Page:Architectural Record 1920-08 Vol 48 Iss 2.djvu/46



THE

much more difficult matter to introduce into apartments. Indeed, when I visited these apartments which Mr. Thomas de- signed for the City and Suburban Homes Company (illustrated in the previous article) and for the Queensboro Corpora- tion, I could not help being struck with their resemblance to the typical group of American university dormitories arranged around a yard or campus. What are they but garden apartments ! May not one ask the question now, is not this dormi- tory conception of our universities in some measure the goal which the garden apartment is approaching? If one ponders this comparison, one may con- clude that if further progress in garden apartments is possible it is in just this respect. The only drawback that | could see in the apartments mentioned lay in somewhat imperfect shaping of the in- terior court of the groups, and in the fact that the architectural aspect of the rear of the apartments from the court, fine as it was, was not quite so good as the ex- terior. In the best college dormitories the court is the best part. Hence, where garden apartments are built under new conditions, where land can be obtained or controlled so that the expense of it is not so great as it is around New York, more land may be spared to obtain some such beautiful effect as that of the grouping of the old dormitories of the Harvard yard, which is so much admired. Whether this ideal could be reached in lowest rental apart- ment housing, particularly in a city like New York, is, of course, doubtful. But it seems surely possible in middle class housing, and some apartments of the better class in outskirts of cities have an arrangement similar to this one sug- gested. Such is the group of apartment houses at Lawrence Park, Bronxville, N. Y., designed by Bates & How, The group was begun several years ago and is not yet complete.

It is also a question whether the long, narrow shape of a city block, established by custom in New York, needs to be re- vised in order to allow the best design for garden apartments, To be sure, a

seen

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narrow court in itself is not poor archi-

tecture—a fact proved by the Vicars’ Close, at Wells, England. But never-

theless the typical New York block shape was established in 1807 to provide for individual houses on 25 by 100-foot lots as units. Consequently it is pertinent to ask whether a block shape that is de- signed to meet such obsolete conditions is the best possible unit of design for garden apartments. In deciding whether economy wou.d — the narrow block to be widened, it is a nice question as to how far the ° nnaiied of land, by throw- ing it fase recreation space instead of into building, would be offset by the saving effected by eliminating some of the streets in the city plan.

But, whatever be the the garden apartment in the future, the examples of it that now actually exist, and which are yielding remarkable re- sults in practice, deserve all praise. Some of the more important features of the individual »roperties may be briefly noted.

Proceeuing to the lowest class of ren- tals, the Homewood Apartments of the City and Suburban Homes Company, situated in Brooklyn, on 17th avenue, be- tween and 74th streets, were illus- trated in the previous issue. This group is in an outlying district, placed amid groups of block housing, also individual dwell-

possibilities of

73d

ings, and much vacant land. The law Goes not require its construction to be

fire-resisting in all respects, and inside, all, but the stairs, which are concrete, is of timber construction. The four apart- ments do not cover a full New York City block, but are confined to one end of it. Nevertheless, they are true garden apartments and the lot is not considered as a unit in their desigh. The group is so arranged in plan that it is really sur- prising how nearly all rooms, except those on the north, are reached by direct sun- light during several hours of the day. The garden space is ample, with really beautiful effects, which are not marred by the concrete service courts in the rear of each building, since these latter are sunk below the court level and are thus not to be seen. Like all Mr. Thomas’s designs, the fire-escapes are tucked away