International studio (18.1902/1903)

tranquiHising impression of perfect safety which ail
parts of the structure shouid impart to the beholder.
Too often in a crowded city where the dweliings
are arranged in a tiresome but necessary sequence
of street, terrace, and square, it is found that the
architect has sacrificed the whole beauty and
seemiiness of the entry for the sake of eniarging
the iiving rooms. Two feet of width gained in the
dining-room is but a poor exchange for a mean
and paitry haii, for the keynote of a house is
struck by its main entrance. Certainly, the former
uses of this once important portion of the
domiciie are no longer possible, owing to
different modern require-
ments, but the architects
of No. 12, University Gar-
dens, have succeeded in
showing that the hall has
possibilities, even when the
tyranny of space limits the
actual measurements. By
judicious treatment, the
architects have contrived to
secure at the very threshold
something of beauty, com-
bined with a suggestion
of uncramped ease and
leisurely well-being which
lends an indisputable
charm, and awakens memo-
ries of the serene, old-world
stateliness of some seven-
teenth or eighteenth century
house.
Mr. Gillespie, who is re-
sponsible for the working
out and completion of No.
12, University Gardens,
treats the fireplace with
due emphasis as the natural
centre of the room, and
therefore the most impor-
tant feature within the four
walls; he makes it a place
of decorative pleasantness
and peace, and the appear-
ance of comfort is never
found at variance with de-
corative excellence. To the
couch or settle, too, this
architect gives outward and
visible sign of that grace oi
comfort and rest without
which no chamber can
io8

achieve true home-like atmosphere. The furniture
designed for the rooms affords a proof, if such be
required, that the so-called modern art handicraft
can be appreciated by ordinary men and women ;
that its best principle and aim is not merely
extravagance and peculiarity, and general dis-
comfort, but the discovery of new forms, more
in accordance with the life of our time than the
bad copies and vulgar variations of stereotyped
designs with which we have been in the habit of
surrounding ourselves. It is a matter for regret
that the designing of furniture is so often handed
over to the upholsterer, and that houses otherwise

DEStGNED BY J. GAFF GILLESPIE
EXECUTED BY JOHN CRAWFORD
BRONZE CABINET FURNITURE BY W. GILBERT

MUSIC CABINET, DRAWING-ROOM