The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-02

with a light touch, obviously not intending tnls
work to he taken too seriously; but the flat
truth is that he never wrote better in his life.
He had a subject that delighted him, yet one
on which it would be foolish to employ the
heavy artillery of scholarship; and ne pro-
duced an essay that may be slender but is
wholly charming.
The heavy work was done by Mrs. Wooten'
the photographer. whose sensitive appreciation
of the beauty of the old places is apparent on
every page. Each plate is faced with a brlef
account of the house pictured. The Whole WORK
is produced handsomely, even lavlsnly, oy Inc
University of North Carolina Press, making a
volume that is de luxe in every sense.
The first impression that one attalns upon
turning over the pages of this DOCK Is the
complete absence of anything that may be
called a predominant architectural style. Ihere
are Georgian houses in it, but not many, ana
nothing comparable to Monticello, or west
over, in Virginia. There arc also houses that
seem to be Dutch, and others reminiscent OF
New England. There is at least one log mouse
and others of the Greek revival. In snort, you
may find almost every sort of house that
was built in the seventeenth and eighteenth
century America; but there is nothing that
can be labeled definitely the North Carolina
house.
1ulS Il C1doP u 1iol0 HHiS
it seems to be. Probably no style of architec-
ture ever dominated the State because no class
ever dominated it sufficiently to impose Its
canons Of taste upon the commonwealth Inc
Old North State has never been much I'M
pressed by anything Or anybody. She has not
lacked impressive figures. Willie pronounced
Wylie) Jones, who made the singular gift
Of a surname to the Scottish sea captain, John
Paul, lived like a prince of the Medici, but his
neighbours. instead Of admiring his state, mere
ly shrugged. king Roger Moore was the
same type, and there are others scattered
through the States long history. Some of them
welded great power over the lives and fortunes
Of the people, but none, right down to Duke,
Cannon and Reynolds of modern times, ever
ruled the imaginations of the Tarheels.
The State has had heroes, of course. Andrew
Jackson was one. Another was the turbulent,
witty and eloquent Civil War Governor, Zebu-
lon B. Vance. A third was the politician who
did most for public education in the State,
Charles B. Aycock. But none of these built fine
houses. The people who were in position to
establish an architectural tradition simply
welded no influence-or not influence of the
kind that would cause their neighbors to imi.
tate them.
Nevertheless, one who goes through the book
for a second and a third time presently be-
comes aware of a curious fact-in all this be-
wildering variety there is, in fact, a style. 1t
is not architectural, however, and perhaps it
should not be described as a style, but rather
as a spirit. Throughout the hundred plates
there is hardly one that fails to exhibit a strik-
ingly direct adaptation Of the architecture,
whatever it's kind, to its functional purpose.
North Carolinians of those early centuries were
powerful in the faith that the purpose Of a
house is to be lived in, and whatever did not
to comfort and convenience they
rejected.
For example, the porticos with tall columns
running up clear for two stories, often re-
garded as typical Of Southern ante bellum
are comparatively rare in North
The reason is that the rain sweeps
in under such columns, and the Tarheel likes
to occupy his porch in summer, even when it
is raining. Most of the columned houses in
this book ha,e a second-story porch, which
the lower one.
The revelation of this one point would make
the book worth while, at least to North Caro-.
linians. In no other fashion than by the as
Of a large number of examples could
the sturdy common sense of the States early
have been made manifest. Here is
evidence, moreover, that adherence to the rule
of common snse often results in a grace and
dignity that do not suffer, but profit, by the
passage of time. Some Of the houses pictured
are obviously in bad shape, victims Of neglect
and decay, and yet, even fallen upon evil days,
they retain an air Of strength and fitness never
by gaudler ana lar more expensive
productions of later years when architecture
in North Carolina, as in the rest of the coun-
try wandered off into %frippery.
The Garden Club of North Carolina there.
fore has done something more than merely
produce a handsome book that will delight
bibliophiles and architects. 1t has made a
to the history of the State. 1t has
pointed out to the Safe how much it has that
is worn preserving. Perhaps it has done some.
thing toward helping modern North Carolina
to a better understanding Of itself. Without
doubt, it has made a contribution, and an i'm.
portant one, toward the preservation of North
Carolina antiquities. Maryland might we'll take
note of this evidence of a lively interest in the
past exhibited by her Southern %neighbor.