ\- for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and in a pamphlet which bears the imprimatur of the
Royal Institute of British Architects. Both these publications, however, deal rather with churches and
with other public buildings than with houses; but few people are aware of their existence, and they
should be studied by all who are ser\'ing on committees charged with the restoration of churches and other

OF THE REPAIR AND ENLARGEMENT OF OLD HOUSES. 193

national iiKinunients. The\ establish for the la\man the attitude of mind in which such serious matters
should be approached ; but he would be ill-ad\"ised indeed who regarded them as sanctioning an^; amateur
attempts at reparation or new building. The plea addressed to the public throughout this book to take a keen
interest in building of all kinds, whether new or old, will ha\'e grievously failed of its purpose if it leads to
amateur experiments in the art which more than any other is broad based on wide technical knowledge
and large experience. One has onl\- to Iddk to St. Alban's Abbey to see what terrible hayoc has been
wrought there within and without h\ the itch for amateur restoration which has made the name of the
late Lord Grimthorpe a reproach and a hissing \\here\er the lovers of our national heritage of building are
gathered to.gether.

It should be borne in mind, however, that the owner of even a little cottage which garners within its
weathered walls and l("vlv roof the traditions of English craftsmanship possesses in fact a national
monument, e\'en though the strong light of history may not beat upon it and the romance of some strong
name may not lend it an aroma of greatness. He is morally, though not actually, the trustee for a
fragment of the architectural storv of England, and should not feel that the mere fact of possrsMon
entitles him to destroy the character of a home of our forefathers.

iq4

SMALL COUNTRY HOL'SES OF TO-DAY.

WHIXLEY HALL, NEAR YORK

AND LfS REPARATION BY MR. WALTER H. BRIERLEY.

The Eai'ly History of ]Vhixh'\ — The ]\'ill oj Christopher Taiicrcd —And His Body — Vnridv Pensioners —

The MiiUrealed Htdl — The Renewal of t/ie ]\'indoii:'s.

THE later liistory of Whixley Hall is in the main the ontcome of the will of Christopher Tancred. Not
content with the testamentary method of spiting his relations, the instructions he left as to the
care of his body caused trouble for over one hundred and fifty years, as will presently appear. The
earlier history of the house nuiit first be .given, and then the odd proceedin.£,'s of old Christopher,
which led in the long last to Whixley Hall bein.t; restored by Mr. Walter Brierley. Charles Tancred
was its owner at the beginning of tb.e seventeenth century. He married Barbara Wyvill of Osgerlv, and
died in i6/|4, leaving six children, of whom Richard was the eldest. Ten years later Richard greatly altered
the east side of the house, as a dated stone attests, but a stone-mullioned window of the original house
was left in the kitchen. Doubtless this was part of the house built bv his father when he acquired the manor

shortly before 1600. Richard was
knighted in 1665 and died in 1668.
. His eldest son, Charles, married
Dorothy Wyvill. She bore him three
sons, of whom the eldest, born in
1(359, brought the name of Christopher
into the Tancred family. He took his
part in the public work of his day, for
in 1684-85 we find Captain Christopher
Tancred of Whixle\' High Sheriff of
Yorkshire and Member of Parliament,
in which offices he served through
James II. 's reign into William and
Mar\'s. It was to him that Whixley
Hall owes its next reconstruction. In
1680 was added a fine suite of recep-
tion-rooms, which form the west wing.
The hall and south front were
evidently remodelled, and the main
staircase built at the same time. To
the elder Christopher, therefore, must
be attributed this characteristic and
delightful example of the architecture
of Charles II.'s reign ; but it is with his
second son, the younger Christopher,
the last of his race, that the Hall will
ahvays be most associated. He had
quarrelled with his five sisters, whom
he describes in his ^\•ill, executed in
17.^1, as "inhuman creatures." One
may assume they were sensible people,
bored by the eccentricitv which is
clear enough from the \v\]\, but the\-
e\-idently did not know how to handle
him, for they got " one shilling apiece."
The pursuit of learning at Cam-
bridge and Lincoln's Inn benefited bv
the misdemeanours of the sisters. Of
his benefactions, vested in an imposing

266. — IHE 1680 STAIRCASE.

WHIXLEY HALL.

195

1j(.)d\- of trustees,
perhaps the best
known to-day are
the T a n c r e d
Studentships a t
Lincohi's Inn, His
interests were not
limited to the legal
reforms with which
his name is also
associated, but
were flavoured by
a pretty taste in
racing and the
devious joys of
horse-dealing.

The residue
of his estate, after
payment of the
studentships, went
to endow Whixlex-
Hall as a hospital
for twelve pen-
sioners, indigent
and decayed
gentlemen, clergv-
m en, c o m m i s -
sioned land or
sea officers of o\'er
fifty years of age.
Which is all very proper
at the Hall and not be

but m his will he
put underground

JO7.- -MOUNT .\XU G.VKDEX-IIUUSE.

idded the mconvenient provision that his bodv should remain
Tins was met by putting Old Tancred (as his neighbours

2OS. — THE ENTKAN'CE EKONT.

196

SMALL COUNTUY HOUSES OF TO-DAV

called him) in a
brick vault in the
cellar, where he
remained some
seventy years An
odd flavour in the
dr nking water led
to some researches
into cause and
effect so the coffin
was raised and. if
tradition is to be
believed slunj^ in
(hains in the fiall
to cheer the old
men as they d nf d
Some of them
seem to have taken
a not unreason-
able objection to
this near presence of
short sojourn in the

269,

-FROM THE TENNIS LAWN.

their
cellar

benefactor, and. indeed, it seems a rather drastic form of the mrinciilo inori. A
followed, and then a marble sarcophagus was placed in a room prepared as

a chapel, which sheltered the uneasy
remains until 1905. The pensioners
lived at the Hall from 1754 until 1867,
when their general conduct became the
subject of enquiry by the Inspector of
Charities. It was decided, and con-
firmed bv special Act of Parliament,
that the" Hall should be let and the
pensions paid to the old men, who were
granted freedom to live where they
pleased. The original foundation had
provided that they should pay for
their own meals. Each month a
caterer was elected by the pensioners,
and all paid him their contribution
to\\ards the common board. This led
to quarrels, for the caterer not infre-
quently took a holiday with the
proceeds. Though the ^•icar of Whixley
was Warden of the Hall and read
pra\-ers there twice a day, there was
no regular supervision. One of the
decayed gentlemen obtained a big
drum and varied his performance on it
with dancing in the corridor. A group
of them on the roof would enli\'en the
reverent demeanour of the villagers by
throwing empty bottles at them as they
went by to church. An old sea captain
seems to have taken to heart Swift's
benediction on those \\iio make two
blades of grass to grow where but one
grew before. He planted tobacco in the
park, put up a shanty with the legend
" At the Sign of the Blue Boar," and
therein comforted his friends with liquor
and tobacco, both home-made. The
provision which limited the charity

270. — QUEEN MARY S BEDROOM.

WHIXLEY HAI.L.

IQ7

271. "-THE HOUSE AN'D THE CHURCH.

to " necessitated

gentlemen " was

honoured greatly
n the breach. In

181 1 a barber got

a pension and

cheered his days

and swelled his

purse by shaving

his brethren for a

fee. Further,

there are iron

staples still fixed

to the old staircase

which tell of need-
ful aid to legs not

w li o 11 y steady.

The wisdom of

scattering this

necessitated dozen

cannot therefore

be impeached, but

the Hall suffered.

It was let, but

afterwards becom-
ing empty fell into

swift decay, and

was a poor sliadow of its seventeenth century self when Mr. A. Taylor took a long lease of it from the

governors of the charity in 1905 and jointly with them restored it. The work fell into the able hands of

Mr. Walter S. Brierley. The gardens were a wilderness and the house a wreck. A faculty was obtained to

transfer the sarcophagus containing the much-moved remains of Old Tancred to a resting-place in the church

not fifty yards
away. The chapel
whence it came
(never consecrated
as such) became
the bilhard-rooni.
Unhappily, one
serious outrage on
the fabric was
committed some
twenty years ago.
The hall origin-
ally ran up t\\-o
storeys, and with
its fluted pilasters
must have been
an imposing apart-
m e n t . Some
vandal tenant,
wanting more bed-
room accommoda-
tion, inserted a
floor, an d M r.
Brierley 's eflorts
to remove it and
to reinstate the
hall in its original
condition unfor-
tunately pro\'ed
272. — THE H.\LI.. fruitless. It is

1^8

WHIXLEY HALL.

some small consolation that the tiieplace was not
destroyed; but the whole aspect of the hall, with its
grievous proportions, is a commentary sufficiently
damning on the wanton stupidity of making such
organic alterations in an ancient house.

Other villainies of bygone years have, happily,
been corrected. The shape and size of the window
openings on the entrance front had been altered and
mean sliding sashes inserted. By careful examination
the size of the original openings was determined, and
casements proper to the period were fitted to them.
Both staircases had, happily, escaped mutilation ;
the eariier is of oak, and that of 1680, with its massive
balusters, is of deal painted. Upstairs one bedroom,
and that a small one, has been treated with especial
care. The accompanving picture shows the delightful
tall panelling. Close to the ceiling are car\ed gilt
masks of considerable merit, and so markedly Italian
in feeling as to suggest that they came from abroad
At the cornice there is some painted decoration. On
a pane of the old kitchen window was found scratched
with a diamond " Orinda Katherine Tancred " and the
date " March 4, 1600." The ladv with these romantic
Whixlev, and no such name as Orinda can be traced to

30 t>o JO etj

H H i 1-

_^.

SCALE OF FEET

-^^^

names was
a Tancred.

273. — GROUND FLOOR PL.'^N.

not a daughter of the first Charles of
Probably it was not baptismal, but a
fanciful assumption. The writing is of
interest, as fixing a date when the
Tancreds were in occupation.

Externally the house is delightful.
Of red brick and stone slates, its grave,
simple fronts to the south and west
are altogether pleasant. The recessing
I if the middle of the south elevation,
the slight projection of the brickwork
in broad, \ertical bands that take the
windows, the exquisite detail of the
lirick strmg above the ground-floor
windows, all go to build up a composi-
ti(jn none the less subtle for being so
sober. The gardens have been admirably
treated. Belund the house and running
east and west is the original mound.
.\t its west end there are some old
stable buildings, part of which has
been con\-erted into an arcaded summer-
house, a very happy idea. For the rest,
the pictures adequately show the simple
terracing and the handsome steps which
ha\'e taken the place of wild disorder.

-Mtogether, but for the maltreated
hall, for which Mr. Brierley was not
responsible, Whixley is a peculiarlx'
satisfactory example of the reverent
and adequate repair of a seventeenth
century house. Standing as it does
almost in the shadow of the parish
church, where old Christopher's body
hes at last, it remains a notable

274-

-THE EAST STAIRCASE.

memorial
eccentric,
learning

of that distinguished, it
benefactor of law and

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

199

THE POULTRY COURT, PAINSWfCK,

AS ENLARGED BY MR CURTIS GREEN.

