DOI Heft:
No. 72 (March 1899)
DOI Artikel:Mourey, Gabriel: The work of Gaston La Touche
DOI Artikel:Leonard, George Hare: A nineteenth-century house, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19231#0101
A Nineteenth-Century House
It does not ignore the
past; it has learnt from it
—caught the spirit of the
best old days, and let the
letter go — that " letter "
which is so dear to many
who have never felt the
spirit, and make in archi-
generous artist such as he tecture the mistake that Browning's Duke made in
is, remains unrecognised life : " All that the old Dukes had been without
by public and critics alike, knowing it, This Duke would fain know he was
and is deprived of the high without being it." *
position he has every right
to hold? Happily, the
time is not far distant
when ample justice must
be accorded to him.
' The Flight of the Duchess,
carved frame GABRIEL MOUREY.
liY g. la touche
A
NINETEENTH-CENTURY
HOUSE. PART I. BY
GEORGE HARE LEONARD.
It was once wisely said that if we
would truly dress well we should so
clothe ourselves that no one would mark what we
were wearing. Our dress would be so natural, so
fitting, in a word, so " right," that it would excite no
special comment. Perhaps houses should follow a
similar rule. Any house may excite attention by
what people are pleased to call " originality,"
eccentricity, changes for changes' sake. Almost
any architect, if he is audacious enough—perhaps
it would not be wrong to say ignorant enough—may
obtain notoriety ; few obtain fame. It used to be
the proud boast of a great journal that it was a
paper written for gentlemen by gentlemen. At all
events, the nineteenth-century house described in
this article (Palace Gate House, in Kensington Gore)
leaves the impression that it is a house built for a
gentleman by gentlemen. It stands head and
shoulders above its fellows in the row, as Saul
stood when they made him king. It has, if one
may say so without violence to language, a " bear-
ing," and yet there is no pretension about it, no
show; it makes no bid to force itself upon the
attention of the passer-by. I do not think it has
a style. Men who dress well have no style. Out-
side a fancy dress ball no one dreams of masque-
rading as a Tudor or Plantagenet, or even as a
gentleman of the time of Queen Anne. They are
men of to-day. This house is a house of to-day. c. j. h. cooper, architect
90
palace gate house
It does not ignore the
past; it has learnt from it
—caught the spirit of the
best old days, and let the
letter go — that " letter "
which is so dear to many
who have never felt the
spirit, and make in archi-
generous artist such as he tecture the mistake that Browning's Duke made in
is, remains unrecognised life : " All that the old Dukes had been without
by public and critics alike, knowing it, This Duke would fain know he was
and is deprived of the high without being it." *
position he has every right
to hold? Happily, the
time is not far distant
when ample justice must
be accorded to him.
' The Flight of the Duchess,
carved frame GABRIEL MOUREY.
liY g. la touche
A
NINETEENTH-CENTURY
HOUSE. PART I. BY
GEORGE HARE LEONARD.
It was once wisely said that if we
would truly dress well we should so
clothe ourselves that no one would mark what we
were wearing. Our dress would be so natural, so
fitting, in a word, so " right," that it would excite no
special comment. Perhaps houses should follow a
similar rule. Any house may excite attention by
what people are pleased to call " originality,"
eccentricity, changes for changes' sake. Almost
any architect, if he is audacious enough—perhaps
it would not be wrong to say ignorant enough—may
obtain notoriety ; few obtain fame. It used to be
the proud boast of a great journal that it was a
paper written for gentlemen by gentlemen. At all
events, the nineteenth-century house described in
this article (Palace Gate House, in Kensington Gore)
leaves the impression that it is a house built for a
gentleman by gentlemen. It stands head and
shoulders above its fellows in the row, as Saul
stood when they made him king. It has, if one
may say so without violence to language, a " bear-
ing," and yet there is no pretension about it, no
show; it makes no bid to force itself upon the
attention of the passer-by. I do not think it has
a style. Men who dress well have no style. Out-
side a fancy dress ball no one dreams of masque-
rading as a Tudor or Plantagenet, or even as a
gentleman of the time of Queen Anne. They are
men of to-day. This house is a house of to-day. c. j. h. cooper, architect
90
palace gate house