THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



WOOD CHIMNEY-PIECES 



The Small Thing&quot; in Architecture And the Architect s Care of It Mr. Philip Webb s 

 Art Evolution of the Chiinnev-pieee Legacies of the Salon. 



A ASHIONABLE architect of other times, entering his office one day and giving directions to 

 his chief assistant for a number of small and somewhat vexatious alterations to the scheme in 

 hand, wound up with the half apologetic remark, &quot; The Duke of Blank is a man who judges 

 by small things.&quot; With this anecdote may be coupled another of a solemn conclave 

 of architects discussing the education of their successors, whereat an advocate of the grand 

 manner in architecture, declaiming against the attention given by the students to the design of small 

 subjects, tombstones and the like, was met by the remark from an able and well-known member, &quot; Do 

 not yon think it is precisely the small things that are so difficult to do ? For myself, I am afraid of these 

 tombstones and the like ; they give me so much trouble to work out.&quot; In the illustrations of 

 these charming mantel-pieces, those who have seen what Mr. Philip Webb can make of a country 

 house on a large scale will realise that the same ability can solve the problem of the small 

 thing with equal facility and success. Few clients probably realise that such designs as these are pure 

 yifts on the part of the architect, whose remuneration on the basis of cost can never repay the time and 

 thought bestowed on their artistic evolution. Probably one reason why in otherwise well-designed houses 

 we so often see such lamentable showroom chimney-pieces is that the architect has been discouraged, by 

 the attitude of the future inhabitants, from attempting any departure from the customary device of 

 the stock pattern personally selected by the client. What I like &quot; is a formidable weapon, and as there 

 are few who can form any idea of the mantel-piece design, short of actual execution, it argues some 



disinterested hardi 

 hood on the part of the 

 architect to venture on 

 so ha/.ardous a field. 

 Still, the time must 

 come sooner or later 



&quot; . T when people will 



realise that the value 

 of an interior designed 

 by masters like Mr. 

 Webb is a thing apart 

 and beyond price. 



In these instances 

 of mantel-pieces quite 

 economical in 

 character there are 

 elements of invention 

 and graceful propor 

 tion and a reticence 

 of features which will 

 appeal at once to the 

 cultivated taste. The 

 individual note of Mr. 

 Webb s work is most 

 marked perhaps in the 

 design ( s h o w n i n 

 Fig. 49) where the 

 mantel-piece, though 

 treated as part of the 

 panelled walls, yet 

 asserts itself by the 

 i. IN THE DINING-ROOM AT STANDEN. bold combination of 