Additions to an Old Coltat^c — Cotsd'old Mnwnrv — A Wiricd Sl^y-line.

■-n-

-THE PL.\XS.

PAINSWICK is a :
little out-of-the-
way town, high _
up amid the
Gotswold Hills,
that has a very good
architectural past. Both
our Earlier Renaissance
style and the full
Palladian of the eighteenth
century are well repre-
sented in its streets and its
outlying habitations. ( )f
the latter the most im-
portant is P a i n s w i c k
House, which is situated
a little out f)f the town

and environed by a small but picturesque park. The house, a \'igorous sample (jf Palladianism, with its
range of lofty windows ffanked by rusticated columns and topped with pediments, stand.-, \er\- hi.t;h and
dominates an e.\tensi\'e distant view, while rising knolls and leafy glens occupy the foreground and middle
distance. In the very centre of the latter, less than a quarter of a mile from the house, and still in the
park, was an old Cotswold cottage which, for some reason, was not swept awa\' when the great house was
Ijuilt and the land laid out. Architectural objects seem to have appealed to the " landscapist " who was
employed. Thus a .great octagonal building of stone with a lead cupola — a columbarium abo\'e, a look-out

r (1 1 1 m below -
(iccupies the ape.x of
the most prominent
knoll, with trees
grdupi'd .1 r (I u n d .
I he cottage was
Itrought into this
s c heme. On its
northern gable, con-
spicuous from the
house, was erected
w hat has the aj^pear-
aiice ot a Palladian
l)ellr\ , with t w II
little arched aper-
tures for bells, onlv
the 1 jells were left
out. I'^xtension was
,!;i\('ii to the end of
the cottage In add-
ing slojMiig walls,
pierced by arched
doorways and ending
with ])ila-ters that

2-]f.).

-MiOM TU1{ SOlTllI-E.\ST.

200

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

carry classic urns.
Westwards this wall
IS continued to hide
the cottage yard
and garden — or was
it a place for poultry
and hence the name
of the little dwelling ?
Then beeches and
elms were planted to
afford a screen and a
grouping to this
point in the general
outlook from the
squire's house.
Thus it remained till
three years ago,
when the amenity
of the spot and the
potentiality of the
building led to its
extension as an
artist's home. Mr
Curtis Green has
effected the trans-
formation in a very
engaging manner.
He has left
untouched the main
block of the old cottage and
the south he has obtained a
he has added a new building
staircase and offices behind it.
ashlar for quoins and mullions,
brought into immediate colour

277. — THE PORCH .\ND DINI.NG- ROOM.

its northern adornment, but by a rearrangement of the low building to
delightful porch and a hall which serves as a dining-room. To the west
;, containing a studio below and three bedrooms above and ha\'ing a
The materials and the forms given to them are of Cotswold type — rubble walls,
the roof stone-tiled ; and as old tiles were obtainable for the new work, it was
harmonv with that which previously existed. The scheme of the additions

leaves the old
cottage almost
as a separate
entity, the new
block IS merely
juxtaposed ■ s o
that, although we
have but a smal!
dwelling we have
a group of build
i n g s with most
varied sky -line
.Although it is the
smaller and the
simpler half, the
old cottage retains
its form and
value, a result
greatly to the
credit of
Curtis Green
new block
jects forward to
the south • west
and IS on the
edge of a rapid

Mr.
The
pro-

27S IHE SiUUIO.

THK POULTRY rOURT.

201

descent which, beyond a little grass terrace, forms a steeply slopnig kitchen garden anil then takes shape as
a tiniliered glen falling to a vale.

The photographs of the entrance or south-east side show the happ\- relationship between the old and new
portions. The low part of the former has had a pent roof brought forward from its gable, which covers the
dining-room bay and affords an ample porch. The mullioning of the bay, which has nothing but the roof
to support, is of wood, not of stone like the windows in the walling. The framing is flat and unmoulded,
and flush with it are casements of flat bar iron, one and a-half inches wide. The entrance door is of oak
and constructed in a manner known to medieval carpenters. It consists of two sets of planks laid back to
back, the inner set placed horizontally, but the outer set vertically, so that the rain may not lodge in the
joints. The two sets are clamped together with wrought-iron nails, which are arranged over the surface of
the door in patterns of fives at the edges and of sixes in the middle. Bold strap hinges stretch across the door
on the outside, thus connecting and

stiffening the vertical set of planks. It
is a thoroughly satisfying model, where
the ancient spirit of country building,
straightforward and severe, is to be
retained.

The room thus entered nuist ha\'e
been a shed added to the old cottage, of
which the outer wall has been left
unplastered and shows the stonework.
A fireplace, with a cleverlv de\'ised
hood of old Dutch tiles supported on
stone brackets, has been inserted, and
the bav window is, of course, an
addition. The window-sill is composed
of dull red tile quarries, a foot across
and two inches thick, and the floor is
laid in the same material. The room
has not been ceiled, but shows the roof
construction. A reference to the plan
will make clear the disposition of the
rooms. The staircase is of oak, very
pleasantlv designed and conveniently
arranged to reach the two levels of the
upper floor. The new part, besides an
ample well-lit lobby, has three bed-
rooms, two of which ha\e chimneys.
Height is given to them by leaving
them open to the roof, of which the
boards and rafters are painted white,
while the walls are finished in tough
granular plaster, which has dried out
a pleasant cream colour and, having no
wash laid on , shows its texture. Below
these rooms the studio occupies the
whole space, being thirty feet long and
lit on all four sides. The north
window, occupying the outer wall of
the excrescence which forms the lobby
above, is the largest and loftiest — as
lofty, that is, as the nine-foot height of the room permits. It is, after all, primarily intended as a comfortable
sitting-room, and not for large work needing top light. The ceiling is ot beam and rafter tvpe, the beams,
which are not of considerable depth for their length, being well supported by curved braces springing from
the walls. These, being composed of the local rubble stone, are ampl\- thick and afford arched recesses to
the windows, which, with the constructional ceiling and the stone mantel-piece, gi\'e the thorouglih'
architectural character to the room which the sketch reveals.

Returning outside to look at the back of the house, we note that tin- little gables of the lobby and stair-
case projections are carried up in elm weather-boarding — stone would ha\e looked rather cyclopean for these
esser features. The apex of one of them is slightlv bracketed forward, and fitted up as a do\'ecote. The
multiplication of roof-lines and incidents thus created might iia\'e appeared slighth confused and fri\dlous

279. — THE DIXIXG-

202 THE POULTRY COURT.

but tor the mass and severity (il the cliiinney-stacks, which brace and discipline the whole composition and
render it perfectly agreeable. Here, certainly, is a case of a cottage conversion and extension carried out on
right lines. Nothing that pre\"iously possessed the slightest merit is lost, and a most enjo^"able general
effect is produced which could not well ha^•e been obtained — which, indeed, it would have been blamably
eccentric to attempt — in an entirely new construction. The Poultry Court has strong individuality reached
without strain, and arising naturally and obviously out of its past circumstances and present purposes. That
is a simple statement of the facts ; but to those who know about this sort of thing it will be recognised as
strong praise none too frequently deser^'ed. The cost of the work was one thousand and si.\t\--five pounds.

s:mall country houses of to-day.

203

A HOUSE AT TIDEBROOK, SUSSEX

ALTERED AND EXLARCED BY MR. G. H. KITCHIN.

A Difficult Pure of Rci/oiui/lon — . 1;; Undue Variety of Miitei-iiil — Interesting Doors.

HE little nld Sussfx homestead at Tiilelirodk is
because it has twice been thniuf^'h the milL
ago, and has
1 a t e 1 y been
a ij a i n ahered

a complex instance ol the class of
It was added to in deplorable ni

renewed In
anner some

)uses,
time

with a view to giving
back to it more of the
spirit of its early time
and to cloaking in part
the miproprieties of its
middle period. At the
same time it has been
necessar\' to increase the
accommodation and in-
troduce a water ser\"ice,
a heating apparatus ami
adequate offices.

Tidebrook is part of
W'adhurst parish, and lies
in that tumbled section
of Sussex where hill and
dale have been close
packed in picturesque
confusion and \v here
ancient homesteads peep
out at every turn. The
one now illustrated is set
on a bank that declines
rapidly northward to the
little deep-channelled and
leafy hollow where runs
the brook — a mere rill
except in ffoodtime. The
house is placed near the
foot of the decli\-ity and
occupies a central posi-
tion, with the farm
buildings on each side
and on rather higher
ground. To the east an
an ample barn and
stabling, while to the
west are an oasthouse an{ I
other shedding. These
lui i 1 (1 1 n gs are wholh'
of ancient character,
toned and mossed
with age, and group

280 — THE NORTH SIDi;.

20^

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

281.— THE SOUTH FRONT IN IQOg

282. — THE SITTING-ROOM.

TIDEBROOK

205

delightfully with the house, which was. in its nrigiual state, typical of its district. It may be described as a
chimney with a lew rooms round it. The block of masonry forming the chimnev-breast is 7ft. square, even
on the upper storey, and on the ground floor is still wider. Round it the house clustered. Its tall shaft is
admirable in design, for neither the breaks nor the mouldings are elaborate, vet it has an air of dignitv and
distinction. It was the one prominent and shapely feature of the simple dwelling, rising high above the
great unbroken tile roof. The hipped gables and the long low windows, one of which is preserved in the attic,
strengthened the general feeling of horizontal humility that would not venture to compete with the vertical
dominance o the chimney-stack. It was a charming little composition, and it is a pity it ever was touched.
It, unfortunately, fell towards the end of the nineteenth century into hands wholly unsympathetic and
uninformed, and an effort was made to turn it cheaply into a modern \-illa. A deplorable arrangement,
composed of two bay windows of totally difterent size and projection, set one on the top of the other, and
with their transoms wrongly placed, \\as made to protrude from the wall of the south gable, of which the
original overhang, supported by oak brackets car\-ed with flat strapwork, still remained as a protest against
nineteenth century degradation of the art of building. Beyond this gable an uncompromising stu'ccoed
annexe was run up. With a front door in the middle of its south side, approached by a pathway down the
steep slope from the roadway abo\-e. The triumph of unintelligent commonplace was achieved, and the
little yeoman's home was
no more. It needed some ■'™~\!'t;:5y|
courage to acquire the
place after it had under-
gone such treatment. Yet
the situation and grouping
of the old homestead and
the remaining features of
the original dwelling were
delightful. The place was
still full of possibilities,
and it was bought three
years ago by the Dean of
Durham. Even enlarged
as it had been, it did not
offer the accommodation
he required, and so there
could be no question of
going back to the old
size and appearance. The
architect had to provide
further rooms and give
character both to the house
and its environment.
Moreover, it was essential
that the outlay should be
rigidly kept down. The
architect must, therefore,

be judged from what he has done, and n<jt from what he has left undone. As he had to extend
the new east building towards the north and increase the size of the rooms it already possessed,
he was given free scope here, and with excellent results. The east elevation, as he found it.
and as an illustration shows, was a stucco flat pierced by ill-shaped windows. The long line of
this front, rising from its rough stone terrace and broken by great and well-proportioned bays, is very satis-
fying. Oak of a cool grev-brown tone has been used. The upper part of the walling is hung with old tiles
and the lower part is faced with a pleasantly-textured sandstone raised close by from the bed of the brook.
Why, where all is so good and complete, the masonry which forms the base of the three bays should not
have been built of this stone, but of some material which needed a coating of dull grey cement, is a puzzle.
The saving of cost must have been infinitesim^il, the blot on the composition is serious. It should always
be borne prominently in mind that the better a thing is, the more disastrous is the least back-sliding, and
the photographer showed judgment in giving this view from below the terrace and thus hiding the defect.
As seen in tlie picture, the east elevation, in form and proportion, in colour and texture, deserves nothing
but praise.

