International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture



FIG. 27.—-SET OF SHOW SPOONS WITH FIGURES OF SAINTS, ETC., CARVED AND
PAINTED BY STYRIAN PEASANTS
(From Martin Gerlack's “ Volkstiimliche Kunst")

Recent designs in domes-
tic ARCHITECTURE.
In giving a few illustrations of Mr.
Charles Spooner’s designs for country dwellings
we append some notes written by Mr. G. LI.
Morris on the principles by which the architect
has been guided in his
work.
“To arrive,” Mr. Morris
says, “at a just and criti-
cal appreciation of Mr.
Spooner’s varied work, and
the relation it has to the
best artistic tradition of
to-day, it will be well
perhaps briefly to review
those ideas which have
helped to revolutionise
English domestic architec-
ture during the last forty-
five years. Behind their
material expression was the
passionate desire for a more
humane conception of life
and art, a desire to re-
affirm the view that the two
are intimately bound up
together. This desire, in
fact, marked the beginning
of a movement which
aimed to bridge the gulf
between the craftsman and

his work—a gulf that had
been getting wider and
wider since the decay of
the Guild system, and
reached its worst form in
the early years of last
century. But about the
time when John Ruskin
was giving his vigorous
lectures upon architecture,
William Morris and Phillip
Webb had begun to create
an influence that inspired
and still inspires the best
domestic architecture of
our time. The emotional
impetus underlying all that
they accomplished brought
about an examination and
re-valuation of current
ideals in relation to art
and craft, all the more remarkable as being in
direct antagonism to the commercial and material
tendencies of the age.
“ Among the leading ideas which influenced
these pioneers, perhaps the most important was
the great value they attached to the traditions
of architecture—not traditions of style so much as

CHARLES SPOONER, ARCHITECT
235

HALL OF HOUSE AT BURY