December, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



473 



The brilliant color of the painting is seen to great advantage 

 when placed on the windows 



Good lettering adds to the design and helps it 

 in many ways 



manent leaded windows. Interesting as these windows are, nent and lasting, but rather pleasant decorations that have 



not only to design and make, but to see and enjoy, it should merit, but which may be changed from time to time 



not be forgotten that they have a very certain informal as one desires. In any event, they constitute a new form of 



character. They are hardly to be looked upon as perma- household decoration that possesses both novelty and interest. 



Shall We Hire an Architect? 



ERTAINLY, and why not? The question 

 is often asked, and it is sometimes answered 

 as it is put. There are good architects and 

 some not so good, and sometimes one hears 

 of architects that are really bad. Personal 

 experiences are so very varied, however, 

 that instances are not unknown where a 

 client reports very distressful results from the engagement 

 of architects who enjoy the best of reputations. It may be 

 unkind to suggest that in such cases the trouble lies with 

 the client himself rather than with the architect. Simple 

 candor compels the idea. 



The fact of the matter is that a man who knows is, in 

 the long run, bound to win out in competition with the man 

 who does not know. It is a mere question of solving prob- 

 lems. The man with the most skill in such work is certainly 

 more apt to succeed than the man with less skill. Brilliant 

 ideas are often obtained from most unlikely sources; but the 

 man who undertakes to build a house for himself or for 

 others and does not take advantage of the very best advice 

 and assistance he can command is taking a big risk. 



It is seldom worth while to do this, for the erection of a 

 dwelling, even of small cost, is an expensive undertaking. 

 Everyone knows that this often runs up into the hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars, and those who have these immense 

 amounts to spend are often the best able, financially, to 

 make such experiments in architectural expenditure as may 

 seem desirable to them. The cost to the owner of a small 

 house is often relatively greater than to the builder of a large 



one. Not that prices are actually higher, but the small 

 builder is apt to put most of his savings into the venture, 

 and his resources being smaller the risk is proportionately 

 greater. 



The architect is the only person who has made a real study 

 of the art and science of building. This study if not com- 

 plete, is at all events more extended and more profound than 

 the knowledge that a layman may equip himself with when 

 he sets out to build his own house. It is the simple question 

 of expertness. One calls in a physician for sickness, and 

 one should, quite as a matter of course, call in an architect 

 when undertaking a building. 



There is never any economy in seeking to save the archi- 

 tect's fee. He not only earns his money, but he saves his 

 client cost and bother. His fee is a legitimate part of the 

 building enterprise, quite as essential as the walls and roof. 

 Commissions and profits of various sorts are necessary ac- 

 companiments of every building enterprise; why should the 

 architect be dispensed with simply because he charges a rea- 

 sonable amount for his expert guidance? 



It is quite true that houses, and sometimes good houses, 

 have been built without the aid of the architect. These, 

 however, are the exception. The layman can not possibly 

 make the study of the problem that the architect does : he 

 may advise and suggest; he may propose and dictate; but 

 the architect is the one person to digest, absorb and arrange 

 all these matters and put them into concrete, definite build- 

 ing form. He is more than worth trying; he is exactly the 

 person to consult in home building. 



