Architect and Client 
A STRAIGHTFORWARD EXPOSITION OF WHAT THE HOUSE BUILDER HAS TO EX¬ 
PECT OF HIS ARCHITECT, AND WHAT HIS ARCHITECT IS TO EXPECT OF HIM 
A. Raymond Ellis 
V ERY little progress can be made without a lot to build on— 
lot in this instance meaning land. Be sure that the site 
has no underlying ledges or springs. Then consider the natural 
drainage, compass points, prevailing winds, views and trees, width 
of the street and sidewalk. If an independent water and sew¬ 
age system is necessary, they must be placed to avoid contamina¬ 
tion, and tbe source of the water supply examined, and a chemical 
analysis made to determine its purity. 
The house should be planned and located on the lot so that 
the houses that may be built on either side of it in the future can¬ 
not be set too close or cut off its light or view. The building re¬ 
strictions in your deed should cover this. 
The plan of your house is somewhat a matter of personal taste 
and habit. Eccentric plans are not advisable for small houses. 
You may outgrow them, and then it is hard to find a purchaser 
with the same requirements. 
There are certain well-known and proven schemes that will 
always work out to the best advantage for the average family. 
One of these is the Colonial plan: the front entrance door and 
hallway in the center, with the dining-room and kitchen on one 
side, and living-room and reception room on the other. Such a 
plan is regular in shape, less expensive and more easily built 
than a house with winding passages and ells with complicated 
roof lines. There are certain rooms that should be located with 
regard to the compass points; the dining-room on the east or 
southeast, to obtain the morning sun; the living-room face the 
south, southeast or west, or run east and west; the kitchen on a 
corner to obtain cross ventilation, while the halls and less im¬ 
portant rooms occupy the space remaining. In country resi¬ 
dences located upon main highways it is sometimes advisable to 
place the living-rooms at the rear to obtain privacy and an oppor¬ 
tunity to develop the grounds with gardens and lawns. On small 
lots the rear outlook is usually on your neighbor's back yard. 
This you can control to a certain extent by planting hedges and 
growing vines on trellis work, thus planting out any objectionable 
features and screening others within your own property lines. 
Styles in architecture are many and varied. In different sec¬ 
tions of the country we find them adapted to the climatic condi¬ 
tions, topography, and the natural building products. Some 
architects think the style of the house should be governed by the 
contour of the land and surroundings. Usually there is some 
determining feature that is very apparent to the trained architect. 
A house built in the country surrounded with large trees should 
have strong and vigorous detail and heavy horizontal lines to con¬ 
tradict the vertical effect given by tbe trees. Near the seashore 
houses of rambling character are usually the most effective, while 
in flat, rolling country, a house of almost any type can be adapted, 
as it is governed by nothing except its neighbors. A great deal 
depends upon tbe roof of a bouse. It should usually be assertive 
enough to contradict any vertical lines, but not enough to be top- 
heavy. In New England we find many fine Colonial houses, 
mansions and farm houses with a wonderful charm to their 
simple detail, and about them an air of thrift. In the South, low 
and rambling, one-story houses and two-storied porticoed man¬ 
sions, some with double-decked piazzas, suggestive of the lessen¬ 
ing of activities and comfortable refuge from the heat. In the 
extreme Southwest, the old Spanish missions have furnished the 
motif for many interesting types that awaken a feeling of romance 
and border warfare. Sprinkled through the country we also find 
Swiss chalets, English cottages with stucco and half-timbered 
gables, Italian villas and bouses of German adaptation, and many 
very attractive ones of purely American origin that are indicative 
of tbe vastness and youth of our country and its mixed popula¬ 
tion. 
If the lot is large enough so that a screen of trees can be in¬ 
terposed between two houses to prevent comparison, any type of 
house may be built, for its particular beauty of style can then be 
exhibited properly without clashing with its neighbor. 
An architect who has studied the history of architecture and 
is familiar with the various styles does not produce monstrosities. 
Fie is particular to keep his designs in the style they belong, with¬ 
out making a faux pas of it. 
The architect’s fee is usually six per cent, of the cost of the 
house, for the plans, drawn to a scale of one-quarter of an inch 
to the foot, the specifications, scale and full-size working details, 
supervision, plus traveling expenses to the work from his office 
and consultation fees for advice in connection with any unusual 
contingencies. It is not customary to charge more than the 
minimum rate of six per cent on the total cost of residential 
work, except for special cabinet work, decorations, special 
features and furniture, which are charged for at the rate of ten 
per cent. Alterations to existing buildings are usually taken at 
the rate of ten per cent, of their cost: and in cases where new 
buildings require many detailed drawings, as in the English type 
or Swiss chalets the commission charged is frequently eight and 
ten per cent. 
The architect’s first sketches are on thin paper, in pencil, which 
are revised at the client's suggestion, until finally 5 approved by 
him. Then the working drawings are made, from which blue¬ 
prints are taken; these are furnished to the contractors to esti¬ 
mate upon, and later for the men to build from. 
The extent to which the success of a house depends upon 
the architect is seldom realized by the client, who soon forgets, 
once the house is started, the tedious hours the architect spent- 
working out the plans and revising them until the minutest detail 
was provided for. With the complete working plans, the builder 
is able to execute tbe work properly and expeditiously. If he is 
a careful man he will employ a careful foreman, and, as in any 
other business, he will oversee and direct the work in accordance 
with the plans, details and specifications furnished him for that 
purpose. The architect is not a foreman, but an advisor, and, to 
gain successful results, both the owner and builder must co¬ 
operate with him. Because you are the owner, do not attempt to 
boss tbe job, as the builder may be only too glad to have you 
assume the responsibility that goes with his authority, and conse- 
qucntlv all the mistakes. It is disorganizing to any business and 
leads to conflict when there are too many bosses. The architect 
has learned, by experience in building, many things that are not 
known to the average layman. 
The above conditions enter into the small bouse problem more 
than they do into the larger houses and more important work. 
Sometimes exasperating delays occur, caused by one sub-con- 
tractor being delayed finishing work elsewhere before be can 
move his men, or the material men are slow about delivery, or 
something happens at the mill, and the finish is delayed, which 
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