THE HOUSEHOLD

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12905, 4 July 1936, Page 10

THE HOUSEHOLD

DOORS AS ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES.

SOME GOOD ARRANGEMENTS. (By Lydia Le<Baron Walker.) The function of doors is to open and close entrances and exits, thereby permitting or excluding circulation of air currents, sights, and sounds. The.so are their architectural requirements, and they are made to do such work with dignity and ornament. Most doors swing on lunges, and open in one direction. There was a, law enforced in some localities that outside doors of public buildings must swing out. This was a “safety first” measure in case of lire or any panic which would make easy exit 'imperative. In dwellings, front doors open in, with a welcoming gesture. These doors arc inside as well as outside features of a house, permitting- entrance. ways and exits. They open in, because this adds to the -convenience. It is awkward to have a door open out especially in a storm and the. necessity of letting out a crowd in a hurry is negligible.

Wide doors separating adjoining rooms or halls and rooms which it is desirable to throw . together when doors are open, may swing on. hinges or work on rollers. In the first instance tiie doors are always visibli: whether open or shut. In the second they are only visible when shut- orpartly shut. They slide -in between walls occupying a space made for them. Tho fashion for having glass doors has revived- tho hinged double doors to great advantage in some instances, while m others, nothing hut the vogue is their recommendation, .in very large houses where a room, especially a reception parlor, is seldom used, the glass-paned doors can shut off the room ami thus help conserve heat without clrfeing the view. Though doors are'shut there is a feeling of space aiid on intimate view of the unused‘room which makes it seem to bo part of the adjoining room, in a very-' pleasing Way. ' AYlieil full space is lacking .for wide hinged doors to bo thrown open, double hinging is ah interesting way to overcome the difficulty; Each door can be in two hinged sections. Tliis arrangement 'allows the middle sections to "fold back 'against those hinged to the door (frame, so that the doors when open are but half their full width. Thus the doors -take bur littlo space, and remain decorative features of the room. —(Copyright. 1930)