Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1885-07-09
TOO PREVIOUS ARCHITECTURE.
Bill Nye's Opinion Of Modern Architec'
ture In General and Summer
Residences In Particular.


may be contemplating the erection of
a summer residence for me, as q
slight testimonial of his high regard
for my sterling worth and symmetrical
escutcheon-a testimonial more sug-
gestiye of earnest admiration and
warm personal friendehip than of
great intrinsic value, etc, etc, that l
hope he will not construct it on the
modern plan of mental hallucination
and morbid delirium tremens pecu-
liar to recent architecture.
OF course, q man ought not to
look gift house in the gable end,
but if my friends don't know any
better than to build me summer
cottage and throw in odd windows
that nobody else wanted, and then
daub it up with colors that they have
bought at auction and applied to the
house after dark with shot gun, I
think it is time that we had better
understanding.
Such structure does not come
within either of the three classes of
renaissance. 1t is neither Florentine,
Roman nor Venetian. Any man can
originate such style of architecture
if he will drink the right kind of
whisky long enough and then de-
scribe his feelings to an amanuensis.
Imagine the sensation that one OF
these modern, sawed off cottages
would create a hundred years from
now, if it should survive! But that
is impossible! The. only cheering
feature Of the whole matter is that
these creatures of disordinary imag.
ination must soon pass away and the
bright sunlight of hard horse sense
shine in through the shattered dor
mers and gables and gnawed-ofi
architecture of the average summer
resort. A friend of mine few days
ago showed me his new house with
much pride. He asked me what
thought of it. 1 told him 1 liked Ii
| first-rate. Then I went home an6
wept all night. 1t was my first false
hood.
! The house, taken as a whole, look
ed to me like skating rink that hat
started out to make money and thel
suddenly changed its mind and re
solved to become tannery. Their
ten feet higher it had lost all self
respect and blossomed into a full
blown drunk and disorderly, sur
rounded by the smokestack of
foundry and with the bright futur
of thirty days ahead with the chai1
gang. That's the way it looked t
me.
The roofs were made of little odd
and ends Of misfit rafters and dis
torted shingles that somebody ha'
purchased at sheriff's sale, and th
rooms and stairs were giddy in tn
/ extreme. 1 went in and ramble'
) around among the cross-eyed stai,
} cases and nightmares till reason tot
tered on her throne. Then 1 cam
: out and stood on the architecture
? wart called the side porch to ge
fresh air. This porch was painte
r dull red, and it had wooden rosette
at the corners that looked like a bra
) new carbuncle on the nose of socis
: wreck. Farther up on the demora
lied lumber pile l saw, now an
f then, places where the workman
t mind had wandered, and he had mai
n ed on his clapboards wrong side n
@ and then painted them with Par
r green that he had intended to use Q
v something else. 1t was an odd-lool
g ing structure, indeed. If my frien
), got all the material for nothing fro
T. people who had fragments of pain
IL and lumber left over after they faile'
s and then if the workmen constructe
IS it nights for mental relaxation ar
d intellectual repose, without charg
v of course, the scheme was financi
e success; but architecturally Il
e house is a gross violation of Il
II statutes in such cases made and pr
vided, and against the peace al
! dignity of the state.
y There is look of extreme power
," about the structure which ms
;, might struggle for years to acqu
and then fail. No one could lot
p upon 1t without feeling heartacl
- for the man who built that hous
- y. and probably struggled on year aft
. year, building it little at time,
" :, he could steal the lumber, getting
new workman each year, building
y. knob here and protuberance thel
- putting in three-cornered winde
y at one point, and a yellow tile, or
;" yard of broken glass or other deb
ls at another, patiently filling in aroul
- the ranch with an old rubbish th
other people had got through wit
- and painting it as he went alor
:. taking what was left in the bottom
. the pots after his neighbors h
painted their bobstays of their tr
boxes-little fayors thankfully ]
ceiyed-and then surmounting t
OF whole pile with potpourri Of roof
!" grand farewell incubus of humps a
hollows for the ruin to wand
through. and seek ont the differs
cells where the lunatics live who
habit it.
did tell my friend one thing Il