The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-05-01

out and that you wish to- build economi-
cally. Look, then, fora man whose work,
as an excellent authoritYisputs it, Eek
presses the best combination of taste and
practicability" you can easily determine
by inquiry whether heEwil1 be man who
will pay careful attention to details,
whether he is a good #superintenden
some artistic architects are at fault in
matters of superVisions-a whether, in a
general way, he is the kind of man you
can work with for some months with mu-
tual satisfaction. Ifyou really want to
put up a tasteful house sdo not engage
an architect unless you feel. that you can
trust his taste. The relations of archi
tect and client should be such that they
can work in sympathy: The architect
alone cannot build your house for you
Git you have any originality and notions
of your own: but sit must be a product
of your ideas and his worked up with the
skill which his training has given him.
Next comes the general scheme of the
house. Most people have something in
mind as the general type of house
wanted. Too often tits exactly such a
house as is being built on the next block
or around the corner. If any criticism is
to be passed upon the present trend of
residence building in Minneapolis, it is
that there is too much; sameness in the
style. We shall have a perfect forest
of large, square, white houses in some
parts of the city bed the season is
over at the present raAaef obstruction.
Would it not make They city more beau
tiful if some of these houses were not
square or not white?
charming writer in a book just is
sued says:
,"Never copy your neighbours house, nor
his stable, nor his grounds, nor anything
architectural that is his.aIs His house is
supposed to be a complete architectural
development up to and including this year
of grace, and cannot be further amplitied
at this time. no matter how faulty a
development it is conceded to be- Or it
may be very, successful one, in which
case it should inspire you with the anlbi-
tion to acquit yourself as creditably upon
other lines of thought
Showiness in a dwelling house is almost
| invariably vulgar: But it does not follow
| THAT a house must be an unornamental
box. There is a real beauty N we'll pro-
| portioned symmetry with moderate
amount of decoration. And above all
house should be consistent throughout.
The .Queen Anne front and Mary Ann
back of which some one wrote. is mex
cusable nowadays. The same writer
quoted above says with much sense and
spirit:
Never submit to the false doctrine
that your new house needs back-an
avowed ard uncomoromising back, to
which all the sins THAT have been COM
mitted throughout the plan find their way
at last, to. be marshalled up in grand ar
ray, and summar1ly dealt with in one
hideous nakeshift. A house Is mot like
an upright piano, intended to stand
against wall: and the tone of this in
strument would be greatly improved II
it's manufacturers only make it so pre-.
sentable upon all sides that it could stant
! fairly out into the room space clear Of
rejecting surfaces. TIE rear CT the
house is sure to be seen sometime ant
i we have no right to shock the senses O.
our friends after making the pretensior
to refinement we do in the other ele
yations 1t is discourteous deliberatel!
to turn the back upon anyone, and there
i is no excuse for it in architecture excep
selfshness and slovenliness. Therefore