The Garden Magazine, August, 1922 



365 



THE IRON GATEWAY AS A GARDEN FEATURE 



A really well-designed gateway holds its beauty the year through, 

 long after the tumbling grace of Roses is overpast. At Plant- 

 ing Fields, Oyster Bay, L. I., the home of Mr. W. R. Coe 



quality can express strength by it without massiveness. This 

 is why one feels that the slim, sinewy vigor of Mr. Diederich's 

 figures is true to the material. Such figures in stone would look 

 fragile, but in iron they look strong. 



THE matter of rust is, of course, of vital importance in ex- 

 terior ironwork, and the best workmen treat it with oil, 

 which is burnt into the surface. It is supposed, but not very 

 definitely known that the old iron was so treated. In this way, 

 one escapes from paint. 



Do not paint your iron, for with paint you lose all the texture, 

 all the surface quality. The Italians and Germans used to 

 touch it with color and gilt, but that is another matter. They 

 did it for color purposes. But it is, or has been, the fashion to 

 paint and repaint gates, railings, and grilles from year to year, 

 and their surfaces have no more quality than the varnish on a 

 hearse. They seldom have much interest in design, but time 

 would give some pleasantness to their surfaces if it were not 

 for the perennial paint. The oil treatment will keep the surface 

 value as well as preserve from rust. 



The outdoor ironwork in cities is important, and it calls for 

 improvement. Municipal ironwork in New York is on such a 

 quantity scale that quality workmanship in the making is out 

 of the question. But there is no reason why the design of 

 the street lamps should not be interesting. Street lamps, 

 street signs, letter boxes, park railings, and park benches may 

 be cast in quantity and be good, if the designs are good. But 

 the designs should all be chosen by a non-official commission of 

 artists, not by any city official. 



A great deal of well designed ironwork is being used in re- 

 modelled backyards, thrown together into an inner block 

 garden. A good example is Turtle Bay Gardens (See Garden 

 Magazine for January, 1922) in which the ironworkwas designed 

 by Messrs. Bottomley and Dean, and executed by P. Fiebiger, 

 a very competent ironworker. 



Enduring then, as well as 

 strong and sober, iron has 

 great virtues for exterior or 

 garden ornament and struc- 

 ture. All the fine traditions 

 of grille work are at the ser- 

 vice of balconies and garden 

 gates — all the beautiful old 

 designs of hinges, handles 

 and knockers, locks and 

 keys. Your pendent lantern 

 may as easily be of good de- 

 sign as of bad. A copied 

 design is as good as the orig- 

 inal so far as the design goes, 

 but one must see that the 

 workmanship of the copy is 

 also good. Finally, avoid 

 black paint and glossiness. 

 If you use paint, use it for 

 color, but the best founda- 

 tion color for iron is its 

 own texture and weather 

 stain. 



THE FRIENDLY LANTERN 



Quite aside from its obvious useful- 

 ness, the lantern holds out pleasant 

 invitation, and in its dramatic light 

 and shade even the smallest garden 

 takes on mystery. Garden of Mr. 

 J ere Downs, Winchester, Mass. 





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