HOUSES AND GARDENS 



the ocean. It is doubtful whether education will provide relief, for it is 

 mainly the modern Board-school which provides the most convincing object- 

 lesson of the degree of depravity of which building is capable. Nor is 

 it possible to hope for much from the Church, where building activities have 

 recently been mainly concerned with the disfigurement of the ancient glories 

 of its buildings and in the construction of elaborate and unconvincing 

 forgeries of an obsolete art. 



It might be supposed at least that all this ugly building would be 

 attended with some compensation of a practical kind, and that the modern 

 villa would t least possess utilitarian qualifications. But here again one 

 finds that so far from being in any way adapted to the real requirements 

 of its occupants, it is designed in accordance with a tradition which is based 

 on the life and habits of the occupants of a mansion. The best part of its 

 limited space is set apart to impress the neighbours, and the family is confined 

 in some plastered rectangular cell which is already crowded with unnecessary 

 and pretentious furniture. 



But enough has been said, perhaps, to show that there is an urgent need 

 for reform in the plan of the average modern house, and, apart from artistic 

 considerations, it is at least desirable that it should be rationally designed. 

 It has often been urged that a house should express and conform to the 

 special needs of those for whom it is built. But while this is certainly 

 desirable it may be questioned whether houses of special type should be 

 extensively built. A house has to meet the requirements of many occupants, 

 and it seems reasonable that one should bear in mind in its construction as to 

 how far it is adapted for general demands. 



In the design of houses for various clients of moderate means, I have 

 been led to conclude that it is possible to deduce a normal plan which meets 

 the requirements of the average family, and that variants from this constant 

 type of plan are to be found rather in appendages to the plan than in 

 any essential modification of its central features. Instead of a conception of 

 the house which presupposes the collocation of a number of compartments 

 which in the smaller houses become each too small for comfort, it is 

 suggested that the house rationally planned should primarily consist of 

 at least one good-sized apartment, which, containing no furniture but that 

 which is really required, leaves an ample floor space at the disposal of 

 its occupants. 



The private apartments for the individual members of the family may 

 then be considered as subsidiary to the central dominating room, and in 

 some cases some of these may take the form of recesses in it. In cases 

 where limited means demand a smaller type of house this should still consist 

 of its central ample floor space, and restrictions should be met by giving 

 up secondary rooms, while the bedrooms should constitute the private 

 apartments of the various members of the family group. In this 

 way even_ the labourer's cottage still retains its hall, which has now 

 become kitchen, dining-room and parlour. In thus aiming at realising 

 completely a simple type of plan rather than in striving to attain a 

 2 