The south side is not at present so good, for the terrible excrescent windows are retained.
This is merely a temporary fault, to be swept away when funds permit. Meanwhile they may be said to
serve a purpose. They must wholesomely mortify the flesh of those who have to li\-e with them, and they

283. — GROUND PLAN. SHOWING .ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS.

206

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

are a \-aluable object-lesson, showing how a thing should not be done. Remains of the original two-storeyed
moulded oak bay were found at this place and ga^•e the due indication for the new one to the right. When
the same model replaces the Mctorian intrusion, the south front will be pleasant and harmonious ; but it
is much to be hoped that the mechanically hard and distressingly restless fish-scale tiles will then be swept
away. It is strange, indeed, how anyone could introduce such a jarring note when the original hand-made
plain tiles were still hanging on the old gable above, and have been repeated on the upper part of the new-
gable next to it with admirable effect. At present the only elevation which is thoroughly in the spirit
of the old work is the entirely new one to the east, for the fish-scale tiles on the north gables destroy the
restfulness of that side. The weather-boarding of the old hipped gable consorts quite well with the plain

tiling, and the stonework of the terrace
and of the stairway to the new front
door is an apt introduction. But
there is too much varietv of material
at this point. Weathering of boards
and of two sorts of tile, walling of
brick, of stone, of stucco, woodwork of
oak and of white painted deal — all this
produces a spottiness of surface at a
point where the structure is necessarih'
intricate in form. That is regrettable,
as the design and arrangement are both
decidedly cle\'er. The south entrance
has been abolished and a pri\'ate and
sheltered garden in rising terraces has
been laid out on that side. A new
drive has been run from a lower point
of the road along the edge of the
brook, and it widens out into a fore-
court when the north side of the house
is reached. The drop in the land
brings the forecourt level some feet
lower than the house, so that larders
and dairies are contri\-ed in a light
basement, and a flight of steps leads
to a simple and well -arranged porch
and lobby. The old oak door of
fifteen panels is worth notice. The
inside of it has been new-lined with
fi\'e planks \-ery well moulded, and
the wrought-iron hinges and other
fittings are very creditable modern
smith's work. /Another torin of door
which has been much used here con-
sists of old oak planks, probably from
floors, tied by ledgers bolted on with
square - headed wrought nails. An
example appears in the illustration ot
the sitting-room, with its Adam mantel
and extremely fine brass and iron
basket grate. The open door reveals
tlie stair, the least offensi\'e product of

2S4. — THE EAST SIDE IN I907.

285. — THE SOUTH FRONT IN 1907. the Victorian alterations, and now-

improved by the addition of oak
finials to its newels. The annexed plan shows the present disposition of the rooms. A thoroughly
comfortable and roomy house has been arranged. To get the due accommodation some addition and
alteration had to be made at the west end of the south front ; that is, at the point where hitherto the old
house had almost entirely escaped modification. The difficulty and danger of dealing with ancient fabrics
are here well exemplified. It would ha\-e been better to ha\-e left the fine unbroken sweep of the old roof
untouched ; but a needed dressing-room required the throwing out of a little gable, and the servants' room
imperatively called for a window that gave light and air higher than 3ft. from the floor. The new window
and the new gable are admirable in design and execution — there is nothing about the house for which the

TIDEBRO(JK.

207

architect deser\'es greater credit, aiul \'et une regrets them, tor witlnmt them, and with the propdsed renewal
of the old ba\- and the old tihng, the south front would ha\'e still retained all the old lines, would still have
shown us how Sussex \'eonien housed themseh'es when Elizabeth ruled England. But a house is a place
to be lived in after the manner m which each succeeding age understands life, and some amount of compromise
is necessary in all adaptations from old ways to new. It is not often that the task has been approached
and performed in a more thoroughly appreciati\'e and discerning manner than at Tidebrook House.
Mr. G. H. Kitchin has satisfied his clients' requirements and respected their purse. At the same time he has
— or soon will have — obliterated the \'andalisms of twenty years ago, and has gi\'en us delightful new work
which has transformed an ancient dwelling into a house of to-day without losing the spirit, the form or the
craftsmanship of the older time

286. — HIE I{.\ST SIDK IN lf)0().

208

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

GUISELEY RECTORY, NEAR LEEDS

AND ITS REPARATION BY SIR CHARLES NICHOLSON AND MR. H. C. CORLETTE.

An Elizabethan Rector — The Anabaptist Well — Internal Alterations — The Oratory — Details of Repair.

THE Rectory at Guiseley has a double interest to-day. Not onlv does it represent in delightful
fashion the masculine, if rather dour, art of Yorkshire builders m Ehzabethan days, but it is a
peculiarly satisfactory example of a sound and conservative pohcy of repair, on which the
architects are to be congratulated without reserve. Its history seems to have been peaceful
until some fifty years ago, when it was allowed to fall into hideous disrepair, and alterations in
details, such as fireplaces, were carried out as stupidly and badly as could be.

About its building we are left in no doubt, for on a tablet above the porch is the following inscription :

Anno Domini i6oi.
FiDELis Pastoris non caeciducis non latronis domus. Robertus Morus, Rector

ECCLESIAE DOMUS FUNDATOR. VaE SACRILEGO, VAE INIMICIS LeVI. R.M.

which, being interpreted, may be read, " This is the home not of a blind guide or of a robber, but of a
faithful pastor. Robert Moore, the Rector of the church, is its builder. Woe to the sacrilegious ! Woe
to the foes of the priesthood ' " This is conceived in a robust strain, and suggests that Robert Moore lacked
nothing of the vigour belonging to the Church militant here on earth. Though he is careful to disclaim
the title of robber, he seems, in Antient Pistol's phrase, to have " conveyed " materials for his rectory from
the old Guiseley Hall, which had become derelict owing to the Wardes. lords of Guiseley Manor, having died
out after the Wars ol the Roses. Of the old house not a wrack remains, and it is not even definitelv known

287. — THE GARDEN FRONT.

GUISELEY RECTORY.

2og

whether it stood on the present site of
the rectory or near bv. As. however,
there was round the rector\' a moat, of
which part remains as a tish-pond, it is
hkelv that the old site was used, and
tlie fact that old people still call the
place The Rectory Hall seems further
evidence. Guiseley has had other
distinguished rectors than Robert
Moore, and one in particular, William
Brearey, was active architecturally, for
the sundial \\hich we see below the
hour-glass frnial on the gable abo\-e
the main porch bears the initials
" W. B., 1683." He was a Churchman
of note, for he served also as Arch-
deacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire,
and entertained the Archbishop at the
rectory for some days, as the parisli
registers duly attest. Hitch, sometime
Dean of York, and James Willoughby,
one of the Widdleton family, who built
the old tithe-barn, now a parish hall,
were other incumbents of Guiseley. The rectory did not
Rebellion. There is a tradition — it can hardh- be called

289 — THE POKCU

288. — THE EAST FRONT.

escape unhappy incidents during the Great
history — that a Royalist spy was killed there
just before the battle of Marston j\Ioor.
Fairfax and Cromwell were in the
neighbourhood, and when the spv's
pursuit of information as to their
mo\'ements was discovered he met a
spy's fate.

An odd feature of the garden is,
perhaps, to be traced in its origin to
the religious chaos of the same days.
There are three stone wells, one of
which was filled up and had to be
e.\Ta\ated. It is oblong, with dressed
stone steps and flagged bottom, sides
and platform. It is filled with water
by a spring. Mr. J. F. Howson, the
present Rector, thinks that it may
lia\"e been used by Anabaptists during
tlie Commonwealth for baptism b\'
immersioi.i. It seems, by the way, not
to be known generally that the rubric
(if the Church, of England provides that
" if the child may well endure it, the
priest shiill dip it in the water discreetly
and uarilv," and this use is said to
continue in a very few parishes even to
this dd.\. The well at Guisele\- was,
however, evidently designed for adult
baptism, if for baptism at all. Indeed,
one finds a difficulty in suggesting
another use for it, for it is unlikely
that any long-dead rector was an
outdoor morning tubber born out of
due time.

We come now to the work of
reparation. Some alterations were
needful to meet the requirements

2IO

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY

of modern life. Tlie staircase originally
stood, very inconveniently, in the hall
just inside the porch. It was taken down
and rebuilt against the north wall. The
kitchen and lavatory accommodation
was hopelessly inadequate, so exten-
sions were made at the north-east
corner and on the north side to fill
the need. In the plans of the ground
and first floors the old walls are shown
in black, and the new work by hatched
lines. The arrangement of the north
bedrooms and corridor was altered, to
the great improvement of the house.
Three of the original fireplaces had
been bricked up and fitted with dreary
grates of Early Victorian pattern. The
latter were swept away, and the fine
masonry recesses opened out, as will be
seen in the picture of the study. The

290. — THE ANABAPTISTS WELL.

GROUND

FLOOR.

ffl SSJXCCf"

CXXSIPOH

aATtey

-&rTv,

coee'Doe

Lj flfr-fwv

...„„,

h BiirKCKi^

JiTI?*.

LxsiH

^ .

■^^■1

FIRST

FLOOR.

291. — PLANS

292. — FROM lllL NOKIILWEST.

floors were rotten,
and had to be
renewed, but some
of the old beams
remained intact.
The room at the
north-west corner
was remodelled to
serve as an
oratory, and very
gracious it looks
with its w e 1 1 -
designed prie-dieit
and painted
reredos. In
the house there
was some original
panelling, which
lias been gathered
together and used
for the oratory
walls. The out-
side of the Rectory
was if anything,
in more lamentable

GUISELEY RFXTORY.

