International studio (60.1916/1917)

Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture


HOWBURY, ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

MILLS AND SHEPHERD, FF.R.I.B.A., ARCHITECTS

wood panelling up to ceiling height, the detail of
the smoking-room showing an excellent rendering
of architectural lines, with a neat rectangular-panel
above the fireplace. The furniture is in quiet
taste, in congruity with the character of the interior.
In close proximity to the above-named exhibit,
Messrs. Mills & Shepherd, FF.R.I.B.A., of Dundee,
were represented by a number of photographs of
various works. The illustration reproduced here
is a view of the exterior of Howbury, St. Andrews,
looking towards the entrance angle, and it gives
a very good idea of the attractive character of the
design. It is of a characteristic English type, the
external walls being brick, finished rough-cast.
The entrance porch is panelled on walls and
ceiling in pitch pine, fumed with ammonia ; and
the floors of the principal public rooms, such as
the hall, dining- and drawing-rooms, are laid with
the same wood, also fumed with dark ammonia.
The rooms generally have a picture moulding
set twenty inches below the ceilings, these being
finished white in harmony with the frieze and
cornice treatment. Below the frieze the walls
have been covered with either a white or grey or
tinted cartridge paper.
The view of a dining-room reproduced on page 40
is one of a series of three photographs showing

different aspects of the same apartment, exhibited
at Edinburgh this year by Mr. William Hunter
McNab, F.R.I.B.A., of Glasgow. It forms a new
wing added to an existing house, including a new
entrance porch, cloak-room and lavatory. The
house was built on a quickly sloping site, advantage
being taken of the rapid fall to obtain a motor
house below, the construction of the latter
accommodation being the primary reason for the
erection of the wing. The new entrance hall was
formerly the dining-room, and it now gives access
to the new dining-room. For the walls a neat,
square panelling treatment of Austrian oak
(contracted for before the war) has been carried
out and reaches to the full height, the wood
being left in its natural state without stain or
polish of any kind, while above it there is a plain
plastered frieze. Occupying a well-balanced
position in the room is a simply constructed
Tudor fireplace of fine white selected Auchenheath
stone, with carved mantel supports, the work of
Mr. James Young, of Glasgow. A plain kerb
completes the design. The floor is of Canadian
oak, polished over the entire area. A feature of
the room is the ornamental plaster ceiling, with
deep cross and side beams, executed by Mr.
George P. Bankart of London.

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