DOI article:
Scott, Mackay H. Baillie: Small country houses and cottages
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41879#0018
SMALL COUNTRY HOUSES AND COTTAGES
red coloured human infant,” in Carlyle’s phrase, becomes eventually
baked into so many diverse forms, is fatal to an art which like building
demands the whole faculties of a man. We have the practical man, the
engineer, entirely engrossed in material things as far as his work is con-
cerned; and we have the artist, the dreamer, who shrinks from handling
the common things of the world to make his dream a reality, obedient
to the needs of life. We want these two types combined to build
rightly. We must have inspired engineers and practical artists, with
plenty of sound common-sense and not too much cleverness.
But there is little use
in attempting to build
small houses satisfac-
torily in most districts
as long as the building
surveyor, with his
byelaws, rules. For
the modern building
official is mainly ac-
tive in destroying
beauty wherever he
may meet it. If he
sees an old hedge in a
country lane, where
clematis and rose in
wild profusion cheer
the wayfaring man,
the order goes forth
that it must behacked
down to the quick. If
he sees an old cottage
but wantingthe touch
of a sympathetic hand
6
PLANS OF HOUSE IN BEDFORDSHIRE
red coloured human infant,” in Carlyle’s phrase, becomes eventually
baked into so many diverse forms, is fatal to an art which like building
demands the whole faculties of a man. We have the practical man, the
engineer, entirely engrossed in material things as far as his work is con-
cerned; and we have the artist, the dreamer, who shrinks from handling
the common things of the world to make his dream a reality, obedient
to the needs of life. We want these two types combined to build
rightly. We must have inspired engineers and practical artists, with
plenty of sound common-sense and not too much cleverness.
But there is little use
in attempting to build
small houses satisfac-
torily in most districts
as long as the building
surveyor, with his
byelaws, rules. For
the modern building
official is mainly ac-
tive in destroying
beauty wherever he
may meet it. If he
sees an old hedge in a
country lane, where
clematis and rose in
wild profusion cheer
the wayfaring man,
the order goes forth
that it must behacked
down to the quick. If
he sees an old cottage
but wantingthe touch
of a sympathetic hand
6
PLANS OF HOUSE IN BEDFORDSHIRE