INTRODUCTION 



TIIK welcome given to Small Coitn/rv Houses of To-day, which dealt with the planning and archi 

 tectural treatment of about fifty typical houses by well-known architects, seems to justify 

 the publication of this, a companion volume. In the lormer book the aim was to consider 

 each house as a definite architectural conception. It was shown how many and how 

 greatly differing are the motifs that may justly be employed in giving form to needs which are, in 

 the main, the same for all houses. Though six of its chapters were given to the description ol old buildings 

 which had been repaired and altered to meet new conditions and needs, the design of new houses received 

 the lion s share of consideration. The scheme of the present volume is altogether diflerent, though the 

 aim is the same, vi/,., to enlarge the healthy interest, already widespread, in all questions that concern 

 the practical equipment and decorative amenities of the house. Many volumes have been published 

 in which a single writer has endeavoured to cover the whole field, but such a collide &amp;gt;eem-~ to demand an 

 amount of knowledge and critical ability which it is unreasonable to expect. The method here adopted, 

 of securing contributions from twenty-three writers, between whom the forty-three chapters have been 

 divided, is obviously more likely to secure expert advice on subjects so diverse. It will, however, be 

 found that the general attitude of all the contributors is the same, in so far as they plead with the public, 

 to approach all questions relating to the house and its equipment in an architectural spirit. The 

 book roughly divides itself into three sections. The first fourteen chapters deal with the treatment of 

 various rooms and with different means of beautifying them by plaster-work, panelling, and furniture 

 aptly designed and chosen. The next seventeen are devoted to practical questions, such as drainage and 

 lighting. The last twelve take us from the house toils encircling garden, in consonance with the plea (set 

 out by Mr. Ernest Newton in the first chapter) that house and garden should be considered together as 

 constituent parts of an artistic whole. While no one book, or, indeed, anything short of a library, can 

 include all the subjects involved in so vast a problem as the equipment of the house, it is hoped that 

 this volume will stimulate and help those who are not wholly satisfied with their homes and desire to 

 better them. LAWRENCE \YEAVER. 



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