DOI issue:
A foreword by the editor
DOI article:Jones, Sydney R.: Haddon Hall: an old English home
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19430#0015
HADDON HALL-AN OLD ENGLISH
HOME. BY SYDNEY R. JONES - * ' <
OMESTIC architecture is a subject of
peculiar interest in the annals of British art,
and the high standard of accomplishment
that has been attained through many cen-
turies is universally recognised. From those
earliest times, when the germs of our modern
homes saw light in the strongholds and forti-
fied houses, and through periods of slow
development when manners and customs,
together with standards of comfort and con-
venience, continually changed, the domestic
art of the people found expression in the
dwellings they lived in. Thus England is remarkable for its priceless
heritage of houses which present an unbroken record of the progress of
the building art from the distant Middle Ages, through Tudor and Jaco-
bean times, down to the days of the Georges and the rise of the nine-
teenth century. In every part of England examples can be studied—in
the castles and fortified manor houses, fine halls of the Edwardian period,
late Gothic work, the long series of great houses erected in Elizabethan
and Stuart days, sober brick and stone dwellings of the eighteenth cen-
tury, and in countless small houses and cottages of every age that still
survive in many towns and country villages. It is to be observed that in
all this work a continuous vein of thought is clearly traceable, even though
as the centuries passed by, conditions of life gradually altered, and the
constant progression towards higher ideals of living brought new prob-
lems in its train. Planning developed, houses became more habitable
and comfortable, and from the rude early dwellings emerged the English-
man’s home. And as the problems attending this progression arose, the
solution for each was found without departing from the established prin-
ciples that guided building work. Ideals were retained, craftsmen im-
proved in skill and knowledge, and the fine traditions of house-building
were carried on.
Great Britain is fortunate in still possessing a small body of men who can
bring to our modern domestic architecture something of the spirit that
was expressed in the days when the great traditions were vital forces in
daily life. True, their work is far too rarely seen, for the public habit of
mind and outlook on life give small encouragement for the real develop-
ment of the arts of building, and the consequent result is apparent in the
great mass of modern architecture, which shews little of tradition 01-
ideal. But even so, the lessons of a great past have not been wholly lost,
5
HOME. BY SYDNEY R. JONES - * ' <
OMESTIC architecture is a subject of
peculiar interest in the annals of British art,
and the high standard of accomplishment
that has been attained through many cen-
turies is universally recognised. From those
earliest times, when the germs of our modern
homes saw light in the strongholds and forti-
fied houses, and through periods of slow
development when manners and customs,
together with standards of comfort and con-
venience, continually changed, the domestic
art of the people found expression in the
dwellings they lived in. Thus England is remarkable for its priceless
heritage of houses which present an unbroken record of the progress of
the building art from the distant Middle Ages, through Tudor and Jaco-
bean times, down to the days of the Georges and the rise of the nine-
teenth century. In every part of England examples can be studied—in
the castles and fortified manor houses, fine halls of the Edwardian period,
late Gothic work, the long series of great houses erected in Elizabethan
and Stuart days, sober brick and stone dwellings of the eighteenth cen-
tury, and in countless small houses and cottages of every age that still
survive in many towns and country villages. It is to be observed that in
all this work a continuous vein of thought is clearly traceable, even though
as the centuries passed by, conditions of life gradually altered, and the
constant progression towards higher ideals of living brought new prob-
lems in its train. Planning developed, houses became more habitable
and comfortable, and from the rude early dwellings emerged the English-
man’s home. And as the problems attending this progression arose, the
solution for each was found without departing from the established prin-
ciples that guided building work. Ideals were retained, craftsmen im-
proved in skill and knowledge, and the fine traditions of house-building
were carried on.
Great Britain is fortunate in still possessing a small body of men who can
bring to our modern domestic architecture something of the spirit that
was expressed in the days when the great traditions were vital forces in
daily life. True, their work is far too rarely seen, for the public habit of
mind and outlook on life give small encouragement for the real develop-
ment of the arts of building, and the consequent result is apparent in the
great mass of modern architecture, which shews little of tradition 01-
ideal. But even so, the lessons of a great past have not been wholly lost,
5