178 Rural Homes. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. 1. Rural Homes, or Sketches of Houses suited to 

 American Country Life, with Original Plans, Designs, 

 6^c. By Gervase Wheeler. 1 vol., 12mo, pp. 298. New 

 York, 1851. 



The improvement in the rural architecture of the country 

 is apparent to any one who has been the least observing of its 

 progress, or who feels any interest or desire to see a more 

 refined style of building take the place of our common coun- 

 try houses. To architectural works we owe much of this 

 improvement ; and hence we gladly hail the appearance of any 

 book, however so little it may aid in this progress, provided 

 it leads in the right way, to a higher appreciation of the 

 beautiful, a better knowledge of fitness and expression, and 

 a purer taste for true art. 



It has been the fault in regard to most of our American 

 works on architecture, that they have been mere compilations 

 upon the subject, with an abundance of nice plans, never 

 -carried into execution ; which are taking to the eye, and 

 look, as Mr. Wheeler says, " sweetly pretty on paper," but 

 have little other merit. They can rarely be put to the test 

 of execution ; and if they can, only at an expense of three 

 times the sum at which they are estimated. 



Now we shall not deny that there is merit in works even 

 of this description ; they lead to the study of Rural Art, they 

 awaken a sense of its importance, and in the end cause good 

 results. In the infancy of an art, for it can be only in its 

 infancy with us, it would be unreasonable to expect more ; 

 but as its practice becomes more extended, as country houses 

 spring up with a rapidity never before known, we may antici- 

 pate more thorough, detailed, and useful treatises; laying 

 down the principles of true taste, and their application to all 

 the conditions of cottage, villa, or suburban building. 



The work of Mr. Wheeler is something of this character. 



