Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-11-01
NEED WOMEN DESIGNERS.
Many Details About the Kitchen
and Other Rooms Might be
Improved.

spending the best part of a week in
examining cottages in a suburban
development without finding what
she was looking for was finally turn
ed over by the salesman to the man
ager, who solicitously inquired as to
her wants. To him she poured out
this tale of woe:
Il have been inspecting so many
modern houses and not one of them
even approaches ever so remotely my
ideal of really comfortable resi-
dence. If architects and builders
would attach to their staff women
technically trained and at the same
time familiar with the workings of
the modern home it is safe to say
that many conveniences would be
found in houses and apartments which
are at present generally missing,
while some of the absurdities in the
way of misplaced kitchen and laun-
dry paraphernalia would be conspic-
uous by their absence"
For instance" continued the
prospective buyer, what woman
would put in laundry tubs so deep
that the luckless worker who is of
short or medium stature is in con-
slant danger of pitching forward up
on her head, while the tall woman
can at least reckon upon a headache
or backache, as the result of few
hours work. Or who but a man
would make the ledge between the
tubs so wide that no ordinary wiring
er can be fitted to it. Would any
woman dream of jamming kitchen
range so close to the wall on the
side where the match has to be ap-
piled and the stopcocks regulated
that it is only by difficult maneuver-
ing with the left hand that the range
can be managed at all?
Nor is there any plausible reason
for so arranging the wall spaces that
the refrigerator must perforce stand
next to the stove, while the closet is
as far away from the selfsame stove
as it is possible to place it-presum-
ably to give the cook needed exercise
in getting up the meal.
Another idea which would suggest
itself to the woman architect is the
fact that the toilet room-if there is
but one-should be separate from
the bathroom as a matter of family
convenience. There is no good rea-
son either for setting a bathtub a
few inches above the floor, thus leav-
ing a space underneath which is al
most inaccessible and yet must be
kept clean for sanitary reasons.
Then, too if the demand were insist
ent enough, manufacturers might see
fit to market a washstand so made
evitably catch upon the faucets every
time she washes her face. An extra
toilet or lavatory for the convenience
of guests and children-built into
the first floor where possible Is an
other comfort the male architect Of
ten overlooks even in homes where
extra expense is not spared.
A clever woman assisting in plan
ming houses or apartments would
readily see the advantage of coved
ceilings and floors; plain mouldings
and woodwork. tiled kitchen and
bathroom floors and walls. Another
feature that might be easily intro
duced in the kitchen, laundry and
bathroom floors is a drain so that
they could be flooded with water that
would run off through connections
with pipes.
In the more luxurious homes dish
and clothes washers run by electric
ity would help materially to render
the work less disagreeable and so
induce the servant problem to settle
itself. FireIess cookers, now used
by not a few up-to-date housekeep-
ers, might also be built in. Outdoor
racks for garbage cans with openings
into the kitchen have at last found
their way into a few of the better
class apartment houses, but these as
we'll as soiled clothes chutes from
upper floors to the laundry should be
installed in every well appointed pri-
vate house.
Indoor drying rooms for use on
snowy or rainy wash days are an
other convenience that might easily
be provided for in the cellar, but are
very generally lacking. These are
but few of the things that woman
assistant could keep before the eyes
of an architect in the domestic
branch of the work In buildings
that are to be rented it should be
made an invariable rule to put in as
many permanent features as posi-
BILE. such as towel and soap racks
and medicine chests in bathrooms,
utenSil shelves and hooks i'm kitchen