DOI issue:
The international Studio (Obtober, 1908)
DOI article:Saylor, Henry H.: The fourteenth annual architectural exhibition in Philadelphia
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28255#0453
Philadelphia Architectural Exhibition
The fourteenth annual ar-
chitectural EXHIBITION
IN PHILADELPHIA
BY HENRY H. SAYLOR
Philadelphia’s latest architectural exhibition
was one of country houses. Before starting to write
I made a list of the exhibits that seemed most worthy
of mention, grouping them according to the kind
of building. In the country house group there were
twenty-five, while the next largest group—seven-
teen—contained all the buildings of a public or
semipublic character: the hotels, business build-
ings, apartment houses and clubs. It speaks well
for the interest of the exhibition that the tendency
was this way, for above all other problems and
above the architects of all other American cities,
the Philadelphia architect knows how to design
country houses. The city possesses, whether it
knows it or not, a distinct school of architecture.
Only Chicago can approach Philadelphia in this
manifestation of the solidarity of artistic endeavor,
and Chicago not very closely. One sees a photo-
graph of a country home; its well-laid gray stone-
work, its white painted woodwork, its simplicity
and charm of mass, proclaim instantly its location.
Philadelphia may well feel proud of her suburbs—
and of the factor that does most to make them
beautiful, the successfully designed country house.
The list of those on the exhibition walls of the
Academy of Fine Arts which made a special ap-
peal is bewildering. Bissell & Sinkler showed a
photograph of a classic white-plaster house near
Baltimore; D. Knickerbacker Boyd was repre-
sented by a number of photographs and sketches,
among which a residence at Bryn Mawr stood
forth as being most characteristic of his style;
Lawrence V. Boyd’s “Tredinnock,” at Ashbourne,
Pa., is a gray plaster house that depends on no
futile copying of dead styles for its straightforward
excellence, and his stable at Elkins Park deserves
praise; Brockie & Hastings exhibited some ex-
cellent water colors of a house at Bryn Mawr,
several photographs of a typical Philadelphia home
in stone and white woodwork at St. David’s, Pa.,
a group of doorways in the same spirit, and some
photographs of a thoroughly charming house at
Villa Nova, where the stone walls have been covered
with a semitransparent coating of white plaster.
Photographs of “Cogslea,” by Frank Miles Day &
COUNTRY HOUSE BROCKIE AND HASTINGS, ARCHITECTS
CXV
The fourteenth annual ar-
chitectural EXHIBITION
IN PHILADELPHIA
BY HENRY H. SAYLOR
Philadelphia’s latest architectural exhibition
was one of country houses. Before starting to write
I made a list of the exhibits that seemed most worthy
of mention, grouping them according to the kind
of building. In the country house group there were
twenty-five, while the next largest group—seven-
teen—contained all the buildings of a public or
semipublic character: the hotels, business build-
ings, apartment houses and clubs. It speaks well
for the interest of the exhibition that the tendency
was this way, for above all other problems and
above the architects of all other American cities,
the Philadelphia architect knows how to design
country houses. The city possesses, whether it
knows it or not, a distinct school of architecture.
Only Chicago can approach Philadelphia in this
manifestation of the solidarity of artistic endeavor,
and Chicago not very closely. One sees a photo-
graph of a country home; its well-laid gray stone-
work, its white painted woodwork, its simplicity
and charm of mass, proclaim instantly its location.
Philadelphia may well feel proud of her suburbs—
and of the factor that does most to make them
beautiful, the successfully designed country house.
The list of those on the exhibition walls of the
Academy of Fine Arts which made a special ap-
peal is bewildering. Bissell & Sinkler showed a
photograph of a classic white-plaster house near
Baltimore; D. Knickerbacker Boyd was repre-
sented by a number of photographs and sketches,
among which a residence at Bryn Mawr stood
forth as being most characteristic of his style;
Lawrence V. Boyd’s “Tredinnock,” at Ashbourne,
Pa., is a gray plaster house that depends on no
futile copying of dead styles for its straightforward
excellence, and his stable at Elkins Park deserves
praise; Brockie & Hastings exhibited some ex-
cellent water colors of a house at Bryn Mawr,
several photographs of a typical Philadelphia home
in stone and white woodwork at St. David’s, Pa.,
a group of doorways in the same spirit, and some
photographs of a thoroughly charming house at
Villa Nova, where the stone walls have been covered
with a semitransparent coating of white plaster.
Photographs of “Cogslea,” by Frank Miles Day &
COUNTRY HOUSE BROCKIE AND HASTINGS, ARCHITECTS
CXV