DOI issue:
No. 177 (November, 1911)
DOI article:Greenleaf, Margaret: The importance of appropriate design in hardware for the house
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43448#0370
Appropriate Design in Hardware for the House
Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals
IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET HARDWARE ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR CRAFTSMAN ROOMS
The importance of appropri-
ate DESIGN IN HARDWARE
FOR THE HOUSE
BY MARGARET GREENLEAF
The attention given to the detail of the well-
planned modern house has become more pro-
nounced each year, and in the design and finish of
the interior this is especially noticeable.
Even the layman has awakened to the fact that
the exterior design and floor plan must fit the site
and environment in which it is placed, and, in
turn, the interior of the house must show close
relationship to its exterior.
The architectural detail of cornices and wood
panel—if such appear—the placing of doors and
windows, the lighting fixtures, hardware and
metal trim and the tile about the fireplace must
all combine to make a perfected whole, must pre-
sent in their combination a well-studied selection.
This consideration of detail is, after all, only
harking back to the old days of handcraft, when
the studiously composed and executed several
parts or fittings of the room were prepared and
wrought with care and interest, that each might
worthily fill the place for which it was designed.
And such work insured to the buildings of the
time the sincerity and consistency they showed
throughout.
In the early Georgian and pure Colonial types of
houses, examples of which are still extant in this
country, as well as in the manor houses, castles
and palaces of Europe, are found excellent exam-
ples to which we are now turning for inspiration
after the lapse of many hurried, careless years in
which the high standard of worthiness raised by
the artists, artisans and craftsmen of past cen-
turies was apparently forgotten.
In the rapid growth of our new towns and cities
the demand for constructive and house-finishing
materials has been very great, and to meet this
much of the building material put out by the
manufacturer in the recent past was spurious and
meaningless. But today the man who builds his
house has outgrown the ornate twisted convul-
sions of brass and iron which were furnished him
XIV
Photograph by Jessie Tarbox Beals
IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET HARDWARE ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR CRAFTSMAN ROOMS
The importance of appropri-
ate DESIGN IN HARDWARE
FOR THE HOUSE
BY MARGARET GREENLEAF
The attention given to the detail of the well-
planned modern house has become more pro-
nounced each year, and in the design and finish of
the interior this is especially noticeable.
Even the layman has awakened to the fact that
the exterior design and floor plan must fit the site
and environment in which it is placed, and, in
turn, the interior of the house must show close
relationship to its exterior.
The architectural detail of cornices and wood
panel—if such appear—the placing of doors and
windows, the lighting fixtures, hardware and
metal trim and the tile about the fireplace must
all combine to make a perfected whole, must pre-
sent in their combination a well-studied selection.
This consideration of detail is, after all, only
harking back to the old days of handcraft, when
the studiously composed and executed several
parts or fittings of the room were prepared and
wrought with care and interest, that each might
worthily fill the place for which it was designed.
And such work insured to the buildings of the
time the sincerity and consistency they showed
throughout.
In the early Georgian and pure Colonial types of
houses, examples of which are still extant in this
country, as well as in the manor houses, castles
and palaces of Europe, are found excellent exam-
ples to which we are now turning for inspiration
after the lapse of many hurried, careless years in
which the high standard of worthiness raised by
the artists, artisans and craftsmen of past cen-
turies was apparently forgotten.
In the rapid growth of our new towns and cities
the demand for constructive and house-finishing
materials has been very great, and to meet this
much of the building material put out by the
manufacturer in the recent past was spurious and
meaningless. But today the man who builds his
house has outgrown the ornate twisted convul-
sions of brass and iron which were furnished him
XIV