HOUSES AND GARDENS 



would depend very much upon its position and suitability to average 



requirements. 



My own experience in this matter has shown that houses of average size, 

 built in suitable localities, can be readily disposed of, for, while it is not the 

 general public who at present demand rational houses, the minority who do 

 are not catered for at all at present, and this minority, I feel assured, is 

 increasing every year. 



Those who have any faith in human nature at all must believe that the 

 hideous outcrop of modern villadom is a merely temporary condition of 

 affairs, and a veneer of so-called art will not for long be accepted as a substitute 

 for comfort and convenience in planning. 



The most economical house to build is one which is a simple rectangle in 

 plan covered with an unbroken roof. In most cases, to aim at picturesque and 

 elaborate roof-lines and plans full of nooks and corners, is to add to the cost 

 and often merely to secure a restlessness and fussiness of effect. It is commonly 

 supposed that the art of the house lies in complexity of roofing, in pic- 

 turesque " skylines," and so on. In answer to an attempt to induce a client 

 who held such views to accept a simple type of plan, I was told that a plain 

 house c'ould be obtained from any one, and that he had come to me because 

 he wanted something unusual. To achieve the unusual in building nowadays, 

 it is necessary merely to aim at being rational and simple, and to depend on 

 proportion and the structural integrity for whatever beauty of an unobtrusive 

 kind the house may possess. It does not by any means follow that a plain 

 house is an ugly house, and conscious striving for picturesque effects often 

 results in failure. 



The most telling and prominently satisfying buildings are generally those 

 which are simple in outline and structure. 



In estimating the cost of the various houses illustrated, it must be remem- 

 bered that, as the price of building varies considerably in different localities, 

 these can only be taken as approximately correct. In some cases I am able 

 to give the cost for which the houses have been actually built. In London 

 and its neighbourhood, within a certain radius which it is difficult accurately 

 to define, as well as in certain popular or fashionable resorts in other parts of 

 the country, the price of building is high. In country districts it is much 

 lower, and is lowest in those where old traditions have been least influenced by 

 modern ideas. 



Large firms in most districts tend to maintain a uniform and somewhat 

 high scale of prices, but in many country places the small local builder, who 

 perhaps even works with his own hands, and who is not entirely consumed 

 with the idea of making money, is perhaps the best type for building a small 

 homely house. He does not possess elaborate machinery, and cannot produce 

 that high mechanical finish in the work which represents the modern ideal of 

 perfection, and which has made modern building so depressing. He may not 

 be so intelligent or so expeditious in his work as the more up-to-date builder^ 

 but, on the other hand, he is often more conscientious and careful. 



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