HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 
1912 
This “Procul este profani” motto is beyond the charge of pedantry, 
as it has the sanction of historic association 
Over a doorway of sufficient dignity armorial devices and coats of 
arms may often be appropriately placed 
needs no excuses to justify it. 
The door is an important ar¬ 
chitectural, we might almost 
say structural, feature and as 
such the propriety of empha¬ 
sizing its place in the building 
is unquestionable. One of the 
cardinal principles of the dec¬ 
orative arts is that ornament 
is best and most effective 
when applied to structural 
features and at dominant o.' 
salient points. Whatever dec¬ 
orative features or details, 
therefore, may lend beauty or 
dignity to the doorway are to be accounted desirable. So, then, 
since the principle of stressing the importance of the doorway by 
the judicious application of ornament is sound, the chief question 
to decide is what kind of embellishment to employ. Of course 
the most usual method of enriching the entrance is to use pil¬ 
asters, pediments, moldings, keystones and the like; but often¬ 
times some additional adornment is desired and then the question 
arises whether that additional adornment shall have some sig¬ 
nificance and really say something or whether it shall be merely 
a piling up of meaningless bedizenment. 
At this point the fitness of using the overdoor inscription or 
device becomes manifest. Even on a house of severely plain exte¬ 
rior, even where the doorway is of the simplest design, an inscrip¬ 
tion or device may 
be introduced above 
the doorhead with ex¬ 
cellent effect. A well 
designed and appro¬ 
priate device applied 
above the lintel on a 
plain wall surface 
conveys much t h c 
same impression of re¬ 
strained richness and 
quiet, simple elegance 
as a single exquisite 
bit of jewelry. Like 
jewelry, the overdoor 
inscription or device 
should be of the best, 
and there should be 
very little of it. In 
other words, it should be full 
of concentrated character, but 
altogether unobtrusive. 
The designing and placing 
of devices or inscriptions 
above doorheads afford a 
rare opportunity to architects 
to exercise both originality of 
conception and ingenuity of 
treatment. There are sundry 
kinds of devices to draw from 
and a considerable variety of 
materials in which they may 
be wrought, so that the range 
of possibilities is by no means 
limited. There is, to start with, the heraldic device which is 
almost invariably satisfactory in decorative work. Unfortunate¬ 
ly there seems to be in some quarters a prejudice against the use 
of heraldic ornament on the ground that it is un-American. In 
this connection it may be remarked that the fathers of the 
American Commonwealth, from Washington down, saw no im¬ 
propriety in using their armorial bearings in the same way and’ 
to the same extent as their British cousins. 
Then next there is the device of purely fanciful or dramatic 
import. Beasts, birds, flowers and mythical persons or creatures 
furnish a practically inexhaustible succession of motives promis¬ 
ing for elaboration. Another kind of device is talismanic in 
character and has reference to a mass of superstitions and their 
bearing. They were 
once held to ward off 
all manner of ills from 
the occupants of the 
house or to bring them 
sundry sorts of good 
fortune. Their history 
gives occasion for the 
introduction of many 
quaint and pretty con¬ 
ceits of design and 
treatment, as is also the 
case with certain sym¬ 
bolic emblems to which 
they are closely allied. 
Besides the types of 
this enumeration, there 
(Continued on page 
68 ) 
This old motto was carved between two windows of the house, because 
the doorway offered no suitable place for it 
The pineapple design was a common 
Colonial device and is often appropriate 
A humorous emblem may well take the 
place of some less subtle motto 
