The times., 1899-09-03
ART IN BUILDING HOMES
Houses of This Period Excel in
Comfort and Beauty.
The Dwellings In Washington of To-
day Compared with Those Which
Senienees, Coupled With Low Rent.
Passing OF the square Front Brick.

Said the lady with the trim percale skirt
and the blue shirt waist to her husband.
This house has FIVE closets. besides the
pantry. 1t has tiled bathroom, with mod
ern plumbing, a furnace instead OF Ia
trobes, reception hall with pretty hard
wood finish, two dainty cabinet manteIs,
and tasteful paper on all the walls. II has
gas range in the kitchen in addition to
the coal range Why is the rent OF this
house no more than ours. when We have
none OF these things?" And the husband
answered; They are building houses bet
ter than they used to. I don't know why.
unless it is because people want them.
Perhaps Americas education in the art of
home building is progressing
Let's ;ake this house, said the lady.
And they did. This. any real estate man
will say. is a typical conversation. with a
typical result.
As matter Of fact. people who are s.-
perts on houses, women who live in them
and run them, and architects who draw
plans, builders who erect and agents who
sen ana rent them, are agreed that this
decade Is the age Of pretty, convenient.
artistic homes for people in moderate cir
cuinstanees as much as il is the age OF any,
thing else There has been revolution
quite as remarkable from the type OF
dwelling constructed ten and fifteen wears
ago to rent for S25 and $50 TO the present
structure for the same rental as there has
been IN warships. OF rapid transit. or street
paving or newspapers or magazines
Progress OF the Building Art.
Some economists decry the necessity OF
more and better warships. Some even go
SO far as to contend that the world would
be better without any. Rapid transit is a
wonderful institution bringing the suburbs
INTO the city actually by making them into
parts of the city. II is feasible. however.
10 argue against rapid transit being an un-
mixed blessing
There cas- be no possible objection to
beautiful homes They educate and re-
nne, and they help people to be happy.
Ihey make the world better And as the
whole world lives in homes of some sort
or other the advance in this regard is OF
an infinitely wide significance and import
ance
The type OF Washington dwelling OF
twenty five years ago was a straight front
pressed brick. one of row On the out
side this type had no beauty. Inside il was
sometimes fairly comfortable, but it had
none OF the prettiness and cOEvenienees OF
the modern structure Its paper was ugly.
its closets few. its sanitary plumbing and
tiled bath room missing. its cabinet man
tells thing OF the future
The Bay Window Fashion.
Five and ten years after architects and
builders began to construct rows Of bay
window dwellings. all alike and little. il
any, more attractive outwardly than the
fiat fronts. They were somewhat OF an
Improvement in breaking up the squareness-
OF the front rooms. These houses had
plumbing little better and paper perhaps
a trifie more artistic A glance through one
OF these, however, and comparison with
one OF the buildings going up this season
will show the barenness and eoldness and
inconvenience OF them most convincingiv.
Simple. artistic cabinet man:els Of wood
cost no more to build than the old un-
lovely marble Affairs did Pretty paper now
costs no more than ugly paper did fifteen
years ago. Diversified artistic fronts for
a row of dwellings can be built at little il
any greater expense than fronts on one
monotonous pattern Sanitary plumbing
costs no more than the oId-styIe typhus-
breeding variety. The comparison could
be continued indefinitely and always to
the advantage Of the modern ideas.
Growth of Pretty Homes.
Twenty years ago. taking all these mat
ters into consideration and judging by
present standards there was actually not
an artistic house Of moderate cost in the
District of Columbia In this year, 1899.
there is probably not one house of all the
hundreds being built to sell for $4,000 to
s5.0 900 and to rent for S25 10 $35 but has
many pretty and convenient features The
larger part of them have many claims to
10 a-fF fF~fTr
schools. the novels or the magazines,
DR. William Morris, or all of these factors
combined perhaps have caused it,
The Government clerk and the young
man in business, receiving the average sal
airy is much better off living now than
his father was on the same salary, as far
as his home is concerned at least.