October, 1918 
21 
I 
I 
The combination of the simple metal 
balcony rail with the masonry pro¬ 
duces a happy effect at this entrance, 
the metal giving color to both door and 
surrounding walls. Mellor & Meigs, 
architects 
cious application on the 
part of the architect, to ren¬ 
der it invaluable for bestow¬ 
ing a kind and degree of 
architectural amenity for 
which we have hitherto had 
:o look almost entirely to 
those parts of the Old 
World where decorative 
smithing in bygone days 
flourished vigorously. 
And while speaking of 
cost, a bit of practical ad¬ 
vice will be apropos. Iron 
itself is cheap, but the de¬ 
sign and the labor spent 
upon it create the commer¬ 
cial value of the finished 
product. People who are 
not niggardly by nature 
sometimes demur at the 
price of smithwork because 
they do not know what it 
entails. Study the designs 
carefully, therefore, that 
you may fairly recognize the 
amount of work involved in 
their execution, and don’t 
mar the carrying out of a 
good scheme by haggling 
about trivial differences in 
cost. To do so is not econ¬ 
omy; it is only little-minded 
and short-sighted. Honest 
design and honest work de¬ 
serve honest pay. Anything 
really worth while is bound 
to cost, which simply adds 
to our appreciation of it. 
The Meaning of the Words 
The old builders and 
architects were not slow to 
recognize the value of good 
smithwork and they made 
liberal use of it in manifold 
ways. When men knew how 
to use wrought-iron aright, 
there was never a more valu¬ 
able adjunct craft to the art 
of architecture. The term 
“wrought-iron,” of course, 
simply means “worked iron” 
and might quite properly, 
so far as the actual mean¬ 
ings of words go, be applied 
to iron shaped by almost 
any process, but by usage it 
has come to have a narrowed 
and specific significance de¬ 
noting manual contact of the 
craftsman with his material, 
and in this sense the term 
will be used. 
Varieties of Treatment 
“Decorative smithing,” 
as the work of the iron 
craftsman is sometimes 
called, is comprehensive in 
scope. The skillful smith 
may treat his material in 
a great diversity of ways, 
for iron may be forged or 
hammered, chased, rolled, 
drawn, pressed, punched, 
embossed, stamped, inlaid, 
engraved, polished, turned, 
planed, sawn, filed, or 
drilled, and separate pieces 
may be welded or riveted to¬ 
gether or joined by collars— 
a most varied array of pos¬ 
sible treatments and replete 
with interest. Much of the 
interest inherent in the ear¬ 
lier work—the same interest 
may be conveyed just as well 
to-day and for the same rea¬ 
son—comes from its virile 
sweep and spontaneity be¬ 
cause, worked at a red or a 
white heat on the anvil, 
there was no time for copy¬ 
ing or measuring a design 
save only by the eye. The 
result of the personal ele¬ 
ment, therefore, was mani¬ 
fest; this fact, however, 
(Continued on page 50) 
The sharp contrast between this Span¬ 
ish Renaissance iron window grill and 
the stucco surface of the wall gives 
the whole composition a remarkable 
touch of piquancy. Mellor & Meigs, 
architects 
Wrought iron balconies with brackets beneath are used above the sun porch of the 
Francis L. Hine residence at Lattington Road, L. I. Walker & Gillette, architects 
Wrought iron handrails 
to the doorstep of the 
Franklin Inn Club, 
Philadelphia 
Cast and wrought iron 
handrail and terminal 
of old American crafts¬ 
manship 
