THE SPECULATIVE HOUSE

Grey River Argus, 28 August 1937, Page 4

THE SPECULATIVE HOUSE

— CHANCING THE BUYER’S NEEDS. “Adaptable Ho.use Designs and Built-in Furniture” is the title of a special article in the,“Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects.” “The speculative house inevitably only ' approximately meets the requirements of its purchaser,” the writer states. "The designer, however competent, must establish in his mind certain average standards of family size and of methods of living, and to these the house is made to conform. The intending purchaser must either take the house as he finds it or have alterations made at costs unavoidably so high as to be rarely worth while, or seek a home elsewhere. “Further, in considering the house as a Alachine for living in, the designer is limited in the provision of fixed equipment almost entirely to the kitchen and bathroom where functions are to some extent regularised. Until now, it has been the custom in England to consider the house solely in terms of so many rooms in which the occupier places movable equipment (i.e., furniture). This equipment fulfils a host of functions, but with varying degrees of inefficiency mainly because the pieces are not designed for their positions. We are so inured to this idea of movable furniture that it has come to be regarded as inevitable. Really, it is a relic of mediaeval Limes, when all property had to be portable in pxder to safeguard it. The leasehold system has tended to perpetuate this custom. “In recent years there has been a tendency in architect-designed houses to provide the majority of the equipment in the form of fixtures,_ having movable only those objects such as chairs, that require to be movable for convenience. The 'house and its furniture are considered, as a whole, fulfilling one complex of requirements. “Another recent line of study among architects is the ‘expanding’ house that can be easily altered of extended to meet the requirements of a growing and changing family. Certain attempts to realise this study have been made in Scandinavia, Austria, and America, mainly with wooden houses, but little, if anything, has been done in England.” EXTERIORS OF HOUSES. ORNAMENT WHICH INVITES DECAY. An American authority, Frazier Forman Peters, warns prospective buyers of wooden houses against elaborate external trim which may hasten decay of timber. “Ir you will look about you,” he remarks, “you will find, I think, that the houses which have survived over a long period ci years are almost never those houses having a large amount of exterior trim and extravagant doorways. “The reason for this is twofold: First, an excessive amount of trim, Ito be attractive, requires real artistry in its design; and, secondly, ornate trim with its large and curved mouldings exposes the building to the deadly germ-rot. “In fact, I have found from my experience in repairing old buildings that usually it is the trim and the, timbers behind the trim that need to be replaced and selaom the flat though large shingled side walls. “Therefore, in the interest of security as well as beauty, select a design as free as possible from heavy cornices, colonial columns, and ornate entrances. . “But no matter how simple the exterior, you must also be careful in the selection of the material used for even the smallest exposed members.