CHAPTER ONE 



HOUSES AS THEY ARE AND AS THEY 



MIGHT BE 



HE popular conception of the artistic house is that it is a fancy 

 dwelling in which the claims of Art override practical require- 

 ments. It is often held to represent indulgence in the aesthetic 

 faculties which can only be obtained at the expense of material 



comforts. Like those early prints which were sold at " a penny 



plain and tuppence coloured," houses are broadly divisible, it may be supposed, 

 into two classes the plain and every-day house, unattractive and practically 

 useful, which may be obtained for a penny or its equivalent ; and the Art 

 house, which is only for those who can afford the luxuries of life, and who, 

 living amidst the coloured glories of the tuppenny house, cheerfully accept these 

 beauties in exchange for mere material advantages, or as a costly addition to these. 

 That such a conception is not without a basis in facts must be admitted, 

 and the demand for spurious Art, which the little knowledge of modern Art 

 education so readily inculcates, is met on all sides by those who cater to the 

 wants and the whims of the public. 



The house which, for want of a better word, we must continue to differ- 

 entiate from the ordinary house as " artistic," bases its claims not on its frillings 

 and on its adornments, but on the very essence of its structure. The claims 

 of common-sense are paramount in its plan, and its apartments are arranged 

 to secure comfortable habitation for its inmates, and to reduce labour in service 

 or cleaning to a minimum. No dusty carpets cover its floors. Its windows 

 are not cloaked with elaborate curtains and blinds. Its apartments are not 

 crowded with useless and unlovely furniture. It aims at fulfilling no popular 

 conception of what a house should be, follows no fashion, and apes not its 

 neighbour mansion. If restricted resources necessitate that it should be small, 

 there is yet no sense of cramped accommodation, because restrictions have 

 been met by frank concessions. It is a roomy and commodious cottage, not a 

 mansion in miniature, while under more generous conditions it attains the true 

 dignity of the country house, and does not ape the cottage. 



In its construction the exposure of every feature of the building is not 

 necessarily involved, and though the structure indeed largely contributes to the 

 beauty of the house, it is often obscured to meet practical requirements, or to 

 supply surfaces for plain spaces of pure colour or thoughtfully conceived 

 decoration. The furniture, too, reveals little trace of conscious effort. It 

 does not pose or smirk or in any way insist on our attention to its artistic 

 perfections, but is modest and serviceable, and rests its chief claim for exist- 

 ence on the possession of those qualities. It is fitted for its purpose, and is 

 not necessarily made of expensive or highly-finished materials. In such a 

 realisation of a house, that same reasonableness which is claimed as a basis of 

 the whole fabric forbids the attempt to achieve many of the beauties which 

 belonged to the houses of the past. Old work is, indeed, carefully studied, 

 and the principles which governed it followed. Old models are often taken 



