Category Archives: special collections

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Friday Finds: So Many Finds!

Since I have not been able to post the last two Fridays, I am over sharing today! There is no theme that connects my selections- just things that struck my fancy. As I have noted before, I rely on serendipity – I browse but rarely with a focused intention. I think it unlikely that I would have found these works starting with the catalog.

Berlepsch-Valendas, Hans Eduard von. Bauernhaus und Arbeiterwohnung in England: Eine Reisestudie von H. E. Berlepsch Valendas, B.D.A. Stuttgart: J. Engelhorn, [1907].

I was rather struck by graphic print on the cover. Berlepsch-Valendas documented the domestic architecture of Bournville and Port Sunlight, England near Birmingham and Liverpool, respectively. The text is written in German, so my ability to engage with it is limited. He includes photographs and plans of the towns. The second half of the work is the real treat. There are twenty plates with drawings documenting the architecture Berslepsch-Valendas encountered. The attention to detail is quite lovely.

Thomas, Rose Haig. Stone Gardens with Practical Hints on the Paving and Planting of Them; Together with Thirteen Original Designs and a Plan of the Vestal Virgin’s Atrium in Rome. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co., LTD., 1905.

Again the cover caught my eye. I rather liked the graphic representations of the gardens, both on the cover and the plates within, and endpapers.

Rose Haig Thomas writes:

A FLAT stone garden costs not a little trouble and, if far from stone quarries, not a little money to make. But the reward is great, for it is a means of growing many tiny plants that would be hidden in the herbaceous border, and lost in a rock garden. In the stone garden each plant grows by itself, and thus its ways and habit of growth can be so much better observed, for there one may wander and enjoy the companionship of plants at those seasons of the year when in our damp climate the lawn is objectionable with the mists and heavy dews of autumn and winter.  (pg. 7)

Prokop, August. Über Österreichische Alpen-Hotels, mit Besonderer Berücksichtigung Tirol’s. Wien, Im Commissionsverlag von Spielhagen & Schurich,1897.

Again the text is written in German; however, the documentation of the hotels and the natural landscape is quite useful. Prokop included drawings- sections, elevations, plans, details, and perspectives- and photographs, both of the structures and the dramatic views of the mountains. The work would be quite useful for those interested in nineteenth-century hotels. Many of the hotels are of the rustic lodge variety; however, some are more classically inspired.

[Scrapbook of Reviews, Prospectuses, and Other Material Related to Garner and Stratton’s Domestic Architecture of England during the Tudor Period.] England.

The title of this book struck me initially- which on the spine is just Tudor Domestic Architecture Reviews- because I have been watching Wolf Hall on PBS. It was not at all what I was expecting. It is truly a scrapbook of items related to The Domestic Architecture of England during the Tudor Period; Illustrated in a Series of Photographs & Measured Drawings of Country Mansions, Manor Houses and Smaller Buildings with Historical and Descriptive Text by Thomas Garner and Arthur Stratton.

Someone carefully collected the press releases and reviews of the publication and pasted them into this book. He hand wrote page numbers and a table of contents and marked in pencil sections of the reviews, which primarily date from 1908-1912. In an inside pocket, the collector stashed a few other related items, including a handmade mock-up of the title page. There is no record of the creator of the scrapbook.

Curious about the publication itself, I found a two volume set published in 1911. Our copy came to us with the Ayres and Ayres archive.  On the inside cover, a couple of quick sketches were drawn, which is always a favorite find.

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Friday Finds: Treatises on Housing, 1935

Today, I actually went into Special Collections with the intention to write on garden houses but came out with something a bit different- working class and low income housing. Both Working-class Housing and Unit Plans were published in 1935 by government agencies in Scotland and the US, respectively. The third publication reports on a competition held by the Royal Institute of British Architects on the theme of Wartime Industrial Housing (pg. 4). I was struck by the priorities expressed by the three agencies.

Department of Health for Scotland, Great Britain. Working-class Housing on the Continent. Edinburgh: H. M. Stationery Office, 1935.

Working-class Housing is a report written by John E. Highton based on his month-long tour of working class housing in Holland, Germany, Czecho-Slovakia, Austria, and France. Throughout the report, Highton makes comparisons between Scotland and the Continent, observing how Scotland both exceeds and falls behind that of its peers. The first half of the report addresses several areas of concern: Social Considerations, Financial Considerations, Housing Standards, and Considerations of Architecture and Lay-out. The second half of the report focuses on the case-studies from the Continent, including descriptions, plans, and photographs.

