The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-05-18
Mrs. Hopkins Good Work
in Aid of Women.
A FAREWELL CEREMONY.
New and Larger Quarters to Be
Occupied Next Year.
ART MADE OF PRACTICAL VALUE

NEW YORK. May lS.--tSpecial Mrs.
Dunlap Hopkins. founder and head of the
New York School of Applied Design For
Women, As prouder of the Institution this
year than ever, as she has a right to be.
Organized six years ago with the expec-
tation that IL might require financial aid
for a decade or more, the school has been self
supporting from. the start, and this year
has been the most prosperous in IL his
tory. Not only have the students been
moro n,umerous--the names ON the rolls
numbering 4l0, an increase of Fl over last
year--but the financial returns have been
better. and this weeks exhibition will be
the most satisfactory that has ever been
held. This exhibition, by the way, is to
the "Applied Designer exactly what
commencement is TO other schools, and
the one this week will be n sort of farewell
ceremony TO the quarters at 200 West
Twenty third street, which have been the
school IS home since Its beginning When
the classes reopen next fall, the entire in
stitution will have removed TO new quar-
ters ON Thirty fourth street, where there
Is room for ten years or more of steady
growth.
Twenty-six States Represented.
There Is no more broadly representative
school In New York than the Applied
Design, /" for its girls include recruits from
c6 states, the extreme cast being repre-
sented by delegation from Maine, the ex-
treme west by representatives from wash
ington and the extreme south by students
from Florida There is no more practical
school, for those who attend are not only
instructed with direct reference to the
winning of aiivelihood, but are helped and
encouraged to earn money while In train
ing. More than %. 600 has been earned In
this way In the 12 months just drawing to
q close in spite Of the obvious fact that
only the more advanced students can turn
their talents to pccuniary advantage and
that nowork h allowed to leave tho school
unless IL is of sufficiently high standard as
TO artistic design and thoroughness TO be
. crodit to the institution.
II may be that this latter provision less
ems the output somewhat temporarily, but
in the long run Ii is extremely beneficial,
since It insures first quality, and the effect
has been such that there are always more
orders ON the books than can possibly bo
filled. When these orders come in, they
are assigned to the students thought most
competent to flll them, and time and facil-
ities are afforded for the performance of
the work. Advice is given by the instruct
ors as to Che methods and materials to be
employed, and 90 on, but the compensation
goes to the student without deduction.
This compensation, by the way, must be
equal to what would be paid to man for
similar work. For silk designs the girls
receive from $50 to e25 each; for wall paper
designs, $50 to e76 set; for book cover
designs, el0 70 t2B; for rugs, e15 to tS5.
There Is sliding scale OF prices for Illus
trations ranging from eb up, perhaps the
average Is not far from go, while for archi-
tectural designs the regulation B per cent
ON the cost of the building is exactcd.
The Star applied Designers"
The Misses Cannon and Hands, archi-
tects and star Applied Designers, have
done 80 we'll that they have recently been
enabled to take two students Of the school
into their employment as assistants, and
their novel tenement house is now actually
nearing completion on an uptown street,
being in construction under their personal
supervision. 1t will be finished In the
course of two or three months.
The Cannon and Hands tenement house
plan came into existence through the offer
made some years ago by the New York
tenement house commission OF n consider
able money prize for plans to secure n GER
tain amount of floor space In buildings put
up on single city lots without resorting to
the cxpedient of dark rooms. Many men
architects, some Of them well known and
highly successful, competed for the prize,
hut most Of their plans were rejected as
not meeting the requirements ut all, and
it was feared that mono suitable would be
GDered. This fear was dispelled at once on
examination Of the Cannon and Hands
plans, however. Thoir successful treat
uent of the problem was apparent ut
single glance.
Some who have given most attention TO
the tenement house problem declare that
these plans eliminate several Of its most
difficult features, and much wonder has
been expressed that no building has as yet
been constructed In accordance Herewith.
The trouble has been that tenement house
builders generally have hitherto fought
shy Of adopting the innovation, some de
claring frankly that they do not approve
Of taking up a new thing, others that the
tenants themselves would not stand for
the proposed way Of building their houses
md others that tho plans cannot be prac-
tical because they were drawn by girls.
Mrs. Dunlap Hopkins believes the sue
cess Of the first building put up according
10 the Cannon and Hands plans will bring
about u general revolution in tenement
house designing, and NO do many others,
including Richard Watson Glider, editor
of The Century Magazine. who was presi-
dent Of the tenement house commission
and Is greatly interested In tenement house
reform.
The new tenement house plan Is OF
course only one of the achievements Of
the star Applied Designers. They have
planned and built hospitals, cottages,
srsfes, warehouses and city rcsidences. In
appearances these girls are not In the least
like conventional "ncw womcn"--in fact,
nine In ten would declare both to be of tho
"clinging ivy" variety. Their confidence
I'm their ability to do good architectural
work Il not whit less pronounced, how.
ever, than that of the most successful man
architect, aud they have strong ambition
~ put mp some great building that shall
be monument 20 woinan's constructive
ability.