Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-14
RED AND WHITE

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~ away from the red brick and white mar
BILE and exquisite fanlights Of the Colonial
period of building, innumerabe sins-you
might almost say innumerable crimes of
violence-against the rules of good taste and
utility have been committed by all classes Of
architects. It is only in these later days
that we have begun to realize what we lost
with the passing Of the perfectly proportioned
little house with its spacious interior, its
unfailing dignity and its doorways as beau
fully designed as a fine medallion. 1t was
abandoned and almost forgotten in the rising
passion for tin mansards, iron cupoas, fimsy
bay windows and the dark granite and
brownstone that became almost universal in
and after the sixties, when the first of the
milliOnaires succumbed to delusions of gran
deur and began to seek the plaudits of the
universe of men.
Nothing that builders have evolved in q
full century equaled the simple perfection of
the houses Of red brick and white marble
that fascinated DR.. s. Weir Mitchell So
the associations that have found congenial
abiding place In Camac street will really
make of it the biggest little street In the
world If they can manage so to transform it
as to provide for all who pass that way an
authentic reflection Of the earlier architec5
ture Of Philadelphia.
1t is true that Camac street was not
within the area which first saw Colonial
houses in their complete perfection. But
small street that would be in a sense
museum and continuing attestation of the
value Of an art almost lost would be worth
much in any city, and it could be as well
source of constant inspiration to builders
and every one who hopes ever to build or
own q house.
Oddly enough, the mood that inspires the
utr al, h. 10. hnt, folt L., kL~.
parts of the country. 1t is reflected in
general revival of interest in old communi-
ties and old buildings. In New York there
has been for almost a year n movement of
the ultra rich away from the brownstone
canyon of Fifth avenue toward obscure and
almost forgotten sections of the city where
fine examples of earlier American dwellings
are still to be found. For generations these
buildings were given over to mean uses
They were tenements or places Of business
Their steps were worn by the feet of crowd
ing aliens who found in them Il first habita-
tion in the new world. But the fine work.
manship that went into them made them
proof against time and the unthinkng
crowds and their dignity and dim beauty
survived under the dust.
Yet New York never was SO rich in such
houses as Philadelphia The general regions
of Franklin and Washington Squares still
can show unspoiled examples of old dwell
ings, built in the days when the minuet was
the dance OF fashion, and keeping to this day
something of the atmosphere of gentle and
gracious times. In other quarters of what
might be called old Philadelphia there are
streets Of old red brick and fanlights that
have changed but little in hundred years.
But the dwellcrs in them have changed
Only here and there you will find a family
i,li To old II n
windows and brass and iron stoop rails in
the midst of poor and foreign born multi
tudes who have taken over for themselves
what once were the proudest regions of the
city.
When life became hurried, when popula
ton began to increase, builders and carpen :
ters became their own architects Great old
houses were torn down in all the larger
streets to make way for shapeless masses of
brownstone and iron erected by a generation
OF architects now vanished, who appear to
| have had no notion of the integrity and
lasting beauty and practical value of good
| design. Some regions of lower Delaware
| and the communities lying alon: the New
| England coast between Cape Cod and Boston
are famed for the beauty of their old build
| ings. Yet it was in this ci,y that the best
work Of the early builders aud designers was
| done.
| Philadelphia can never again be the Red
| City that DIR. Mitchell loved. But a re-
| vival of appreciation for Colonial standards
| of design and workmanship such as may be
hurried by the enterprise of the Camac street
| clubs would certainly have good and lasting
effect. Many modern builders put grea,
| deal of excellent material to uses altogether
base. The builders who made Philadelphia
what it used to be showed by their work that
| the lttlest house can be charming and wholly
| dignifed They created dwellings so beau
tiful inside and out that those who lived IL
them could not but find in their habitua
environment an influence which made in
evitably for good manners and grace of mind
| Colonial architecture, as we know it, pro
vides one Of the best demonstrations of tn,
value Of restraint and simplicity in artistic
expression. It still can teach many ambi
tious architects lesson Of which they arr
badly in need