The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1908)

BRITISH COUNTRY HOUSES

half-timber work, rough cast and stone, for in the country the
texture and colour of the walls play a far more important part than
a number of features in different materials.

It is the introduction of so many and various styles that makes
many houses to-day so unrestful and out of place—a breadth of
treatment is absolutely essential to the repose and dignity of the
composition, and this can never be obtained if the wall surface is
broken up with ornament and unnecessary detail.

Any extravagance in design, or odd or unusual features are apt
to tire and offend the eye and it is much better to depend for the
effect almost entirely upon the proportion and grouping.

In nearly all the buildings illustrated this reticence of treatment
is well understood and is particularly noticeable in Messrs. Parker &
Unwin's " Laneside " and "Crabby Corner" (B 67), Mr. Harrison
Townsend's house at Letch worth (B 71), and Messrs. Hubbard
& Moore's " The Copse," at Godalming (B 52 and 53), where a
simple use of rough cast and tiled roofs combined with an effective
grouping produce most charming results.

In Mr. Arnold Mitchell's house at Stafford (B 59) he has used
thin bricks variegated in colour with wide mortar joints, a yellowy
grey stone for the frieze and window dressings and old tiles of a rich
dark colour for the roofs—the whole combination of material and
colour adding largely to the beauty of the design.

The garden should, and often does, form such an important
setting that it is unnecessary to spend money on the embellishment
of the exterior of the house, which may probably in the course of a
few years be covered by ivy and creepers.

We are often pleased with the appearance of a building without
knowing or troubling to enquire why, but if we come to examine
the reason we frequently discover that the pitch and arrangement ot
the roof has much to do with it, in addition to a generous over-
hanging eaves. Half the charm of the old fashioned houses and
cottages both here in England and abroad is due to the liberal
projection of the eaves, a feature that is never considered by the jerry
builder. In wide overhanging eaves there is a suggestion of protec-
tion and comfort which is most pleasing. From an artistic standpoint,
what a difference the deep shade cast by the eaves of the house on to
the wall beneath makes to its beauty, emphasizing and yet softening
the transition from wall to roof, with a line of cool grey shadow, and
perhaps no one realises this better than Mr. Voysey, who invariably
treats his houses with wide spreading eaves. How many are spoilt
by consideration not being given to details of this character, which
iust make the difference between good and bad quality of work.

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