For Highton, his greatest concern and Scotland’s greatest failure is that of aesthetics.  He argues:

Ideas concerning architecture and lay-out are more quickly and easily adopted, and it is in this connexion, I think, that we have the most important and the most numerous lessons to learn. The fundamental lesson is that on the Continent a housing scheme is invariably given into the hands of a competent (and often a brilliant) architect…We can, however, learn much from these schemes on how to combine artistic effects with real utility and real economy. To do this, all those engaged in housing our people must be convinced that housing design is important creative work which should be entrusted to skilled hands. So far as housing is concerned, much of the architectural talent which exists in Scotland is hardly being used. Young men, largely unoccupied, who have been trained in the newest schools of architectural technique, are anxious to express their ideas, but get little chance to do so, while overworked officials cover acre after acre with drab monotonies…” (pg. 17)

Public Works Administration, United States. Unit Plans: Typical Room Arrangements, Site Plans, and Details for Low-Rent Housing. Washington D.C., 1935.

Unlike the Scottish report in which Highton endeavors to persuade his audience to employ architects and to think more carefully about how aesthetics could play a role in the design of housing based on existing examples in Europe, Unit Plans is a set of recommendations to architects, who might be engaged in the design of public housing. Horatio B. Hackett writes:

It must be kept in mind that the typical units incorporated are for guide purposes only. No attempt has been made to solve individual problems or local site conditions. Instead, the effort has been to present typical layouts covering different units and combinations of units, in the belief that the architects will use them as aids to develop their own ideas, both for the individual unit and the group plan. (forward)

According to the authors, “In order to approach a low-rent housing project properly, there are four major features which must be considered. They are: location of project, design of buildings, treatment of grounds, and costs as determined by selection of materials and equipment” (pg. 1).  In the section, “Design of Buildings,” it is less clear to me what the role of aesthetics plays in the US recommendations. For example:

The Government housing plan seeks to meet this situation by creating structures for these citizens that will provide the fundamentals of good, clean  living without extravagances. (pg. 1)

Or: The architecture of low-rent housing projects should express simplicity, fitness, harmony, and honesty. In addition, there must be a logical and agreeable blending between the arrangement and the design of buildings in relation to that of open areas.  (pg. 1)

Royal Institute of British Architects. Industrial Housing in Wartime. London, 1940.

The competition post dates the other two works by five years.  I chose, however, to include it, because like Highton’s report it addresses worker housing but with a very specific design problem. The problem as set forth by Royal Institute:

In response to the need for increased supplies for war purposes, a large number of new factories have been built all over the country, some in existing industrial centres, some near small towns, and others in open country. In each case their existence creates a problem of housing the workers employed. (pg. 6)

The Royal Institute proscribed design challenges both for the houses and estate plans. These challenges reflected not only wartime concerns such as air raids and group housing but also the desire for the structures to have post-war functionality (pg. 6-7).

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“TO DESIGN = TO DRAW = TO MAKE ARCHITECTURE”

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As an architecture student, working in the archive allows me to think back 30 or 40 years when hand drafting skills determined one’s worth as an architect.  While sifting through rolls of bluelines and sepia prints, pink from chemical decay and red from revisions, I occasionally find architectural treasures.  This semester I have been working primarily on drawings from Bill Hersey and John Kyrk, two draftsmen who worked for Charles Moore.

One note scribbled in the margin of one of the drawings eloquently stated Hersey’s view on hand drafting:

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In Hersey’s day, drafting was completely different than today’s digital modeling tools.  While architects now can whip out a complex form and look at it from every angle, hand draftsmen worked line by line on a single perspective.  Slower, yes, but with it’s own benefits, not to mention the romantic zen of hand drafting.  When you draw with pencil on paper, the image suddenly emerges from a series of smaller decisions, like a connect-the-dots for adults.  3D modeling simply cannot capture the same process of intuition and discovery.  While software is powerful, it lacks nuance and character and tempts designers to limit their focus to what fits on screen.  Not that digital software doesn’t have creative value, just not likely the kind that will make future archivists drool.

 

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Friday Finds: Source Books for Woodwork and Terra Cotta

Each of the following companies presents their products differently, both visually and textually, which led me to speculate about the intended audiences.

Universal Catalogue Bureau. Universal Millwork Design Book No. 20. Dubuque, IA: Universal Catalogue Bureau, 1920.

