December, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



387 



Helps to Home Building 



The Persons Concerned 



[HERE are four persons, or groups of per- 

 sons, concerned in the erection of the house, 

 each of whom bears a definite relationship to 

 it, and each of whom is vitally concerned 

 with it. These are ( 1 ) the owner, ( 2 ) the 

 architect, (3) the builder and (4) the family. 

 The order in which they are here set down may not be quite 

 logical, for the family would seem to be so close to the owner 

 as to be inseparable from him; and the builder is compara- 

 tively unimportant, since if an architect is employed he em- 

 ploys the builder, and the owner has no responsible relations 

 with him. 



The owner, of course, is supreme. He is the boss. He 

 hires every one, and even the mighty architect must submit to 

 his will. He pays all bills, and after the house is finished it 

 is his. It is impossible to overrate his importance to the 

 undertaking; and yet he would be a wise man if he did not 

 take too much upon himself because of these primary facts. 

 There is responsibility in supreme control which is often 

 quite as great in a house as it is in the management of a rail- 

 road or in conducting the affairs of State. As a matter of 

 fact, the average owner, the every-day owner, has but the 

 slightest knowledge of architecture, and quite as little of 

 building. He will often get more satisfactory results by 

 simply paying the bills than by introducing his personal views 

 at all times and under all circumstances. 



The owner employs the architect, and immediately finds 

 he has hired a man who knows more of the business upon 

 which he is about to embark than he does. This is always 

 awkward, and sometimes leads to unpleasant complications. 

 It is quite as true of house building as of any other industry. 

 A client who has definite views of his own, and can express 

 them intelligently, will be welcomed by the architect if these 

 views are reasonable and capable of being carried out within 

 the agreed-upon limit of cost. If unreasonable results are 

 demanded some very unpleasant experiences may be looked 

 for. The tendency among architects is to insist that their 

 own views shall prevail in matters in dispute, and in face of 

 the frightful ignorance among the greater public on archi- 

 tectural matters they would seem to have the better side of 

 the argument. 



The essential point to bear in mind is that these two high 

 contracting parties, the owner and the architect, are intent 

 upon the production of a single work. The architect has not 

 the intense personal interest in the undertaking that the 

 owner has unless the house be one of unusual magnificence, 

 size and cost, when professional pride will spur him to ex- 

 traordinary efforts; but he values his professional reputation 

 sufficiently to give full measure of return for his pay. The 

 owner, on the other hand, is so keenly alive to his own per- 

 sonal relationship to the enterprise that he often fails to see 

 the architect's point of view. Unless a common meeting 

 point is permanently reached things are apt to become ex- 

 tremely unpleasant. 



The builder hardly counts as a positive force if an archi- 

 tect is employed, as he is a subordinate employee, whose busi- 

 ness it is to carry out the requirements of the specifications 

 under the superintendence of the architect. His work is 

 mechanical, but not the less essential. That there are good 

 builders and bad builders is as true as that there are good 

 architects and bad architects. The owner, however, will do 

 well to fasten the full responsibility upon the architect and rid 



himself of troubles he will personally be quite unable to 

 settle. 



The family is quite a different matter. The architect who 

 may boast he can manage any single client hastily looks for 

 cover when he sees a full-grown family making tracks for his 

 office, each laden, no doubt, with a pet idea which must be 

 immediately introduced into the building, to the exclusion oi 

 everything else. It is painful to think of the scenes that may 

 follow, and it may be a wiser course to draw a curtain upon 

 them. 



It is, however, very necessary to keep all these matters 

 well in mind in undertaking the building of a house. The 

 house is built for the client and his family; he is entitled to 

 have as many of his good ideas carried out as can be done 

 for the money. More than that, indeed, he is entitled to 

 have his bad ideas so modified and improved that the best of 

 them can also be included. He must have the architect's 

 best thought and his best work. He must not propose im- 

 possibilities. He must not ask for an Italian palace when 

 he has only money enough for a Queen Anne cottage. He 

 must not demand marble when the contracts call for brick. 

 He must realize that his architect has some rights in the 

 matter, and he must be prepared to treat all matters in a 

 reasonable way. 



And the architect must be tactful a thousand times a week. 

 He must realize that the owner has purchased his skill and 

 ability, and that these qualities, which have a marketable 

 value, belong as much to his employer as the ground for 

 which he has paid solid cash, that his house be built upon it. 

 Mr. Andrew Carnegie once gave the real measure of success 

 to a company of boys as trying to do all they were required 

 to do by their employer and a little more. This is the best 

 of advice to the architect. He must do all he can and a 

 little more. He must not stop at the letter of his contract, 

 but give full measure, heaped and running over. It is quite 

 true that we have no body of public servants who so zealously 

 insist on payment for their services as the architects. The 

 records of their professional assemblies are filled with five 

 per cent, discussions, and eloquent demands for more com- 

 pensation. Let it be assumed they are underpaid — which has 

 never yet been established — it is still true they must do 

 everything they can to please their client, and must not stop 

 when the letter of the requirements has been fulfilled. 



And the family must realize that the money spent on the 

 new house is spent for their own personal benefit. The 

 house is planned for them ; it is being paid for by the money 

 of the head of the house, who may have won it by hard toil 

 or may have comfortably inherited it. It is a well meant, 

 generous expenditure, whether the actual amount be large or 

 small. The house finished, the family should immediately 

 welcome its excellencies in the heartiest manner. It may not 

 be flawless, something may have been omitted which should 

 not have been left out, something may have been done which 

 would better have been left undone; but it is now too late to 

 change, and the wisest course is to be as pleasant about it as 

 possible, and find as many good points as can be found, ignor- 

 ing the deficiencies in the general thankfulness that the work 

 is done at last. 



But the house will never be finished until the family has 

 settled in it and a happy, pleasant family life begun there. A 

 house must be lived in to realize the fullest measure of suc- 

 cess. It must be as valued as a friend and so regarded. 



