DOI Heft:
Domestic architecture
DOI Artikel:Scott, Mackay H. Baillie: A country cottage
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41871#0021
A COUNTRY COTTAGE
on the other side two more attics, one of which may be used as a bedroom
and the other as a box-room.
To those who may protest that a second bath in a cottage of this size is an
unnecessary luxury it may be explained that the aim is to realize a cottage
founded securely on traditions of the building art, which are things of yester-
day, to-day, and to-morrow, and yet possessing all the convenience, and
luxury even, of the first-class hotel. It is true the rooms are smaller, but if
they are only large enough for one’s purpose there is little to be gained and
much to be lost by increasing their dimensions. If we put down a book, say,
at one end of the room we shall not have to walk so far to get it, and the room
will be more economically heated and more easily kept clean. It is true that
the large room is better adapted for social functions, but it seems somewhat
irrational to strain our resources and destroy the qualities of the home, as an
expression of normal requirements, for such a purpose. For such purposes
buildings of a public character are more suitable. Private magnificence in
building is a sign of decadence in the social order. In the modern world we
shall find a community consisting of expensive villas, each of which is many
sizes too large for its occupants. How much better is the old way where,
grouped roundsome magnificent church, are the low-roofed dwellings of the
people ! The life of a building consists in its daily uses. Its human occu-
pants are the blood which pulsates through its arteries; and when there is not
enough of this to make its function properly, the house becomes a dead thing
and its occupants mere caretakers, hidden away in private suites where they
contrive to ignore and forget the spacious apartments with which they are
surrounded.
The true ideal is the home of the right size, the home which fits us as our
clothes do. One of the chief disadvantages of the large house lies in the fact
that it demands a considerable staff of servants who exist there for no other
purpose than to minister not to us, but to the house. In these days it is not
difficult to realize that they might, as citizens, be better employed. Every in-
crease we make to the size of our dwellings adds to the cost of maintenance.
In the addition of luxuries and con-
veniences to the home the first cost of
these is but a small matter compared
with this factor of maintenance. And
here we find the best excuse for an
extra bath, for all such machinery
does not increase but diminishes the
labour of the household.
In the general conception of the
scheme for a dwelling I have de-
scribed, the ancient tradition of cot-
tage-building has been followed, not
merely because it is pleasant to look
5
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
on the other side two more attics, one of which may be used as a bedroom
and the other as a box-room.
To those who may protest that a second bath in a cottage of this size is an
unnecessary luxury it may be explained that the aim is to realize a cottage
founded securely on traditions of the building art, which are things of yester-
day, to-day, and to-morrow, and yet possessing all the convenience, and
luxury even, of the first-class hotel. It is true the rooms are smaller, but if
they are only large enough for one’s purpose there is little to be gained and
much to be lost by increasing their dimensions. If we put down a book, say,
at one end of the room we shall not have to walk so far to get it, and the room
will be more economically heated and more easily kept clean. It is true that
the large room is better adapted for social functions, but it seems somewhat
irrational to strain our resources and destroy the qualities of the home, as an
expression of normal requirements, for such a purpose. For such purposes
buildings of a public character are more suitable. Private magnificence in
building is a sign of decadence in the social order. In the modern world we
shall find a community consisting of expensive villas, each of which is many
sizes too large for its occupants. How much better is the old way where,
grouped roundsome magnificent church, are the low-roofed dwellings of the
people ! The life of a building consists in its daily uses. Its human occu-
pants are the blood which pulsates through its arteries; and when there is not
enough of this to make its function properly, the house becomes a dead thing
and its occupants mere caretakers, hidden away in private suites where they
contrive to ignore and forget the spacious apartments with which they are
surrounded.
The true ideal is the home of the right size, the home which fits us as our
clothes do. One of the chief disadvantages of the large house lies in the fact
that it demands a considerable staff of servants who exist there for no other
purpose than to minister not to us, but to the house. In these days it is not
difficult to realize that they might, as citizens, be better employed. Every in-
crease we make to the size of our dwellings adds to the cost of maintenance.
In the addition of luxuries and con-
veniences to the home the first cost of
these is but a small matter compared
with this factor of maintenance. And
here we find the best excuse for an
extra bath, for all such machinery
does not increase but diminishes the
labour of the household.
In the general conception of the
scheme for a dwelling I have de-
scribed, the ancient tradition of cot-
tage-building has been followed, not
merely because it is pleasant to look
5
FIRST FLOOR PLAN