November, 1915 
31 
Necessarily a conspicuous form of decoration, the beauty of a frieze lies in unbroken stretches. Here the effectiveness of the design is 
spoiled by the cluttered plate rail 
THE QUESTION OF A FRIEZE 
A Passing Decorative Element That Is Generally Misused—Where and How a Frieze Can Be Applied 
to Advantage—The Mistake of Realism—Friezes for the Nursery 
MARY H. NORTHEND 
A WELL-TREATED frieze on the walls of a room creates 
an impression at once so distinctive and delightful that 
one wishes straightway to try some such scheme in his own 
home. Its strength and boldness, the play of color and the effect 
of originality it gives are potent arguments in its favor. It 
breaks pleasantly the monotony of a plain wall, it introduces a 
charming form of enrichment in a somber room. But, by its 
very decisiveness, it becomes the more difficult to handle. 
In buildings for public use it may be said to meet with the 
surest success. The effect of a daring and unusual design 
above the dark wainscoting in a cafe or grill room, which one 
enters for a brief period and presumably in a light mood, is 
undoubtedly agreeable. So is it appropriate in club-rooms, 
hotels and the great edifices for which artists have executed 
decorations that are lasting monuments. 
The Printed Frieze 
It is a far cry, of course, from such mural paintings to the 
printed friezes of the wall paper manufacturer. Aside from 
their essential differences in process of production, it must be 
remembered that one has been created for an especial position 
on a particular wall, with all the consideration due to the struc¬ 
ture of the room, its lighting, the viewpoint of the observer, 
and the purpose of the decoration. 
Loosely speaking, a frieze is a band of ornament on the 
upper part of a wall, between the cornice and the architrave 
or molding which caps a wainscoting or dado. In a specific 
sense it is applied to a more or less pictorial design with a 
possible horizontal but not a vertical repetition of patterns. Its 
use implies walls which are of sufficient height to permit such 
a subdivision, and rooms of such occasional occupancy or 
special purpose that a somewhat conspicuous form of decora¬ 
tion will not become tiresome. 
Most dining-rooms lend themselves admirably to this treat¬ 
ment. The room where a family gathers for an interval of 
pleasure from the serious business of the day should seem 
always sunny and cheerful. Whatever will contribute to that 
end is eminently suitable and the gay fresh coloring of a frieze 
affords a happy medium of attaining it. 
The essential formality of the conventional narrow hall, with 
its precisely placed furniture, is universally well adapted to any 
treatment of the walls in which they are so subdivided as to 
suggest their relation to an architectural order. And the fact 
that a hall is all too apt to be but a dark and uninteresting 
passageway intimates the appropriateness of a bright and out- 
of-the-ordinary decoration. 
Some of the most lovely friezes ever painted have been for 
the walls of the nursery. A possible objection to its use in 
that room might be made on the ground that it is high above 
the observation of the child and can contribute little to his 
actual pleasure. A similar treatment along the lower part of 
the nursery walls is perhaps more advisable and affords equal 
scope for quaint and charming effects. 
In other rooms it is occasionally a permissible and desirable 
sort of decoration. Large houses which boast billiard and 
smoking rooms, reception and music rooms, present infinite 
possibilities that must be handled, as in every case, according 
to the especial requirements and limitations of the apartment. 
The Problem of a Choice 
The right selection of a frieze is something of a problem. 
Those brought out by the wall paper manufacturers are printed 
on strips varying from 8" to 60" in width, so it is evident that 
they may demand treatment as a mere band of decoration or 
as the greater part of a side wall. These strips are each 5' 
long and the repeated pattern in some occurs two or three times, 
in others but once in the roll of 30'. The patterns are so- 
(Continued on page 54.) 