211

case than the interior. The t;ab]es
were tottering, and the fine mullioned
windows, thougli ahnost perfect in
each stone, threatened collapse. Every
stone was taken down to the level (.)f
the first-floor ceiling, numbered and
rebuilt in its old place. The pictures
show the extent of this work, for the
mortar, though it will darken with
time, now stands out white against the
old joints. It is the delightful feature
of Guiseley Rectory that, save by such
normal signs as this, one cannot tell
the old work from the new, yet there

29-I.

-THE SIAIRCASE.

with strength. Elizabethan craftsmen
were glad enough in gentler parts of
England to spend their fancy in quips
and conceits in stone ; but , except f( )r
the finials above the north porch and
elsewhere, Guiseley Rectory is finely
typical of the restraint which is the
note of Yorkshire building traditions.
Fortunate, indeed, that in its evil hour
it fell into such capable hands, and that
it has now entered a new lease of life
with an occupant so sympathetic
as the Rev. J F. Howson, whose
taste and judgment in its furnishing
have aptly crowned the architects'
labours.

■293-

-THE STUDY.

has been no desire to make the new masquerade as old, and
the rights of the craftsmen who worked for Robert Woore hax'e
been respected. The view " From the North-west " shows
the front which has been most altered, yet how naturallv
the new gabled projection groups with the old work. The
positions of some of the original windows were changed and
the walls pierced for new ones, yet the warm grey Guisele\-
stone and the Yorkshire stone slates of the roof have happily
conspired, under able directing hands, to continue the Eliza-
bethan story. And what a mascuhne air there is about the
building. The big, simple corbels under the chimney-stack
on the east front, the stout stone gargovles at the angles,
the massive stones which go to make the walls, all make
up a picture free indeed from prettinesses but instinct

-'95-

- nil' (IK.VIUKY.

212

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

MARTIN'S, BURY, SUSSEX

AND ITS GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT BY MR. CHARLES SPOONER.

The Eiicmv of Thalch-

-Growih
Dn

of the
Bdlav

Plan— A Roof
on Vernacular

of
Art.

Reeds — .4 Storv of Fire-

NHAPPILY the subject of this chapter no longer stands as the iUustrations show it, for last year
the relentless enemy of thatched houses left it a mass of smouldermg ruins, with nothing standing
but the big chimney-stack and some small parts of the thicker walls. Though, as '^'illon would

\^^_^ sing, it has gone with the snow of yester-year, the story of its growth under the skilful hand of
Mr. Spooner, and the charm of the pictures which remain, make it worthy of record here.
At the top of Bury Hill in Sussex is an entrance to Arundel Park, a residence of the Duke of Norfolk.
From there the eye can range over the Downs, southwards to where the sea marks the distance with a glittering
line, and westwards to the spire of Chichester Cathedral, remote and only just discernible amid a group of
trees. At the foot of the hill, straggling down to the river Arun, and rather more than a mile from Amberley,
is the charming village of Bury. At its upper end a small half-timbered farmhouse called Martin's, which
had been sadly altered and spoiled in the nineteenth century, stood in its yard surrounded bv barns, cowsheds
and stable. The horse-pond washed the walls of the house at the back, a pleasant circumstance which will
indicate what needed to be done when Mr. H. W. Carr bought it in 1899 as a hohdav home. From this
point the plans should be examined with care, so that the succeeding alterations caused by growing require-
ments may be followed. The farmhouse originally consisted on the ground floor of kitchen, back kitchen,
dairy, a small sitting-room, larder and store, with a stable twenty-six feet away to the east. The first
work was to replace the decayed timbers of the half-timber framing with new English oak. The back
kitchen and dairy were thrown together to form the parlour. The old kitchen became the hall, and a
timber porch was added on its north side. A new dining-room was built partly on the site of the old larder
and partly on new ground, with a new kitchen and sculler\' adjoining it eastwards. The old stable became
a gardener's cottage. Though all the windows had to be made new, and the roof reconstructed, some fine

296. — SOUTH SIDE .\FTER SECOND RECONSTRUCTION.

MARTIN'S

213

-97

-tASI l-KUNI AND CONSERVATORY.

oak trom one ot
t h e demolished
barns was used
again The horse-
pond on the soutii
was dramed and
made to serve the
more hygienic and
more attractive
purposes of a
rock garden,
while the general
1 a r m yard also
surrendered to the
d o mini o n o f
flowers. Strict
honour was done
to the use of local
materials by
building the new
work of Amberley
stone dug from
a nigh field, and
Doulting stone
was used where
free - stone w a s
needed. The bank; of the Arun furnished the reeds with which the house was re-thatched. An inter-
mediate stage of reconstruction, not shown on the plans, was the turning of the barn adjoining the old stable
(by then a gardener's cottage) into a kitchen and a children's playroom. This enabled the kitchen and
scullery o th^ main block to be turned into servants' bedrooms. When Mr. Spooner's client decided later
to make Martin's his permanent home, still more serious additions became necessary, and were provided
in a new eastern wing The parlour of tlie last sta.ge became the library of the new, but a jiiece was rolibed
from it on the
north to form a
corridor to the fine
new d r a w i n g -
room, out of which
opened an octa-
gon a 1 conserva-
tory. Above, space
was found for
tliree further bed-
rooms and two
dressing -rooms.
The materials were
the same as em-
ployed at the first
reco nst ruction,
and great care wa«
taken by "Sir.
Spooner in devis-
ing the warming
arrangements. A
heating chamber
was provided un-
der the conserva
tory, from which
hot water served
radiators through-
out the house.
Coal was used

298. — SOUTH SIUL AND LOGGIA ATTEK lIKbl Kl.CONSTKUCTION.

21-1

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

nowhere but in the kitchen, for when the radiators needed
to be supplemented \\-ood fires were elsewhere the rule.
Some little stress has been laid on the heating arrange-
ments, because they contributed in no way to the catas-
trophe of igoq. which came about in a mysterious
fashion. A small patch of thatch was seen to be ahght
out of reach. The fire spread with such rapidity that
it was impossible to do more than get all the household
and a little of the furniture out through the drawing-
room and conservatory. The particular danger of thatch
lies not only in its liabihty to catch fire, but in its
behaviour when alight. The front porch could not be
used as an exit in this case, as wads of burning thatch
rained all round the house ; but the outlet from the
drawing-room was safe, because its octagonal ingle was
roofed, not with thatch, but tiles. Conditions inside the
house soon became impossible, because the thatch fell in
burning masses on to the ceilings and so through them,
and the house caught alight all over at the same time ;
remedial measures were well-nigh hopeless, and the des-
truction was soon complete. For this, as for many another
thatch fire, no cause could be discovered ; but it may be
that a lighted match was thrown from an open window.
For this reason, there is a special fire-risk attaching to
dormer windows in a thatched roof, though they are,
perhaps, its chiefest charm. The increasing fireproof
conditions of town buildings make people far less careful
than they used to be, and devotion to My Lady Nicotine
tends to pile up the risk, when those made careless by
town immunities forget the risks of thatch and timber.

299.

-PORCH .\XD NORTH FRONl

IS curious

how
roofs, even when the\' are of materials not so ready to flame up as thatch. In the

■"^ill

300. — DRAWING-ROOM.

many fires arise in
greatest of all English
fires, the Fire of
London, St. Paul's
Cathedral first
caught alight on
the end of a board
that was laid upon
the roof instead
of lead, the latter
having been
broken away. As
a defect in a lead
roof was the im-
mediate cause of
involving the old
cathedral in the
common rum, it
is worth noting
from R u g g e ' s
" Diurnal " that
" the first brick
laid after the fire
was in Fleet
Street, at the
house of a
plumber, to cast
ins lead in only
one room." The
i 1 1 u s trations o f
Martin's at two
of the stages it

?i[ARTIN'S. 215

reached before it fell to tlie flames show how well Mr. Spooner kept the character of a farmhouse,
while modifying the plan a far as needful to make it a comfortable home without archaic affectations.
The drawing-room, added at the last reconstruction, was a fine apartment, with its octagonal ingle well
lighted on both sides. This room, being part of an altogether new wing, did not need to follow the other
smaller rooms in having an equally low ceihng, and the bold moukhngs of the beams and the pleasant
cushion capitals of the columns that flanked the ingle were carved by Mr. Palliser with simple birds and
beasts. Outside, the length and simplicity of the roof-lines and the delightful modelling of the dormer
thatching show a keen grasp of the conditions of Sussex architecture. Though the materials and their
treatment are all simple, there is a marked air of refinement which comes from architecture using the natural
speech of the country-side. Happily the days are past when nothing was regarded as worthy of an educated
taste except buildings in a particular style to be read about in books. It was the same obsession by dead
languages which needed the genius of the poet Uu Bellay before the renaissance of French poetry could
overcome the reliance on Greek and Latin for polite literature. " Those who speak thus," said Du Bellay,
" make me think of those relics, which one may see onh- through a little pane of glass, and must not touch
with one's hands. That is what these people do with all branches of culture which they keep shut up.
. . ." It is partly by the attention which architects ha\'e given to wiiat mav be called the local
dialects of architecture, that it has come to be understanded of people generallv, instead of being a technical
mystery seen darkh' through a glass obscured b\- rules and st^ies. like the relic of l)ii Helku's fanc\-, which
one might not touch with one's hands.

BEFORE .\LTER,\TIO\.

FIRST RECONSTRrcno.V.

LATER ADDITIONS.

HOI. — GROUND PLANS.

2l6

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

BY THE CHURCH, STEEP

AND ITS REPARATION BY MR W F UNSWORTH

Smugglers Cave and Public-house — From Ruined Tenement to Pleasant Home-
Ancient Character — An Enticing Garden.

-The Retaining of

IN an earlier chapter Mr. Unsworth was considered in liis character of a designer of new houses. Now !■=
described the manner in whicli he has treated an old and much-decayed building. The little home he
has made for himself in the village of Steep is now known by no particular title, but its neighbourhood
to the church serv'es to identify it. This absence of a name is refreshing in days when a semi-
detached erection on a clay flat is apt to be called after an Alpine summit, and when a royal palace
often has to stand godfather to a host of jerry-built villas. But the little house we are now going to visit
might easily have an appropriate name arising out of its own history. Indeed, it might have several, for it
is a house witli a rather shady past, and such (like human beings in the same position) are apt to have

aliases Surely
the old house at
Steep was known
as " Restalis " in
the seventeenth
century, for the
Restalis were a
local family that
long appeared in
the parish register,
and the words
" John Restall "
with the date 1677
are incised on the
back of some
Jacobean oak
panelUng w h i c h
forms a cupboard
door. One
hundred ^-ears
later the house
had changed its
function and
served as a public-
house, very appro-
priately kno\\n as
"The Castle in
the Air." Its
situation is certainly one of its charms. Steep is an extensive parish close to Petersfield, and contains
within its limits some of the most picturesque bits of the beautiful district that forms the boundary between
the counties of Sussex and Hants, in both rf which it is situated. Rolling downland and steep iDeech-clad
hanger alternate with gushing spring, leafy dell and verdant meadow. The village church stands at a ver>'
considerable altitude on a small plateau, and beyond the eastern boundary of its churchyard there is a margin
of easy slope before the precipitous bank of a dell is reached. It is on this strip that the old house is located,
a long, low building, brick-built and tile-roofed, tliat runs narrowly along its strip of ground and projects
one broad gable to the east as far as the ground will allow. Almost too far, indeed, for the steep bank is apt
to slip, and when Mr. Unsworth bought the building he found the southern corner of the east gable in a
parlous state. The whole place, indeed, was reaching a miserable termination to its checkered career when
he came across it. Steep, of old, was an out-of-the-way place, and a rough lot lived there. Tradition terms
the cellar of the old house " The Smugglers' Cave," and its clirect access on to a hidden way through wild

. — LuuKING UP FROM THE B.A.XK.

