122 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1905 



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THE ARCHITECT AND HIS 

 CHARGES 



THERE is a singular prejudice among 

 many people against employing an 

 architect in the designing and execution 

 of one's own house. It is a prejudice that is 

 widespread, because it will be found in many 

 widely separated localities, and it is singular 

 because no one seems able to give a reason for 

 it, or to make clear why it exists and should 

 be recognized. Eor recognition of the preju- 

 dice means that the work shall be proceeded 

 with without the services of an architect. 

 Hence there are quite a few houses, and some 

 other larger buildings, built without the aid 

 of an architect and proudly exhibited by their 

 happy builders and owners as marvels of 

 economy and true triumphs in native 

 unadorned art. 



And unadorned art they are likely to be, 

 although their purity may be questioned. It may 

 be well to look into this question somewhat 

 closely, because there is a prejudice against 

 architects in minds otherwise well balanced. It 

 assumes, at times, aspects of mania, as unrea- 

 sonable as that which our ancestors maintained 

 against helpless old women whom they desig- 

 nated as witches. It is possible the feeling 

 against architects may pass away in time, ex- 

 actly as the feeling against witches has wholly 

 disappeared ; meanwhile, however, a number 

 of buildings thoroughly devoid of interest will 

 have been erected, and a number of very well 

 meaning gentlemen been given an unmerited 

 stigma of contempt. 



The business of the architect is to have 

 charge of the process of building. He is in 

 business for this reason alone, and it is for 

 this that he puts in a charge for his services. 

 But the most genial of architects is not a 

 philanthropist in business for his health, help- 

 ing people to build houses out of the pure 

 goodness of his heart, contributing his quota 

 to the public welfare by the beauty of his art, 

 or promoting human life by the stability of 

 his structures. All of these things, no doubt, 

 the architect hopes to accomplish in due season, 

 and perhaps will do so; but, in most cases, he 

 must have some means of support ; he must 

 draw upon his time and his talents for his live- 

 lihood ; he must do something for bread and 

 butter. Accordingly he charges for his serv- 

 ices on a scale that has the support of his pro- 

 fessional brethren. 



Is this unreasonable or improper? Does it 

 differ in any way from the methods followed 

 by any business men engaged in any occupa- 

 tion? One has but to scan the advertising 

 columns of any daily paper, or runs through 

 the advertising pages of any magazine, to learn 

 that this is precisely what every man of busi- 

 ness does, and that it is the same procedure 

 every purchaser meets with in any purchase. 

 There is no reason at all why the architect 

 should do his work for nothing. It is a simple 

 business proposition that he should be paid for 

 what he does. 



One might go further than this and main- 

 tain, with equal propriety, that not only should 

 he be paid for what he does, but that he should 

 be well paid for it. If it is a business proposi- 

 tion that a laborer is worthy of his hire, it is 

 equally true — or should be — that good work 

 can not be had save at good prices. This latter 

 proposition is a very ordinary and familiar one. 

 Good work fetches good prices, whether the 

 article purchased be a piece of furniture, a 

 whole house, a rare work of art, or services 

 of a personal nature which are not measured 

 directly in articles made or produced. If a 

 man commands a large salary in the com- 

 mercial world of to-day, it is not because the 

 visible products of his hands and arms are 

 valuable and costly, but because his services as 



