48 
House & Garden 
Gillies 
In a large hall with high ceiling the torchere 
can add a touch of dignity and interest 
BOOK ROOMS 
f o r MEN 
A Method for Getting Order Out of 
Male Chaos 
N O necessities of life accumulate so rapidly 
as books and nothing can so readily 
cause confusion and chaos in a room. AY hen 
the average man buys a book he forthwith is 
asked, “Now that you’ve got it, what are you 
going to do with it?” The best solution is to 
let him have a little library all to himself. It 
may take on the appearance of a gun store or a 
hunting lodge or a general curio shop, but that 
will be satisfactory so long as he keeps his con¬ 
fusion inside the room. 
Men used to have “dens”, strangely reminis¬ 
cent in their name, of cave days, but blatantly 
oriental in their “Turkish corners.” No one 
used the “Turkish corner” and it only col¬ 
lected dust, so it went the way of the useless. 
Then came a smoking room, which was almost 
ungrateful in its appellation, as though the man 
of the house were not permitted to smoke where 
he wished. To call his own private corner an 
“office” smacks too much of the commercial. 
So then, why not give him a book room where 
he can write and potter around and think up 
ideas for the office and talk to the boys? 
The two book rooms on this page present 
simple arrangements for the books and the 
desks. In one instance the side of the room is 
covered with built-in book shelves set on a dou¬ 
ble base of drawers with the desk space in be¬ 
tween. Everything is ready and at hand in 
such an arrangement. The wide shelf for the 
spreading out of books is especially attractive. 
In the other case the bookshelves are built 
up around the desk, although independent of 
it. The feature of this arrangement is the ex¬ 
tra shelves built on the cases to accommodate 
an overflow. In a city apartment where space 
is at a premium extra shelves of this kind will 
serve as a temporary solution, at least. 
TORCHERES in their PROPER PLACE 
T HERE are two general families of tor¬ 
cheres—the Italian lantern type, and the 
tall candelabra. Each has its own peculiar 
purpose, and each can add materially to the 
decorative effectiveness of an interior. Both 
are standing movable lights and hence present a 
latitude of use that is not possible with either 
the sidelights or the chandelier. 
The Italian torchere—a lantern on a tall 
standard—bears the dignity and traditions of 
former periods in architecture and decoration. 
It requires a formal setting—large, dignified 
furniture and a room of pretentious size. In 
the illustration it is shown in a logical position 
at the foot of the stairs. A pair can be grouped 
in a smaller hallway with an Italian chest, or 
one can be used in a corner. This type is es¬ 
sentially an exterior accessory which has been 
brought inside. It should not go farther into 
the house than the entrance rooms. Save in the 
very formal and pretentious living room it is 
out of place. 
The candelabrum has quite another pur¬ 
pose. It is usually of wrought iron or bur¬ 
nished steel and is essentially an indoor ac¬ 
cessory. With either candles or wired for elec¬ 
tricity, it finds a place in rooms furnished with 
heavy oak pieces. Beside the large Jacobean 
mantel, flanking oaken doors, or placed in a 
dark corner to lighten it, tall candelabra are 
equally suitable. 
There is still another use for them, a use that 
decorators might find advantageous in a room 
where the wall treatment does not permit the 
wall space to be broken with sconces. Thus, in 
a dining room papered with a reproduction of 
one of the Colonial scenic designs, side lights 
look distinctly out of place. Why not use tor¬ 
cheres and leave the interesting design of the 
paper the full and unbroken sweep of the walls? 
The built-in book 
shelves with drawers 
and cupboards below 
and the desk space 
between are one 
solution for a man’s 
book room. The 
abundance of storage 
space presents no ex¬ 
cuse for male con¬ 
fusion 
Book shelves can be 
built upon either side 
of the desk and extra 
shelves added on the 
ends for the overflow. 
This is especially 
adaptable for a city 
a part m ent where 
space is at a premium 
and the furniture has 
to be moved often. H. 
F. Huber & Co., 
decorators 
Northern! 
