AMERICAN 
January, 
Ig12 
One-light bracket, cost- 
ing about $2.50 
Lighting 
Six light fixture of wood 
compo furnished with key 
(sarko) control 
ESIDENCE illumination is comparatively a 
‘|| new art. Before the invention of the incan- 
|| descent electric lamp and of the gas mantle, 
it was difficult to get enough light; now the 
problem is to distribute the light properly 
and shade and tone it so as to eliminate glare. 
To residence illumination comparatively little attention has 
been devoted by illuminating engineers. Their efforts are 
concentrated on commercial and public buildings, where con- 
tracts are larger and more lucrative. And when they at- 
tempt to apply to the lighting of houses the experience 
gained in the lighting of hotels and stores, they discover that 
conditions are diametrically dissimilar. Even in commercial 
lighting, engineers are apt to rely too much on the photo- 
meter and on algebraic formule, trusting them rather than 
the less complicated and more direct conclusions of the 
human eye and common sense. In other words, they do not 
appear to realize that while the photometer is useful in 
figuring cost and quantity, the final test of illumination, public 
or private, under scientific direction, is its effect on the vision. 
It is absolutely necessary to approach the 
lighting of houses from the decorative point 
of view. The location of the outlets and 
the number of lights per outlet depend not 
only on the size and shape of the room, but 
also on the color and pattern and texture of 
walls and furniture. Important also is the 
question of style. If an interior is Colonial, 
or Georgian, or French, or Mission, the 
lighting fixtures should conform, in finish as 
well as in shape and ornament. Different 
periods also have their preferences as re- 
gards material—wood and compo fixtures 
associating themselves with Gothic and 
Renaissance, crystal glass beads and balls 
and prisms with the Louises, the Queen 
Anne and the Georgian periods, dull brass 
with the Colonial, hammered old brass and 
hammered old iron with Mission, etc. 
The best lighted houses are those whose 
illumination has been planned and whose lighting fixtures 
have been selected by the architect or decorator, working in 
close understanding with the manufacturer. Here the archi- 
tect has a distinct initial advantage—not always appreciated 
—the fact that the owner’s confidence is his from the very 
beginning—from the time of the adoption of the plans— 
and that he is in a position, where the use of electricity is 
concerned, to impress upon the owner the desirability of 
selecting the lighting fixtures before the wiring is done. The 
wiring is of fundamental importance. Unless the outlets 
HOMES 
This two-light bracket of wood compo, 
frosted bulbs, costs about $30.00 
By George Leland Hunter 
A shower with a 27-inch drop, and — 
shades in ground crystal, 
this, sells for $31.50 
AND GARDENS 26 
A very good bracket, 
costing about $3.00 
Fixtures 
Louis XIV lantern of 
armor bronze. Ground 
glass conceals bulbs 
are properly placed, with sufficient current for each, the skill 
of the wisest decorator and of the most competent engineer 
will fail to accomplish good lighting. Re-wiring is so ex- 
pensive and often so difhcult—involving the mutilation of 
finished walls and floors—that owners cannot often be per- 
suaded to authorize it. The wiring of many houses is too 
often left to the electrician, who seldom knows anything 
about the art of effective and economical illumination and 
whose interest it is, usually, to complete his contract with as 
little cost to himself as possible. Either he underwires the 
house and makes it impossible ever to light it well, or he 
overwires the house in such a way as to secure the minimum 
of illumination from the maximum of current. 
Important in wiring for electric lighting is the question 
of control. Fixtures that are out of reach, and fixtures and 
brackets with candle lights and miniature bulbs, should have 
switch control. The sarko switches, with key often used in 
the backplate of candle brackets and others too small for 
regular sockets, are not particularly trustworthy or durable, 
especially when overloaded, as they often are. Despite the 
initial cost, it will pay in the long run to have 
all ceiling fixtures of the average house con- 
trolled by switches. In the more expensive 
houses the brackets also will all be on 
switch, and there will be such useful refine- 
ments as burglar lights and master switches, 
and switches to light the hall above or the 
hall below, etc. 
In preparing a general scheme of illumi- 
nation for a house, the problem should be 
approached room by room and floor by 
floor, the main rooms of the first floor taken 
into consideration first. Starting, for in- 
stance, with the dining-room, 14x17 feet, 
with ceiling ten feet from the floor, this 
means 238 square feet of floor space, which 
divided by fifty, equals a trifle under five as 
the number of 15-candle-power lights neces- 
sary, where ceiling and walls are not too 
dark. At this point I should explain that I 
have found fifty to be a convenient divisor for use in de- 
termining the proper number of lights to a room of given 
size, with ceiling 9 feet 6 inches, which is the average height 
for ceilings throughout the United States, and for which 
many manufacturers plan their ceiling fixtures, giving them 
an overall drop of three feet unless otherwise ordered. This 
brings the bottom of the fixture 6 feet 6 inches from the floor, 
which is right for most drop fixtures with lights up. But in 
very large, higher rooms fixtures should hang higher than 
this, and in some low rooms perhaps three inches lower. 
such as 