BY THE CHURCH. STEEP.

303. — THE HOUSE AND ITS SITE.

^Od. — THE EDKiMAL GARDEN.

2l8

S:\IALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

305. — GROUND PLAN.

woodlands must certainly
have rendered it a con-
venient cache for those once
numerous and popular gen-
try. They, however, shared
the house with another out-
law class — poachers — if
local tradition is to be be-
lieved. These are the days
of long ago. The tone has
changed, and Steep is now
the most respectable of
parishes and the site of a
large and successful school.
But the evil reputation of
the old house clung to it.
It was split up into four
wretched tenements, its
windows stuffed with rags,
its roof mended with odd-
ments of worn-out oilcloth.
A few years more and it
wonld have been a derelict
ruin, had not Mr.
Unsworth's sympathetic

hand arrested the decay. It is now not only a beautiful but a very c<.)mlortable h(jme, and yet it has been
singularly little altered in its fabric. Mr. Unsworth has not been of those whose so-called love of a little
old house shows itself in swallowing it up with great modern additions. His home, e.xcept that it is in perfect
repair and surrounded by delightful gardens, has much the same general form and disposition that it possessed
when it was " The Castle in the Air." The windows and their frames have nearly all of them been renewed
the upper one in the eastein gable being one of the exceptions. The old were rotten and small ; but
by means of long lines of casements and of transformed bavs a flood of light lias been shed into
the house without in any way detracting fnim the charm and restful quiet of the exterior composition

The windov.' fram-
ing is simple and
nil moulded, the lead
glazing correct in
character, while the
hinges, stays jand
fastenings remind
us of the simple yet
Ijeautiful domestic
wrought-iron work
of our ancestors.
It was a village
smith who ham-
mered these fasten-
ings, but a village
-mitli trained and
supervised by Mr.
I 'nsworth himself.

Even the rooms
i)f the house retain
most of the forms
and characteristics
which they
possessed when
John Restall carved
liis name on the
cupboard door of
what IS now tlie

;o<).-

-IHh UK.\\V1XI.,-KUU.M.

BY THE CHURCH, STEEP.

219

dining-room. The house is approached from the north, where there is just enough level ground for a
carnage turn. To the right as you enter the porch lies the kitchen, one of the old rooms, but
with a new chimney. Beyond it are placed the scallery and other offices, which are the only
considerable structural additions made. As these are al! brought under the downward sweep
of an extension of the old roof, the addition has made no appreciable change in the general
composition, while convenient outbuildings, surrounding a yard cleverly contrived in a small corner
of ground give ampleness and break to the sky-line and a pleasing support to the main structure.
Passing from porch to lobby, the oak stairway fronts us, but we turn to the right into the hall.
It is a typical old-fashioned cottage or farmhouse room of the district. There is a plain oak wainscoting

nil-, UlMM.,-Kl.JIJ.\l.

on the walls, and o\"erhead oak beams and rafters support the floor of the room above. The chimney-
corner, built of long, narrow bricks, contains the hook and cooking pot which formed a large part of the
cuhnary outfit of the Sussex yeoman of old. Only the excellent choice of the bits of ancient furniture, the
careful tending of the apartment and the ampleness of the new bay window show us that the room, though
old, belongs also to to-day. So ancient a domestic feature as the much-worn arcli of the brick-oven door
remains in the ample chimney-place. But the oven itself is gone, as it had to give way to a passage
affording access to the parlours, so that the archway forms an amusing squint. To the left we enter what
is called the dining-room. But meals are often served in the hall, which is more readily accessible from
the kitchen, while the inspiring picturesqueness of the eastern parlour makes it an admirable retreat for
work. It has much the same old features as the hall, and these are enhanced in \'alue rather than effaced
bv such carefully chosen additions as the woodwork of its mantel-piece. The plan shows the great size of
the chimney-breast ; but the wide opening tempted smoke into the room and rendered necessary a drastic
curtailment, which has been charmingly effected by large blocks of local ironstone supporting a tile arch.
Unlike the chimney of the hall and drawing-room, the shaft here had to be rebuilt entirely ; but as this was
done on old lines and with old materials, it forms one c-f the most pleasing exterior features. It was ruined
because it was near the spot where the slip of the bank threatened the collapse of the east gable. The
ceiling beam sloped down a foot at least, and the brickwork, though buttressed, was falling out, so that
Mr. Unsworth had to raise the heavy timbering with jacks and underpin and reinforce the foundations and
walls.

220

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

The drawing-room shows rather greater alteration than the haU and dining-room. It is made out of
tW'O rooms, the square oak post marking the old division and supportmg the ceiling beam. The south end
is largely new, as a much-decayed chimney ^\■as removed and an ample window inserted. But much of the
originarbrick of the walling remains, and the general form of the building is unchanged. At the north end
is the fireplace, the best and least altered example in the house. Its sides of large chamfered stones support
a ver\' heavy oak beam, of which the lower side is also chamfered and slightly arched. Here, again, the smoke
rendered some filling in necessary. Such alterations are unfortunate ; but the perfectly simple copper hood
and the stone sides that have been inserted were, perhaps, the best way out of the difficulty. Mounting the
stairs, we come upon bedrooms that have the same old-world spirit, wisely tempered, howe\-er, with a well-
fitted bathroom. Except such a ^•ery acceptable bit of modernism as this, there is little new in the house.
There are many specimens of seventeenth century English furniture at Steep. Some pieces, indeed, are
decidedly older than this. One bed is possessed of a remarkably Gotliic character. Good specimens, in
original condition, of oak armchairs of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century appear in various rooms.
Those in the dining-room are most correctly portrayed in one of the careful drawings that Mr. Unsworth
kindly furnished of this room and of the hall, as they were too small for the camera to do full justice to them.
The longer drawing-room, however, is very well rendered by the photograph, and the cabinet which
occupies the right of the picture is a very beautiful Italian piece, in admirably untouched state.
Charming as is the interior of the hous2, there is much to entice outside. A good deal of incident has
been introduced on the circumscribed and narrow level laid out in formal manner. The individual features
are, therefore, verv small ; but that is right, and they strike one at once as perfectly in scale with the site
and with the building. Plan and pictures speak for themselves, and little description is needed. The
low-roofed vard screen, of which the end forms a covered seat facing south towards the garden, is well managed.
The garden door by the side of the hall chimney-piece opens on to a brick-paved semi-circle that gives an
air of amplitude at this point. A low retaining wall of local stone sustains the grass plat and herbaceous
border. A pathway is projected southwards far beyond the limits of the plan until it reaches the end

308.-

-THE HALL.

of the w-edge-shaped level, and drops into a little woodland way through the finely timbered slope.
Cut yews bound the narrowing formal plat, and there is just room at the end, on a lower level and before
the wood is reached, for a little sunk rose garden enclosed in a framework of oak that carries the ramblers.
The steep bank is set with shrubs, but part of it is used as a rockwork wherein aubrietia and arabis, sedums
and saxifrages flourish exceedingly.

Here then is a multuni in parvo indeed, concentrating in itself the most varied amenity, and yet so
well managed that it gives no impression of over-crowding. A commodious habitation, perfectly linking

BY THE CHURCH, STEEP. 221

the past and the present, time-worn and tradition-laden, yet never irksomely treading on the tender toes
of the comfort-loving habits of to-day. A garden alive with interest, formal and natural, botanic and
architectural, thriving excellently in a good climate and a clean air. A site that convinces one that our
native land, with all its faults and limitations, is the sweetest and pleasantest place in all the world in which
to dwell. It needed notable faculties and equipment to produce so excellent a combination. Mr. Unsworth
rather prides himself that the gross outlay was only eight hundred pounds — four hundred pounds for the
original purchase and four hundred pounds for the renovations and additions. Yes, but at what price
are we to estimate his own judgment and experience ? They are the quahties which make so small a
creation stand out with distinction among its commonplace neighbours.

INDEX

In oi'der to keep tliis index K'it/iiii reasonable dnnemioiii, l/ie iiaiin's of houses and Iheii- architects
are excluded, hut n'lH be loiiiid in the table oi contents.

Archer, William, 13.

Architect, the choice of an, viii.

Architects' own houses, i, 17, 23, 33, 4b, 30, 30, 71,

97. 130. 134. 144. I73. -•"•
Aspect of houses, viii., 8, 14.
Attics, 22. 134, 13S.
Babies' window, 127, 129.
Backs of houses, 42.
Balconies, 22.
Balusters, 119.
Bargate stone, 123.
Barry. Sir Charles, 13.
Bathroom, 133.
Bath stone, 188.

Belcher, I\Ir. John, K.A.. ([iKJtcil, 177.
Birmingham architecture, 13.
Brick forecourt wall, 160.
Brick stairs, 129.

Brickwork, treatment ol. 11. 13. 2ij, i^, 00. 72. 87,
100, 116, 127, 130, 140. 14O, 131. 167, 181, 187,
198.

Broom cupboard, 128.

Builders, the training of, 109.

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward. iSi.

Bye-laws, building, 70, 72, 132, 143.

Carpentry, 123.

Chambers, Sir William. (|uotcd, 97.

Children's gate, 133.

Chimneys, a smoke cure, 173.

Chimney tops, 149.

Cleverness, Mr. Troup on, 1O4.

Coleridge, S. T., quoted, 97.

Colour in architecture, 13<:>.

Concrete roofs, 186.

Costs of house-buildin";. \'iii..

'4.

27. 29,33.

35, 42, 43, 43, 55, bo, 62, 03, 63. ()0, 70, 71, 77. 8.,,
loi, 105, 109, no, 119, 129, 133, 138, 143. 148.

157, 160, 167, 179, 190, 202, 221.

Cotswold traditions of building, i, 38, 199.
Cottage, a misused word, 97. ]oi>.
Cowley, Abraham, quoted, 42.
Cubic-foot price^. vii., },} el passim.
Curtains, 138.
Curved garden walls, 162.

l)c Mor,L;an tiles, 137.

I)c\-ey, (leorge, 181.

Doctor's house, a, 160.

