The San Francisco call., 1899-10-21
THE HOME CONSTRUCTION.
BY HELEN CAMPBELL.

BY HELEN CAMPBELL.
IF men lived like indeed, their houses
would be temples. which we should hardly dare
injure and il which it would make us holy to
be permitted to live. - 1 would have
then, our ordinary dwelling houses built 10 last
and built to be lovely. right and full Of
pleasantness as may be- within and without
and with such differences rs might express
each mans character and occupation and part
ly his history"
In our American life, with its perpetual
| grasp for something better than it's past
| has known, each man may be said to
build house to escape from rather than
| to record his history. The majority pre-
fer not to look backward, and the new
| house enshrines no memory of the early
| days of its owner, which may have been
| in dug-out or log cabin or in one of the
uncompromisingly hideous little boxes
! that make the suburbs of many cities.
| But Ruskin whose words open this pa
| per, is as usual right in his demand that
! the house of man shall be something it
seldom occurs to us to make tt-a temple
| wherein ordered and harmonious growth
may be a part of the daily life. The
house should be the best and utmost ex-
preston of the home spirit; the best
! adaptation of means to ends; the utmost
| convenience and comfort for all under
| its roof; the greatest ease in necessary
work; the best space for individual as
we'll as family life. How is this to be
! brought about? The plan is left to the
! general builder-the contractor whose
| business it is to make as much show for
! the money spent as brain can contrive,
and to sklmp and curtail in whatever is
out of sight Cheap buiding-houses
made to sell'-is the first consideration.
Houses made to last and to improve with
age have not yet entered our thought Of
! construction.
At this point we see, then, certain needs
defining themselves, and we may well
group them under their distinct heads.
! We are to consider
! a. The individual plan
! b. General sanitary aspects
| C.. Materials and their handling
| q. Construction and it's ethics
| In the limited space at command only
| suggestions under each head can be given,
! but it is hoped that the reader will gain
! from them some new thought as to the
real nature of building and what it may
stand for in every human life. We have
| first to consider, then,
The Individual Plan.
| 1t will at once be insisted that there
can be no need of this, in face Of the
fact that we have many books, large and
! small all devoted to the plans for all
sorts and conditions of men and their
! dwelling places. There are admirable
| ones to be mentioned, but this does not
| affect in the slightest the discovery made
! by all who buy a house that they would
| have built it quite differently at many
! points 1t is but very recently that the
architects conference in one of our great
! cities brought from one prominent mem
! Der a recommendation that they turn
| their attention to the architecture of farm
! houses, and a better future thereby
awaits the farmers wife and children,
at present compelled to live in structures
! of a hideousness calculated to kill out
the sense Of beauty as thoroughly as we
find it to be killed out in the mass of our
people.
This is one phase, and it applies to
workmen's houses of all degrees. Another
one and quite as important is that ac-
cording to the different pursuits of the
| family should be the type of room Of
fered them A pair just beginning life
together may take the average fiat or
small house. But presently, with chill
dren and their needs to consider, it is
| found that the nursery or the living room
which must perhaps serve this purpose
| has no sun and thus is made unfit for
| the growing child, whose birthright is
sunshine, and the strength and healing it
means for all. With the departure of the
! old-fashioned garret, one playground for
| lI6 CIlllly al lllNdludDlG one, SlIC6 1t gave
| room for infinite make believe" vanished
| also. Yet the child should have it's own
! play spot sacred from interference pref
! erably as remote from the other rooms as
! possible, that its noise on rainy days may
| not interfere with others; a place for
| collections of all orders, for toys and
! books and the tools the child loves to use
and which are part of the training in use
of hand and brain together, that pres
| oil to s- 10
sential of education
All this is to be planned for, and it is
often possible to modify or alter the
| formal plan of the architect and secure
| this space But the least skilled draughts-
man can take pencil and paper, think out
! the family needs as they have demon
| strated themselves and see first how tn
! make a rough plan. then how to make
the available space tell to the utmost for
! family comfort. No matter how small the
| sum, it will be better to do without q
! formal parlor, we will say, have a living
room ample and generous and put the
money saved into deadened floors and the
best finish. This matter of deadening
| floors is seldom thought about vet for the
most nervous people in Christendom it is
an essential. We all know the houses
where every sound is heard throughout.
| and no escape for tired mother for ailing
baby, for the invalid, if there be one, or
the patient who wants only quiet and rest
| to come to strength speedily. In our
sounding board houses this form of cure
is impossible, but it need not be. Plan,
then, to these ends and see if there is not
an instant gain in the conception of the
meaning of a house and what it is to
stand for in the family life
General Sanitary Aspects
This heading means a volume. To un-
derstand it fully there should be some
very earnest study. and the books best
adapted to this end are named in the little
! photography accompanying this paper
The shortest, most compact and most prac-
tical is manual prepared under the di-
rection of one of the ablest of American
women, Mrs Ellen H. Richards, professor
! of chemistry in the Boston Institute of
Technology. Home Sanitation" Is its
title, and it covers the ground for both
! CITY and country as to the situation of the
| house its drainage and plumbing, its ven
tilation, heating and lighting, a set of
| questions at the end of each delightfully."-
clear little chapter clinching all doubtful
points There are many elaborate man
uals but this and one or two others cover
all the ground and must be thoroughly
learned A dry and well drained soil, a
house planned for as much sunshine as
possible in every room and perfect drain