A Woman's House.

Progress, Volume XIV, Issue 11, 1 July 1919, Page 549

A Woman's House.

By Mrs. Gifford Moore.

"While the opinion of Labour agitators on all questions is being discussed, one is apt to lose sight of the fact that the industrial unrest of the moment is affecting the women of the universe as largely as it disturbs other classes of the community. "Woman's outlook on life is broadening. She is demanding a new standard of existence. Her wants are many and varied, in many cases she cannot yet define them, but on one point she is very clear. She does not intend to spend her life in the soul-killing drudgery that up till now has been the lot of the majority of house workers.

The housewife of to-day wishes to lead a wider life, and as she often either cannot obtain or is unable to pay for adequate human help, she is demanding the assistance of science to lessen her daily toil; this fact must be recognised by those who design and build the house of the future. The suffragette

used to tell us that it was an intolerable hardship that women should be forced to keep man-made laws; many a worn out woman thinks it a greater hardship to spend her days in a man-made house. Every day brings the news of scientific inventions applied to every branch of life, the working woman is beginning to ask why the home should be the last place to benefit by the discoveries of science.

In all our schemes for town planning and homebuilding, in the future we shall have to keep in mind the point of view of the woman. Very few women have any architectural skill, many have not the most elementary knowledge of architecture, some there are who cannot see any difference between a "plan" and an ''elevation," but the woman is rare who cannot give some practical suggestions for the improvement of the home. Among the many requirements of the modern house are an.adequate and easily obtainable supply

of hot water. Let us have hot water pipes, led, not' only into the kitchen, bathroom and washhouse, but also into our bedrooms. Why must we light the copper fire every time we want a little hot water in the washhouse ? Why should we carry every drop of water into the bedroom?

The next essential is some form of central heating. Economists tell us that we waste millions of pounds and much energy in conveying coal from the mines to the places where it is used and maintain that in the near future we must devise some means of converting that coal at the minehead into power which can be cheaply transmitted; the housewife thinks that it is quite essential that means should be adopted to save her carrying coal about the house.

Let us have in the home of the future, taps door handles, etc., that do not need polishing; shining brass and twinkling silver are doubtless attractive, but polishing as a pastime is apt to pall. Plenty of tiles round the sink, round the bath, in all places where they will do away with the necessity for —scrubbing is a deadly occupation in the opinion of most women.

Built-in furniture The initial cost of a fixed wardrobe could not be much greater than that of the present portable variety; a washstand fitter with taps and plug would not cost as much as a marble-toppe*d stand and bedroom ware, a fixed table could so easily take the place of the present dressing table. How speedily a room furnished in this way could be turned out.

Nearly every woman loves bathing a baby. To indulge that desire she must stoop with an aching back over the bath in the bathroom or carry the hot water in a bucket and fill a small tub; why could not the lavatory basin which is found in most bathrooms be made a little larger and a little lower and serve as the baby's bath? In the new home plenty of cupboards and shelves fitted, with doors must be provided, so that everything including crockery and glass as well as pots and pans, can be kept free from dust when not in

use. Racks and rails must be fitted where possible. In the washhouse let us have rails worked by pulleys so that clothes can be dried and aired indoors in bad weather. In the kitchen we want racks conveniently placed for the drying of plates, saucers and dishes.

Floors should be made of some hard, firm substance, that can be Aviped clean easily and quickly and need not be scrubbed. /

Walls could be covered with material that:can be readily cleaned—Avashable paper, pretty distemper or some substance yet to be invented. In the home of the future weather conditions must be taken into account; in the majority of streets to-day all the houses on one side of the road face the wrong way. Even at the cost of appearances from the outsider's point of vieAv let us have our houses so built that the sun does not pour in all day on the kitchen and larder, so that the living room is not a cheerless cavern to which the sun never

penetrates, and so that our bedrooms are not exposed to every wind that blows. The old-fashioned house has no provision for children, presumably landlords do not expect their tenants to have any ; in many houses there is not a single room with a bright sunny aspect that is fit for a nursery or playroom for children, stairs are precipitous and pitfalls for the little ones are many. Then, in every house there must be a room, which may be called a parlour, a living room, a smoking room matters not what it is called — in that room there should be comfort for the woman as well as the man at the end of the day. To ensure this, it must be roomy, free from draughts, and well lighted ; so that if necessary the children may work at their lessons while the parents are reading or writing, and so that as the little ones get older this room can be used for social purposes.

We want our children taken out of the streets, we do not wish them to spend all their spare time at the pictures. To this end we must make the home attractive to them.

Architects will doubtless tell us that all these improvements will cost money, but money could be saved by eliminating many of the so-called decorations in the house of to-day. Considerable sums are spent at present in useless iron work, fluted and twisted pairings and pillars, decorated ceilings, picked out paint, cornices and mouldings that only harbour dirt and are not decorative. In the beautifully designed home of the wealthy man one finds no unnecessary "decorations." Why must the working woman have them foisted on her?

Cost has always been the most essential qualification in the building of cottages and small houses; but some of the very qualities making for cheapness tend also towards a pleasing appearance. Simplicity of design, purity of line, repose, the right use of materials, graceful proportion and picturesque balance —these are sonic of the elements that add to the beauty and comfort of a home without adding to the expenditure.

japtain Reiss, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association, concludes an article of his by saying that Ave shall iioav have a unique opportunity for building "homes fit for heroes." Hoav would it be to consider also the heroes' Avives and to consult their opinions?