It’s a no nonsense book. It begins with a brief introduction and instructions for ordering. Accordingly:

In compiling this design book, we have endeavored, as far as possible to meet the requirements of the prospective home builder, as well as architect, contractor, and dealer, and in so doing, have eliminated a great number of superfluous designs, limiting the book to what we, after careful study, consider Universal Designs.

The designs shown are not mere creations of a fanciful mind but are practical designs that have been carefully selected and approved. (pg. 5)

The products are arranged largely by department, and a color rendering of an interior room highlighting a specific element such as a door, staircase, or mantel introduces some of the sections. If a rendering is present, a short explanation about the importance of the feature is included.  Aside from the mantels and staircases, most of the products in the catalog are presented free from context; rather, they float on the page. Brief descriptions also accompany the products suggesting certain styles or rooms for which it might be appropriate. Arguably, it falls to the purchaser to envision how the particular element would look in the home.

This copy of Universal Millwork Design Book No. 20 does not have a donor associated with it; however, it does have indications of use. On the back endpapers, a cabinet and window were sketched. Throughout the book, notations (often names), measurements, or alterations to the design were made.  Another interesting aspect of this particular copy is that it was produced with or for the Steves Sash & Door Co. of San Antonio. At this time, it is unclear to me what the relationship is between the Universal Catalogue Bureau and this local company.

Curtis Companies. Architectural Interior and Exterior Woodwork Standardized: The Permanent Furniture for Your Home. [Clinton, IA.]: The Curtis Companies, [c1920]. From Joe Gutherie. 

Unlike the Universal Millwork, Curtis Companies undertook great effort to contextualize their products. The company introduces four styles- Colonial, Southern, English, or Western- to which their products could be adapted. Each style has a lengthy description which also includes color renderings of the interior and exterior and suggestions for which pieces to consider. The catalog is arranged both by room (living room) and product type (windows). Like Universal Millwork, each section is introduced by a color rendering and a description regarding the importance of that particular feature in the home. Each of the pieces are contextualized with a sketch of the element in situ, associated with one or more of the styles, and accompanied with a description.  The company even notes that it can help when one lacks an architect.

If there is no architect available to help you in working out your problems, the Curtis dealer will do it for you. He will give you sound advice on the advantages and disadvantages of using certain materials and information as to their relative cost and procurability. Tell him your ideas, your desires, your troubles. He is worthy of your confidence….

If this book helps you to know and select correct architectural woodwork for your home, it will have done its part to help you obtain a home that will endure “as long as human work at its strongest can be hoped to stand.” And the Curtis trademark…will symbolize, to you, as time goes on, woodwork which helps immeasurably to make the center of your world, to you, the loveliest spot on earth. (pg, 6)

Even without the reassuring text about the Curtis dealer, the catalog itself suggests that the Curtis Companies sought to reach a much broader audience than that intended for the Universal Millwork. One has to do much less work to envision oneself surrounded by Curtis Companies woodwork.

The Northwestern Terra Cotta Company. The Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, Chicago. [Chicago: The Company, 190-?]. From the Ayres and Ayres Collection.

Unlike the two woodwork catalogs, this catalog presents itself as a portfolio of the company’s work. While they do include instructions on how to request estimates and the information the company needs to produce architectural terra cotta pieces for you, the book itself is primarily examples of the company’s previous work. After a brief history and the advantages of terra cotta, the company highlights their accomplishments and process:

WE PRESENT THIS CATALOG TO OUR PATRONS, not in an attempt to repeat or resell that which already has been done, but to show in some degree what has been accomplished, and the approval standard methods that have been evolved….We omit the usual catalog sheets with all kinds of ornamental stock work, as it is impossible to meet even a small fraction of the ever varying demands, as to style and dimensions, of the long list of architectural features. When desired, we shall attempt to find stock molds approximately corresponding with designs submitted and will send photographs and drawings of such features as we have for approval. (pg. 3)

While the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company may have stock pieces, their catalog is intended to generate custom work from architects as opposed to the stock products carried by the Curtis Companies or the Universal Millwork, which could be purchased by anyone constructing a house.

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Friday Finds: Summer and Holiday Rentals

Sommer und Ferienhäuser aus dem Wettbewerb der Woche: 10 Sonderheft der Woche. Berlin: August Scherl, 1907.

This work contains 60 designs submitted for the Summer and Holiday House competition of 1907. The submission categories are broken out by the production cost- a house for 5000 Marks, 7500, 10000, and 20000. There was also a category for house boats, which appears independent of cost. Each entry includes numerous drawings- plans, elevations, sections, perspectives and sometimes site plans and interior perspectives. The materials, location, cost, and architects are also provided. Hermann Muthesius’s article, “Sommer- und Ferienhäuser,” prefaces the competition entries.

