The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-10-16
LACK OF ART SHOWN
IN SUBURBAN HOMES
Country Draws Many from
City Section.
BUSINESS MEN as BUILDERS
Folly of Attempting 10 De Own
Architect Suburban Development
increases Account High Cost of
Living-City Men Turn Farmers.
transportation Facilities Good.

I NOOn
/ The chief element Of the modern-day
/ American is construction. In our cities
the towering sky-scrapers and crowded
business streets reflect the commercial
sense. while the overwhelming residence
districts and suburban sections clearly
show the effort for artistic municipal de-
yeIopment
/ Back 10 nature" is the cry Of the city
now. New York has heard IL: Chicago
/ has heard II. and Washington IS hearing
/ II, with the result that hundreds OF her
citizens are seeking the country districts.
! In the list OF those who have embraced
/ the simple life" are 20 be found bank
/ ers, professional men, department store
/ managers. and liberal number Of plain
everyday w0rkingmen, for with the ex-
ceIlent transportation facilities at hand
+ the laborer can live In the country, pro-
Wded II is not too far out. and save
money by so doing With the business
/ and professional man. health. rather than
/ economy IN living. Is the great desidera-
tum. but no man has yet been heard
/ 70 complain that he is liking too cheaply.
High Cost of Living.
! The high cost OF living and the strenu-
Gus pace AT which We are travelling to-
/ day are the main causes Of this mlgra-
/ Jion. and the automobile has been a great
factor in aid OF IT, The busy merchant,
worn out by the days grind. cannot find
! the recreation he needs by remaining IN
| towr- He buys little plot OF ground a
few miles out, within easy motoring dis
tance. and when he leaves his Office he
makes direct for the country, with its
pure air and its peaceful surroundings.
! He sits down 10 a meal that puts it over
any hotel fare in the cogitry. FOR the
| tomatoes and the peas and the corn and
the potatoes that go 10 make up & large
part OF the menu come direct from his
own garden. In the morning he sits down
20 a breakfast Of eggs that have come
from his own hennery. and the brisk run
10 town in the bracing morning air puts
him in shape for q hard days effort.
For the man OF smaller means the pro
gramme is the same, on a proportionate
SNt44Na nc AaAl--bA dA1Lu an dANtll4tD4lts
but the suburban trolleys are an excellent
substitute and his ground viii produce
just as much per square foot as the rich
mans. while the saving IN foodstufIs will
more than counterbalance the extra cost
in street car fare.
But with all this development in coun-
try life, there also comes one point well
worthy Of criticism, The American of
to-day IS constructive. and he never as
serts this primal element OF his nature
so strenuously as when, taking up his
country residence. he proceeds 10 design
FOR himself the house he is 10 occupy.
And without reflection on the supposed
highly artistic sense OF the American, II
must be said that the results OF this self
appointed architect are usually fearful
and wonderful 10 behold"
Acting as own Builder.
We readily admit that a man should
be the architect OF his own fortune;
but that he should also be the architect
OF the house which is the external sign
or syuabol Of that fortune, will bear de-
batting. There are no laws save those
Of intelligence and honesty governing
the making OF ones way in the world.
In architecture. as in ali the arts, II is
different Here Is a field OF activity
ard expression which is governed by an
elaborate system OF special laws inner
ent in the very nature OF the materials
employed, and imposing themselves des-
politically upon the individual, who sue
ceeds only in the measure In which he
Yields himself TO them with sympathy
and understanding. In short, the very
qualities that make one a good business
man or hnancier tend to make him
bad architect. Yet there seems 10 be
something in the blood OF the average
American which convinces him that he
is a born builder. The Athenian cob
bier in the days OF Socrates had no
deeper conviction OF his aptitude for
the affairs Of government.
The results of this attitude toward the
business Of hOuse-bu.lding everywhere
confronts US. Our cities and country dis
tricts are crowded with houses and villas
that reflect. in endless and bizarre con
fusion, the capricious ignorance and fan
tastic bad lasts OF their owners. Some
thing of all this must, II is true, be at
tributed to the professional architects
who mingle styles or invent manners OF
their own. in the excessive search for
originality. One has. however, but 10
reflect upon the position held by the av-
erage architect in this country, to re-
alize how little, after all. his respon-
sibnity amounts TO. compared with that
Of his employer. For the former is. TOO
often, a mere instrument In the hands
Of the latter Who does not recall Silas
Lapham and the miserable life he leads
the young architect he employs TO build
his Beacon street house? Unfortunately,