International studio (30.1906/1907(1907))

Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture


VILLAGE HALL AND COTTAGE AT WEST MILL, HERTS

CHARLES SPOONER, ARCHITECT

of furniture. It invariably fulfils its purpose,
is exquisite in proportion and refinement, and,
without any exception, always put together in the
most direct and satisfactory manner. The success
he has achieved in furniture design is due to his
wide knowledge of tradition, his study of modern
needs, his originality and thoughtful consideration


PLAN OF VILLAGE HALL AND COTTAGE
AT WEST MILL, HERTS
238

of means to an end, and the work he has done at
the bench.
“Mr, Ruskin, lecturing (in 1859) on ‘Modern
Manufacture and Design,’ said that ‘The principles
on which you work are likely to be false in propor-
tion as they are narrow, true only as they are
founded on a perception of the connection of all
branches of art with each
other ’; or, again, as he
says in another part of his
lecture, ‘ you must either
help your surroundings or
spoil them.’ In every phase
of Mr. Spooner’s work, in
his houses and cottages, his
furniture and church archi-
tecture, from the smallest
to the largest detail, this
perception of unity is never
lost. In this respect how
entirely admirable and
satisfactory is his cottage
at Bury, in Sussex. Sound

CHARLES SPOONER, ARCHITECT


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