A Home for the "simple Life."

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 1, 1 November 1910, Page 450

A Home for the "simple Life."

(Rush & James, Architects, Hastings.) - 1- - - . ~ 1. .i? j i i "i i• « we near so mueu ux me uu.i-u.uur lire nowadays and many know the great benefits derived from it; but it is surprising that more people do not plan their homes more on these “Simple life” ideas. With the various departments of the house placed to secure the correct aspect, think of the warm summer weather wheq

one could sleep and have meals out of doors for weeks on end. With this end

in view we have planned the accompanying house, i.e. for the saving* of labour and simple living mu i -a i iii i . -ii The kitchen would be complete with every convenience, and a small servery would connect it to the living room or out-door dining recess. What could be more charming than partaking one's alfresco meals in such delightful environments with the cool sweet smell of the vine-covered Pergola scenting the air! Those who have tried sleeping out of doors find it hard to give up; so it speaks for itself and does not need enlarging upon. The novelty of a dressing-room and a lied on a screened verandah will prove most attractive to many.

With the revival of domestic architecture has come the revived interest in the garden, and yet how often the garden is entirely an afterthought. The architect is not given a chance to plan the setting xur the house he has designed, and should not the garden be a continuation of the design with the house as the chief or central ornament. Even a small garden makes a beautiful setting when laid out in keeping to an artistically designed koine,

A Simple Cottage. "~ w

mi J * W '-Chapman-Taylor. "And he wandered away and away, With Nature the dear old nurse; And she sang to him night and day; The rhymes of the universe. And whenever the way grew long, Or his heart began to fail, She would sing a more wonderful song, Or tell a more wonderful tale." When we set out to build a cottage it is well that we should realise the responsibilities of our undertaking. We all know that man is the result of a chain of circumstances, which from his earliest moments gradually builds and moulds his character. Man is influenced by his environment for good or for evil.

Most of us are born in cottages. In them we receive our earliest and most lastin o, impressions. In them we live out our lives. Our cottages exercise an influenee on our characters such as most of us little dream. Beauty in our homes will help to put beauty in our hearts, We may take it as our axiom that beauty is "perfect fitness." To illustrate, let us take, for example, a tree. Its structure is so admirably designed that all its functions are performed to perfection.

But besides its mechanical perfection it has spiritual beauty. which we all recognise and never doubt or question.

The cottage should be like the tree. Besides good ventilation, drainage and convenience generally, the cottage must have that kind of beauty that trees have. Now, when the Creator made the tree ; it was not with the idea of making a saleable article, but of making a "good tree." '|

And really the whole question is one of motive. If we set to work with the desire to serve God and our neighbour, we shall do good work. If we have a love and reverence for the beautiful materials with which nature supplies us. we shall not do them violence by reducing them to mechanical smoothness or monotony. Our work will be beautiful, inasmuch as we retain the inherent beauty of our materials.

It requires the quality of humility to do this nowadays, when we have so many tools with which to show our own cleverness. •

Our aim in building a cottage is to provide a place to live in, a protection from the elements, cold, heat, wind, dust. We want a home, a retreat from the bustle and noise of life outsidesomewhere to rest. Shall we then put a bay window where every passer-by can rudely gaze in upon our privacy? No, indeed. The old Roman house, with its central court open to sky, and arranged with its fountain and flowers, to which all the rooms opened, was like a little enchanted island. But its beauties were for its owner and his friends. It had no windows to the street. (The cheap vanity of modern suburbia has no parallel in history!)

Ah we do not walk about on the walls, and as we have only a limited sum of money, Ave shall buy floor space rather than high walls, and limit our ceilings to nine feet at most. There are aesthetic reasons for this, as well as practical.

When you stand outside, the sky, as well as the earth, can be seen. So inside the ceiling, as well as the floor, should come into the picture. Ceilings should be white and reflect the light downwards. There is cheerfulness in fresh white walls and joyousness is bright colours. Nature uses bright colours, but with discretion. She has plenty of plain wall between her pictures.

Another thing that will help us much is to observe the softness of line which nature adopts. Everything has a "texture," a gentle unevenness. The leaves and bark of trees, the surface of the rocks, even the water is never smooth, never quite straight. There is always a play of light and shade. The contour of the hills is soft and rounded. . '

That is why thatched roofs are so beautiful. That is why creepers growing up the walls make even an ugly building pleasant. Half the beauty of English villages is due to the creepers everywhere growing up the walls. The blend and soothe the work of man into harmony with nature. I want to ask my readers to imagine the collage with win eh this article is illustrated, when in: a few years' time the creepers have grown over it. Fancy the Virginia Creeper climbing to the top of the chimneys. Roses clustering round the windows, honeysuckle all over porch and garden room.

Who would have mouldings and brackets in place of such as these? Who would exchange them for paint and fretwork? "With all our modern machinery we cannot create such beauty as that. Inside, as the photos show, the walls are light. One's spirits seem to rise at sight of the fresh whiteness. But through the distemper one sees in a shadowy way the

soiled brick of the actual building. No need for assurances as to the reality; one's own senses can see there is no fraud here, The good jarrah wood is big and solid, not planed smooth, but chamfered with bold slices of the draw-knife, and planed with diagonal strokes of the roughing plane, the simplest and easiest way of taking off the saw marks. This method also

Chapfna-rt- Taylor Arch* //ti

retains the woody texture and character of the jarrah, though it would not do for all woods. The hinges of the doors and the iron casements were made by a local blacksmith. His hammer marks are still there, showing how the glowing metal was beaten out by human hands. Machinery destroys both the interest of nature and the interest of human handicraft.

A word as to cost will be of interest. It will be seen that while everything is solid and substantial, there are no moulding to split and shrink— superfluities. Nothing but walls, floor, and roof, nothing but pure building. The cost was about £750, inclusive of everything, fencing, etc. The same plan ,could hardly be built in wood for less than £700.' In England, where the climate is more severe, there are many brick houses 300 years old still standing. We know that few wood houses will last forty years. In addition, the brick house is warmer in winter, cooler in summer, and is fire, draught and dust proof. This is enough to show that temporary building is the wildest extravagance. Indeed, until we in this country learn to do things once and do them well, we shall remain comparatively poor.

However, before we go in for permanent building, let us "wander away" once more with Nature and learn her lessons of beauty, so plentiful to those humble enough to see them.