Domestic Architecture. 91 



or they mav have wood frames only. The walls may be of shale, 

 or dressed sandstone, or random rubble, or of brick, if there be suit- 

 able clay. There are, of course, a hundred other variations, which 

 may have to be dealt with, but the right treatment of available 

 materials, and a proper consideration of what is sometimes called 

 " surface texture," will infalliably result in good domestic work, 

 which will harmonise with its surroundings. Where skilled craft- 

 manship is not available, and materials are of the simplest, then the 

 architect may safely take refuge in simplicity of design, and so 

 long as the construction is sound and sincere, and the planning good, 

 there need be little fear of the resulting architecture. 



Some of the most picturesque, homelike and lovable abodes 

 I have seen in this country, have been more or less ramshackle, saggy- 

 ridged, tile-roofed, and shale- walled farm houses, nestled away 

 among the hoary, lichen-covered, yellow-wood trees of the up- 

 country forests, and built by the farmers themselves. 



I think I will carry you with me, if I say that it is not the 

 plan prepared merely, or mainly, because of some hankering after a 

 fanciful and prettily designed villa, seen on some sketching tour at 

 home or abroad, and which is to be incontinently stuck up on the 

 site, but rather the impressions and inspirations of the site itself and 

 its environment, which should guide us both as to plans, elevations, 

 and garden — for I hold strongly that the laying out of the garden, 

 at all events as regards its main features, should form a part of the 

 architect's work. This is the more important as regards the portion 

 in immediate proximity to the house, and as regards the approaches. 

 I cannot lose this opportunity of deprecating the extraordinary 

 infatuation which seems to possess so many of those, who become 

 the ow^ners of natural bush-covered sites, on the coast especially, 

 in thinking that the preliminary step to building their home, is neces- 

 sarily to "clear the site," as it is termed — and with a vandalism 

 almost surpassing belief, denude the ground of every bit of its natural 

 adornment. This for the purpose of " opening up the view," as it 

 is called, quite oblivious of the value to the view of its foreground. 

 The effect of a view may be sometimes quite spoiled by the removal 

 of a solitary tree, which happens to be well placed in the foreground. 



Cape Town and Durban are happy in having a profusion of 

 exceptionally beautiful sites, some of them commanding extensive 

 prospects, either seawards or inland, and nearly all of them possess- 

 ing special adaptability and suggestiveness for dwellings, which, 

 whether luxurious and palatial, or modest and simple, can always be 

 made homelike. 



As regards the proper aspect for houses in this country, we are 

 not, I think, so restricted as in England. In Scotland, for instance, 

 we have to nurse every bit of sunlight v^e can get, and, in conse- 

 quence, wherever possible, the approach should be from the North 

 and the public rooms should face South and West. But here we 

 have rather to guard against too much sun and heat, and with the 

 assistance in these respects, which we are able to obtain bv the use 



