DOI Heft:
Nr. 117 (December 1902)
DOI Artikel:Maule, Hugh P. G.: Some recent architectural designs by Arnold Mitchell
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19877#0199
Arnold Mitchell
that hitherto the dominant features have been
variety of outline and a picturesque treatment
which sometimes has the effect of being strained
and artificial, the outcome of the tee-square and
set-square rather than the happy and spontaneous
growth of needs suitably clothed with the ver-
nacular of the district, so distinct and striking
a characteristic in most of the old domestic build-
ings ; but his later work shows more repose and
more reliance upon simple materials used in a
natural and unaffected manner.
There is a restlessness and appearance of effort
about some of the smaller houses, which, though
it may be accounted for in various ways, and is not
always the fault of the architect, is at variance with
the deliberate thought of the plan.
At the present time, Mr. Arnold Mitchell is
engaged upon work of considerable importance,
both in England and elsewhere. The Royal Golf
Club House for the King of the Belgians is a
model of simplicity and good planning, though
it must be confessed that the elevation appears
too elaborate for such an exposed situation,
and more dependence upon the mere use of
materials would be even more effective, but in this
regard the architect was probably hardly his own
master.
The house at Stanmore certainly gains from
the restraint imposed by the simple treatment,
and Maesycrugian Manor, illustrated in the July
number of The Studio, confirms the impression
already mentioned, that in his later designs Mr.
Arnold Mitchell is working with a firmer touch
and a stronger feeling for the unadorned beauty
of materials rightly applied and rightly used as
opposed to architectural features and ornament.
There is a distinct and happy trend in this
direction at the present time, an endeavour to gain
more frequently that subtle sense of texture and
"growth," which can only come by a perfect
knowledge of the materials handled, and by a
careful study of each particular locality.
The self-evident evolution of the old homestead
or manor from the raw material of the district is
not the least of the many points to be studied, and
the modern appreciation of it is an encouraging
sign.
The development of this tendency, added to
Mr. Arnold Mitchell's undoubted facility and
capacity for fine planning, is bound to carry him
further than he has yet gone, and is a hopeful
augury for even greater work in the immediate
future.
Hugh P. G. Maule.
CENTRAL ROOM OF THE GERMAN SECTION, TURIN EXHIBITION DESIGNED BY H. BILLING
(See article on Turin Exhibition)
187
that hitherto the dominant features have been
variety of outline and a picturesque treatment
which sometimes has the effect of being strained
and artificial, the outcome of the tee-square and
set-square rather than the happy and spontaneous
growth of needs suitably clothed with the ver-
nacular of the district, so distinct and striking
a characteristic in most of the old domestic build-
ings ; but his later work shows more repose and
more reliance upon simple materials used in a
natural and unaffected manner.
There is a restlessness and appearance of effort
about some of the smaller houses, which, though
it may be accounted for in various ways, and is not
always the fault of the architect, is at variance with
the deliberate thought of the plan.
At the present time, Mr. Arnold Mitchell is
engaged upon work of considerable importance,
both in England and elsewhere. The Royal Golf
Club House for the King of the Belgians is a
model of simplicity and good planning, though
it must be confessed that the elevation appears
too elaborate for such an exposed situation,
and more dependence upon the mere use of
materials would be even more effective, but in this
regard the architect was probably hardly his own
master.
The house at Stanmore certainly gains from
the restraint imposed by the simple treatment,
and Maesycrugian Manor, illustrated in the July
number of The Studio, confirms the impression
already mentioned, that in his later designs Mr.
Arnold Mitchell is working with a firmer touch
and a stronger feeling for the unadorned beauty
of materials rightly applied and rightly used as
opposed to architectural features and ornament.
There is a distinct and happy trend in this
direction at the present time, an endeavour to gain
more frequently that subtle sense of texture and
"growth," which can only come by a perfect
knowledge of the materials handled, and by a
careful study of each particular locality.
The self-evident evolution of the old homestead
or manor from the raw material of the district is
not the least of the many points to be studied, and
the modern appreciation of it is an encouraging
sign.
The development of this tendency, added to
Mr. Arnold Mitchell's undoubted facility and
capacity for fine planning, is bound to carry him
further than he has yet gone, and is a hopeful
augury for even greater work in the immediate
future.
Hugh P. G. Maule.
CENTRAL ROOM OF THE GERMAN SECTION, TURIN EXHIBITION DESIGNED BY H. BILLING
(See article on Turin Exhibition)
187