November, 1913 
23 
A building of the Uni 
versity of Pennsyl¬ 
vania where the rain- 
water heads and 
down-pipes are im¬ 
portant architectural 
elements of the fa- 
?ade 
To revive the rain-water 
head requires the re¬ 
vival of craftsman¬ 
ship, which architec¬ 
ture sadly needs 
Nearly all this work, including the brattic- 
ing at the top and bottom of some of the 
reservoirs, was done with shears and solder. 
There is a wide difference in color between 
cold-rolled and hot-rolled copper. The for¬ 
mer retains its reddish hue, turning in time 
a deep bronze; the latter, under exposure 
to the weather, oxidizes and takes on a coat 
of greens and greys. 
Using Iron 
Iron need scarcely be considered as a 
material for rain-water heads. There are, 
to be sure, a good many examples of Col¬ 
onial and post-Colonial cast iron heads, 
some of them of excellent design, but 
though kept well painted outside, they ac¬ 
cumulate within a deposit of rust that must 
ultimately cause their disintegration. 
Whether we have the architectural details and appurtenances 
of our houses sightly or the reverse is largely a question of 
morals—that is, if we believe that ugliness is dangerously near 
criminality. And who but the most purblind and narrow utili¬ 
tarian shall say that it is not? Taking a high view of the 
matter, it were well for folk with pretensions to taste, to look 
sharply to all the “mickels” that make a “muckle,” not the least 
of which are such details as rain-water heads and down-pipes. 
Builders will object — builders usually do to anything di¬ 
rectly out of the line of their experience. A roofing contractor 
recently said to the writer that he should consider any archi¬ 
tect who would specify leaden heads and rain-water pipes as 
either a crank or a lunatic. His whole attitude bespoke the 
blindly mercantile spirit that demands only something prac¬ 
tical, indifferent to appearance; “the per pound and per foot 
spirit” that unfortunately governs so much 
of our building. 
“Each of the metals,” says one who has 
labored with some success to revive lead- 
craft, “can give us characteristics that 
others cannot, and the capabilities of lead 
have been sufficiently proved by more than 
two thousand years of artistic manipula¬ 
tion.” 
“Of the old leadwork,” writes Viollet-le- 
Duc, "the source of its particular charm is 
that the means they employed and the forms 
they adopted are exactly appropriate to the 
material. Like carpentry or cabinet work, 
plumbing was an art apart which borrowed 
neither from stone nor wood in its design. 
Medieval lead was wrought like a colossal 
goldsmith's work." So it was and so, too. 
may it be again. In casting, richly elaborated designs were 
impressed on the wet sand bed over which the molten lead was 
flooded and when the sheet of metal cooled it was cut, bent and 
beaten into any desired shape, showing many intricate and 
artistic designs. 
How the Client Can Aid 
Architects, of course, are aware of the decorative value of 
rain-water heads and down-pipes and of the possibilities within 
their reach in that field, hut it is the layman, the client, that 
needs arousing to the value of exterior lead and copper work, 
because of the many ways such materials may be used for 
decorative purposes. They are among the architectural 
amenities that we cannot afford to neglect. And this rule 
applies to domestic architecture as well as commercial. 
Another example of modern 
pierced work, showing that 
the old craft can be revived 
Lead and copper are 
the best materials, 
copper being the fa¬ 
vorite medium for 
American architects 
