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TJie Country Gcnilcinaiis Magazine 



RURAL COTTAGES. 



A CONSIDERABLE amount of ill-feel- 

 ing has been expressed towards the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England by 

 architects Avho sent in plans of cottages for 

 agricultural labourers, on the understanding 

 that they had a chance of securing a prize. 

 As our readers are aware, no premium was 

 awarded to the competitors, the judges hold- 

 ing the opinion that no representation of 

 suitable cottages Avas placed before them. 

 Some of the exhibitors question whether the 

 Society had a right to keep back awards. 

 They maintain that no option was left to the 

 Royal under the conditions upon which the 

 plans were sent in, than to give prizes to the 

 best, whether they were perfection or not. Of 

 two evils it is-said, " choose the least," and if 

 none of the elevations and the specifications 

 Avere exactly of the kind the Society thought 

 comfortable and inexpensive for the working 

 rural population, it still should have indicated 

 by a choice what was nearest the mark. It 

 has been said, we know not with what amount 

 of truth, that a similar case has occurred be- 

 fore, and that plans rejected or debarred from 

 a prize have been made use of afterwards, 

 without the originator deriving any profit 

 therefrom. If such were the case it was a bad 

 one. 



It is also not pleasant to learn that letters 

 from competitors at the Cardiff exhibition, 

 requesting to know upon what grounds the 

 prizes were withheld have never been 

 answered. Such grievances have reached 

 us ; but we are confident that discourteousness 

 is not one of the faults appertaining to the 

 secretary's office. We have always, and it is 

 an experience of m.any years, found all con- 



nected with the office affable and eagerly 

 anxious to oblige at all times. 



And now with regard to the plans them- 

 selves. We quite agree with the judges that 

 they were not of a generally suitable character 

 for agricultural labourers. There were in 

 most of them too much money thrown away 

 upon useless and not always effective orna- 

 mentation. We are far from thinking that a 

 ploughman's cottage should be plain to ugli- 

 ness. On the contrary, we hold that it should 

 be constructed so that it would add to, rather 

 than detract from, the beauty of the land- 

 scape. But the main object in such cases 

 should be to supply comfortable and con- 

 venient rooms, and to eschew corners, and 

 nooks, and crannies of every description 

 where dirt can accumulate. These conditions 

 were not fulfilled by the Cardiff plans. The 

 price of the double cottages was fixed at ^220, 

 and it was curious how near all the architects 

 came to the stipulated cost, some- of them 

 coming within 2d. 



Rural architecture of the kind needed for 

 agricultural labourers is not yet sufficiently 

 well understood. The designers are not inti- 

 mate enough with the habits of the population, 

 and they are nearly in all cases too ambitious 

 to produce a picture. It would be worth the 

 while of some of our talented young architects 

 to devote special attention to this class of 

 work, as with the increase Of wages the de- 

 mand for better cottages is sure to come. 

 There will be plenty of work in this direction 

 for many years, and a competence would 

 easily be gained by any one who can manage 

 to combine elegance with comfort and cheap- 

 ness, the latter being an essential matter. 



