International studio (46.1912)

Annual Architectural Exhibition in Philadelphia


Messrs. Brown and Whiteside, Architects
FLOWER SHOP, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

which was so largely in evidence this year, it is
possibly interesting to note some of the student
work from the strong architectural department of
the University of Pennsylvania.
The problems, or “profits,” were for a Mari-
time Station, an Ambassadorial Residence and
several other ambitious buildings, and the draw-
ings were all presented with that amazing bril-
liancy and dexterity which bespeaks the better
.sort of “Beaux Arts” instruction. In drawings

of a scheme for a group of school buildings it was
a little surprising to note that, while the plans were
excellent, no inspiration in the elevations was
drawn from the criteria by Cope and Stewardson,
that is to say, from the truly admirable school
buildings in the very midst of which the students
work. It is, however, a recognized student fail-
ing to stand the classic orders upside down to see
if they will look better in that position, and a real
appreciation for the value of precedent is usually
the last thing to be learned—and often such ap-
preciation does not come until after graduation.
The division of domestic architecture was made
up mostly of photographs showing the splen-
didly consistent work which is being developed
in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Wilson Eyre,
D. Knickerbacker Boyd, Duhring, Okie and
Ziegler, Spencer Roberts, Brockie and Hastings
and Mellor and Meigs were represented by charm-
ing country houses both large and small, their
prevalent characteristic being a skilful and pic-
turesque use of fieldstone and an essentially in-
telligent and faithful interpretation of Georgian
Colonial detail.
There is a sincerity about these houses which
makes a strong appeal in each one, as it is con-
sidered individually, and in a retrospective esti-
mate of the entire showing there is felt a quality of
consistency, both in ideal and execution, which the
suburbs of New York would do well to emulate.
G. Bispham Page showed photographs of a
house at Ardmoor, Pa., in which he effected a
happy combination of the spirit of Pennsylvania
country architecture and his favorite adapted
Tudor. In this adapted Tudor style of country
house he was at his best in some drawings of a
large country house, also exhibited.
Oswald C. Hering and Janssen and Abbott were
practically the only out-of-town architects in this
class who exhibited this year, the latter showing
the same three renderings of well-designed country
houses which were hung in the exhibition of the
New York Architectural League.
Gardens received not a little attention—notable
exhibits being a number of large groups of excel-
lently taken photographs by T. W. Sears, land-
scape architect, of Providence, R. I. These were
mostly taken in England, and show not only the
charm of the English garden but the discrimina-
tion and taste of the photographer in his selec-
tions and arrangements. Charles W. Leavitt, of
New York, showed photographs of the Haskell
Garden, at Red Bank, N. J.—a garden which may
be reckoned among his most successful designs.

xcvin