The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-16


 petition of the Garden City HOusi
 
 association and relation of lines and areas and gives him clear concep- tion of the application of the laws of rhythm, balance and tone values. John
 Ruskin says. Great nations write their autobiography in three manuscripts: the book of their words the book of their deeds. and the book of their art, and the only one quiet trustworthy is the last Real art is right thinking and right living expressed in terms of simplicity, beauty and good propor- | tions. Automatic though this statement well understood. Plan arrangement and it's artistic expression are the goal sought by the architect in designing the house. The sooner the lay mind is relieved of the concept that beauty is a sweetmeat that can be taken off or left as desired and realizes that art is the expression of beauty and pri-
 marily concerned with making useful things beautiful, instead of just merely trimming them, the sooner better pro gress in the design of small houses will be made.
 "The trained designer is always con fronted by definite problem. Condi- tons are imposed by material, con- struction, process of manufa cture, use,
 environment. but with an intimate
 knowledge of all these technical mat ters there must also be a keen appre- citation of beauty in the abstract" MT. Melton said. "A piece of work may be beyond criticism in it's adaptability to the conditions just cited: yet it may, at the same time. be stupid and alto- eether unworthy from the point of view of beauty. As design, whatso- ever the material, a piece of work must be brought to the test of line and mass compositions; failing here. it falls as design. Good design is invariably sane. regular, orderly and consistent throug ghout "A piece of work well done brings to the beholder a sense of sat isfaction and completeness. There IS no desire to change line or an area, or to vary any of the tone rela tions. Good design produces beauty and beau I ty is simplicity, exactly answering the end sought with correlated parts. Beau | ty and structure. in nature, are one and so should they also be in all good design.
 {, If the designer of the suburban | house can obtain a well arranged plan. wisely choose his building materials I and combine them into an economical ensemble that appeals to the intellect, imagination and emotion and resist 1 trying to make a cottage look like a
 mansion. then we can truly say the
 result is a work of art.' he continued. l "A knowledge of the various his | toric examples of architecture is an
 important aid to the designer, but we should bear in mind that such knowl- ] edge, no matter how profound, does
 not necessarily imply an artistic ap- preciation of good work. There is no transcendent and infallible merit in
 any particular type of work Greek de- signs are no more worthy than Chi-
 nese designs. They must all be, brought to the test of fundamental 1 principles and, lacking understanding
 of these principles, we have no crite-
 rion other than our personal likes or
 dislikes by which a Judgment may be i formed"
 What style is your prefernce?" asked
 | People often ask me that question: Mir Welton replied Style. per Sc. in
 architecture only exists in the minds
 of historians who have vainly tried tc limit and define it. There is no exact dividing line in architectural style since one period merges gently into an other in a natural. logical and orderly way Tn point of fact, we have today
 people living in the stone age and alst | in very highly civilized state. l con | ceiVe of style. only as part of q | whole, predetermined by the plan ar
 rangement and not arbitrarily select
 ed at will to fit any floor layout. Style should be loyalty to the past translated 1 in terms of today with the admixture
 of little coherent thought to adapi l such ornamentation as is used to fiji 1 the plan arransement. Style should show a skilIful balance between prece- dent and invention thorough under l standing of the work of the great mas ters. yet a determination to truthfullS fit the fabric to it's place and purpose. 1 For instance. an owner possessing fine 1 old colonial portraits andN furniture i should not allow his architect to de-
 sign him an English Tudor house with l high pitched roof design to throw of fsnoW in a climate where snow never l falls Nor would such treasures look l well in a yellow brick square box with
 hip roof worried full of dormers' | Looking across the pages of histor' | we find valuable precedent to refer t 1 for ideas in design" MT. Welton said l s.Who has seen the decoratic use of tn 1 lotus and papyrus in Egypt, the bas reliefs and glazed colored patchwork o
 the Babylonian-Assyrian peoples, the re mains of the Persian and Indian garden
 or the wealth of refined ornament lef to us by the Greeks. but is permanent. impressed and artistically elevated? An ! cient Rome, the melting pot of the thel | civilized world. is a neyer-endlng min of valuable suggestions The frescoes o the villas of Rome were the marvel o ! the sixteenth century Europe. The mu ral paintings at Pompeii and Hercula neum are noted for their brilliancy am harmonious coioring. The ornament in ivsrted in Roman times is still the bas ! of all good modern design, To the By
 zantine and Early Christian periods VI