The designs are in the vein of the Arts & Crafts, and I would be quite happy living in many of them. The personal delight I take in this work aside, it is a great resource for those interested in the Arts & Crafts or domestic architecture in Germany at the turn of the century. Because the work features drawings from many different architects, it also allows the reader to explore the varied forms of representation and drawing that architects produce.

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Friday Finds in Special Collections: Joseph Nash

Nash, Joseph. The Mansions of England in the Olden Time.  Edited by Charles Holme with an Introduction by C. Harrison Townsend. 4 vols. 1838-1849. New Edition, London: Offices of The Studio, 1906.

Latham, Charles. In English Homes: The Internal Character, Furniture, & Adornments of Some of the Most Notable House of England Historically Depicted from Photographs Specially Taken by Charles Latham. 3rd ed. 3 vols. New York: Charles Scribner, 1909-[191-?].

The connection I discovered between these two finds was actually quite accidental. I will admit I was attracted to the title of Joseph Nash’s book, specifically In The Olden Time.  I checked the publication year and thought I would look for books on similar topics from roughly the same date both to compare them and to think about the influence these types of work might have had on practicing architects. I thus selected Charles Latham’s book. I was not familiar with either author or work.

Exploring Nash’s book a little more carefully, I discovered the Special Collections’s copy was actually a later edition of the work published more than 50 years prior.  I was a bit disappointed that the books were not in fact contemporary. I also discovered that The Mansions according to both the introduction in the new edition and Peter Mandler’s biography of Joseph Nash had been quite influential. Mandler writes:

The Mansions’ combination of architectural and antiquarian accuracy with contemporary values was devastatingly effective. Nash’s plates were immediately engraved for mass circulation….They served as a source book for architects but also as advertising placards for tourist sites around the country that became more accessible as the railway network developed. (Mandler, “Nash Joseph (1809-1878)”)

In his introduction, Charles Latham recognizes the importance of Nash’s work and acknowledge’s that his own book is in direct response to his predecessor.  He writes:

It was thus that Nash’s “Mansions of England in the Olden Time” was enthusiastically received, and is still prized as a pictorial interpretation of the home life of old Englishmen. There is infinite pleasure in looking again and again at its representations, and we pardon their faults and exaggerations for the sake of the artist’s enthusiasm, which has given them undeniable fascination. In the years that have passed many things have become possible which then were not dreamt of. Not only is there riper and better knowledge, but photography, though much abused, has come as the handmaid of those who understand best what are the beauties and the splendors of old English domestic interiors. The time had, therefore, arrived for the publication of this work, which the writer ventures to think presents the subject in a manner never before approached, and perhaps unapproachable, because the opportunities have been of the best and fullest, and no  labour of love, no effort of heart or hand, has been spared to bring the interiors of the houses of our sires verily before the eyes of their descendants. (Latham, vol. 1,  x)

While both Nash and Latham present many of the same houses, they do so quite differently. According to Charles Holme, the editor of the new edition of The Mansions, there are two significant differences between the original edition and the new. The first is that all the plates have been collected into a single volume. The second change is that the editor has reordered the plates. He writes, “In the original edition,…the plates were distributed in a haphazard fashion throughout the work. The Editor believes that the present arrangement will be found to be of more practical utility to the reader.”   Holmes arranged Nash’s drawings so that those representing the same building were placed together. (Prefatory Note)

While C. Harrison Townsend does provide a brief introduction about Nash’s style & approach and  the development of Tudor domestic architecture, Nash’s plates are not accompanied with any descriptions. Mandler explains Nash’s approach to the houses: “He confined himself strictly to reproducing architectural details, exterior and interior, but enlivened them romantically with scenes of Tudor domestic life…” (Mandler, “Nash, Joseph (1809-1878).”)

