DOI issue:
No. 69 (December 1898)
DOI article:An architects home: Mr. Arnold Mitchell's cottage at Harrow
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19230#0197
An Architect's 'Home
fittings of hammered iron, with pale blue glass
silvered at the back. The curtains and the furni-
ture coverings are of blue and green tapestry in a
material consisting of mixed wool and silk. The
furniture is mostly inlaid, old English and old
French, with several Dutch chairs. The door
fittings and hinges are of aluminium. Here also is
some beautiful stained-glass, by Mr. Oscar Paterson,
with the motto, " Friendship is a sheltering
tree." The floor is covered with fine antique
rugs. Add to these items a few water-colours
by Ernest George and Walter West, a black-
and-white drawing by Rossetti, a couple of fine
old metal-bound chests, and with the help of the
photographs it should be possible to form a very
good mental image of the room as it actually
appears.
The bedrooms and nursery are each treated in
different colours. The bedroom illustrated is in
yellow and white, with a coved ceiling ribbed in
low-relief, Dutch and Sheraton furniture, and grate
tiles painted by Mrs. Arnold Mitchell. The guest's
bedroom is a scheme of pale green, with hangings
of green silk, old Dutch inlaid furniture, and De
Morgan's painted tiles in the fireplace.
The pantry and offices are lined with glazed
bricks. All the drainage pipes and ventilating
shafts of the house are arranged to come in a
wing outside the main building, and are thus in
accessible positions, with no danger of sewer gases
leaking into the rest of the building. The various
sinks, baths, and washing troughs are all kept
in the same portion of the house—indeed, its
planning in this respect deserves more description
than is permissible here. Its ventilation from
floor to ceiling is perfect; no lesser word is
adequate.
To say that Mr. Arnold Mitchell's house is an
ideal house is true, for it represents his ideal, and
probably a very much better ideal than you (the
supposititious reader) or I (the anonymous writer)
could achieve. It is not epoch-making; it is not
aggressively new (is any indisputable truth new ?);
but it is (to drop into the vernacular) a jolly little
place, a house well planned, well constructed; a
house in which to snap one's fingers at sanitary
inspectors ; a house that may survive the most
searching criticism of a " precious " person. But
quiet perfection is a singularly awkward theme to
champion. We can all wax eloquent over affecta-
A BEDROOM AT GROVE HILL COTTAGE, HARROW
172
ARNOLD MITCHELL, ARCHITECT
fittings of hammered iron, with pale blue glass
silvered at the back. The curtains and the furni-
ture coverings are of blue and green tapestry in a
material consisting of mixed wool and silk. The
furniture is mostly inlaid, old English and old
French, with several Dutch chairs. The door
fittings and hinges are of aluminium. Here also is
some beautiful stained-glass, by Mr. Oscar Paterson,
with the motto, " Friendship is a sheltering
tree." The floor is covered with fine antique
rugs. Add to these items a few water-colours
by Ernest George and Walter West, a black-
and-white drawing by Rossetti, a couple of fine
old metal-bound chests, and with the help of the
photographs it should be possible to form a very
good mental image of the room as it actually
appears.
The bedrooms and nursery are each treated in
different colours. The bedroom illustrated is in
yellow and white, with a coved ceiling ribbed in
low-relief, Dutch and Sheraton furniture, and grate
tiles painted by Mrs. Arnold Mitchell. The guest's
bedroom is a scheme of pale green, with hangings
of green silk, old Dutch inlaid furniture, and De
Morgan's painted tiles in the fireplace.
The pantry and offices are lined with glazed
bricks. All the drainage pipes and ventilating
shafts of the house are arranged to come in a
wing outside the main building, and are thus in
accessible positions, with no danger of sewer gases
leaking into the rest of the building. The various
sinks, baths, and washing troughs are all kept
in the same portion of the house—indeed, its
planning in this respect deserves more description
than is permissible here. Its ventilation from
floor to ceiling is perfect; no lesser word is
adequate.
To say that Mr. Arnold Mitchell's house is an
ideal house is true, for it represents his ideal, and
probably a very much better ideal than you (the
supposititious reader) or I (the anonymous writer)
could achieve. It is not epoch-making; it is not
aggressively new (is any indisputable truth new ?);
but it is (to drop into the vernacular) a jolly little
place, a house well planned, well constructed; a
house in which to snap one's fingers at sanitary
inspectors ; a house that may survive the most
searching criticism of a " precious " person. But
quiet perfection is a singularly awkward theme to
champion. We can all wax eloquent over affecta-
A BEDROOM AT GROVE HILL COTTAGE, HARROW
172
ARNOLD MITCHELL, ARCHITECT