Dormer windows, 2(1, 28. 34, 34, 38. 77, 87, 138,

17W, 214.
Du Bellav quoted, 213.
Dutch bricks and tiles, 33. 44. 89.
Eighteenth century traditions, 77.
Electric light costs. 148.
Essex traditions of building. 170
Fire-backs, iron, 104.

Fireplaces, open. 141, 168, 182 et passim.
Fire and thatch, 21 2.
Fives Court, 149.
Floor construction, 138.
Forecourt, pebbled. 2^.
Frontage lines, 140.
Fuller, Thomas, quoted. 34. 02.
Furnishing. 29, 81, 133, 148, 133. 173, 181. 220.
Galleting. 123.
Carden ca\e. 21.
Ciarden cit\-,- 36.

Garden design. 3. 27. lu, 70. 73. 86, 9(), 97. '34.
138, 162. 1(19. 220.

Garden walls, i()2.

Gate, a wheelwright's, 103.

Goethe (pioted. 139.

Gothic re\'ival. the. iSo.

Greenhouses. 2 1 .

Ciround-lloor bedrooms, ^2.

Half-timber work, 34, 72, 170.

Hall, two-storeved, mutilation ol. i<)7.

Mails and house-])liu rs, 14. 2),, 38, 83, 114. 127. 141.

147.
Heating, 138, 13c), 213.
Heeling. 123. 127.
Heine (| noted, 1 1 .
I Idle. I )(Mn. (|uoled. 73.
Hopton Wood stone. 23.
House-names, 73, 201.
Ibsen cpioted. 8.
Ingles, 30, 38, 60, 104, 127.
Invalid's house, plan of, 32.

224

SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES OF TO-DAY.

Ironstone, 125.

Italian ideas in gardens, 100.

Jekyll, Miss, 27.

Kauri pine, 23.

Kerr, Robert, quoted, 52.

Kitchen planning, 10, 22, 25, 77, 133, 151, 157. 1S2.

Lamb, Charles, quoted, 91.

Laputa, architecture in, 186.

Leadwork. 38, 83, 117, 160.

Leigh Hunt quoted, 16.

Lethaby, W. R., quoted, 81, 102.

Libraries, 81.

Loggia doors, 128.

Loggias and verandahs, 10, 35, 43, 91, 112, 122,

128, 141, 151, I79.
Mallock's Netii Republic quoted, 94.
Man's sitting-room, 102, 127.
Masonry, 40, 71, 157, 213.
Mediaeval ways of building, 120,
^Millstones, old, 105.
Montaigne quoted, 81.
Morris, William, i, 13, 137, 191-
Morris, William, his house, 180.
Motor-houses, 68, 129.
^Mottoes on buildings, 48, 182, 208.
Nesfield, Eden, vii., 184.
Norfolk building traditions, 160.
Old materials, use of, 69, iii, 129, 176.
Open-air dining-room, 21, 38, 91.
Oratory, 210.
Organs, placing of, 14.
Oriel windows, 182.
Pater, Walter, 94.
Pepys quoted, 78.

Planning, compact and extended, 65, 115.
Plasterwork, 7, 14, 25, 79, 119, i33. I37-
Playroom in attic, 22.
Porches, 10, 34, 85, 116, 122, 155.
Racquet court, 42.
Rain-water pipes, 136.

Red brick, Mr, Pliilip Webb's use of, 181.
Reed thatch, 213.
Restoration, ethics of, 191.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, quoted, 46, 168.
Robinson, W., quoted, 98.
Roofs, flat, 186.
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 181.
Rough-cast, 19, 13b, 175.
Royal Institute of British .Architects, 192.
Ruskin quoted, 143, 177.
Saint Francis and the birds, 174.

Seaside houses, 17.

Settle, William Morris's, 181.

Sgraffito work, 122.

Shaw, Norman, vii., 115.

Sincerity in building, 170.

Site planning, viii., 2, 134, 140, 146, 149, 153.

Sitwell, Sir George, quoted, 136.

Skyline, 4, 200.

Slates, stone, 40, 123, 127, 211.

Slates, Westmorland, 173

Sliding sashes v. casements, 91, 183.

Smugglers, an old home of, 216.

Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, 192.

Speculative builders, vii., 63, 72.

Stables, 42, 183.

Stained glass, 182.

Staircases, 91 et passim.

Statues, 48.

Styles in building, 94.

Suburban houses, 63, 139.

Surgery, planning of, 160.

Surrey traditions of building, 125.

Swift, Jonathan, quoted, 186.

Swift, Thomas, quoted, 46.

Tancrcd, Christopher, 194.

Terracing, 158.

Thatched roofs, 48, 54, 58, 108, 123, 213.

Theories about architecture, 177.

Thoreau quoted, 29, 35.

Tile-hanging, 125, 206.

Tiles, 21, 26, 36, 44, 60, 66, 82, 107, 137, 147, 176, 201.

Tradition and originality, 94.

Traditions, local building, vii., 71, 102.

Trellis stair-rails, 119.

TroUope, Anthony, quoted, 26.

Tudor influences, 14.

L'pkeep, cost of, 26, 133.

Ventilation by right planning, 89.

Vitruvius quoted, 67.

Walpole, Horace, quoted, 87.

Water, divining, 124.

Watts, G. F., on " Long Copse," 120.

Waxing of tiles, 48.

Weather-boarding, 83, 96, 100, 112, 155, 201.

Webb, Philip, vii., 115.

Well, an Anabaptist, 209.

Window design, 70, 119, 132, 138, 189.

Workrooms, 137.

Wotton, Sir Henry, quoted, 155, 159-

Wren, Sir Christopher, and garden walls, 162.

Yorkshire traditions of building, 208.

COUNTRY LIFE

THE Journal for all interested in Domestic
Architecture and in Country Life & Pursuits

UNTIL the advent of COUNTRY LIFE, in 1897, few people had reahsed
the treasures possessed by England in the way of country houses and
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IN ENGLISH HOMES

Edited by H. AVRAY TIPPING, M.A.

The internal character, furniture, and adornments of
some of tlie most notable Houses of England depicted
fi'om Photographs taken by CHARLES LATHAM.

VoJuwes /., //., and III, noiv ready

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These three notable volumes form together an unequalled pictorial survey of the
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a treasury, not only of the life stories of the notable men and women who have
lived in our historic homes, but of those county and village traditions which
throw so much light on the larger issues that have made the history of the nation.

The following are the principal Houses illustrated in the work :■ —

Volume L

Ageeroft Hall, Lancashire
Apethorpe, Northamptoiisliii'e
Audley End, Essex
Belton House, Lincolnshire
Tiirtsniortnn (inirt. (.linicestershire
n-.stnii H.Mis.-. Ali.lillcsrv;
P.owond ]»ark, Wiltshire
Mradticld. i>i'V(.iisliii-e
Bramall H;il], Cliesliire
Branisliill j'aik. Hainjisiiirc
Prouahtoii Ca-ll'-. (.>xi(.rdshire
Knrton A^mm-s Vnik^liiiv
rassiobury I'aik, Hf-rtlonishire
Castle Ashhy, Xorthaniptonshire
Castle Howard. Yorkshire
Chastleton House. Oxfordshire
Chawton House. Hampshire
Cobham Hall, Kent

Combe Abbey, Warwickshire
Crewe Hall, Cheshire
Drakelowe Hall. Derbyshire
Dunster Castle, Somersetshire
Kastnor Castle. Herefordshire
Citford's Hall. Suffolk
(iodinjitou, Kent
CoodwiKiil Umise, Sussex
Crimsthnrpe, Lincolnshire
(i'roombriiii.'e Place, Kent
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire
Hanipton Court, ^Middlesex
Hardwick Hall. Derbyshire
Hatlield House. Hert Inr ,Miire
IL'well Craime. Won r~t n -liirv
Holme La<-y. Heref..r,i^|iiir
Kedleston Hall, Derbysliire
Kingston Lacy, Dorsetshire

Knowsley Hall, Laneasliiie
Lanhvdroek, Cornwall
Leveiis Hall. Westmorland
Littlecote. Wilfshirt-
Longleat. Wiltshire
Melburv House. Dorsetshire
Old Place. Sussex
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
Parham Park, Sussex
Ragley Hall. Warwickshire
Ked Lodge. Bristol
Rufford Abbev. Xottingliamshire
Rushbrooke Hall. Suffolk
Saltram. hevonshire
Sandrin^'liaiii. Norfolk
Smithills Hall. Lancashire
Speke Hall, Lancashire
Stanway House, Gloucestershire

Stoke Park. Buckinghamshire
Stourliead, Wiltshire
Sutton Plure. Surrey
Sydenham Hmisi-. Devonshire
The Deanery liartlens, Berkshire
The Vyne. Hampshire
Tythrup House. Oxfordshire
Waddesdon Manor, Buckingham-
shire
Wakehurst Place, Sussex
Wentworth Castle. Yorkshire
West Dean Park, Sussex
Westwood Park. Worcestershire
Wilton House. Wiltshire
Wolfeton House, Dorsetshire
Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire

Volume II.

Adlington Hall, Cheshire
Aston Hall, Warwickshire
Athelhampton. Dorsetsliire
Baddesley Clhiton. Warwickshire
P.eiiint^lironiili Hall. Yorkshire
I'dieklinu Hall. Xorfolk
Boli»over Castle, Derbyshire
Burton Constable. Y'orkshire
Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire
Chicheley Hall. Buckinghamshire
Clouds, Wiltshire
Cotehele. Cornwall
Dorton House. Oxfordshire

Drakelowe, Derbyshire

East Sutton Park, Kent

(Jlynde, Sussex

Hanford House, Dorsetshire

Hever Castle, Kent

Hill Hall. Essex

Hoghton Tower, Lancashire

Holland House, Kensington

Hornby Castle. Y'orkshire

Hutton-in-the- Forest, Cumberland

ightham Mote. Kent

Kiiebworth House, Hertfordshire

Langleys, Essex

Lyme, Cheshire
.Marsliconrt. Hampshire
Maxstoke Castle. Warwickshire
Methley Hall. Yorkshire
Newbur^li Priorv. Yorkshire
No. V2. Welshback. Bristol
Park Hall, Shropshire
Prinkna-h Park, Gloucestershire
Queiiby Hall, Leicestershire
Ragdaie Old Hall, Leicestershire
Ribston Hall, Y'orkshire
Rothamsted, Hertfordshire
St. Donats Castle, Glamorganshire

Samlesbury Hall, Lancashire
Sizergli Castle. Westmorland
Stockton House. Wiltshire
Temple Newsam. Y'orkshire
The Grange, Devonshire
Treasurer's House, Y'orkshire
Welbeck Abbey. Nottinghamshire
Westoiihirt House, liloucestershire
Woodsoiiie Hall. Yorkshire
Woollas Hall, Worcestershire

