November, 1916 
13 
Murphy & Dana, 
architects 
To The left a cir- 
cul ar entrance 
that carries out 
the motif of the 
over- window 
panels and door 
light 
To the right is 
an interesting 
glimpse of a 
Dutch Colonial 
house in which 
the original 
character is well 
reproduced 
A Colonial spiral 
staircase repro¬ 
duced in a mod¬ 
ern Colonial 
house—applying 
the rule of suit¬ 
ability 
'x&fitofri* 
pies of iron gates in Colonial times, but the 
forms, the methods of laying stone, and 
the general scale (that is the relationship 
of the details to the mass) in Colonial work 
are dissimilar from those of English work, 
and if the person who likes this particular 
gateway desires it in front of a Colonial 
house, the thing can be accomplished only 
by a change in the proportion of the ele¬ 
ments which make up the gateway, which 
would result in a gate of 
quite dissimilar type. 
People of good taste 
whose appreciation of good 
things is confined to a cer¬ 
tain style, are much easier 
to work for. One may, for 
example, have a client bring 
in all the Colonial doorways 
she can collect, and say that 
she wants them on her 
house, but she will naturally 
understand that some selec¬ 
tion must be made from 
them, although two or three 
may perhaps be used in va¬ 
rious parts of the same 
house, reducing them in 
scale or enlarging them as 
may be necessary to co-or¬ 
dinate them with the gener¬ 
al design. Yet when people 
who like all sorts of good 
things come in with an Eng¬ 
lish entrance way, as per¬ 
haps that on page 12, and a 
Colonial door such as that 
on the same page, and say 
they like them both, it is 
manifestly impossible in 
any way to fit them to 
simultaneous use. and yet 
this thing happens over and 
over asrain. 
The clipping book is therefore of greatest 
utility in, determining, not so much the things 
that are to be included in the house, as the 
things which cannot be included. It is a sort 
of sorting box or a pre-digestive process of 
ideas; and one which saves everybody a 
great deal of trouble, because most people 
do not understand the architect’s drawings 
as well as they do photographs (in fact, the 
architects themselves don't), and it is a great 
deal easier to show from 
photographs that bits of de¬ 
tail have been designed for 
different uses than to show 
on the drawing of a house 
how badly they look when 
placed together. 
One other thing which 
helps the architect when a 
client makes such selections 
is the fact that they gradu¬ 
ally become accustomed to 
architectural presentations, 
and are therefore much 
more capable of under¬ 
standing explanations of 
drawings, especially when 
these drawings can be com¬ 
pared with photographs, 
and the similar features of 
both pointed out. Draw¬ 
ings mean astonishingly lit¬ 
tle to some people, and 
every single thing which 
enables them to compre¬ 
hend drawings more fullv 
is immensely worth while. 
Ernest Newton, A.R.A., architect 
An English home of the type 
suitable to crown a hill, its 
great walls and buttresses 
talcing character from the 
rock-ribbed hillside 
