House & Garden 
Brixen with its rich oriel window, surrounded 
by Hat surfaces and severely plain window 
openings ; or the house front at Sanzeno, 
with its three decorative units in a sea of 
blank wall enhancing their beauty; or again, 
let one examine the bay and portal in the 
platz at Schluderns, and he will admit that 
here one of the first requirements of com¬ 
position has been fulfilled. In any scheme 
of design a dominating note or feature is 
essential ; whether it be a host of pigments 
crowding upon a canvas, or a score of dyes 
woven into a 
fabric ; all must 
be subservient 
to one control¬ 
ling figure or 
color. In the 
case of land¬ 
scapes, also, the 
most perma¬ 
nently pleasing 
are those in 
which a river 
or hill domi¬ 
nates and dis¬ 
tinguishes the 
scene. In the 
Tyrolese 
buildings, just 
such a promi¬ 
nent feature is 
invariably pres¬ 
ent. There is 
nothing to 
compete with 
or detract from 
it; not so much 
as a string¬ 
course, rusti¬ 
cated stone- 
work,or apilas- 
tered or niched 
wall, is permit¬ 
ted to rob it of 
Tyrol it s supremacy. 
The feature 
referred to is not purely decorative, but it 
has a very practical use in contributing to 
comfort within doors. It is usually a bay 
window of one form or another. It adds a 
space to the rooms which is often garnished 
with flowers; and from its windows, the 
1 See House and Garden for December, 1901, January, March, 
May, July and September, 1902. 
TYROLESE ARCHITECTURE 1 
(Concluded) 
VII -EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETAILS 
The importance of a subdued background 
as a means of heightening the effectiveness 
of an object is generally acknowledged in 
theory, and yet in architectural design fre¬ 
quently ignored. Emrichment of the exterior 
of buildings, as it is lavished upon particular 
features, pales before the elaboration of the 
walls in which these features exist, and an 
effective con¬ 
trast is wanting. 
If it is not this 
lesson of sim¬ 
plicity which 
thearchitecture 
of the Tyrol 
teaches, all the 
buildings there 
may justly be 
ignored and 
t h ro w n into 
the category of 
foreign styles 
which are con¬ 
sidered dead 
and fruitless, 
because a pass¬ 
ing vogue here 
at home will 
not permit 
them to be im¬ 
ported bodily. 
No foreign 
style should be 
capable of that, 
but it is certain 
to afford useful 
ideas to us. 
Thus it has 
been the object 
of these papers 
to show, more 
by means of a bay at sterzing 
illustrations, 
than by that of words, the vigor and simplicity 
of Tyrolese work, and, above all, its unique 
individuality. 
Let any one examine the little dwelling at 
627 
