House and Garden 
If we examine critically, however, the 
technique of such a piece of work as 
Lamour’s grille at Nancy, for example, to 
our eyes it will appear of a somewhat 
flimsy construction, and of a mechanical 
type that would be far from satisfying to 
an American master workman. And our 
shortcomings in the field of design are 
felt, not by comparison with any con¬ 
temporary work in Europe, but rather in 
relation to the acknowledged masterpieces 
of the Renaissance or Gothic age. 
Compare the fine entrance doors for Mr. 
Archer Huntington, which form our first 
illustration, with the charming door grilles 
for Mrs. Robert Dunlop, on this page. 
Here we have two opposing types of 
design, each executed in absolutely the 
best manner, and with a wholly correct 
feeling for the lines of the composition. 
It is indeed in this matter of grilles espe¬ 
cially, that American workers in wrought 
metal seem to express themselves with 
more spontaneity of feeling than in fences, 
marquises, railings or smaller objects 
which are still strongly imbued with 
foreign tendencies. 
The splendid stimulus which American 
wrought metal, in its decorative forms, 
has received in more recent years is due 
primarily to the deep interest and intelli¬ 
gent direction given to its craftsmen by the 
more highly trained among American 
architects. They have led the advance, 
showing the way to these craftsmen and 
holding them rigidly to the best ideals. 
In this they have been ably seconded by 
their clients, whose increasing contact 
DOOR GRILLES—MRS. ROBERT DUNLOP’S 
RESIDENCE, NEW YORK 
Designed by Jno. Williams 
that in fine mechanical execution and 
technical perfection American decorative 
wrought metal work is to-day equal to the 
best, and superior to most, of the work of 
contemporary European craftsmen—or in¬ 
deed of the Renaissance; though American 
smiths have not yet attempted such colossal 
tasks as those, for instance, of the great 
Spanish Rejas, thirty feet or more in height, 
in which whole scenes from Biblical history 
have been worked out in beaten metal. 
WROUGHT IRON BALCONY, 6l PINE STREET, 
NEW YORK 
F. H. Smith, Architect Jno. Williams, New York 
3° 
