Buildings and Yards. 



455 



I. The building itself 



It should be as easy to make a building attractive as to make it unat- 

 tractive : it costs no more. What many persons think of as " architecture " 

 is merely the " style " or " looks " of a building. Unfortunately, we seem 

 to have it indelibly written into our minds that attractiveness is only a 

 matter of ornament ; but ornament is ludicrous on an ugly building. We 

 must come to realize first of all that every building is good architecture 

 or poor architecture, whether it is a chicken coop or a palace. Good 

 architecture, so far as externals are concerned, consists primarily in pro- 

 portions, not in trimmings, excrescences, ornaments and oddities. What 

 constitutes good proportion may not be declared offhand, for what is 

 good proportion for one kind of building may be poor proportion for 



Fig. 274. — On-: of the old-fashioned farm houses. 



another kind of building. Every man can test the question for himself, 

 and he will soon become expert at it : challenge every building that you 

 see and ask whether it is pleasing in general shape. Is it compact and 

 solid-looking, or awkward and gawky? 



I sometimes think that the commonest faults with farm houses are 

 that they are high, staring, ill-shaped. I say farm houses advisedly, for 

 farm barns are usually much better in architectural form, and for the 

 simple reason that no effort was expended to make them " handsome " 

 or unusual — they are built for what they are and with no pretensions. 

 I once drove an artistic-minded friend along a country road that he might 



