STRIKING THE KEYNOTE OF THE HOUSE WITH APPROPRIATE 
MOTTOES AND DESIGNS AT ITS ENTRANCE — MATERIALS, 
STYLES AND POSITIONS—WHAT EFFECTS SHOULD BE SOUGHT 
T HE little features, the small details on a building count might¬ 
ily, oftentimes far more than most of us give them credit 
for. We may call them architectural over-refinements, super¬ 
niceties; perhaps, if you will, architectural finickinesses, but all 
the same they count for a great deal and they must be taken into 
serious consideration. Some little detail, some comparatively 
small features, will make or mar the whole character of a building. 
Overdoor inscriptions and devices are small things in them¬ 
selves, but fraught with import entirely incommensurate with the 
space they occupy. They sound the keynote, so to speak, of the 
house over whose door they stand; they set forth its character in 
brief; they indicate, or ought to, the attitude or some distinctive 
phase of the attitude of the occupants toward the outside world. 
We must look at overdoor inscriptions and devices from two abso¬ 
lutely different points of view. On the one hand, they are to be 
judged on the ground of the sentiment involved in their use; on 
the other they are to be regarded in the 
light of their architectural value and pro¬ 
priety as purely decorative features. 
The overdoor inscription or device is, 
one might say, the mouthpiece of the 
door. Doors so supplied are as much 
more expressive than doors without, as 
people with the gift of speech are more 
fortunate than their brothers with sealed 
and speechless lips. It is natural, perhaps, 
and more to be expected than anything 
else, that an overdoor inscription or de¬ 
vice should express some sentiment of 
greeting, just as one expects the master or 
mistress of the house to extend, first of all, 
a welcome to the newly arrived guest. 
There are a dozen ways and more of securing the desired ex¬ 
pression without resorting to the commonplace and threadbare 
word “Welcome” or its almost equally threadbare Latin equiva¬ 
lent Salve which is only one degree removed from Cave canem — 
certainly not a hospitable salutation—done in mosaic on a vesti¬ 
bule floor. Not only does the salutatory monosyllable betray lack 
of freshness and originality but it is altogether too suggestive of 
the unspeakably dreadful “Home, Sweet Home” mottoes and 
their like done on perforated carding in vari-colored crewels, 
framed in rustic frames and hung on cottage walls, along with 
their glaring chromo companions, throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. The allusion to Salve impels one to remark 
that an overdoor inscription in a tongue not generally “under- 
standed of the people” is apt to savor a bit of pedantry, and that 
is always a wearisome thing to all but the pedant. 
The use of overdoor inscriptions and devices is somewhat 
analogous to the use of shingles and pic¬ 
torial signs before hostelries and on shop 
fronts. The signs and shingles tell some¬ 
thing about the inn or the business of the 
shopkeeper; the inscriptions and devices, 
cast in politer and more subtle mold, are 
designed to be an index to character and 
personality or to convey some appropriate 
sentiment with the reference to the house 
or the approaching stranger. 
So much, then, for the theoretical side 
of the matter, the raison d’etre of inscrip¬ 
tions and devices above house doors. The 
architectural aspect now claims careful 
consideration. The practice of applying 
special ornamentation above doorheads 
A large vanety of these figure designs may 
be had in terra cotta 
1 he overdoor device should be of the best and simple enough to avoid 
all appearance of ostentation 
A well designed and appropriate device applied on a plain wall surface 
conveys an impression of restrained richness and simple elegance 
( 78 ) 
