San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-08-23
TRUE COLONIAL DESIGN
HISTORICALLY AMERICAN
By WILSON COMPTON

gineer Of the National Lumber Manu-
facturers Association, because they
recognize the perfection of these forms.
Just as the classic columns are basic
and cannot be further refined, so is
this type of building basic construc.
ton. The variations of Colonial de-
sign are most often mongrel concep-
tons evolved through ignorance or
modified to conform to poor taste"
ARCHITECTS LOYAL.
No doubt economy of construction
and convenience o. arrangement have
contributed importantly to the perma-
nencc of this architectural style. Sell
dom does beauty alone dictate the
final choice of house plan to the
home builder. But lumber-built homes
today constitute more than 90 per
cent of residential construction. Euro
peans find it hard to understand. Re
Gently a continental diplomat was
shown the newer residential districts
of Washington. Comment was made
upon the number of lumber-built
homes. The diplomat shrugged his
shoulders and remarked that those
homes were interesting but not monu-
mental" That is just the point. Our
homes are interesting. They present
innumerable individual characters not
seen elsewhere in the world. Lemuel
Hoadley Fowler, in his delightful
book. Some Forgotten Farmhouses
on Manhattan Island" says:
"All early travellers without excep-
finp rofod n-ifh n a eorprn,.fr,o, n,yo 1h.
American country house. Even in re.
cent years one stately and dignified
English scholar said while lecturing
here: Your wooden houses, / cant
understand. Why don't you put up
something in stone and brick that will
be solid at the end of three hundred
years, as we do IN England?' An
American to whom the query was put
answered: 1T is because we don't
want that kind of a house. Changes,
improvements, new comforts of all
sorts come so fast that we don't want
a house to last too long. This house is
what / want, but not what my chill
dren will want. Even / want to make
some structural changes every ten
years. / can now do it without being
ruined. as / could not do in one of
your three century dwellings, Bless
my heart replied the visitor. L never
thought of that. You want houses
that will easily take on improvements
as they come, and be free to build a
new and better one every generation
if you want to- "
MODELS FOR STUDY.
But we still have no answer to the
question as to why this perennial pop
ularity, this enduring enchantment of
the Colonial home. Perhaps it is the
innate honesty, simplicity, and untir-
ing quality of material, treatment,
and plan. In no other home, however,
extravagant of architectural expires.
sion, is there the same quiet harmony
and peaceful liyableness. The Colonial
type has survived two hundred years
of futile effort at improvement. Just
as it has withstood the storms and
stress Of the centuries of wind and
weather, so has it remained today, ex-
actly as it was when Mount Vernon
rose to crown the grassy slopes of the
POtomac-a type perfected, incapable
Of added grace, beauty or utility.
Like other masterpieces of creative
genius that survive the ages as mod
els for our study and emulation, the
Colonial design in its purity remains
the embodiment of the American spirit
Of hospitality and domestic Tranquil
lily.