DOI Heft:
No. 137 (August, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Emerson, Peter H.: A modern house at Southbourne
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19882#0226
A House at Southbourne
woods. The bedroom chairs are in ash with
rush seats.
Careful attention has also been paid to the garden.
All the paths were made of screened gravel, topped
with Constitution Hill gravel ; all the tillable
ground was deeply trenched and heavily manured,
and the solid pergola shown in the illustration
(page 198) built of heavy larch poles.
A little lily pond was built, and hardy perennials
planted in all the borders, for to be economical the
householder must eschew "bedding-out" plants,
and the glorious effect of hardy perennials is well
known. I think far too much fuss is made about
" natural gardening "—all gardens are more or less
artificial; but the formal garden, with its geo-
metrical beds, errs too much in the direction of
artificiality, whereas the so-called " natural" garden
is merely a disjointed piece of art. The happy
combination of the two is, I submit, the nearest
to the desired effect, and this I have tried to get.
In front of the house there is a small orchard, with
grass beneath the fruit-trees ; trained espaliers sur-
round the plots of kitchen garden, and there are
verges to all paths and to beds for hardy perennials.
On one side a small forest of flowering shrubs and
trees is planted as a screen to the kitchen garden,
beyond which is a small fruit patch with logan
berries, wineberries, currants, gooseberries, and nut
bushes.
And one may now take his ease in a solid, well-
built, sanitary house, on the best of soils, and in
the purest of air, with well-made and artistic furni-
ture to meet the eye at every turn, and a charming
little garden to delight the senses, and can ponder
on the gorgeous monstrosities to be seen on every
hand which the speculative builder and his tribe
have erected for the scorn of the cultured; so that
taste and not money is the thing, for all that I have
described can be obtained by persons of compara-
tively limited means. House agents scoff, and say
that nobody likes houses of this kind—that they are
a bad speculation ; but I could have sold or let
mine a dozen times, if I had wished to, within six
months of occupying it. The purblind " business
man" forgets that numberless art schools and
other agencies for good, have been educating the
British public for some quarter of a century to
appreciate the beautiful and to despise the pre-
tentious and vulgar.
As I was clerk of my own works, and have for
years studied sanitary science for my own protec-
tion and had a large experience in hiring, I give
a few hints to the would-be hirers and builders of
houses.
202
(1) Never take a house, furnished or unfurnished,
without having the agreement drawn up by
a good, honest solicitor.
(2) Never buy a house without having it ex-
amined, reported upon, and valued by a
first-rate and honest architect, for there are
hordes of uneducated people calling them-
selves architects who are mere impostors.
(3) Never build a house without finding an
artistic architect, who is honest and practi-
cal as well—these are the three attributes
of a worthy architect. Avoid trusting all
architectural books wherein prices are given,
giving the cost of houses pictured, until
your architect has given you his opinion
upon them.
(4) Always get a thoroughly qualified engineer
to plan, specify, supervise, and test the
drains, for sanitary science has so greatly
developed that the best of architects rarely
understand it. In addition, one has to be
careful, because every drain layer, plumber
and builder calls himself a sanitary en-
gineer, but I mean a consulting sanitary
engineer of scientific training.
(5) Always get a consulting electrical engineer to
plan, specify, and supervise the contractors
who carry this work out, for this depart-
ment has become so specialised that few,
if any, architects have more than a super-
ficial acquaintance with the subject, and a
disastrous fire and loss of life may be the
result of trusting to wiremen, ironmongers,
and electric-light contractors who call them-
selves electrical engineers.
The contractors of these two departments require
as much specialised supervision as does the build-
ing contractor, and to have any but a consulting
engineer for either work is as bad as having a
jerry-builder for your architect.
A house of this description costs hereabouts
id. per cubic foot, reckoning the cubic contents
half way up to the roof, including extras and the
architect's fees (5 per cent.). Near London, I
understand, a similar house costs from 2>d. to gd. a
cubic foot.
And do not forget the servants: plan every
detail, as far as is possible, for their comfort and
the saving of labour, for we may all have to
become our own servants one day.
