IX 



MERICANS are gradually learn- 

 ing that fitness, appropriate- 

 ness, is the foundation of all 

 artistic excellence ; and though 

 the lesson is not yet fully acquired, we are 

 making visible progress toward the realiza- 

 tion of this quality in our various classes of 

 buildings. The improvement is perhaps 

 most manifest in our country houses, which 

 we design with a more intelligent regard 

 for the requirements of site and environ- 

 ment than we did even ten years ago, and a 

 truer sense of the fact that in such houses 

 simplicity is a cardinal virtue. There has 

 been a reaction against conventionality on 

 the one hand and against ostentation on the 

 other, and it has been inspired by a new- 

 born feeling for architectural fitness. 



But in a reaction men are almost certain 

 to go too far, and so it is not surprising to 

 find that in trying for simplicity we some- 



191 



