90 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



Planted it over with not even the latest or best examples of cockney 

 villas, with little regard to climate and therefore with not much 

 to comfort ; with no regard to that beauty which can only be gained 

 by fitness to environment including available materials, and without 

 anything like full use of those which abound in the country because 

 of the difficulty of obtaining them at a rate which renders their use 

 practicable. 



Perhaps, this description is somewhat overdrawn in many 

 cases, especially where, I think, as in late years, a great advance in 

 good taste has been evident in the design of many of our homes. I 

 do not for a moment except myself from the long roll of sinners in 

 some of the above respects. There are overwhelming difficulties in 

 the way of carrying out what one would frequently wish in connexion 

 with the design of villa and other residences — difficulties of cost — 

 difficulties of skilled labour and craftmanship, and also too often 

 the insuperable difficulty of dictation on the part of the owner as to 

 the arrangement of the accommodation he wishes. Though, as a 

 rule, the architect will meet them willingly in trying to provide these 

 arrangements, yet, if owners would only realise how much to their 

 advantage it would be to let the architect, out of the fulness of his 

 experience, suggest the most suitable arrangements for providing the 

 required accommodation, one great difficulty in the way of obtaining 

 comfortable and picturesque homes would be removed, and the 

 owner would have ideas presented to him which had perhaps never 

 occurred to him on account of the necessarily limited nature of his 

 experience and because his mind has been captivated, perhaps, by 

 some particular plan he has seen to the exclusion of all the others he 

 has not seen. . 



The fact is, we have, in this colony at least, only one early 

 tradition upon which to build, as regards our architecture, and that 

 is corrugated iron — to which in more recent years has been added 

 Portland cement. The fatal facilities afforded by the two materials 

 I have just named, has done more than at first sight appears 

 towards the degradation of our domestic architecture. Had we 

 been thrown more upon our own resources in providing the materials 

 with which to build — the materials placed by nature in many localities 

 to our hand — what a vastly different development in our dwellings 

 would have taken place ! 



It is well known that in the older countries, the style and 

 methods of house and cottage building vary in accordance with the 

 underlying geological formation, and the abundance or otherwise of 

 certain kinds of timber. The whole design of a house will frequently 

 be affected by this. The thatched roof must be steep to throw off the 

 rain rapidly. Roofs covered with slate or slabs of stone may be of 

 low pitch, and if with tiles of intermediate pitch and angle tiles 

 which are readily moulded, hipped roofs will be suggested. 



Again, timber-framed houses will have overhanging gables. 

 Windows will vary according to the available stone in the neigh- 

 bourhood being suitable or not for mullions and sills and lintels — 



