smaller and smaller, and the individual apartments 

 expanded in inverse ratio, until we have that dark and 

 narrow alley which in the modern dwelling is called 

 a hall. This, though a common meeting-place for 

 the occupants of the dwelling, is indeed an ignoble 

 descendant of the stately apartment of the mediaeval 

 castle. 



The new continent of North America inspired her 

 builders to a distinct type of school of domestic archi- 

 tecture. In the Colonial houses there is the expression 

 of thought and feeling very different from that ex- 

 pressed in the houses of other countries. In the 

 breadth of door, window, and hearth dwells the senti- 

 ment of emancipation, and the sacredness of the family. 

 The soft browns with which the houses are often painted 

 and which recede into the browns of tree and ground, 

 and the grays and whites which also are favorite colors, 

 and which are as austere as Puritanism itself, tell the 

 story of simple ideals. 



Both necessity and inclination have made man use 

 the greatest variety of material, both natural and arti- 

 ficial, in building his home. Necessity has played a 

 far greater part than the other factor, however, par- 

 ticularly in the early stages of progress toward civili- 

 zation. And even to-day there are so many restricting 

 elements governing the building of habitable struc- 

 tures, that civilized man finds himself almost as badly 

 hampered as his primitive ancestor in the selection of 

 his building material. 



Every man, whether savage or civilized, has to con- 

 sider two great factors in selecting the material for his 



