DOI Heft:
No. 58 (January, 1898)
DOI Artikel:A modern English country house: designed by Arnold Mitchell
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0289
A Modern English Country House
be preferred before Vniformitie; Except where
both may be had."
In literature the real art is to convey precisely
and unmistakably the idea which you wish to ex-
press. If by exquisite accuracy of epithets you can
also make the mere words melodious in sound, and
with a splendid rhythm of their own, all the better;
but sound and rhythm will never make literature—
that is a matter of well-reasoned thought expressed
in vivid and definite sentences ; so style and orna-
ment will never make architecture, unless the
building first fulfils its necessary use.
Mr. Arnold Mitchell is a draughtsman of con-
spicuous ability. His pencil studies of foreign
cathedrals are in their own way unapproachable ;
therefore we might have expected that he would be
chiefly concerned in providing beautiful subjects
for an artist to put down on paper. More than one
very eminent architect has exhausted his efforts on
the facade or sky-line of a building, or made a
pastiche from the contents of his sketch-book, and
left the interior to fit into his scheme as best it
could. Many notable instances of this entirely
topsy-turvy method are to be found among our
public buildings, which expose their fallacy to all
who are not satisfied with a rapid glance. Had Mr.
Arnold Mitchell followed others in this respect, he
especially might have been forgiven; even if one
who has so keen a sense of the beauty of ancient
edifices had forgotten for a while the " work-a-day
world of pains and prose," and pleaded the artist's
licence, you could hardly deny his right to do so.
That he has not done so, but has set aside his
veneration for picturesque beauty, and boldly tackled
the modern requirements of ventilation, sanitation,,
and other so-called sordid matters, is distinctly to*
his credit. That he is an artist literally to his.
finger-tips his drawings show; that he is an enthu-
siast in the architecture of past centuries his lectures,
prove; that he can tackle the equally complex
problems of a modern dwelling ought to be no less;
clear, after a study of this house.
For if art and common sense ever appear to be-
at loggerheads, one may be sure that the apparent,
difference is due either to ignorance in the spectator.,
or inefficiency on the part of the artist. If our art:
of architecture is not pre-eminently common sense,
plus something more, so much the worse for it. It
241
be preferred before Vniformitie; Except where
both may be had."
In literature the real art is to convey precisely
and unmistakably the idea which you wish to ex-
press. If by exquisite accuracy of epithets you can
also make the mere words melodious in sound, and
with a splendid rhythm of their own, all the better;
but sound and rhythm will never make literature—
that is a matter of well-reasoned thought expressed
in vivid and definite sentences ; so style and orna-
ment will never make architecture, unless the
building first fulfils its necessary use.
Mr. Arnold Mitchell is a draughtsman of con-
spicuous ability. His pencil studies of foreign
cathedrals are in their own way unapproachable ;
therefore we might have expected that he would be
chiefly concerned in providing beautiful subjects
for an artist to put down on paper. More than one
very eminent architect has exhausted his efforts on
the facade or sky-line of a building, or made a
pastiche from the contents of his sketch-book, and
left the interior to fit into his scheme as best it
could. Many notable instances of this entirely
topsy-turvy method are to be found among our
public buildings, which expose their fallacy to all
who are not satisfied with a rapid glance. Had Mr.
Arnold Mitchell followed others in this respect, he
especially might have been forgiven; even if one
who has so keen a sense of the beauty of ancient
edifices had forgotten for a while the " work-a-day
world of pains and prose," and pleaded the artist's
licence, you could hardly deny his right to do so.
That he has not done so, but has set aside his
veneration for picturesque beauty, and boldly tackled
the modern requirements of ventilation, sanitation,,
and other so-called sordid matters, is distinctly to*
his credit. That he is an artist literally to his.
finger-tips his drawings show; that he is an enthu-
siast in the architecture of past centuries his lectures,
prove; that he can tackle the equally complex
problems of a modern dwelling ought to be no less;
clear, after a study of this house.
For if art and common sense ever appear to be-
at loggerheads, one may be sure that the apparent,
difference is due either to ignorance in the spectator.,
or inefficiency on the part of the artist. If our art:
of architecture is not pre-eminently common sense,
plus something more, so much the worse for it. It
241