New-York tribune., 1921-11-06
By H. II Hobart

VI GURUS Com pGnzeS, INC.
1t has been said that tfrers IS no
single house among all the millions
that have been built that has not seemed
to some one at some time the heart Of
all things and the end OF ali travel.
And yet, one Of the Leading authorities
ON architecture in the country has as
serted, without any hesitation, shst the
majority OF small houses built in
America to-day are ugly houses or
houses without architectural merit.
Does this Indicate a declining appre-
CATION Of what ia good in house de-
sign? Does it indicate that it is i'm
possible TO build homes that ara In
good taste ut q cost within the means
OF most AInerican homebuilders! This
same authority gives this explanation:
NOW, the reason for this is that
every one has been trying to do some
thing different from his neighbor. and
he has given more thought to how he
could accomplish this than he has to
the idea that it WIS OF Importance TO
obtain really good design for him
self. So it is that You find houses of
all sorts and colors and all periods of
architecture, and each house contain
ing as many projections as it was eos
sihle to stick on to it. Of course the
result is chaotic.
y doubt if in the whole history Of
| architecture you can find all bundled
together az many ridiculous forms and
arrangements as are to be noted in the
architecture built in America since 1860.
For example, thers was the period of
/ u
sorts OF eoutraptions. There was also
an imitation of Colonial. in which the
purpose seemed to be to crowd in as
many features as possible, instead Of
keeping the houses simple, az were the
Colonial. Then came the bungalow and
| the m odern American in which, if one
Judges from the sizes of mem bers and
elements of detail, the purpose was TO
use up our entire wood supply as soon
as possible.
House Should BE Simple
81 am not advocating that we should
copy Colonial houses or work OF for
eign countries, but | insist that if we
wish to create communities that so far
as their general character goes are at
all comparable with the earlier Ameri-
can work or the architecture Of foreign
countries, we must build similar and
pier | mean houses in which there is no
waste of material, no mass Of jigsaw
ornament, no consraptions put on SIM
ply to make the house different For
when you boil it down in final analysis
good design is very largely merely a
Use of materials in an economical way
and under the direction of one who
knows what is good proportion. Recent
ly in America any number OF people
have come to think that economy, or, as
it is sometimes said, efficiency, is an
end in itself. No more stupid idea ever
obsessed a people. You may use a
material ever SO economically, but if
you do not attach to it the know-how
of design the result may be hideous.
So far as the use of materials is con-
cerned, good proportion costs absolute
ly nothing"
Consider the Colonial type, for in
stance-not because it should be emu
lated, necessarily, but because its good
taste is recognized. Let us consider it
from the standpoint of economy.
Besides good proportion, which. as
stated, costs nothing. ana which is an
essential Of any we'll designed house,
of whatever type. one Of the important
characteristics of the Colonial is gym
metry. Symmetry also costs absolutely
nothing Simplicity is another char
acteristic, one that represents an