Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-11
BEAUTIFY HOME
TO BETTER CITY
EXPERT SHOWS HOW TO MAKE
TOWN ATTRACTIVE
PRIVATE BUILDINGS SHOULD BE
IMPROVED, HE SAYS
Declares Houses Should First Be Dec
grated and Furnished Along Lines
Pleasing to the Eyes and
Other Senses
ny A. KARPATY


city twenty years or more call me
dreamer "who is wasting his sweel
young life" because 1 participate II
an attempt to centraltze methodlcaiiS
the scattered efforts manifested by
civic organizations as well as by private
individuals to make Los Angeles q
city beautiful. The Identification itseli
is not what they oppose, but they claim
that mo practical business man could
take part in this movement because
there is nothing in it," they further
assert "others have failed who tried il
before, so what's the use?'
To Bring Subject Before Reader
AS for the claim that it does not
nav. we would refer to hundreds OF
| communities in this country, as well
/ as abroad, where real estate values
suddenly jumped a thousand per cent
and more because of civic awakening
which stimulated, organized and meth
odized betterments, so prompting local
spread of commercial and lndustrlai
| undertakings. Thus nourished, city
expands, guided by the munlclpal anu an
private enterprise, and gradually cuI-
inmates in a healthy, prosperous ana
/ beautiful commonwealth.
Lack Of Meaningless Decoration
The purely archaeological side OF
| architecture and decoration Of our pub
/ lie and private buildings, which is gen
erally studied by the professional,
cannot rightly be eXpounded in dis
cussion as ours.
We solely maintain this discussion
for the practical benefit of the public,
| its uplift and aesthetic education.
Believing that all the good as wall
as all the bad is turning from inside
out" let us enter into our own dwell
! ings and let us see in our midst what
are we doing for ourselves and in the
| emu for the city as a unit from the
s. ndpoint of Identification, and what
must be done to eradicate errors, to
gradually form a city beautltul.
The sprawling and disjointed char
acter of our city is due to the lack of
getting together things which belong
togther
The thoughtless salesman, in defer
ence to the wishes of the inexperienced
woman, feels il natural to I'LL our
homes with delightful floral effects.
The walls are full of bright fiowers
| cretonnes, chintzes and floral tapes
tries are used in lavish profusion.
Indeed, the expression is common
that this sort of thing is just right
for our house, they seem to affiliate
with nature.
On the contrary our home is already
furnished by nature with all the gay
| color of flowers and verdure that the
| soul may crave.
| From the window and the porch we
/ have mowers about us. in the garden
and on the lawns; the landscape and
| the paths and walks around the place
are full of it.
Here, where nature has done so much
about the house, it is work Of super
| erogation to call in the further assist
! o1fo MnFnnVPr
while the brain is stored with the
/ beauties of nature, what satisfaction
can be had from a continuance of the
subject mechanically applied?
No Arbitration but Common Sense
Questions of taste in applied decora-
ton are largely personal considerations.
Questions of truth and righteousness
in period style on the contrary are
matters of history and do not admit of
deviation from established professional
| lines.
Good decoration endeavors to arouse
! ones pleasure by aesthetic, historic and
utilitarian qualities. By historic we
mean, again, the orderly use Of things
! d cora.-ve.
Today, for instance, we are using
| panels in friezes that appeal to us
because they are pictorial. We ven-
ture. however, that this pleasure is
! ephemeral unless the use of such OBJ
/ jacts is justified by the rest of coinci-
/ dents: as general design of the room,
/ it's furniture, rugs, hangings, pictures,
,ric-a-brac, pottery bronzes, stat
/ uaries, etc.
In the latter part of the eighteenth
| century a great many scenic papers
were used. Something's Roman scenes,
! italian vistas. classical treatments;
| sometimes of legends and tradition,
! sometimes of rudiment or erudition,
sometimes reproductions of Italian
! scenes in and around Pompeii and Her
! culaneum; but their use had distinct
connection with the furniture, because
| the Adam school and the schools of
Ilepplewithe and Sheraton all showed
the Italian spirit. So with the old
Dutch prints and East India fabrics
4 of the Queen Anne period. They had
an orderly connection with the origin
of the furniture in use. If we study
the period styles we will find the same
sense of consistency. this orderly
sense of propriety by systematic get
ting together of the things which
belong together.
The Value of counterbalance
We repeat, the climate of Southern
California satiates ones visual organ
and there is no aesthetic sense to be
Sat1S16Q Dy IOIlcuIluT6 Nlblllu upOl D
Our homes, therefore, that are fur
nished in cool tints and semi-tones OF
two-tone treatments are cool and rest
| full, and are a positive relief from the
| glaring monotony of flowers. On th5
other hand floral furnishings and up
holsterings in the home are grateful
alan to the lack of them without
Delightful, inexpensive Home
Sim olicity, durability and fitness fol
the life that is to be lived in the
house, and harmony with its natura
surroundings makes a home, and in the
end city beautiful.
Let us enter into one of those bun
galows just completed near Ardmort
street. The rooms comprise hail. liv-
ing ROOM dining room, morning room
guest chamber. family chamber, corner
chamber and card room.
All the furnishings throughout are
exceedingly pleasing and livable II
character. Additional interest is added
to the house for the reason of the fac
that the colored easement curtains anC
portiere Innings, though in some case:
of the most delicate tints, are guaran
teed absolutely fast, a clair that will
carry no little weight with the careful
housewife. 1t is also worthy of not'
that the fabrics used in each room
bear a definite relation in weight, colo
and weave to the surroundings. II
fact, utility rather than show seems t.
have been the keynote in the entiri
scheme of furnishings. The rooms arr
furnished as follows:
Hall-High paneling of fumed oal
surmounted by conventional frieze il