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and in dwellings of moderate size and cost rather than in " palatial " erections. This 

 success has been obstructed, in recent years, by the imposition of a fashion of stucco- 

 coating the surfaces of dwelling houses so as to conceal their construction. This 

 equable coating, concealing the articulation of the structure which may be underneath 

 it, is in fact the expression of the construction of concrete, or reinforced concrete, 

 which is one of the modes facilitated by the combination of the increasing demand 

 for fire-proof buildings, and the increasing narrowing of the margin of cost between 

 construction in timber and in fire-proof materials. It cannot be said that construction 

 in concrete has thus far issued in much that is interesting or anything that can fairly 

 be called typical or characteristic. But it has obstructed the development of such a 

 typical construction in its chief rival in incombustible building that in hollow tile. 

 Hollow tile has for many years been currently in use as the most eligible material for 

 the interior partitions of structures intended to be fire-proof. Of late years it has been 

 extensively employed in the exterior walls, especially of dwellings. In neither case 

 has it been expressively treated, except in a few cases of its internal use. The rule 

 is that it is covered with an equable coat of plaster, so as to coaceal material and 

 construction. It is thus impossible to distinguish a house of hollow tile from one 

 of concrete, or from one of which the material to which the coating is applied is a frame 

 of timber or of "wire lath." Necessarily none of these dwellings has the interest 

 of an expressive treatment, and none is of consequence in considering architectural 

 development, though many examples show skill in composition, and all denote .a 

 reaction in favour of simplicity. Meanwhile, rural or suburban dwellings, constructed 

 of the familiar building materials, continue to comprise the most interesting examples 

 of architecture in America. Of no mode of domestic building can it be said that it 

 rises to the importance of a " school," unless an exception be made of the country 

 house constructed of rough stone. In this a high degree of success has been attained. 

 Particularly is this the case in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where the architects have 

 been impressed by the remaining stone farm houses and barns of the colonial period, 

 and have refined the design of these to successful, attractive, and distinctive results. 

 The Dutch colonial houses of Long Island and New Jersey have also furnished sug- 

 gestions to the architects of dwellings, particularly in the neighbourhood of New York. 

 The American derivative of British building of the Georgian period continues, however, 

 to be distinctively known as " Colonial " and to furnish suggestions for the most 

 prevalent mode of domestic architecture. (MONTGOMERY SCHUYLER.) 



THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



In May 1912, there met in Philadelphia and in Washington two important asso- 

 ciations the National Federation of Arts, organised in 1910, which embraces in its 

 programme both the so-called fine-arts and those, included in the term handicraft, 

 and the National League of Handicraft Societies, wholly in the interests of these latter. 

 The League, organised in 1907, now represents about forty arts and crafts societies from 

 all parts of the United States, some having a membership well into the hundreds. 

 Its aim is to form a kind of clearing-house for the movement, and to take up statistical 

 and educational work, not within the scope of any single society. It supports a travel- 

 ling exhibition of articles of handicraft sent on request to places in which excellent 

 work of this character is not easily seen, and a travelling library of technical and other 

 appropriate books not easily obtained nor so well selected outside of the great cities. 

 The existence of the League indicates a wide-spread interest and the establishment of 

 many societies, a few of which have been strong or enterprising enough to see the 

 advantages of such a union and make the necessary effort to carry it on. 



The arts and crafts movement has had two sources in America. It was early 

 preached by Ruskin disciples, students returning from England, but with apparently 

 little direct result at the time. The old Art Academy, however, at 23rd Street and 

 Fourth Avenue, New York, was built under the influence of these teachings. A very 

 practical incentive to craftsmanship was found in the remains of Colonial industries, 



