Studio: international art (27.1903)

A rnoal MiicJiett

SOME RECENT ARCHITEC-
TURAL DESIGNS BY ARNOLD
MITCHELL. BY HUGH P. G.
MAULE.

There are perhaps few architects to whom
success has come so rapidly and so early as to Mr.
Arnold Mitchell, and in a brief consideration of
some portion of his work this fact must be borne
in mind.

Articled in 1880 to R. S. Wilkinson of London,
his chief educational influence was undoubtedly
obtained from the office of Messrs. Ernest George
& Peto, coupled with a considerable amount of
foreign travel at different times, while a working
knowledge of materials was wisely gained by acting
as clerk of the works to a London church.

In Mr. Arnold Mitchell's domestic work,
which is all this article proposes to touch upon,
the chief reason for his success is not far to
seek. He is essentially a convenient and
happy planner. His designs for houses, be they
large or small, have a quality of " homeyness " and
common-sense (a quality ofttimes sadly lacking in
men with big reputations), combined with a
thorough and practical grasp of all those number-
less and at the same time small considerations
which make all the difference between a house,
fine perhaps architecturally, but wanting in just
that almost indefinable something which, from

the moment you enter, sets upon it the seal of
a home.

Mr. Arnold Mitchell possesses the happy faculty
of making his houses appear roomy and large for
their size. This would seem to have been a care-
fully studied effect, and in small houses particularly
it often lends a distinction and charm which would
otherwise be lost if the real limitations of size
were immediately apparent. It is not easy to
say exactly how this effect is obtained, but it is
observable in nearly all the houses designed by him.

He has, indeed, in small houses carried the art
of economical planning to a high level, and com-
fort and convenience are never sacrificed to effect
—in fact, comfort is everywhere considered.

It is not only in mere arrangement and economy
of space that Mr. Arnold Mitchell excels, and in
order to thoroughly understand this it is almost
necessary to know his actual work, and not merely
drawings of it on paper, for there are many points
which do not reveal themselves by illustrations
even to a trained eye.

Realising to the full that most clients both want
and expect more than they are prepared to pay
for, he has studied economy in roofing and group-
ing, and is proportionally generous in fittings
and those small details which help to make
home-life easier, and which, if treated sympatheti-
cally, cannot but help the architect in lending just
that personal and human element, linking both

HOUSE AT NORTHOLT

ARXOI.n

MITCHELL,

ARCHITECT
179