V. 



* DECORATIVE IRONWORK 



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ARTHUR W. COLTON 

 AMY RICHARDS COLTON 



Editors' Note: Because of the growing popularity of ironwork as an architec- 

 tural feature of the modern garden and dwelling, where seemingly it has come to 

 stay, some account of its origins and present-day application seems timely. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Colton, uniting the sympathetic insight of the poet with the trained taste 

 of the decorator, have brought their joint gifts to an able presentation of the 

 theme. The first article of the series, dealing with the history of this ancient art, appeared in July (pages 301-304); and the present 

 account of decorative ironwork for gardens and outdoor uses in general will be supplemented in September by suitable features for sun- 

 porch and conservatory. 



II. IN THE GARDEN AND ELSEWHERE 



NEW shop with a wide window displaying decorative 

 ironwork and nothing else was recently opened on New 

 York's Fifth Avenue to the gaze of that extraordinary 

 street. Probably the avenue never had a show win- 

 dow of the kind before, and the event is indicative. Decorative 

 ironwork is coming into use again, and coming in as a distinct 

 class of art objects. It is coming with the revival of interest in 

 gardens, especially formal gardens, planned with some architec- 

 tural structure and designed in connection with the house. 

 The whole is associated with a special interest in gardens with 

 Southern European feeling. 



Ironwork now appears in the shape of formal entrance gates 

 to estates; of smaller and less formal gates to gardens, with arch- 

 ways over these entrances and bells or lanterns pendent from 

 the arches; of iron railings in connection with gardens, and 

 balcony railings overlooking gardens. 



The lanterns are of great variety in placing as well as in form, 

 some pendent with chains, some resting on top of iron or stone 

 shafts, some standing out from the wall of the house on elabo- 

 rate brackets. Electric bells have long superseded the old 

 iron bell as a utility, but in small houses they, like iron knockers, 

 may still be of use. They are hung from decorative iron 

 brackets at the entrance of house or garden, and are rung either 

 with a tongue or a hammer. 



The decorative well-cover or arched support is being revived, 

 andthedesignersareturningout unusual forms of weather-vanes. 



The growing tendency to live as much of life as possible out- 

 of-doors has increased the use of sun-porches and loggias, and 

 these suggest, or offer, an excellent opportunity, for various dec- 

 orative iron pieces; portable tables and chairs, iron stands 

 (usually tripods) sustaining plant holders (which are often old 

 iron braziers, or made on old brazier designs). Iron brackets, 

 with copper or brass receptacles for plants, are often fastened 

 against the walls of loggias, and other iron plant holders are 

 hung by chains from the ceiling. The tripod stands are also 

 used to hold a glass globe for an aquarium. Globe aquariums, 

 however, are said to be inferior to square ones, as regards the 

 health and happiness of the fish. 



Old candelabra and their designs are easily adaptable to 

 electric wiring and convertible into floor lamps in a loggia that 

 has been fitted with electric outlets. 



In selecting pieces of ironwork, the personal taste and feeling 

 of the owner should be a controlling and pervading influence. 

 That taste and feeling is often uncertain of its way; it may know 

 what it is seeking in the sense that it is seeking self-expression 

 and a satisfied peace, but how that self can be found and that 

 satisfaction attained is a problem which is apt to be more dif- 

 ficult than anticipated. Solutions often turn out to be not 

 final but only temporary. The difference between the pos- 

 session of a really beautiful and a merely meretricious object 

 is that with the one the pleasure of possession increases with 

 time and use, with the other it stales. 



WROUGHT IRON ITALIAN BALCONY 



Executed by Samuel Yellin, a believer in tradition "whose work has the perfection of execution of the 

 Renaissance craftsmen." The pot of flowers and the quirky pair of birds enliven the whole 

 design which well exemplifies both the delicacy and the strength of this metal when masterfully 

 handled. Mr. Guggenheim's residence at Port Washington, L. I.; H. Van Buren Magonigle, architect 



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