Page:Architectural Record 1920-08 Vol 48 Iss 2.djvu/10



THE LIVING ROOM FROM THE FORECOURT. (Point of View 4 on Plan.)

tance. It is at war with the sentiment and with the sense of secluston—the sen- timent and sense which we seek to humor in ‘retiring to the country.’ ”’

The latter part of the passage will ex- plain why, while agreeing with these prin- ciples, I did not feel that the location was condemned by the first part. There is a vista, from the entrance and from the principal rooms of this house. However, this vista is naturally such as not to give the feeling of being lost in space, as does an extended view. The photographs can hardly show the converging lines of the valley, forming a sort of wooded amphi- theatre with a narrow opening in the main axis toward the bluish line of a more dis- tant hill. There is the same feeling of seclusion from the world as is given by the main perspective in the Villa d'Este, framed by high trees, and leading the eye to one focus, instead of offering too many subjects to the observer. And it is this division of interest that causes fatigue, much more than mere distance. By elim- inating it, or by selecting a natural site

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free from it, the impression of calm is at once restored,

The illustrations accompanying these notes, and the plan showing the points where they were taken, would make any comments superfluous, were it not for the fact that there are two groups of buildings that no photographic reproduc- tion has ever adequately succeeded im representing. They are those buildings in which color plays an important part, and those that derive their merit from successful proportions more than from decorative details. This house belongs to both.

Of a very moderate size, it gives, however, a feeling of spaciousness quite remarkable ; and this is due, above all, to a most careful study of the proportion of the rooms. All mouldings, ornaments, recesses, all those things that are com- monly called “architectural trimmings, * have been eliminated. The authors of an excellent book on interior decoration have written: “Proportion is the good- breeding of architecture.” Here is in- deed an example of that “noblesse,” that distinctive elegance achieved only by a highly developed culture.

And when | speak of proportion, [ have not in mind those tabulated recipes of a Vignola. The only use of classical forms is the Palladian motive in the en- trance hall. In the rooms, the walls rise without a break from the floor to the smooth ceiling. Outside, the masonry, with its vari-colored stone, enhanced by lines of brick, is the only decoration ; but the fine outline of the roof crowns the whole building and gives to it a dignity which takes us far from the involved tricks of suburban country houses.

These walls, built shortly before the war, seem to be old. A careful selection of their material (an old quarry was re- opened to secure it) and a still more in- teresting workmanship have contributed to this result. As I noted before, th house and its garden seem to have been always there. I have no doubt that the owner had from the very first month of occupancy this same feeling. And yet a remarkable fact is that the house is quite free from imitation of historic precedents