The Building Industry

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19346, 27 June 1925, Page 14

The Building Industry

CASTLES AND FLATS. INVENTION OF THE BARONS. Where and when was the first residential fiat constructed? Not in New York, nor yet in Sydney. There were fiats in Glasgow, London, and Berlin centuries ago. But we can go back to the cave dwellers for the first examples of community living. Even when we consider the “pilatial fiat of to-day certainly more rethat it had its prototype in castles of the old English barons in Feudal times, whose magnificent doinicles were in. reality community dwellings. This may come as a shock to the suburban home and garden man, -who condemns flats and fiutites, and boasts that in his single-family villa he is maintaining in an age degenerating into flatism the ancient feudal slogan that “an. Englishman’s house is nis castle.’ ’

If castles were flats in the days of their glory, shall not the modern flatite have reason to boast that his castle 13 his flat. The huge and stately residential flat o fto-day certainly more resembles the old baronial castle than docs the diminutive suburban villa, because both architecturally, and because it is a conununity home inhabited by many families, the residential flat has more in common with the old castle.

'This sidelight on the fact that we move always in circles has been recalled by the distinguished English architect, Mr W. Shaw Sparrow, who claims that in England and {Scotland the flat first found its origin in palaces and castles, where courtiers and retainers lived in seperatc suites or apartments. This was previous to the sixteenth century, when in the Inns of Cl art a bencher had his separate chambers, a bedroom and a room for business, and even at an earlier date a similar idea had shown itself in Edinburgh.

Mr Sparrow further says:—“When changes of importance have taken place in domestic architecture it has happened frequently that the first appeals have been made to the rich and to the poor. The palace and the castles (or big country house), the cottage and the farmer’s homestead, have felt the new influence before it reached the houses of the middle-classes. Something very similar to this occurred in the ease of our modern fiats, their benefits being employed most successfully for the poor and for the rich. Between the ilut-de-luxe and the industrial dwelling there are certainly many connecting links, but few among them are well fitted for the middleclass. Those flats which have some points in common with the dwellings for the poor, -without being such, have seldom any architectural interest.’ 9 Architectural Advancement Architecturally, there hag been in America in the last two decades tremendous strides in the designing of such buildings, and the apartment house of to-day has become an important factor in the domestic economics of our cities. Many nations have been drawn up for ideas, which have been cleverly adapted and often improved to meet the needs of that most exacting personage, “The Citizen of the United {States.”

An excellent plan for apartment house—where the ground space permits —is to build it about a square court yard. This may be so arranged that the drive circles about a fountain, which during the warmer months may be surrounded with growing plants. This plan ensures well-lighted and sanitary rooms for all of the apart-

ments. The importance of rendering the entrance hall worthy of the building, in proportion and in decoration, cannot be over-estimated. Dignity and simplicity with harmony of colour are essentials.

Many of the earlier buildings, and even those planned within the last ten or fifteen years, show a tendency to over-decoration.

However, the most recent examples of the apartment house, as evidenced in our great cities, exhibit, together with the improved design and arrangement, far better and simpler decorative effects. The day of imitation may bio columns of disproportionate size, of flamboyant wall covering, and ornamentation of gilded stucco, which usually accompanied flimsy construction is happily passing, and this, fortunately, extends beyond the entrance hull into the individual apartments.

A few years ago cheap wood, stained a brilliant cherry and miscalled mahogany, was given a coat of highly glazed varnish as a finish, and considered entirely suited to the drawingroom and dining-room of an apartmenr. If this boasted a library as well, the wood-work was probably grined in tation of golden oak and highly vain ished. Where white paint was used for the bed-rooms a Poor quality of bluish cast seemed the invariable choice. In the selection of tiles, hard ware and fixtures, the same bad taste was felt—extravagance of strong colour and incongruous ornamentation taking the place of quality. To-day, the architect has brought to the owner the relisation that true economy in the , finishing materials for such buildings, lies in selecting the best, and this fact accounts, in a large measure, for the improved structural, as well as artistic, conditions.’’ In flat designing, the architect has not more scope for the exercise of his taste than in the designing and construction of the individual home. But he has a much larger contract to handle, and secures greater fees. This | is fortunate for himself and for the j individual home-seeker, too, as it on- i courages men of talent to persevere ( with architecture, and enables him to exercise all his faculties in the pi induction of beautiful homes. VARNISHINGTn varnishing it is of the utmost importance to use only clean brushes of 1 first-class quality. According to an English authority, varnish brushes should be made from pure hog bristles only. It is a peculiar fact, the same authority adds, that some decorators imagine that the new varnish brush must necessarily be clean, and therefore can be used just as it comes from' the maker. “As a matter of fact, such j brushes always contain a considerable amount of dust, and this can be readily determined by pressing the bristles and

lotting them go suddenly, when the flicking will dischar™ •' : -

quantity of dust. This flicking should be done for several minuses i.. • . . . ..

of as much dust as possible, as well as any bristles which are unattached to the seating. The brush should then be thoroughly cleaned in turpentine, white spirit, or naphtha. Old brushes often contain objectionable specks and dust which it is imperatively necessary to remove before the work is proceeded with or the varnished surface will be greatly impaired. When out of use the varnish brush should be suspended in the same typo of varnish as it is intended to bo used for—never in water. Raw oil is frequently used instead of varnish, but it must be washed out thoroughly before work is commenced.

“A word now as to the surface ts which the varnish is to bo applied. In the ease of glossy oil varnishes, it should be nearly flat. If painted work, the flutter the better, and this condition may be produced by mixing the last coat with oil, adding a few drops of gold size or a little carriage as a binder. If flat varnish is to be applied, the surface should be glossy, and the rule flat on glossy and glossy on flat is one rarely departed from. . . . “The quality of a varnish surface depends, of course, upon the varnish itself, and the manner in which it Is applied, but it is conditional upon ths surface, and the greatest care must be taken to produce such surface quits clean, level, and non-absorbent.”