BEAUTY SOUGHT

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 16, 13 October 1933, Page 4

BEAUTY SOUGHT

Standardised Homes in United States SURVEY AND REPORT The passing of the '‘personal” dwelling and the rise of the* ‘‘model village” and standardised house, as foreshadowed in the first report of the organisations which are making a survey of social trends in the United States, will arrest attention among home owners and home lovers everywhere.

Many Americans are becoming positively shy of anything that savours of standardisation, especially as it maj' affect home life. But before bolting doors against the possible intrusion of that Influence upon their architectural preferences, they may yet wish to know what it has to offer them. If model villages are to be made up of unimaginative rows of boxlike shelters, distinguishable from one another only by the numbers over their entrances, Americans will say they already have had enough of them. If, however, they are to be composed of picturesque groups of architectural gems “standardised” to conform to the best ideas of appearance and economy, they probably will find a ready market.

Increased Economy. One of the most promising features of the new trend, as revealed in the report, is the possibility of -increased beauty and economy. Production of standardised houses should offer not

only a reduction in construction costs, but an opportunity to engage the services of more able designers than are available for small assignments. The development of the model village might well supplement their services with those of experts in landscape

architecture, and the result should be a marked improvement in community environment—a harmony expressed not merely in the design of one's own house, but in the relation of that house to all its neighbours. Of course, some individual tastes may have to be modified. But are there not evidences along American streets today that such modification would notbe all loss? There seems no reason however, why the standardised house , should not be adaptable to variation I of detail, nor why there should not be English, American, Dutch, or Norman villages from which to choose. Beauty Neglected. A feature of the report that is less encouraging, perhaps, is the attribution of the standardisation trend to a- lessened interest in the suburban dwelling. With an increased ability to get from place to place, the report notes, the population appears to be paying less attention to. the appearance of its residences, and architectural expression is shifting to commercial building. No

doubt the increase in mobility which has come with the automobile has caught the publie fancy. But that is not the only reason why people are spending less thought on their dwellings and more on their motor-cars. Mankind naturally turns in that direction where it finds most satisfaction for its efforts. The efforts required to obtain architectural beauty in its houses are often so great as to discourage a large part of the population from attempting to express itself in this way. But it can and does find satisfaction along the highways at a price it can more nearly afford' to pay. Here, then, may be seen a paradox in the making. The shift of interest from housing to motoring may be paving the way for a return of that interest—through the economical and attractive standardised house—to things nearer the fireside.