Volume III,

Apethorpe Hall. Northamptonshire
Badminton, Wiltshire
Barnsley P.ark, Gloucestershire
lilenheim Palace. Oxfordshire
Boughton House, Northampton-
shire
Broome Park, Kent
Castle House. Oxf^irdshire
Cefn Mably, (Jlamortzansliire
Chatsworth. Derbyshire
Clumber, Nottinghamshire

Deene Park. Northamptonshire
Ditchley, Oxfordshire
Dorfold Hall. Cheshire
Duncombe Park, Y'orkshire
Easton Neston. Northamptonshire
Forde Abbey. Dorsetshire
Gilling Castle, Yorkshire
Halswell Park. Somersetshire
Heveningliuui Hall, Suffolk
Holkham Hall, Xorfolk
Holme Lacy. Herefordshire

Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Hursiey Park. Hampshire
Kirklees Park. Yorkshire
Newby Hall. Y'orkshire
Nostell Priory, Yorkshire
Oulton Park, Cheshire
Petworth, Sussex
Kamsburv Manor, Wiltsliire
Kainham Hall. Norfolk
Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire
Stoke Edith Park, Herefordshire

Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire
Stowe House, Buckinghamshire
Sudbury Hall, Derbyshire
Swakeleys, Middlesex
Thorpe Hall, Northamptonshire
Tredegar Park, ^lonmoutlishire
Tvttenhanger, Hertlordslure
Wentworth Woodhouse. Yorkshire
Wimpoie Hall. Cambridgeshire
Wolterton Hall. Norfolk

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W:C., and by
George Newnes. Ltd, 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C,

IN ENGLISH HOMES

A .spcci:iicii iUiistyatioii

Published at tlie Offices 'of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, \V.(" , and by
George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW

(The Country House and its Garden Environment)

Edited by H. AVRAY TIPPING, M.A., the iUustrations being
from Photographs- specially taken by CHARLES LATHAM.
Crown folio (15 in. by 10 in.). Handsomely bound in cloth, gilt edges.

Volumes /., //., and III. now ready

- Price £2 2s. net each

By post £2 3s.

These three volumes illustrate the relationship between house and garden, and
the beauties of every type of garden, both formal and natural, in a way never
before attempted. They afford a complete survey of the whole history of garden
design and garden architecture, considered from every point of view, historical,
artistic and horticultural.

The following are the principal Houses illustrated in the work : —

Volume I.

Alton Towers, Staffordshire
Ashbridge Park, Great Berkliani-

stead
Athelhampton Hall, DorchesttT
Barlboroiigli Hall, Chestfrtield
Beitnii, (Iraiitlinin
Blickliiiu'. Norinlk
Bri.'kwai!, Sl|ssr\-
BroiiK' Hall, Nnrlolk
Brniitrlitoii (astir. Hanbiirv
Biilwirk Hall. Xnrtliainpton
Casu i\if Filatos. The, Seville
Charlton H(Hise, Kent
Chatswurtli, Derbyshire
Cleeve Prior .Miuior, \Vorce;iter>:liire
ClevediMi r'oiirt, Somerset
Clifton Hall, Xuttingham

C'ompton Beauchamp, Berkshire
Condover, Shropshire
|tra\-ton House, X))rthanipton
l';ivaston Castle. Derbyshire
Konntains Hall and Abl).\v, York-
shire
Franks, Kent

<}[eat Tangley Jlanor. -Surrey
(Juy's Clitf, Warwick
Hull Barn, Buckinghamshire
Hall. The. Hradford-on-Avmi
Ham Hous,'. Kiclmiond
Hardwi.-k Hall, Derbyshire
Hei-kfield I'lare, Hampshire
Henbiiiv Cimrt. Gloucestershire
Heslm-ti.n Hall, York
Hever (_'astle. Kent

Holme Lacy, Hereford
luhtham Mote. Kent
Kelly Hmii^' lav i-i,,rk
Kiu'^'s \\r-ii,!i I : I, mrrstersliire
Kintistnh l,,ir\ , I )..iM>tshire
Levens Hall. Wrstnioreland
Lillesliail, Sbn.pslure
Loie^'fnrd Ca-tle, Wiltshire
Loselry Park, Surrey
Lypiatt Park, Gloucestershire
Melbourne Hall. Derbyshire
MoTitarnt.' Smnerset
Newstrad Abl.ry, Nottingham
Xorti-n Ci. livers, Yorkshire
Old Place. Liiidfield
Panshanger. Hertfordshire
Penshurst. Kent

Prior Park, Bath
Ragley Hall. Warwicksliire
Renishaw Hall, Chesterfield
Itisley

Rous Leneli Court, Worcestershire
St. Catherine's Court. Bath
Shipton Court, Oxford
Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire
Studley Royal. Yorkshire
Sutton Place, Guildford
Sydenliam House. Devonshire
Tissingti.il Hall, Derbyshire
TrentliauL, Statfordsliire
Yen House. Somerset
Wilton House, Salisbury
WoUaton Hall, Xottinghamshire

Volume II.

Agecroft Hall, Manchester
Albury Park. Surrey
Aldeidiani House. Herts
Anii'sbiiry Abb.-y. Wiltshire
lialearres, I'iteshire
Barncluith, Lanarkshire
Barrow Court, Somerset
Brockenhurst Park, Hants
Castle Ashby, Xorthants
Cliastleton House, (Gloucestershire
Chirk Castle, ]>enbighshire
Chiswick Hiiiise, Middlesex
(.:onipt()n Wyiiyates, Warwiekslhre
Cranl)urn<' >Ianor, Dorset
Drakelow Hall, Staltordshire
Drundanrig, Diinilricsshu-e
Druuiiuond Castle, Perthshire

Easton Hall, Grantham, Lines
Eaton Hall, Cheshire
Eydon Hall, Northants
Krognioi'e and Windsor
Grimston Park. Yorkshire
tiroombiid'-ie Place, Kent
<iwvdvr Castle. Denbighshire
ILu-kwiK.ii Park, Hants
Had'b.n Hall, Derbyshire
Hadsor, Worcestershire
Hampton Cnurt. Middlesex
Harewood House, Yorkshire
Higliiiam Court, Gloucestershire
Hi.ar Cross, Burton-on-Trent.

Staffordshire
Iriwood House. Somerset
Kedleston Hall. Derbyshire

Kentwell Hall, Sulfolk
Leighton Hall. Welshpool
Linton Park. ^laidstmie. Kent
Littl ■'■.)((■ Hall, li.-iksliire
Lochineli, Wigtownshire
Longt-at, Wiltshire
Ma|tpert(in Hcmse, Beaminster
Margain Park, Glamorganshire
Marks Hall. l':ssex
Mehnnl Hall, Suffolk
Mere Hall. Dn.itwich
Moyns Park, I'^ssex
Munstead, Surrey
Newbattle Abbey, Midl(.tliiaii
Okeover Hall, Derbyshire
Orchaidleigh Park, Somerset
Orchards, Siirrt\v

Packwood House, Birmingham
Pain's Hill, Surrey
Parliani Park, Sussex
Penrh> n Castle, X. Wales
Penshurst, Kent
Pitchford Hall, Shropshire
Powis Castle, .Ahintgonieryshire
St. Kazan's. Carditf
Sedu\Mrk Park, Sn^^-x
Slnail.l Mi.r- I'.uk. Millolk
Smitliill - Hall, l.aiMashire
Stoke KriTh Park, Hereford
Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire
Tiie Vyne. Hants
Westwood Park. Droitwich
Wickliam Court, Kent
Wilton House, Wiltslure

Volume III.

Athelhampton Hall, Dorsetshire
South Wraxall Manor, Wiltshire
Faulkbourne Hall, l-^ssex
Layer Marnev Towers, Essex
(Jitfords Halt, Snllulk
St. Osyth's Priory, l-^ssex
Speke Hall, Lancashire
Great Tangley Manor, Surrey
Castle Ashby, Xorthamptonshire

Montacute Hous?. Somerset
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
Holland House, Kensington
Bradtield. Devon

St. Catherine's Court, Somerset-
shire
Canons Ashby, Xorthamptonshire
Llangtidwyn Hall, Denbighshire
Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire

Keevil Manor. Trowbridxe
Stibbington Hall, Huntingdonshire
Huttoii-in-the- l''orest, Cumberland
Treworge.v, Cornwall
Xewton lerrers, Cornwall
Wilton House, Salisbury
Bramham Park, Yorkshire
Wrest Park, Bedfordshire
Bicton, Devonshire

Lyme Hall, Cheshire

Castle Howard, Yorkshire

Wotton House. Aylesbury

Bowood, Wiltshire

Arley Hall, Cheshire

The Deanery Gardens, Sonniug,

Berlvshire
Easton Lodge, Essex
Goddards, Surrey

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C., and by
George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southain})ti»n Street, Strand, W.C.

GARDENS OLD AND NEW

A Stoxp: Urn at Maiu.am I'akk, (jLa.muiu.axmukk

(Reduced spcci'iiu-H illustration .)

" These beautiful books owe tlieir charm to the wonderhil coHectioii of photot^raphs of gardens and
garden architecture which such a paper as Country Life has had a unique op])ortunit\- of making. The
principle conveyed in the letterpress is that iield by all great gardeners and architects- that house and
garden are, or should be, intimately associated, and that the character of the jiossessors should he reflected
m both. The accounts of lovely garden after lovelj' garden are most agreeable reading. There is no
country in the world where man created sylvan beauty can be found comparable to this in England, and
as albums of charming pictures for the garden lovers and a mine of elegant sug.gestion to the garden-maker,
the-e \-olumes are the best thing of their kind we have e\-er seen." — Dailv Chronicle.

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C., and by

George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.

THE GARDENS OF ITALY

Being a series of Illustrations from PhotograjDhs specially
taken by CHARLES LATHA^M, of the most famous
examples of those magnificent features of garden arrange-
ment and architecture for which Italy, pre-eminently
the earliest home of the garden, is noted, with descrip-
tive text by EVELYN MARCH PHILLIPPS. This most
important work, which forms a handsome companion to
"Gardens Old and New," contains about SOO plates,
and is issued in two volumes, handsomely bound in cloth.

Price £3 3s. net

By post £3 4s.
The following are the principal Gardens illustrated in the work :-

Villa Alhani, Rome.

\'illa Pamphilj Doria, Rome.

The Vatican Gardens, Rome.

Villa Borghese, Rome.

Gardens of the Ouirinal, Rome.

\'illa Medici, Rome.

The Colonna Gardens, Rome.

VOLUME L
Palazzo Borghese, Rome.
Fountain of Tre\'i, Rome.
Palazzo Doria, Rome.
Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
Palazzo Brancaccio, Rome.
Villa Parisi, Frascati.
\'illa Sciarra, Rome.

The British Embassy, Rome.
\'illa Barberini, Castle Gandolfo
Villa D'Este, Tivoli.
Villa Falconeri, Frascati.
Mondragone, Frascati.
Villa Torlonia, Frascati.
\'illa Aldobrandini, Frascati.

