Studio: international art (85.1923)

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION

HOUSE IN ARGYLLSHIRE
THE POWER HOUSE -
OLIVER HILL, ARCHITECT

and perhaps an earlier house, formerly
stood here, and the old windswept avenue
of rugged and twisted trees was brought
into new use and now leads to the entrance
front. Beyond the old farmsteading there
was scarcely anything to betray the hand
of man round about, and the task was to
erect here a modern house that might at
once compose with its surroundings and,
if possible, avoid any harsh note in so
beautiful and outlandish a place. The walls
are built of stone quarried on the site. A
fine strand of grey green “ Whin ” stone
was found among the rocks, and this was
exclusively worked for the walls of the
house, which are formed with a con-
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tinuous cavity filled with asphalt. The
slate used for roofing the older Scottish
houses in these parts did not seem to
marry well with the stone, and a search
further afield was made, as far as Dorset,
for the roofing material—graduated courses
of Purbeck stone slabs, two to three inches
thick. The oak used for the ceilings, floors
and doors of all the principal rooms was
obtained from an old castle on the Welsh
border which was in course of demolition.
Power for the new farm machinery and
the electric light installation is obtained by
water turbines. The power house forms a
sort of sentinel tower at the entrance to
the avenue in place of the customary lodge.