The Saint Paul globe., 1899-07-16

Very striking is the change in residential archi-
lecture going from the styles prevailing ten
fifteen or twenty years ago. The plain, solid-ook-
Ing, square house. with unpretentiOus exterior but
with admirable interior arrangement and fnish is
the universal style of home their simplicity contrast
ing strongly with the gaudiness the freakish strain
after effect of those built before the present decade
Whether the house is to be the home of man of
wealth Of moderate means the exterior pre-
SenS the general feature Of extreme plainness
the difference consisting only in the expensive
Of the material and the finishing. The change fol
lowed the Columbian exposition and was probably
Influenced by the architecture of the buildings erect
ed there IT, indeed that architecture was not itself
the first indication Of the revulson from the morbid
taste for the Outre that prevailed and whose produc
tons disfgure the residential portions of our cities
Houses built between 10 and 80 indicate a state
OF mental unrest taste for the unusual and the
regular, the sensational, love Of mere display a
desire to surpass neghbor in architectural eccen
ticity entirely apart from any consideration of the
use OF the house as a home, the convenient ar
rangement of it for home purposes. AS one COM
mented during the prevalence of that rage: "These
houses certainly striking but it is inconceivaIe
that any one can form home associations with them
they are as undOmestic Easter bonnet or a
dress suit The more angles that could be arranged
for in the plans the more fantastic could the de-
signs of eXterors be made the more nearly the house
became the exponent of the fevered tastes of the ay
and the more popular it was Such houses will long
endure as monuments to mark period of intellectual
huX In the progress Of the development of people,
1t will not do to lay the blame if blame there be- for
these grOtesqUe buildings upon the architects or TO
call it the of architectural fashion that had its
day and changed to the present fashion, which will
In its turn, give way something else for architects
III the main, supply what is demanded and if they
hat iS So,1tra
an uniformed or morbid uneducated taste in the
home builder. They created what was wanted
then just they are now supplying what better taste
and wiser, soberer Judgment calls for
May it not be that the larger significance of the
change IN the architecture Of home dwellings ind-
Gates change in national character saner health
Ter Judgment clearer ideas of reIatvity truer CON
ceptIon OF home environment, the acquisition or the
restoration of hOmely common sense. The man who
has attained to that observation-disclosures which enables
him to make the right adjustment of his dwelling
place to the normal essentials of home does not limit
the application Of his judgment to that one phase Of
his life but it in passing upon the matters into
relation with which he comes in his civic environ
ment There increasing Indications that +ba
average voter is looking for political archi-
tect capable OF adjusting party edices to new con-
dltIons and changed views He limits presidential
terms to four years because president has vet
given what is demanded. He turns one Marty ONT
and fnsalls another tentatively to test it's caDacitv
for producing what his ripened common sense re-
qures in government out in its turn for
inetclepcy. In states and Municipalities tha so,ra
healthfu indications appear. 1t is ascribed to the
advent Of the independent voter" but it is the
change wrought in politics to whicn the change in
the architecture of dwellings answers and if is a
Change of which party managers will make note and
take heed if they are wise.