Studio: international art (31.1904)

C. F. A. Voysey

with brick walls, it is not qn. that account to be
taken for granted that slate roofs cannot be employed
with aesthetic effect in any situation whatsoever.
Even so unpromising a material as polished slate,
which one might well imagine too unsympathetic
to look well in any circumstances, is superb in its
place, as all who have seen the glossy black roofs
of Angers can testify. Nor can anybody deny the
beauty of the conical roofs of the old Archiepisco-
pal Palace Gatehouse at Beauvais, whose convex
surfaces gleam with the pearly sheen of grey satin.

Mr. Voysey, objecting personally to a hard
surface which could not be expected to acquire the
mellow tones of moss-grown age, never uses any
save unpolished slate; but this he does introduce
effectively in judicious combination with such
materials as his experience has proved combine
suitably with the slate. Thus " Broadleys," Winder-
mere, a house designed for Mr. Curror Briggs, was
built of local yellowish stone and roofed with West-
moreland slates. The latter, since they are quarried
and sold in different sizes, admit of being used as
roof slates should be, namely, in graduated stages,
which have a much more attractive appearance

than the mechanical monotony of uniform slabs.
■ A feature of " Broadleys" is the deep verandah, but,
that the interior should not be overshadowed un-
duly, ample provision for lighting is furnished in
the shape of an immense bow-window. The long
verandah is conspicuous also in another Winder-
mere residence, " Moor Crag," designed for Mr. J.
W. Buckley. It is built of local greenstone, the
two-foot thick walls being rough cast on the outside.

Next should be noticed two projects which were
not destined to be realised. The first was a com-
petitive design for the Carnegie Library and
Museum at Limerick, the judges accepting in the
end the work of a local architect. Mr. Voysey's
design shows a handsome building of native chalk-
stone, the wall-surface relieved with a checker
pattern in dark grey and lighter stone, the roof
being of Irish blue-black slate. The second
scheme—which came to nought because of a dis-
agreement as to the situation of the building within
the allotted space, Mr. Voysey not seeing his way
to carry out a work in a manner required of him
against his convictions—was a house intended for
Mr. W. C. Lawrence, at Hampstead. The design

ROOM IX A HOUSE AT BIRKENHEAD
130

C. F. A. VOYSEY, ARCHITECT