Houses of To-day

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22823, 23 September 1939, Page 16

Houses of To-day

The Book of the Modem House. A Panoramic Survey of Contemporary Domestic Design, Edited and prepared under the direction of Patrick Abercrombie, Professor of Town-Planning in the University of London, Hoddor and Stoughton, 378 pp. . (20/- net.) From W. S. Smart,

[Reviewed by PAUL PASCOE, A.RJB.A.I

This book will appeal to many readers.. It treats every type of house built during the last 25 years. The views of the traditional designer and the modern are alike presented. The editor, Professor Patrick Abercombie, has given each of its 14 sections to a different author, avoiding any overlap of subject matter. The titles of the sections illustrate the range of it: The Country House, The Country Cottage, The Town House, The Suburban House, Ready-Built Houses, The Working Man’s House, Coastal Houses, The House in its Suburban and Country Setting, The Contemporary House, The House in Sweden, The House in America, The Interior (two sections), and Furniture. Criticisms of the book must be few. It cannot achieve the completeness of the recent books on the modern house by F. R. S. Yorke or

Raymond McGrath. Those who are anxious to see a better collection of good modern Work of any country must turn to these pages. It does, however, achieve the claim of the sub-title, “A panoramic survey of contemporary domestic design." Well-drawn plans give point to the photographs of the most varied of dwellings. The. text is invariably interesting and in some sections has a foundation of well-stated technical facts. The following extracts indicate the variety of the authors’ views.

“If you are a modernist, pass on." “Should he [the designer] build his house and design his garden to conform with historical standard, or should he put history on one side and build in the spirit of the time? “They [the. modern houses] have , . . an exhilaration and freshness, and achieve a beauty of their own, vital of to-day.” ... The thoughtful observer, looking through any work of this character, will notice how each class of design tends to create a style. When the style becomes misunderstood, then it becomes decadent. Examples include one of an attractive Georgian facade (p, 113) that, for the sake of symmetry, has „ made a _ lavatory window of the same tall dimensions as a dining-room window; another, of a modern house (p. 198 top) that presents a : jazzy and restless appearance,, common in the cruder class of modern design- . , . : There is some work of special interest to New Zealanders. On p. 215 is shown Ashcombe Towers, South Devon; a big country house by Brian O’Rorke, a New Zealander. This is carried out rather m the Lutyens manner and is a very successful design. On p. 330 there is also an interior by the same architect, this time a. modern treatment. Other New Zealanders presented are Connell and Ward, whose concrete houses arouse the admiration, and sometimes ire, of passers-by. They ably demonstrate the freedom given by concrete, steel, and glass in the design of a modern house, Gi what practical value is this book to in New Zea-( land? ... It should encourage greater interest and thought about matters we ate too apt to leave to the expert, and show what possibilities there are for the new types of house anywhere in the Dominion. . ,