DOI Heft:
No. 35 (February, 1896)
DOI Artikel:The revival of English domestic architecture, [1] The work of Mr. Norman Shaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17296#0037
The Revival of English Domestic A rchitecture
w.
" CRAGSIDE," NORTHUMBERLAND K. NORMAN SHAW, R.A., ARCHITECT
hidden joints in the construction—syllogism and
such as these appear to us the quibbles of scholi-
asts. For abstract theories of this sort, although
presented with the alluring style of a Ruskin, are
certain to come into conflict with the common-
sense requirements of the average person. He
demands comfort and comeliness, and he has a
right to do so. Houses are meant to live in, and
to live in with the least amount of irritation of
mind and body. Windows are required for light
and ventilation, modern habits prefer wall surfaces
that do not harbour dust or present rough surfaces
to injure an unguarded hand that comes in con-
tact with them. Wood sufficiently beautiful in
grain, and sound in texture that it can dispense
with paint, is not within reach of the majority
of households. In a climate that varies so fre-
quently as ours, absence of draughts, and rooms
which have an appearance as well as a reality
of cosiness, become absolutely necessary. These
facts and a hundred others were ignored, a per-
fectly unpractical standard of " honesty " was set
up, and, as might have been foreseen, the blunders
24
of the virtue men copied, while the truer principle
of fitness was overlooked.
Indeed, as the old saw shows, to proclaim one's
honesty too openly is in itself suspicious; unpre-
judiced bystanders think it a newly acquired habit,
and still more cynical people wonder if it be not a
device to cover some ingenious deception.
Yet, all the same, although we may smile at
many of the puerile attempts to mediasvalise the
average English home, and to make every honest
cit's house ape his proverbial castle, it is through
the Gothic movement, with all its failings, that
we have come to a newer and better class of work.
To-day it is amusing to find Heme Hill rail-
way station taken as the text for a discourse on the
advance of domestic architecture. Yet he who
wills, may find it eulogised and illustrated with
many details in one of the foremost architec-
tural papers of 1863. Even the curious bracket-
shapes of wrought iron, stuck at the corners of its
unnecessary tower, are praised as being honest
specimens of good wrought iron. Possibly they
were ; but what use or beauty is fulfilled by them ?
w.
" CRAGSIDE," NORTHUMBERLAND K. NORMAN SHAW, R.A., ARCHITECT
hidden joints in the construction—syllogism and
such as these appear to us the quibbles of scholi-
asts. For abstract theories of this sort, although
presented with the alluring style of a Ruskin, are
certain to come into conflict with the common-
sense requirements of the average person. He
demands comfort and comeliness, and he has a
right to do so. Houses are meant to live in, and
to live in with the least amount of irritation of
mind and body. Windows are required for light
and ventilation, modern habits prefer wall surfaces
that do not harbour dust or present rough surfaces
to injure an unguarded hand that comes in con-
tact with them. Wood sufficiently beautiful in
grain, and sound in texture that it can dispense
with paint, is not within reach of the majority
of households. In a climate that varies so fre-
quently as ours, absence of draughts, and rooms
which have an appearance as well as a reality
of cosiness, become absolutely necessary. These
facts and a hundred others were ignored, a per-
fectly unpractical standard of " honesty " was set
up, and, as might have been foreseen, the blunders
24
of the virtue men copied, while the truer principle
of fitness was overlooked.
Indeed, as the old saw shows, to proclaim one's
honesty too openly is in itself suspicious; unpre-
judiced bystanders think it a newly acquired habit,
and still more cynical people wonder if it be not a
device to cover some ingenious deception.
Yet, all the same, although we may smile at
many of the puerile attempts to mediasvalise the
average English home, and to make every honest
cit's house ape his proverbial castle, it is through
the Gothic movement, with all its failings, that
we have come to a newer and better class of work.
To-day it is amusing to find Heme Hill rail-
way station taken as the text for a discourse on the
advance of domestic architecture. Yet he who
wills, may find it eulogised and illustrated with
many details in one of the foremost architec-
tural papers of 1863. Even the curious bracket-
shapes of wrought iron, stuck at the corners of its
unnecessary tower, are praised as being honest
specimens of good wrought iron. Possibly they
were ; but what use or beauty is fulfilled by them ?