CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR 



DOORS 



[N considering the individual features which go to make up a 

 house, it must be remembered that they form part of a 

 structure which should be homogeneous, and as a learned 

 professor may build up the structure of an extinct animal 

 from a few bones, so, in the house, a single door for instance, 

 should express in its design much of the general character of the building to 

 which it belongs. Eclecticism is a principle which may be followed in the 

 designing of a house only under severe restrictions. We may choose, indeed, 

 from all the Ages, but in choosing we must change till all is in harmony. 



The simplest kind of door is one composed of vertical planks, secured 

 to horizontal cross-ledges. The candid construction of such a door finds 

 itself peculiarly at home in a house where the direct and simple use of 

 materials is the keynote of the design. In the average modern house it has 

 been relegated to back premises, in favour of elaborate arrangements of 

 mouldings and panels, but in many respects it is more appropriate and more 

 interesting than the panelled door. 



In the first place, its two sides are quite distinct in character, one with its 

 unbroken surface forming a field for the decorative use of ironwork in 

 hinges and latch, and the other with its ledges barring the surface of the 

 door with horizontal lines. 



This type of door may be most consistently used in a solid frame of 

 wood, or hung on gudgeons set in stonework, or brickwork of the doorway. 

 It is less desirable when the internal finishings of the house are entirely 

 superficial, and in carrying the principle of direct expression of constructive 

 decoration which such a door exemplifies to its logical conclusion in the 

 house, the universal use of plaster as an internal finish for the walls is not 

 always desirable, for plaster entails the use of superficial woodwork in the 

 form of fascias and skirtings, which are not quite in harmony with the ledged 

 type of door. A compromise may, however, be effected in this matter by 

 reducing such fascias to their smallest dimensions, and thus keeping them 

 quite distinct from the structural woodwork, to make them appear rather 

 part of the plaster than part of the door frame. 



Or if the actual brickwork or stonework of the wall or the woodwork of 

 the framed partition is left exposed, this will form the most satisfactory 

 setting for a door of this description. 



The consideration of the old Scandinavian door frames which were so 

 intricately carved, suggests the use of the plain surface of the ledged door 

 as a foil to the carving of the frame which embowers it with branches, leaves 

 and fruit. 



The next type of door to be considered is the panelled door, which 

 presents many possibilities for design in the number and proportion of the 

 panels, and the moulding of the rails and styles. 



In the simpler types of door the mouldings may be omitted altogether, 

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