There are great possibilities in the medallion type of stained-glass windows for the home of moderate size—a central figure in color on a 
field of plain leaded rectangles. Designed by Harry Knox Smith 
Leaded Glass in the Small Home 
HOW A REALLY NOBLE ART HAS FALLEN INTO DISREPUTE—THE POSSIBILITIES IN LIBRARY, 
HALL AND DINING-ROOM FOR SIMPLE LEADING, ENRICHED WITH MEDALLIONS IN COLOR 
by Harry Eldredge Goodhue 
T O plead for glass in the home involves primarily a brushing 
away of misconceptions. Many people who build have 
an erroneous idea that unless leaded glass is very elaborate, and 
correspondingly costly, it cannot be good or worth while. 
How false that notion is, will, I hope, speedily appear. While 
it is perfectly true that domestic glass of the same quality and 
cost as that found in memorial church windows, containing fig¬ 
ures and complex decorative motives, is in and for itself more 
ornamental and inspiring than any other kind, there is a dearth, 
on the other hand, of opportunities for employment of this kind 
of work, as one studies the actual houses of 
today. In our average American home of the 
better sort elaborate glass would be not only 
out of place, but would evince bad taste. Our 
capacity for esthetic appreciation would be 
better satisfied with a kind of work which 
would be in keeping with the architect's con¬ 
ception of an appropriate design, one which 
would, as it were, appear to have nestled into 
the imagination that planned the house, mak¬ 
ing so distinctive a place for itself that a sorry 
vacancy would be felt if it were not there. 
In the simplest of houses, the fact is, an 
opportunity may always be found for a judi¬ 
cious use of leaded glass, provided, of course, 
the installation is entrusted to an artist crafts¬ 
man who will remember that his work must 
be but an important element in the making 
of a home, rather than a garish piece of or¬ 
namentation whose apparent raison d’etre is 
to attract and distract. Obtrusiveness in all 
such decorative undertakings defeats its own 
end. If in the house of refined proportions, 
materials and furnishings, the artist in glass 
should make this mistake the inmates will 
discover that the eye turns instinctively from 
the glass to seek rest in the more peaceful 
wall areas or in the rugs upon the floor. Cor¬ 
rect adaptation, and a cooperation with the 
architect and the owner which is more than 
perfunctory, must be pre-supposed. 
It should not, of course, be understood 
that this article in any way approves of low- 
priced work as such. The point to be made is that even the 
person of moderate means can afford to make a little personal 
sacrifice for the sake of obtaining something which he ought to 
have. There is no cheaply made glass which under any circum¬ 
stances could be called good. The state of the buying public’s 
attitude toward domestic glass today is due in large measure to 
the success with which the more commercial minded ‘‘art glass 
men" have foisted upon the unwitting their cheap and artisti¬ 
cally impossible wares. They have had a specious argument in 
that their prices have been lower than those of the men who 
combine commerce and conscience. They 
have temporarily injured a branch of the art 
in which there are fine possibilities. Their 
methods have encouraged a revulsion of senti¬ 
ment. The very fact that a few years ago 
every detached house, every apartment, no 
matter how much or how little it cost, was 
regarded as incomplete unless fitted out with 
a modicum of leaded glass, usually of the 
tawdriest quality, has aroused a prejudice 
against the whole business among people of 
taste, who, today, rather than endanger the 
ultimate success of the surroundings in which 
they are to live, have frankly repudiated what 
should be one of the most vital forms of 
decoration in the modern home. Revolting 
from the “stained glass” vagaries of the vul¬ 
gar they have forgotten that these had their 
origin in a perfectly definite and very noble 
decorative art, one which may easily be re¬ 
stored to something of its pristine dignity. 
It is these people, who object to the 
leaded glass of the over-ornamented apart¬ 
ment house or suburban villa, whom I wish 
to interest in a few ideas which may prove of 
service either as one is building anew or is 
planning to add a fresh touch of charm to the 
old home. I believe that in the house of the 
future leaded glass will have an increasingly 
significant place and that the time to begin its 
restoration is now. 
To be specific, let us first consider the 
country house. A very strong point has often 
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