Studio: international art (38.1906)

The Salon of the Socidtd Nationale

PLAN OF HOUSE AT LETCH WORTH

C. HARRISON TOWNSEND, ARCHITECT

cast-iron mantelpieces of atrocious design, gaudy
tiles and fearful wallpapers. The whole front was
plastered over, and most of the old oak timber-
work had been concealed under lath and plaster,
or had entirely disappeared. After first removing
all the so-called improvements, an effort was made
by the architects, Messrs. Niven & Wigglesworth,
to regain some of the original interest, although
substantial additions had to be made. Old
material was mostly used and the work was
carried out in almost a traditional way by
local workmen, with results both satisfactory and
economical.

We publish coloured reproductions of Mr. C.
Harrison Townsend’s first sketches for a house
now being built at the Garden City, Letchworth.
The design has been somewhat modified in
execution, but it is virtually on the same lines as
the sketches. The house lies back from the main
road, from which it is reached by a single carriage-
way with a wide stretch of turf on either side,
known as Letchworth Glade, which, according to
the conditions of the estate, is to be kept free in
perpetuity of all buildings. The garden, with the
exception of the orchard, was laid out and
planted, with an eye to the picturesque, before the

building of the house
itself commenced. The
exterior plaster-work is
roughly rendered, but not
pebble-cast, and the tiles
are particularly brown in
colour.

The Seventh Inter-
national Congress of Archi-
tects, which is to be held
in London during the week
commencing Monday, July
16th, will be the first of
the kind that has ever
been held in England. The
Duke of Argyll will take
the chair at the Inaugural
Ceremony in the Guildhall
on Monday, and it is ex-
pected that about 500
foreign delegates will attend
the Congress, including
representatives from the
British Colonies and
an important group from
the United States.

The salon of the societe

NATIONALE DES BEAUX-
ARTS. BY HENRI FRANTZ.

The special characteristic of the Salon of 1906
was certainly the excellent way in which M. Dubufe
arranged several of the rooms, affording a welcome
relief from the monotony usually found in ex-
hibitions of this kind. We had already been
accustomed to pleasantly arranged rooms in the
Salon of the Society Nationale, with pictures not
all of them ranged in three rows as at the Salon
of the Artistes Frangais. This time, however,
M. Dubufe did still better : framing them in suit-
able draperies he made a feature of those friezes
and decorations which figured at the expositions of
St. Louis and LRge; everyone, therefore, who did
not visit the Belgian exhibition, could see here the
fine friezes by Mile. Delavalle, M. Lepfere, and
M. Picard, which thus achieved a fresh success.
At the same time various works in sculpture were
on view in these charmingly arranged rooms : here
Bartholomew admirable Baigneuse, recently repro-
duced in The Studio ; there little cups in
translucent enamel by Chesmar—masterpieces of
that art which mark a degree of perfection in the

130