10 



A FEW WORDS ON RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 



We do not make this statement to find 

 fault with the condition of things ; far from it. 

 We see too much good in the newly awakened 

 taste for the Beautiful, to criticise severely its 

 want of intelligence as to the exact course it 

 should take to achieve its object — or perhaps 

 its want of definiteness as to what that object 

 is — beyond providing an agreeable home. 

 But we allude to it to show that, with a little 

 direction, the popular taste now awakened in 

 this particular department, may develop itself 

 in such a manner as to produce the most sa- 

 tisfactory and beautiful results. 



Fifteen years ago, there was but one idea 

 relating to a house in the country. It must 

 be a Grecian temple. Whether 20 feet or 

 200 feet front, it must have its columns and 

 portico. There might be comfortable rooms 

 behind them or not ; that was a matter which 

 tlie severe taste of the classical builder could 

 not stoop to consider. The roof might be 

 so flat that there was no space for comforta- 

 ble servant's bed-rooms, or the attic so hot 

 that the second story was uninhabitable in a 

 mid-summer's day. But of what consequence 

 was that, if the portico were copied from the 

 Temple of Theseus, or the columns were 

 miniature imitations in wood of those of Jupi- 

 ter Olympius ' 



We have made a great step onward in that 

 short fifteen years. There is, to be sure, a 

 fashion now in building houses in the country — 

 almost as prevalent and despotic as its pseudo- 

 classical predecessor, but it is a far more ra- 

 tional and sensible one, and though likely to 

 produce the same unsatisfactory effect of aU 

 other fashions — that is to substitute sameness 

 and monotony for tasteful individuality, yet 

 we gladly accept it as the next step onward. 



We allude, of course, to the Gothic or 

 English cottage, with steep roofs and high 

 gables, — just now the ambition of almost 

 «very person building in the country. There 

 are, indeed, few things so beautiful as a cot- 



tage of this kind, well designed and tastefully 

 placed. There is nothing, all the world over, 

 so truly rural and so unmistakeably country- 

 like as this very cottage, which has been de- 

 veloped in so much perfection in the rural 

 lanes and amidst the picturesque lights and 

 shadows of an English landscape. And for 

 this reason, because it is essentially rural and 

 country-like, we gladly welcome its general 

 naturalization, (with the needful variation of 

 the veranda, &c., demanded by our climate,) 

 as the type of most of our country dwell- 

 ings. 



But it is time to enter a protest against the 

 absolute and indiscriminate employment of 

 the Gothic cottage in every site and situation 

 in the country — whether appropriate or inap- 

 propriate — whether suited to the grounds or 

 the life of those who are to inhabit it, or the 

 contrary. 



We have endeavored, in our work on 

 " Country Houses," just issued from the 

 press, to show that rural architecture has 

 more significance and a deeper meaning than 

 merely to afl"ord a " pretty cottage," or a 

 " handsome house," for him who can afford to 

 pay for it. We believe not only that a house 

 may have an absolute beauty of its own, 

 growing out of its architecture, but that it 

 may have a relative beauty no less interest- 

 ing, which arises from its expressing the life 

 and occupation of those who build or inhabit 

 it. In other words, we think the home of 

 every family, possessed of character, may be 

 made to express that character, and will be 

 most beautiful (supposing the character good,) 

 when in addition to architectural beauty it 

 unites this significance or individuality. 



We have not the space to go into detail 

 on this subject here ; and to do so would 

 only be repeating what we have already said 

 in the work in question. But the most casual 

 reader will understand from our suggestion, 

 that if a man's house can be made to express 



