THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



ot stuffs and wall-papers really did what they could to meet these new requirements ; naturally, with 

 varying success. Many architects assisted the manufacturers by designing wall-hangings, carpets and 

 other fabrics. 



The third point is the revival of the lost art of garden design. The &quot; House Beautiful &quot; still 

 required a setting. The architect who had given so much thought to the building was forced regretfully 

 to resign the laying-out of the garden to alien hands ; the cult of the curly path, of the kidney-shaped bed 

 and clump of pampas grass was well established and not easy to dislodge. Gradually, however, people s 

 interest was aroused by garden books and illustrations of the fine old gardens scattered up and down the 

 country. Now the architect plans the garden almost as a matter of course. The dethronement of the 

 nursery garden designer and the installation of the architect in his place has come about rather suddenly. 

 The architect is sometimes a little embarrassed by the confidence reposed in him as a garden-maker. His 

 knowledge of planning and his powers of designing an effective &quot; lay-out &quot; may in some cases exceed his 

 horticultural learning. Of course, lie need not be a specialist in this line, but he must have a fair working 

 knowledge of plants and their habits, of when and where to put them, or his garden will be shorn of more 

 than half its interest. It is the contriving of cunningly-sheltered nooks for one kind of plant and the 

 naked exposure of others that is three-quarters of a well-conceived garden plan. This applies much less, 



of course, to the 

 arrangement of large 

 and quite formal 

 gardens than to the 

 small garden, which 

 requires a far more 

 delicate and intimate 

 handling. 



All this is 

 rather a tremendous 

 result to h a v e 

 achieved in so short a 

 time, c-pccially when 

 i t m ;i s t be r e - 

 membeivd that for 

 perhaps the larger 

 half of that time 

 architects had but 

 little support from 

 the public. T h e r e 

 were many unrecorded 

 and, fortunately, 

 bloodless battles be 

 fore the architect and 

 his client saw eye to 

 eye. I should be 

 claiming too much to 



assert that victory is ours all along the line even now ; but the growth of public interest 

 and appreciation is very marked, fostered and dictated, no doubt, as much by the attention 

 drawn to domestic architecture by books, magazines and weekly papers as by the direct influence 

 of the architect. The omniscient daily Press alone lags behind, and has still to discover the 

 art of architecture. With a few notable exceptions architectural criticism in the daily papers has 

 not advanced much beyond the penny-a-line stage ; and there is no doubt that the architecture 

 of public buildings, with which the daily Press is chiefly concerned, has not made quite the same kind 

 of advance as domestic work. The reason for this is that in the latter architect and client are in touch ; 

 they discuss requirements and detail*- ; there is a sort of partnership. Public architecture, on the other 

 hand, is generally the result of a competition. The architect has no direct employer, but has to work 

 to hard-and-fast printed directions ; there is no elasticity of give and take ; and it is all &quot; in the air.&quot; 

 Elaborate drawings have to be made showing many details and features if a competitor is to have a chance 

 of success ; and when successful he cannot leave these features out ; he is the slave of his fine drawings. 

 In the case of a house there is opportunity for much personal explanation, which, indeed, is often required. 

 The client certainly is in many instances not attracted by the elevation of a house, which is quite right 

 when built, but not, as a drawing, sufficiently effective to get a chance if it were subject to the conditions 

 of a competition. The fourth and the most important point is the genuineness of the progress. It is 

 quit:? clear that if the revival had been merely a revival of externals a sort of Christmas-card 



_|. LOCAL MATERIALS: WELSH SLATES IN WALES. 



