Evening star., 1932-11-18
Doors are interesting
1t is obvious that they lead Some-

Doors are interesting
1t Is obvious that they lead SOME
where and close out great deal
They have been taken as symbols, but
we consider them here only as actuali-
ties. That is enough. There are few
things In house construction used more
than doors, and few to which less
thought is given in the everyday life.
A door is an Neminently natural OPEN
ing. perhaps more so than a window.
To be able to look out of building
is not entirely necessary, but it is es-
sential that one be able to get in and
out.
Hence a door is far more important
to house or other edifice than any
number of windows. A movement has
grown, indeed, in recent years, to do
away with windows, or at least to keep
them closed always, relying upon arti-
fetal ventilation and ultra violet rays.
Ordinary window glass keeps out such
rays of the sun.
People who pride themselves upon
their common sense will continue to
think that it will be many long year
before windows are abolished, If ever;
nevertheless, stranger things have hap
pened in the architectural world.
x x x
The history of the door is an ancient
one into which there Is no need to 90
now.
A door is, after ALL just a sort of gate.
Every walled town of antiquity had
gates In its mighty walls, gates which
were closed at night, in time of peace
and kept closed continually in war.
Hinges, one of the great small inven-
tionS of mankind, are just as impor-
toN ~ fFNa mi.
make door what it is today, q conven-
ience, rather than hindrance.
If doors had to be removed bodily
from their openings every time one
went in and out, they would be nothing
but nuisance.
Door way" of course, is the correct
name of the opening itself, but the term
door" commonly includes both the
space, the swinging door, and the vari-
GUS abutnlents, such as the fan-light,
and so on, If any.
A door may be a simple fiat piece of
wood or an elaborate thing of metal
Gates of brass figured in biblical history.
There are some striking bronze doors
in Washington, notably at the Capitol,
Library OF Congress and new Commerce
Department Building.
AS interesting as these special Gre
ations are, in their settings, they must
take second place with most of us to
the more ordinary doors we use every
day.
OF these, home and office doors win
easily. There are many other sorts. of
course, but the doors of house and Office
are more familiar.
Office and store doors, in Winter,
often are of the swinging variety, or
merry-go-round type in which the slow
moving person is likely to find himself
caught like squirrel in q cage unless
he steps lively.
Whatever such persons may think Of
them, however, they offer several ad-
vantages, the chief of them being that
they keep out cold air, at the same time
permitting the entrance and exit of a
steady stream of humanity.
X
The choice of front door for ones
home is a matter which day by day is
coming to be more widely recognized as
a matter of real Importance.
II the windows are the eyes of a
house, a good doorway Is sort of
super-eye. an architectural feature only
excelled by the general design of the
building and its proper construction.
A door may make or mar the appear
ance of a home. and the curious thing
Is that often the most tinicky persons
do not stop to realize this.
They are accustomed to taking their
doors as they find them, without much