Mlla Farnese, Caprarola.

\'illa Lante, Bagnaia.

ViUa Palmieri, Florence.

Villa Garzoni, Collodi.

The Boboli Gardens, Florence.

VOLUME II.
Mlla Bondi, Florence.
Villa Salviati, Florence.
Villa Medici, Florence.
Villa I Colazzi, Florence.
Castello and Petraja, nr. Florence.

Villa Gamberaia, Florence.

Villa Capponi, Florence.

\'illa Fabricotti and Villa Stibbert,

Florence.
Mlla ;\Iontalto, Florence.

" The two volumes are worthy of their splendid subject, and it would be hard to wish for a better
companion in an Enghsh garden than these exquisite pictures, gathered from the best of all in Italy.
Scarcely a single garden of the first importance seems to have been omitted. We are sure that no one
who knows Italy, even in the scantiest way, wiU put down Mr, Latham's volumes till he reaches the last
of these exquisite reproductions." — Daily Telegraph.

" The natural and artistic beauties of the famous palace or villa gardens of Italy are most admirably
illustrated, and with such variety and success as must be reckoned among the triumphs of photographic
work. ' ' — Westminster Gazette.

" In the two handsome volumes a clear idea is .given, by illustrations and letterpress, of the wonderful
beauty of places to which the ordinary tourist seeks admittance in vain." — Yorkshire Post.

" The illustrations are among the best of their kind that we have seen, especialh- in their rendering
of distances of contrasted effects of light and shade. The grouping of architectural subjects — often an
insurmountable difficult}- — is managed with skill, the artist's feeling for composition enabling him fre-
quently to make a good picture out of the material which is hardh' w ithin the photographer's customary
limits." — Globe.

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C, and by
George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.

Country Life" Library of Garden Books

GARDENING MADE EASY

By E. T. Cook. An instructive and practical gardening book of 200 pages and 23 illustrations, all showing
the way certain garden operations should be performed. Every phase of gardening is included. The
beginner will find this a most helpful guide in the cultivation of fiowers, vegetables and fruits. It is the
A. B.C. of gardening. Paper cover, \s. Net, by post Is. M. : cloth. Is. 6rf. Net, by post Is. 9d.

" It contains a \ast amount of information in easily understood language that will be most helpful to persons
who lo\c to look after tlieir own garden." — Scotsman.

ROSE GROWING MADE EASY

By E. T. Cook. A simple A'osc Guide for anuiteurs. freely ilhis/niled icith diagrams slioicing icuiys of
increasing, pruning and protecting roses.

Paper cover, Is. Net, by post l.s. lid. : cloth. Is. 6d. Net, by post Is. ^d.

THE FRUIT GARDEN

By George BuNYARD rt/irf Owen Thom.^s. 507 pages. Size, \0i in. by Ji^ in. \2s. 6d. Net,by po.st I3s.

" Without any doubt the best book of the sort yet published. There is a separate chapter for every kind of
fruit, and each chapter is a book in itself— there is, in fact, everything that anyone can need or wish for in order
to succeed in fruit growing. The book simply teems with illustrations, diagrams, and outlines."— JoMrna^ of the
Royal Horticultural Society.

THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING

Edited by E. T. Cook. A Comprehensive Work for every Lover of the Garden. 624 pages, with about
600 illustrations, many of them full-page Ato (12 in. by 8^'in.). Art Canvas. 21s. Net, by post 21s. lOd.

No department of gardening is neglected, and the illustrations of famous and beautiful gardens and of the
many winsome achievements of the gardener's art are so numerous and attractive as to make the veriest cocknev
yearn to turn gardener. If The Century Book of G.^rdeni.ng does not make all who see it covet their neighbours'
gardens through sheer de.spair of ever making for themselves such gardens as are there illustrated, it should, at any rate,
inspire everyone who desires to have a garden with an ambition to make it as l)eautiful as he can." — Times.

GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS

(.-1 Handbook to the Garden.) By E. T. Cook. With nearly 100 diagrams in the text, and 90 full-page
illustrations from photographs of selected specimens of Plants, Flowers, Trees. Shrubs, Fruits, etc. Neiv
and Enlarged Edition. 12s. 6d. Net, by post 12s. lOd.

" One cannot speak in too high prai.se of the idea that led Mr. E. T. Cook to compile this G.^rdening for
Beginners, and of the completeness and succinctness with « hich the idea has been carried out. Nothing is omitted.
. . It is a book that will be welcomed with enthusiasm in the world of gardeners. — Morning Post.

WALL AND WATER GARDENS

By Gertkcde Jekvll. Containing instructions and hints on the cultivation of suitable plants on dry
walls, rock icalls, in streams, marsh pools, lakes, ponds, tanks, and water margins. With 133 full-page
illustrations. Large 8vo, \86 pages. \2s. 6d. Net, by post \2s. \\d.

Wall and Water Gardens. He who will consent to follow Miss Jekyll aright will find that under her guidance
the old walls, the stone steps, the rockeries, the ponds, or streamlets of his garden will presently blossom with all
kinds of flowers undreamed of, and become marvels of varied foliage." — Times.

COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN

By Gertrude Jekyll. With over 100 illustrations and planting plans. 12s. 6d. Net, by post 13s.

" Miss Jekyll is one of the most stimulating of those who write about what may be called the pictorial side of
gardening. . . . She has spent a lifetime in learning how to grow and place flowers so as to make the most beautiful
and satisfying effects, and she has imparteil the fruits of her experience in these delightful pages." — Daily Mail.

ROSES FOR ENGLISH GARDENS

By Gertrude Jekyll and E. M.awlev, with 190 full-page illustrations. 12s. 6d. Net, by post Vis. 1 \d.

" A delightful proof of the increased devotion shown to rose-growing. There is a happy combination of author-
ship, for no one can better suggest the artistic value of garden roses old and new than Miss Jekyll, while the Secretary
of the Rose Society, Mr. lulward Mawlcy, is a Rosarian who would satisfv Omar Khayyam." — Manchester Courier.

LILIES FOR ENGLISH GARDENS

Written and compiled by Gertrude Jekyll. 8s. bd. Net, by post 8s. lOd.

" Lilies for English Gardens is a volume in the Country Lifk i.ibniry, and it is almost sufficiently high
commendation to say that the book is worthy of the journal. Miss Jekyll's aim has been to write and compile a book
on Lilies which shall tell amateurs, in the plainest and simplest possible wav, how most easily and successfully to
grow the lAh-."~U'e.'itminster Gazette.

FLOWER DECORATION IN THE HOUSE

By Gertrude Jekyll. 6s. Net. by post 6s. Ad.

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C, and by
George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.

"Country Life" Library of Garden Books

THE UNHEATED GREENHOUSE

By Mrs. K. L. Davidson. 85. 6rf. Net, by post 8s. Wd.

" .\n infinity of pleasure can be obtained from the due use of an unheated house built under proper conditions,
and it is the function of Mrs. Davidson's book to provide hints and directions how to build such a house, and how to
cultivate the plants that can be cultivated with ad\anta,i;e without artificial heat." — Pall Mall Gazette.

THE ENGLISH VEGETABLE GARDEN

Bv vivioits cxpi-iis. ■ Cheap edition, 5s. Net, by post 5s. 6rf.

CHILDREN AND GARDENS

By Gertrude [ekyll. A garden book for children, treating not only of their men little gardens and other
outdoor occupations, but also oj the many amusing and interesting things that occur in and about the larger
home garden and near grounds. Thoroughly practical and full of pictures. 6s. Net, by post 6s. Ad.

ROCK AND WATER GARDENS

THEIR MAKING AND PLANTING

With Chapters on Wall and Heath Gardens. By the late F. H. Meyer. Edited by E. T. Cook.

6s. Net, by post 6s. -id.

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR ENGLISH GARDENS

By E. T. Cook. 12s. 6d. Net, by post 12s. 11^.

"It contains a mass of instruction and illustration not always to be found altogether when required, and as
such it will be very useful as a popular handbook for amateurs and others anxious to grow trees and shrubs." — Field.

MY GARDEN

By Eden PHiLLrorxs. 207 pages. 60 full-page illustrations. 12s. 6d. Net, by post 12s. lOd.

" It is a thoroughly practical book, addressed especially to these who, like himself, have about an acre of flower
garden, and are willing'and competent to help a gardener to make it as rich, as harmonious, and as enduring as possible.
His chapters on irises are particularly good." — World.

A GARDEN IN VENICE

By F. Eden. An account of the author's beautiful garden on the Island of the Guidecca at Venice. With
21 collotype and 50 other illustrations. Parchment, limp. 10s. 6d. Net, by post 10s. Wd.

" Written with a brightness and an infectious enthusiasm that impart interest even to technicahties, it is beautifully
and rarely pictured, and its material equipment is such as to delight the lover of beautiful books." — Glasgow Herald.

SEASIDE PLANTING OF TREES AND SHRUBS

By Alered Gaut, F.R.H.S. An interesting and instructive book dealing u'llh a phase of arboriculture
hitherto not touched upon. It is profusely illustrated, and diagrams are given explaining certain details

5s. Net, by post 5s. Ad.

" Mr. Gaut has accomplished a piece of verv solid and extremely useful work, and one that may not be without
considerable influence ujion the future development of coast-side garden work and agriculture." — Liverpool Courier.

CARNATIONS AND PINKS

Edited by E. T. Cook. 3s. 6d. Net, by post 3s. Wd.

" Those who add this volume to their library of garden books will obtain more information concerning the interest-
ing family of garden and wild pinks than is to be found in the majority of books that have come under our notice." —
Westminster Gazette.

SWEET VIOLETS AND PANSIES

AND VIOLETS FRO.M MOUNTAIN ANU PLAIN

Written by several authorities, and Edited by E. T. Cook. 77;;.s interesting subject has never been treated
in the same way as set forth in tliis illustrated book. The information is thoroughly practical. A dainty
gift-book to gardening friends. 3s. 6d. Net. by post 3s. \Qd.

" Altogether excellent, and must be useful both to the grower of prize flowers and to the amateur." — Guardian.

THE BOOK OF BRITISH FERNS

By Chas. T. Druery, F.L.S., V.M.H., President of the British Pteridological Society.

3s. 6d. Net, by post 3s. Wd.

" The book is well and lucidly written and arranged ; it is altogether beautifully got up. Mr. Druery has long
been recognised as an authority on the subject." — St. James's Gazette.

THE DISEASES OF TREES

By Professor R. Hartig. Royal 8vo. 10s. 6d. Net, by post 10s. lOif.

Published at the Offices of Country Life, Ltd., 20, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, W.C, and by
George Newnes, Ltd., 7-12, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.

JAN 2 U 1982

' 33

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CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

/i/eaver, (Sir) Lawrence (ed.)

Small country houses of
to-day

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