New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-16
REVIEWS AND COMMENT
ARCHITECTURE
4 Practical Book on Little
Known Art

THE PRACTICAL BOOK OF. ARcHTTcTIRE. /
By & h,lLck Price With rs ilusEhi0ns
Philadelphia J. 8. LiDp.ncott Company.
A year or so ago the present review
or had occasion, and seized II with de-
light, 10 recommend In heartiest terms
what was then, and still remains, the
best practical guide 10 period furniture
Harold Donaldson Eberlein's and Abb
bot McClure's practical Book OF Pc
riod Furniture" IL is one Of the Prac-
teal Books of Home Life Enrichment,
series which deserves the attention
and the study Of all who would beau
tify their own lives and add to the
fortunately growing common stock OF
beauty which is so great a source OF
happiness.
Architecture IS the one art which
touches the lives OF all Of US most in
timstely, constantly. We have 20 seek
out music, painting. sculpture ARCH
lecture comes to meet Us whenever
we walk abroad. Some Of US never see.
but the majority feel the beauty or
architecture without understanding,
without the knowledge that enables one
to anslyze tho why and wherefore Of
the plessurablo sensation. And yet
architecture is not an art. shielded
against the laymsn by hundred mys-
tories. A knowledge of IL may be moro
easily acquired than is knowledge OF
any Of the other arts, and the rewards
are greater. We live with architecture,
amid beauties Of form that only ask
little study to reveal themselves.
This. then, is the first purpose OF this
book-to give the laymsn working
( knowledge Of the art from its classic
beginnings to the present day Of the
association Of many styles in the same
city, the same street, often the same
building. Our banks, our business
structures, our shops, our hotels. hos
pitfalls and railroad stations, our IL
braries and public buildings arc as
often things of beauty as are our town
houses and country dwellings. After
studying this book the reader VIII
/ look around him with delighted eyes.
a new form of beauty has been re-
( yealed 10 him.
/ The illustrations are Of great assist
! Pictures Of Fifth Avenue shop fronts
| help to interpret the text and lead be
/ yond il: one Of them, a full-page plate,
/ draws attention 10 one spot in this city
/ where "the great tower of the Wool
/ worth Building. carried out in a free
| moderniZed rendering Of Gothic archl-
/ lecture, Is seen through the Classic
Renaissance colonnade Of the Munich
xrha1 81 m
| visible of the old eighteenth-century
Franco-Anglo-Cl Classic New York City
| Hail.
The author never forgets that he Is
writing for the general reader; he does
not overload his pages with TECHNICAL
ties. while, on the other hand, he does
not neglect TO give the vocabulary, with
illustrations, necessary 20 an lntelll-
gent discussion of a building and ITS
parts. We all know what marqulse
is, and pergola. The knowledge oil
far too many OF US stops right there
with, perhaps. in addition, generous
misunderstanding OF the terms GO
loniaW and Queen Anne"
But there Is more, for this book IS
really practical. Besides being a guide
10 architecture, it is also a guide TO
building for those who, at some time or
other, may resolve to own their own
houses i'll city or country; and, Incl
dentally, it will be found of service By
those who, as members of some com
mittee for the erection of a public
building, all too often are tempted to
hide their ignorance under a bushel.
Architect and client, style in its re
lation to site, plans, material, cost-sll
this is dealt with clearly, succinctly
for the guidance OF the prospective
builder who would secure the best re
suits. A serviceable, practical book of
beauty, this, one of series which, in
its general excellence, deserves the at
tention of those in search of those
adornments Of living which lie within
the reach of most if only they will go
in search of them.