9 8 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1906 



Helps to Home Building 



The Value of Architectural Study to the Layman 



HERE are but two aspects in which the study 

 of architecture is of value to the layman. 

 These are the pleasure he may take in it, and 

 the utility his knowledge may be in any build- 

 ing work he may have in mind. In the first 

 instance it is a hobby, and a more agreeable • 

 hobby to ride does not exist in the whole world. It is a hobby 

 that takes one into the furthest reaches of the past. It brings 

 one before the mightiest of human creations. It touches on 

 every form of art. It explains life, manners and customs. It 

 emphasizes the great facts of history. It is a source of un- 

 ending delight and of constant change, joy and pleasure. 



But the layman must be interested in architecture in a very 

 real and complete manner if he would derive the best from its 

 study. He must be absorbed in it, saturated with it, engulfed 

 with it. It must be to him what the collecting of stamps is 

 to the small boy, or the gathering of paintings is to the adult 

 man. His interest must not only be real, but must be complete. 

 If his interests turn to architecture he will find that the more 

 he studies it the greater will be his delight in it. Incidentally 

 his acquaintance with all useful knowledge will broaden, for 

 architecture touches on many things not architectural. 



No one can be argued into the study of architecture for 

 its own sake. There must be inherent love for it, inherent 

 interest in it, capacity for architectural understanding and 

 sheer delight in it. If none of these things come naturally to 

 a man no argument will induce them, no plea lead to interest, 

 no urging produce intelligent results. The architectural 

 hobby is a rare one for the layman, for most men who are 

 thoroughly interested in this art will assume it as a profession 

 — and then instantly find that the professional point of view 

 is something quite different from the hobbiest's aspect. 



The layman, if he can, will find it best to keep entirely clear 

 of the professional aspects of architecture. Only a trained 

 architect is competent to design, and he often does it badly 

 enough. One may develop an architectural idea, but that is 

 something wholly different from developing it for practical 

 execution. In no art has the amateur less place than in archi- 

 tecture, the amateur designer, that is, for the mistakes he will 

 make, the errors he will create will surpass belief. To the 

 layman architectural study must be a source of personal grati- 

 fication, not something by which he may keep an architect out 

 of a job. 



The architect is entitled to all the work he can get if he 

 gets it honestly. There are few enough jobs of any kind to 

 be passed around, and quite too few, as every architect is 

 aware, of the first quality. The amateur has no business to 

 compete with the architect in any way. It is true enough he 

 has done so in past times and sometimes with amazing results. 

 But these are exceptional cases, that by no means entitle the 

 modern amateur to intrude on the field pre-empted by the 

 modern architect. 



Interest in architecture is something quite different from 

 ability to design, and that in its turn, is distinct from ability 

 to build. Both designing and building require practical ex- 

 perience, long study and much ability directed towards defi- 

 nite ends. Mere interest in the art will not reach these ends 

 or even touch them. The requirements of modern building 

 are so complicated that only the man who knows can carry out 

 any work to successful completion. One has but to try a 

 very simple problem in practical designing to realize how 

 true this is and how disheartening. 



Of what, then, is the value of architectural study to the 

 layman? The retort is obvious: of what use is anything 

 unless it be practical or unless it give pleasure? The study of 

 architecture, however, is almost an essential to the well bal- 

 anced and cultured man. It greatly enhances the value of 

 European travel, to cite the most apparent instance. Europe 

 is filled from end to end, with buildings of the vastest inter- 

 est. Year after year hordes of thoughtless travelers pour 

 through the spacious halls of European palaces or walk be- 

 neath the vaults of great churches, with mouth agape and 

 wearied eyes, wondering what it is all about. Wasted effort, 

 no doubt, and rightly wasted, if one has no knowledge of 

 architecture and no appreciation of it. A more foolish pro- 

 ceeding than the inspection of the great monuments of Euro- 

 pean architecture without any appreciation of what they may 

 mean can not be imagined. Yet it is done every year, and 

 thousands of times every year, and will doubtless be done so 

 long as any stone of these wonders remains erected upon 

 another. 



The study of architecture will remedy this absurdity and 

 give fresh zest to European travel. And it will accomplish 

 this end in more than an architectural manner. The objects 

 of architectural interest in Europe have an historical point of 

 view as well as an artistic one. These great buildings are 

 expressions of national life. They depict and illustrate in 

 the most striking manner the manners and customs of the 

 times in which they were built. More important than this 

 they were the scenes of many great historical events, the mere 

 mention of which sends a thrill through the cultured man and 

 which give a vitality and reality to these structures quite apart 

 from any considerations of architecture. Think for a mo- 

 ment if you can, how the history of the later French mon- 

 archy is written into the buildings at Versailles; of how the 

 enthusiasm of the middle ages was expressed in the erection 

 of the cathedral of Chartres; of how many stupendous events 

 the superb front of Notre Dame at Paris has looked down 

 upon, or of how the history of the world was affected by the 

 building of St. Peter's at Rome. The Doge's palace at 

 Venice, the cathedrals of Florence, Pisa, Siena and Orvieto 

 are nobler monuments to civic life than any single shaft or 

 painting. These buildings are not dead inert structures, but 

 living organisms, dowered with many human passions. One 

 cannot realize their meaning as one should without a knowl- 

 edge of their architectural characteristics. 



In a more practical way every layman about to build or 

 concerned with building in any way, should be familiar with 

 the chief performances of the architectural art. He should, 

 at least, have an intelligent appreciation of architectural 

 styles. He need not know how to design — in fact he should 

 not do so — but he should be able to discuss his building in- 

 telligently with his architect, and know, when the latter 

 throws a round arch, whether it be Norman or Roman. 



In other words, to have dealings with architects requires a 

 knowledge of their business. It is the esthetic side that ap- 

 peals to most laymen, and a knowledge of architectural es- 

 thetics is, in most cases, sufficient for all practical purposes. 

 There is less of interest in the scientific side of building; 

 questions of sanitation and of hygiene, while of abounding 

 importance, are not inspiring to the average mind. But ar- 

 chitectural esthetics are of transcending interest and import- 

 ance and have, in addition, a practical utility that will often 

 be most hopeful. 



