The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-06-21

beginning to think that your cottage will not be so much of Chinese puzzle after all-- more homogeneous than many more expen- sive, where the motif is a matter of con lecture rather than an established cer- tainty.'
 Familiar styles grow tiresome. house should possess uniformity, however, or, as you say, a concrete sameness in all parts that will admit of that term motif being used In connection with 1t. If 1t pretend to have style, let the motif predominate. That Is good judgment The builder may adapt style to conditions. but he should preserve form and proportion. When he undertakes to blend or mix styles the result Is lnyari- ably bad. If person wishes to build house, however elaborate or however modest 1t Is to be, he would do well to read first Ruskins Seven Lamps of Architecture He may not agree in all things with the au- thor, but at least he will conclude that 1t is wise Co consider carefully before building
 .'In the specification Tor my cottage hem lock timbers are called for In the rough body construction, while chestnut will be the wood for the exterior-roof beams. hand rails, door and window sills. flooring, &c The structure will be half timbered with rough plastered walls, laid upon plaster board and stained, In the mixing, a deep buf color The porch wall and posts will be made oA cohluOu utiu blOHtSF 0alA AAAo7o anu lichens left on. If this Is done with the idea of stimulating huge, roughly constructed wall, 1t will give to the building that look of age desirable. A good stain will be used to give the outer woodwork a weathered np- pearance The chimney will be of brick matching In color and appearance the red tiles of the roof. You will observe by the floor plan that the porch runs entirely around the house The cellar will only extend to the Aaf ff<r, all of ko A..IlI Yf s.,ff1 have flooring of concrete and be divided with partitions of wood into laundry, coal bin, &c. The walls, which are also the foundations of the building. are water proofed with asphatum upon the outside dry cellar Is positive necessity in q sum mer cottage, and particularly to the city family used to steam and furnace heat.
 "The floor plan of the lower story pro- yides for five rooms-a dining room, living room, kitchen, pantry and servants room. The hall Is wide and has a large uEoccupied space in the front where wet and chilly evenings may be spent. In the back of the hall and under the stairs is a secluded library or den. A low fireplace will occupy one side of this enclosure, while long seat, book case and table of Chinese workmanship which have will furnish it. The woodwork in the hall will be a copy of that upon the portico of the Temple of Confucius, in Pekln. The walls are rough plastered, as I win use them as a background for displaying appro- priate curios. The ceiling and floor will be of oak, as well as all of the woodwork here and in the dining room.
 Your commercial inquisitiveness will want to learn what the articles I have men toned and that are shown In the hall sketch cost me. To buy curios chenply one must have time and patience. With these requi- sites one can in New York, buy them with moderate purse. The bookcase cost me S15. It Is of lockwood, and was very shaky when got 1t, but as this is often fault of lockwood furniture I was rather pleased than other wise, for l would not have got 1t for that price had It not been in that condition. The long seat cost me SIS, while the table cost me S23.50 The lantern. known as q Tento, or heavenly lantern, cost $6.l5, while the Japanese bronze, which Is shown by the stairway, cost more than anything, yet think the least of it. It cost s3S. All of these articles and those in the sketches of other rooms were picked up at auction sales in Fifth avenue and further down town. One can, of coursey obtain plenty of Japanese furniture in the regular way, as well as Chi nese, but 1t will cost considerably more than these articles have cost me.
 Tn China there are three forms of religion -Taoism, Buddhism and Confuclanism Each seems to have in architecture style of its own. The seat and table in the den are said to have come from Taoist temple, while the bookcase can be said to be Buddhist. The chair which Is seen under the stairs can be called Confucian, and the architecture of the room is as far as It conforms with the origi- nal, also Confucian. The lantern and bronze are, unfortunately for the conformity of style, Japanese, and belong to the ShIntoist period Many variations in styles or periods of architecture are often repeated and for that reason may be ciassed under substyles