126 
House & Garden 
Just Suppose 
In many Georgian interiors the chimney-piece is heavily 
carved. For such places Grinling-Gihbons did his best 
work. Courtesy of the Hayden Company 
Just suppose the wonder-house you Intend to build 
is finished. And as you idly gaze out through your 
window not a solitary thing comes to mind which 
was overlooked or skimped or rudely cut from the 
plans. Then, the pleasure of living in that home 
will never be less than the anticipation. 
To have it so is not difficult. Forethought and good 
judgment will often make up for the lack of a bot¬ 
tomless purse. Money is not saved by slighting 
the quality of small articles which serve you a 
lifetime without attention. The small articles on 
which all your doors depend for precision and quiet 
are worthy of the best quality. We speak of hinges. 
You have probablv thought of the larger items. 
McKixney Hinges have been made fine and true 
for more than fifty years. Their quality and pure 
designs are unquestioned. Your architect, con¬ 
tractor and builders’ hardware merchant know 
these facts well. So we have devoted the pages of 
our booklet “ jor the home builder” to 
forethoughts on convenience whether hinges play a 
part or not. The booklet was designed to make 
your “Just Supposes” realities. Ask for the booklet 
by name. 
McKinney Manufacturinc; Company 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
MCKINNEY 
Hinges and Butts 
Garage hardware, door hangers and track, door bolts and latches, shelf 
brackets,window and screen hardware,steel door mats and wrought specialties. 
A LITTLE CARVING HERE WTHER1-: 
(Continued from page 1221 
craftsman, the classic decoration was both 
sophisticated and highly refined, but v\ith 
the exception of the highly specialized 
work that was as fine as any done abroad, 
contemporary Colonial examples were 
characteristically naive, sometimes even 
crude. This was due partly to the inexperi¬ 
ence of the workmen and partly to the 
lack of tools and materials. But though 
often wanting in finesse, it was always 
straightforward and sincere and always 
essentially individual, as work done by 
hand usually is. 
The carving upon mantelpieces, door¬ 
ways and paneling showed a marvelous 
variety. There were unexpected varia¬ 
tions of theme, interesting inflections and 
diversities in treatment and design that 
revealed the personal interpretation of the 
artist. .All this suggestive beauty that 
really belongs and is native to our soil, we 
have to draw upon when decorating our 
homes today. But we must not debase 
its fine simplicity by poor handling, or 
lose sight of the fact that much of its 
real charm lay in the integrity of its struc¬ 
ture. The frame of a building, then, was a 
solid, unified thing, and often this frame 
was utilized as the finished surface with¬ 
out its needing the assistance of extra 
wall coverings. Structural building was 
then an art in itself. 
But it is the early linglish tyi)es of 
carving and paneling that still have the 
power to stir our imaginations. The true 
romance of this form of decoration still 
lingers about memories of Elizabethan 
and Jacobean rooms where it found its 
finest flowering. Gothic ard Tudor panel¬ 
ing was always of oak, and the furniture 
was of the same material, carved with 
the same designs. The distinctive Tudor 
and very early Jacobean motifs used in 
paneling were known as the “linen fold” 
and “strap work” patterns, evolved from 
Gothic origin. 
With the coming of more peaceful 
times in England, fortified castles and 
heavily built manor houses gave way to 
more gracious dwellings, and Elizabethan 
paneling became simpler and less fanciful 
in design than the preceding Gothic. 
Often the wall surfaces were merely co\-- 
ered with plain, oblong molded panels, 
and when greater richness was sought, it 
was not through elaborate carving, but 
was gained by the greater intricacy of 
framing or occasionally by the inlay of 
colored wood. When we study these 
rooms, we cannot hope to capture that 
elusive spirit which belonged to the times 
that produced them, for we cannot take 
the art of any one age and superimpose it 
in its entirety upon a building of any 
other time. 
Jacobean carving and paneling that 
followed the Elizabethan, was more elab¬ 
orate and the designs more complicated. 
■V new era of architecture began in the 
latter part of the 17 th Century which 
naturally affected its decoration. The 
Classic influence revealed itself not only in 
architecture itself, but in the more care¬ 
ful study of architectural details—in 
moldings, pediments and panels, and 
their enrichment gave rare opportunities 
to the wood-carver. Grinling Gibbons be¬ 
came the master wood-carver of the age. 
With our present day leaning toward; 
simplicity, his work appears to us rather 
too ornate, and even in his own times, had 
his festoons and flowers and ornament, 
presented in so naturalistic a way, been 
handled with less surety and grace, the 
results would have been extravagant and 
over elaborate. But he possessed a genius 
for decorative effect, and executed his 
work with such skill and judgment that it 
was made to appear as though it were a 
natural outgrowth of its surroundings. 
This is perhaps the supreme function of 
the craftsman—to work in artistic part¬ 
nership with the architect. If he is a car¬ 
ver of wood, his work should first of all 
be seen as an integral part of the whole 
design, making the structure more splen¬ 
did and more exalted in beauty. Then it 
may make its special appeal—charming 
by its beauty of line, by the play of light 
and shadow upon its car\-ed surfaces, and 
by accenting certain architectural fea¬ 
tures that need particular emiihasis. 
