50 
House & Garden 
The Geor¬ 
gian is a 
formal 
type re¬ 
quiring a 
dignified 
setting 
EVOLVING A HOUSE PLAN 
Some Suggestions on What To Do Before You Consult An Architect 
LUTTON ABBOTTSWOOD 
J UST as certain types of women 
affect the floppy, Dolly Var- 
den kind of hats because they be¬ 
lieve themselves to be Dolly 
Varden types, so do certain kinds of 
people prefer to live in Dutch Colo¬ 
nial types of houses, or Georgian 
Colonial, or English cottage or 
Spanish. In fact, without drawing 
too much on the imagination, in¬ 
telligent and appreciating pros¬ 
pective home builders might be 
divided into these four groups, 
with a minor group that sees it¬ 
self living happily ever afterward 
in a house of Italian precedents. 
We hear a lot of talk about a 
house expressing the personality of 
the owner. This is a pretty phrase 
which doesn't mean much. Houses 
are typical of certain kinds of 
people, and these kinds fall under 
the heads noted above. The house 
that expresses an owner's person¬ 
ality is usually a nightmare of 
architectural mistakes. Nothing 
against the owner’s personality, 
you understand, only it simply 
doesn't seem possible to crystalize 
an individual personality into 
brick, stone and timber. 
Consequently, the first thing to 
do when you have determined to 
Two plans are suggested for 
the Georgian design. The 
first places the kitchen in a 
build a house is to find into what 
group you fall. Are you farm- 
housey and Dutch Colonial? Or 
formal and Georgian? Or roman¬ 
tic and Spanish? Or do you vis¬ 
ualize your life and habits rather 
steadily picturesque in the manner 
of the English cottage? 
Frankly, such talk is anathema 
to architects. Architects will say 
that there are two ways of arriving 
at a design for a house, and one is 
right and the other is wrong. The 
ideal way is to draw up rough 
floor plans according to the re¬ 
quirements and desires of one’s 
family, and then fit these plans to 
an exterior design. You start with 
the inside first and the outside of 
the house comes last. According 
to the wrong, but nevertheless more 
popular method, you choose the 
sort of house you want, and then 
work the plans around until they 
fit that design. With this method 
looks come first. You proclaim 
yourself as Dutch Colonial and 
aren't ashamed. 
Of course, all this is in the early 
stages before you have discovered 
the price of brick F. O. B. Haver- 
straw. W'hen you come to place 
(Continued on page 122) 
