The Washington herald., 1908-05-10
DR.. WILEY SCORES
THE BLOCK HOUSE
Continued from Page One.

or smaller cost. It is the jamming OF the
narrow box houses into the solid block
and the unnecessary and unhealthy
crowding Of the population into such
spaces to which he objects Mr.. Powder
ly thinks with DR.. Wiley that laws ought
10 be enacted forbidding the erection Of
block houses all over the suburbs, which
he believes In a few years will ruin the
fine appearance Of the city forever. Ac-
cording 10 Mr.. Powderly, there is moth
ing beauuful, and never can be, IN a
solid block OF houses. whether they are
built In the new colonial style. in three
or four story fronts. or after the more
anc.ent pattern OF the post and Intel de-
sign. with square and unornamented
doors and windows.
Another View TO Take.
These views of how not to make
Washington beautiful are reproduced
here merely for their suEEestivenass.
There Is another view TO take Of the
situation. which is that Of the builder and
speculator who buys the land. builds
smaller houses close together, and sue
ceeds IN selling or renting the property
and making IT productive, while It lay
idle and practically a waste before such
improvement
One Of the great troubles in PetwoCth.
10 which Mr.. Powderly refers, was that
the original exploitation OF the subdiei-
sion looked only 70 the selling OF the
ground Il was left for the lot buyers 10
build their own homes. Had the original
owners or the ground built the cottages
and villas, such as Mr. Powderly de-
scribes. and made them ready for occu-
panCy. the subdivision would long ago
have been occupied, as is evidenced by
the avidity with which houses Of almost
every design. from the cottage 20 the
block house, have been taken there with
in the past two years.
The builder and the speculator are not
to be wholly condemned. for il is largely
due to their activity that the city ex-
pands. They say they build what they
can sell, or as they put IT sometimes. what
the people want This is probably not
literally true. or. II 1t is. it might be said
with some Justice that the majority or
persons. when it comes 70 a house to 1--we
in. do not know what they do want or
what they should want.
Legislation Not Best Course,
Legislation bearing upon the type of
house to be allowed outside certain limits
of the city has been often suggested as
means to the better protection OF the
suburbs from the spoliation of the bl rex
house. But it is question whether this
should not be left to the action Of public
opinion and to the exercise Of better wis
dom in house building II is probably
true that the owners Of the land At the
present time in all the Washington sub
urbs have it in their power TO prescribe
what style Of houses shall be built upon
i. Moreover, If the majority of people
who buy houses should turn their backs
upon he block houses and refuse 10 buy
them for one year there would never be
another built in Washington The ruin
that would come TO the contractor and
speculator in such q condition OF things
would be more effective than any law
Congress could enact.
1t would seem that the relief sought
is to be found in better education of
the people against the block house as
compared with the cottage or detached
type At the present time there is in
Washington evidently no marked public
sentiment against the block type of
dwelling, for seven sales out OF ten 10
homo buyers are OF that type and this
condition Of public sentiment is a diff
cult thing for architects, scientists, or
even legislators to meet and overcome.