Studio: international art (27.1903)

Designs for Cottages

homes, each inhabited, as M. Gabriel Mourey
says in La Revue Illustree, by "un professional
man qui vient s'y reposer, du samedi au lundi,
selon la coutume Anglaise, du fracas des affaires,
et du mouvement de la cite." It is evidently
for such as he that most of the competitors have
catered.

There is, however, amongst them considerable
difference of opinion as to the requirements of such
a client, and this especially shows itself, as it
should, in the plan which is to meet his needs.
Thus in some cases a large " living room" or
" house place " is given him instead of the dining
room and drawing room, as in the designs of
"Stand Sticker" and "Brush." In some, again, he
is provided with three large bedrooms, or alter-
natively with, say, five smaller ones, of the latter
of which arrangement good examples are shown
in the sets of " Mamarbashi" and " Tabby."
This, moreover, seems the more advisable ar-
rangement, as does also that of the majority
of the planners, who introduce, as a main feature
in their design, a hall provided with a fireplace,
and so spacious as to serve as an additional sitting
room.

The monetary limit, which was ^750, has been
treated with a good deal of elasticity by the com-
petitors, and, for ourselves, we naturally find it
difficult to adequately diagnose the probable cost
of a given building, as the anonymous nature of
the competition makes it impossible to be certain
as to the particular district, or even country, any
designer has in his mind. The difficulty, in
considering cost, as affected by locality, is the
greater when dealing with plans for buildings
in different parts of France, England, Ireland, and
Scotland.

And, finally, the word cottage has been taken to
have a right of application to simple small build-
ings of one sitting-room, equally with those which
it would perhaps be juster to call villas, or even
small country houses. As a general rule, however,
the plan shows a hall, usually with a fireplace, and
two sitting rooms. Of course, the compelling con-
dition is the number of bedrooms required. For
it is manifest that five bedrooms on the first
floor may, unless thoughtfully treated, dictate a
larger ground floor than would otherwise be
necessary.

A defect from which many of the plans suffer is
the narrowness of the dining-room. Competitors
hardly seem to realise that, in the narrow rooms
shown in certain designs, the space required for
a dining-table, with occupied chairs on either side,
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leaves but poor room for any kind of attendance
during meal times, especially when the possibility
of other furniture, such as sideboard, sofa, or settee,
is considered. Thus, for instance, the clever and
vigorous sketches of " Chelsea," which show a
dining-room of 17 ft. in length, restrict its width
to 12 ft., which, indeed, the ingle-nook still further
reduces to only 9 ft. 6 ins. (In considering this
design, by the way, as well as some of the others,
one wonders what is the exact rationale of the
battered buttress introduced on the elevations.
Without being too much of a formalist, one may
well consider that the function of a buttress is to
specifically resist a thrust.) The plan of "Gleeson,"
again, shows a dining-room 12 ft. wide; and gives,
moreover, occasion to the remark, which has a
wider application than to his set of drawings alone,
that a separate scullery in a cottage is an expense,
and hardly a necessity. A recessed portion of the
kitchen, which finds room for a sink, adds materially
to the cubical space of the kitchen, and gives all
the accommodation needed. The arrangement of
stairs in the last-mentioned design is effective, and
would work out prettily. "Limestone" also gives too
much importance to his scullery, and unduly restricts
his kitchen. " Simplissimus " submits a cheap and
simple building, though the direct entrance into
the hall, with only one door between it and the
outer air, would be found objectionable in wintry
weather. The living room of 18 ft. by 14 ft.,
together with the den, 13 ft. 6 ins. by 10 ft., give
an excellent proportion of sitting-room accommo-
dation. "Gobo" sends a set of drawings, for which
the plan especially would seem to speak a Scottish
origin. The servants' bed-cupboard, which is only
6 ft. 6 ins. by 7 ft., and leads directly out of the
kitchen, is, to our thinking, a flaw in an otherwise
original design ; nor can we quite make out from
the plan whether the front door is placed at the
back, or whether the two small external doors
leading directly into living rooms are to be taken
as equivalents for one ordinary front door ! The
cost is stated to be " ^750 or thereby." We hope
the " thereby " is a word of considerable elasticity.
"Curlew" sends a simple and effective elevation,
but—his dining room is only 10 ft. wide. We
have here the inevitable ingle-nook, but the plan
makes it somewhat difficult for those in either the
parlour or hall to benefit very much by the fires.
We wonder, again, why " Twentieth Century " has
provided an ingle-nook in his staircase. One does
not go about a house sitting down at various odd
and unexpected corners; and by means of the
very pleasantly arranged long, narrow hall, with a