And, lastly, an artistic and well-built house, on
a good soil and in a well-chosen neighbourhood, is
sure to become in the end a profitable investment
as well as a joy to the eye and a preserver of
woods. The bedroom chairs are in ash with
rush seats.
Careful attention has also been paid to the garden.
All the paths were made of screened gravel, topped
with Constitution Hill gravel ; all the tillable
ground was deeply trenched and heavily manured,
and the solid pergola shown in the illustration
(page 198) built of heavy larch poles.
A little lily pond was built, and hardy perennials
planted in all the borders, for to be economical the
householder must eschew "bedding-out" plants,
and the glorious effect of hardy perennials is well
known. I think far too much fuss is made about
" natural gardening "—all gardens are more or less
artificial; but the formal garden, with its geo-
metrical beds, errs too much in the direction of
artificiality, whereas the so-called " natural" garden
is merely a disjointed piece of art. The happy
combination of the two is, I submit, the nearest
to the desired effect, and this I have tried to get.
In front of the house there is a small orchard, with
grass beneath the fruit-trees ; trained espaliers sur-
round the plots of kitchen garden, and there are
verges to all paths and to beds for hardy perennials.
On one side a small forest of flowering shrubs and
trees is planted as a screen to the kitchen garden,
beyond which is a small fruit patch with logan
berries, wineberries, currants, gooseberries, and nut
bushes.
And one may now take his ease in a solid, well-
built, sanitary house, on the best of soils, and in
the purest of air, with well-made and artistic furni-
ture to meet the eye at every turn, and a charming
little garden to delight the senses, and can ponder
on the gorgeous monstrosities to be seen on every
hand which the speculative builder and his tribe
have erected for the scorn of the cultured; so that
taste and not money is the thing, for all that I have
described can be obtained by persons of compara-
tively limited means. House agents scoff, and say
that nobody likes houses of this kind—that they are
a bad speculation ; but I could have sold or let
mine a dozen times, if I had wished to, within six
months of occupying it. The purblind " business
man" forgets that numberless art schools and
other agencies for good, have been educating the
British public for some quarter of a century to
appreciate the beautiful and to despise the pre-
tentious and vulgar.
As I was clerk of my own works, and have for
years studied sanitary science for my own protec-
tion and had a large experience in hiring, I give
a few hints to the would-be hirers and builders of
houses.
202
(1) Never take a house, furnished or unfurnished,
without having the agreement drawn up by
a good, honest solicitor.
(2) Never buy a house without having it ex-
amined, reported upon, and valued by a
first-rate and honest architect, for there are
hordes of uneducated people calling them-
selves architects who are mere impostors.
(3) Never build a house without finding an
artistic architect, who is honest and practi-
cal as well—these are the three attributes
of a worthy architect. Avoid trusting all
architectural books wherein prices are given,
giving the cost of houses pictured, until
your architect has given you his opinion
upon them.
(4) Always get a thoroughly qualified engineer
to plan, specify, supervise, and test the
drains, for sanitary science has so greatly
developed that the best of architects rarely
understand it. In addition, one has to be
careful, because every drain layer, plumber
and builder calls himself a sanitary en-
gineer, but I mean a consulting sanitary
engineer of scientific training.
(5) Always get a consulting electrical engineer to
plan, specify, and supervise the contractors
who carry this work out, for this depart-
ment has become so specialised that few,
if any, architects have more than a super-
ficial acquaintance with the subject, and a
disastrous fire and loss of life may be the
result of trusting to wiremen, ironmongers,
and electric-light contractors who call them-
selves electrical engineers.
The contractors of these two departments require
as much specialised supervision as does the build-
ing contractor, and to have any but a consulting
engineer for either work is as bad as having a
jerry-builder for your architect.
A house of this description costs hereabouts
id. per cubic foot, reckoning the cubic contents
half way up to the roof, including extras and the
architect's fees (5 per cent.). Near London, I
understand, a similar house costs from 2>d. to gd. a
cubic foot.
And do not forget the servants: plan every
detail, as far as is possible, for their comfort and
the saving of labour, for we may all have to
become our own servants one day.
And, lastly, an artistic and well-built house, on
a good soil and in a well-chosen neighbourhood, is
sure to become in the end a profitable investment
as well as a joy to the eye and a preserver of