Studio: international art (85.1923)

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION

he is with the essentials of it. He seems
to think a great deal more about the appear-
ance of his work than he does about its
purpose.” Mr. Ervine points his criticism
by a reference to his own flat, in London,
the kitchen of which was in the sunniest
part of the building, and the pantry had a
large window facing directly south so that
food could not possibly be stored in it
during the summer. Perhaps exceptional
circumstances determined this departure
from what most architects would surely
regard as one of the first principles of plan-
ning, but be this as it may, the irrelevancies
of which the dramatist complains are, we
think, as often as not due rather to the client
than to the architect. There appears to be
abundant evidence that the architects them-
selves are giving more and more thought
to the practical aspects of their art. a
The houses shown in the illustration on
this page belong to a considerable number
erected at Welwyn Garden City for a
Public Utility Society known as u L abour-
Saving Houses, Ltd.” from designs by
Messrs. Hennell 6c James, of Russell Square,
London. The scheme is one for which the
Society received Government financial
assistance under the Housing Act of 1919,
and to secure this assistance, sizes and
costs had to be strictly limited ; but as the
scheme was intended to provide a better
type of habitation than that contemplated
by the Act, the difficulty was to achieve
this object while keeping within the limits.
In the end the Government agreed to
recognise a certain sum per house, leaving
the balance of the cost to be regarded as
“ amenities ” provided at the sole expense
of the tenant, and this has proved to be a
sensible and satisfactory arrangement.Thus
if the house costs £1,000, the Government
would recognise £800 as the cost and
would advance three-quarters of this on
loan, repayable over a term of 50 years, the
tenant finding the remainder (£400), which
he invests in the shares and stock of the
Society. This is almost entirely com-
prised of tenant shareholders, who elect
their own Board of Management.", In the
planning of the houses everything possible
has been done to save the housewife un-
necessary trots and work, and the fittings,
etc., have been selected or designed to the
same end. The accommodation ranges

from living-room, scullery and two bed-
rooms to living-room, dining room, kit-
chen, scullery and four bedrooms, and
some have living room, dining room with a
working scullery recess, and two or three
bedrooms. In every house there is a bath-
room and one separate w.c., and in the
larger types a second w.c. is provided. The
building was started in 1920 when good
facing bricks were practically unobtainable
except at prohibitive prices and in un-
certain quantities. Rough-cast was there-
fore resorted to in the earlier houses, but
latterly the availability of bricks facilitated
a Georgian treatment of the elevations, as
shown in the accompanying illustration,
mixed red and grey facings being used
with pleasing results. 000

It is not an easy problem which the
architect has to face when consulted by a
client who proposes to pull down an old
building to be replaced by a modern
structure, especially when the building to
be demolished has architectural merits.

TERRACE HOUSES IN WELWYN
GARDEN CITY. HENNELL
AND JAMES, ARCHITECTS
213

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