The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1917)

BRITISH DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE
of the Guild. Here can be studied the noble medieval roof-timbers,
with shaped and chamfered windbraces, under which the elders of
Henley met for many generations. The walls also show the thick verti-
cal timbers, with narrow interspaces of plaster. The old room is deco-
rated with the arms of the successive lords of the manor, in so far as they
have been traced from remote times to the present day. A complete
list has not been found obtainable, and their connexion with the Guild
was more or less remote. As the castle of Peter de Montford has
perished there remains no more suitable place in which to emblazon
them. The building thus restored to the town in its original form has
become, probably, the chief feature of antiquarian interest remaining in
this charming old-world little town of Shakespeareland. The restora-
tion has been carried out under the direction and personal care of
Mr. John P. Osborne.
One of the most interesting features of “ Crabby Corner,” Letchworth,
is the open-air sleeping-room (p. 36). The appreciation of the gain in
health from sleeping in the open air is such a growing one that sleep-
ing balconies or loggias are greatly in demand. The facilities for carry-
ing out this practice seemed to Mr. Barry Parker to have this great
drawback, that the balcony, or loggia, is usually open on one, two, or
even three sides, as the case might be, but these are always the same
sides. It occurred to him that accommodation for open-air sleeping
which was capable at will of being closed only on the windward side,
and open on all the others; or closed on three sides and open on the
fourth ; or on two sides and open on two ; or of being open on all sides,
so that the sleeper merely had a roof over his head on warm nights,
would prove to have great advantages over the customary sleeping bal-
cony or loggia ; and that, further, this compartment had to be provided
in addition to the bedroom to which it was attached; whereas it was
quite practicable to have both bedroom and sleeping loggia all in one,
thus making it as large as a bedroom and sleeping balcony combined ;
and that this would obviate the trouble of wheeling the bed from the
bedroom into the sleeping balcony, and enable the sleeper to sleep in
the open air, but with all the added convenience afforded by a bedroom.
As the photograph shows, the open-air bedroom at “ Crabby Corner ”
has sliding sashes on all sides of it. These are all movable with ease;
they have simply to be lifted, and automatically fasten themselves in
such a way that all the annoyance caused by the rattling of ordinary
sash or casement windows is eliminated.
The drawing of the hall fireplace at “The White House,” Great Chart,
of which we give a plate in colours, was made on the spot, and therefore
represents actual facts more completely than in the usual drawings of
interiors which are generally made as “ projects ” before the deed itself
is done. In the mere “ project ” the artist may develop some satisfaction
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