Architecture and the Press.

Progress, 1 October 1908, Page 419

Architecture and the Press.

It lias been well said that ' ' the. only hope of a proper comprehension and appreciation of the great part which architecture plays in human affairs rests in the attitude which the press in future may take up in regard to it." Which means, in plain English, that without illustrations widely published, the work of the architect might as well be used for decorating the inside of a bushel.

The Journal of Decorative Art is an oldestablished magazine, A\hich painters and decorators will find of the greatest value and interest. It contains a vast amount of really interesting matter regarding nearly every kind of decorative work. The magazine is equally useful from the artistic and the commercial standpoint. It gives good examples of executed work, and designs and suggestions galore; at the same time it is always recognised that the decorator, like other people, wants to make a profit on his work. Each number contains, in addition to other illustrations, a full-size working drawing for stencilling or other decorative-work.

Old reputations die hard. The old reputation of Paris is that there is no city like it in the world. For years, however, London has been disputing the palm, as we know from travellers returning to the Dominion, who have a knack of standing up for the much abused old city of fog and fuss A recent writer in the Observer voices the opinions of a great many people thus: — "We are moving towards the creation of a city, which will be the grandest as well as the greatest in the world. More majestic as well as larger than Paris and carrying into the mass and boldness of its

newer edifices the spirit of its size ; far more original and intimate than Berlin; more historic and gracious in character than ever could be a renovated New York, our London is claiming the full pride of precedence. ' ' The delights of the American "skyscraper" have now reached the diningroom: not by the process of putting a "skyscraper" into a dining-room, but by planting a dining-room on top of a "skyscraper." In the upper stories of these buildings there is a calm atmosphere in which the business American has conceived an irresistible desire to take refuge during

the midday meal. When thus secure, the first thing he does is to throw out of the window the "quick lunch," the bolting of which in record time shortens men's lives on the street level, by refusing the relaxation which wearied nature requires after a hard morning of work or responsibility. The substitute is a luncheon of courses and social intercourse, prolonged with pleasant converse sometimes well into the afternoon. There are some restaurants, and the lunch club is an institution already. For instance, in the City Investing Building, one of the newest sky-scrapers in New York,

there is a lunch club of more than 300 members. The dining-room, spacious and lofty, will easily seat 500 at its tables. The outlook is superb over the city and rivers to the hills far away on either side. Every liner, as it comes up the bay, is in full view from the windows of the dining-room. What, it will be asked, becomes of business ? Does the "hustler" begin to change his spots, as immortalised by the observant but unpicturesque Foster Fraser? We read however, that ' ' the telephone is in constant use."

The lungs of the average man contain about fi\e quaits of air.

By the way, talking of business, that reminds one of things. One is the case of a prominent "Wellington] an who not long ago went to "reside" at the Hutt. When he lived in town he spent every day from 8.30 to 6 in his office, and after razzle-dazzling with papers, clerks, customers, orders, and correspondence, saturated all the time with worry, he took sheaves of work home, and spent half the night threshing them out in his sanctum, only stopping to snap an occasional snarl at his wife to let her know that his time was too valuable to interrupt. The result may be imagined. A doctor was called in to prescribe for "Insomnia." Luckily, the prescriber knew something about business, too. So he prescribed ' ' The Hutt. ' ' To the agonised cry of ' ' My Work," with a double capital W, he merely said, "That's the right kind of letter for the woe you are preparing for self and people. . . As for your work, it will also be the better for the Hutt." The new inhabitant of that interesting suburb now has all his evenings ' ' off, ' ' and goes through more real work in one day of decent hours than he used to accomplish in three of day and night hustle.

It is said, notwithstanding the lunch development up m "the blue unclouded," that Americans are beginning to think they have too much of the ' ' skyscraper. ' ' Does the Equitable project, to take one up 900 feet, look like it? Anyhow, it is beyond doubt that the way in which these tall buildings shut out light and air is very serious for the owners and occupiers of adjoining premises. Therefore a writer, who perhaps still lunches on the bad level of Broadway, Mr. Ernest Flagg, writing in the American Architect, puts forward the following proposals: — First: He would limit three-quarters of the area of every plot J ,o a building height not to exceed once and a half the width of the street on which it faces, with a maximum height of 100 ft. Secondly, he would have no limit of height for the remaining quarter of the plot, provided that no building or part of a building should be carried above the limit mentioned within a distance of the street facade equal to the distance of the curb from the building line. Thirdly: He would allow of the purchase and sale between adjoining owners of the right to build high within the limit stated. And lastly: He would require that all sides of any structure carried above the limit of height should be treated architecturally, and that no wood whatever should be used in the construction of the entire building or its equipment.