In Latham’s book, however, the reader is presented with black and white photographs that document the architecture and furniture of the houses. The photographs seem almost scientific compared to Nash’s imagined realities of life in a Tudor house. Latham’s photographs, however, do not stand alone. Latham writes, “Thus, in these many pictures, accompanied by historical descriptions, do we find a visible memorial of the life and character of English Society.” (Latham, xxxii) At times, Latham’s writing seems in stark contrast to the photographs. For example, he writes of Haddon Hall:

What memories of old-time glories, ambitions, and occupations, of passions long stilled, and yet of emotions that are ours, are evoked as we walk in the gold shade of the sycamores and limes, or linger on the terrace under the low-hanging boughs of the yews, or traverse that wondrous range of buildings, and sojourn in this ancient chambers, out of whose windows looked lovingly into their garden the men and women of long ago! There may be places more magnificent, but the transcendental delight of the home of the Vernons lies in its happy union of history and poetry with rare beauty of architecture, richness of internal adornment, and the external charms of an old garden, and a beautiful neighbouring land. Where else can we receive such impressions of ancient greatness touched with the witchery of bygone romance? (Latham, vol. 1, 37)

I am curious, readers, if you prefer one representation to the other and why.

Mandler, Peter. “Nash, Joseph (1809-1878).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2007. Accessed March 27, 2015. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19787. Joseph Nash (1809-18780: doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/19787.

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Friday Finds in Special Collections: House and Home

Gray, Greta. House and Home: A Manual and Text-Book of Practical House Planning. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1923.

As her listed qualifications, Greta Gray graduated both from MIT in architecture and from Teachers College at Columbia University in Household Arts. For a more extensive biography and discussion of her accomplishments, please see UCLA’s In Memoriam, Greta Gray.

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When I initially selected Ms. Gray’s book, the cover led me to believe that it was a house keeping or home owner’s manual; however, her work seems more complex than I expected. She encourages engagement, reflection, and perhaps social reform. She writes:

The house is all-important in moulding our lives and its selection demands careful study. We should have house standards, know what is essential, and what we can do without. We have food standards, we have some attempts at standardized dress for women as well as for men, and we should formulate certain minimum standards of housing and have an understanding of the best way in which money beyond the amount required to reach the standard may be spent on the house to add to the pleasure and satisfaction of those who live within it. (pg. 2)

To achieve this end, she includes some unexpected chapters- Town Planning, The Farm House, Owning versus Renting, and Multiple Houses and the Housing Problem. She also includes two chapters on the history of architecture from which she develops a series of Architectural Rules (pg. 185-191). The chapter on Modern Architecture concludes with a call for a new architectural style to reflect the American spirit (pg. 191-194). Most of the chapters are followed by a set of action points or questions; therefore, even the more traditional chapters like The Location may spark reflection not only on one’s home but also on the larger built environment and related social issues. Finally, she includes a dictionary of architectural terms.

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Friday Finds: Dictionaries

Today’s Friday Finds were inspired by An Illustrated Handbook of Art History by Frank J. Roos, Jr, originally part of Martin S. Kermacy’s library.  The binding of the book attracted my attention. It was bound with a large spiral wire like a school notebook, so there was no indication on the spine as to what the book might be.

When I opened it, I was surprised to discover page after page of black and white images with only captions as text.  The images were easily recognizable, reflecting the material common to the introductory survey course. And I thought: Oh, ARTstor before ARTstor. Roos writes of his intention: The aim of this Handbook is to put in the hands of students useful illustrations of as many works of art, together with reference charts, as can be encompassed in the covers of a book selling for a comparatively low price. (i) He continues then to discuss the selection process: The choice of men and examples constituting the Modern section was particularly difficult. Although there are as many men of great importance left out as included, the choice of names to be considered was here guided by the necessity of using men typical of certain trends and by the availability of material. (i) The use of the word, men, struck me particularly. The work was published in 1937 – I was not sure if men was intended as the catch all term (though could artist not be used as effectively?) or if women had not been included in the narrative at all (a quick look told me that Cassatt and O’Keeffe were).

All of that led me to wonder about representation, selection, the communication of ideas, and well, dictionaries. What were architectural dictionaries like before The Pevsner (I recently made the decision to part with my second copy)? I think we could usefully reflect on the dictionaries as historical artifacts that speak to cultural constructs, practice, audiences, and use.

Parker, John Henry. A Glossary of Terms Used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic Architecture. Exemplified by One Hundred and Fifty Wood-Cuts. London: Charles Tilt, 1836.

Nicholson, Peter. Nicholson’s Dictionary of the Science and Practice of Architecture, Building, Carpentry, etc., etc., etc., from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time. Edited by Edward Lomax and Thomas Gunyon.  London: The London Print. and Pub. Co., [1854].

The Architectural Publication Society. The Dictionary of Architecture. London: Thomas Richards, 1887.

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Sample Page, The Dictionary of Architecture

A Dictionary of the Leading Technical and Trade Terms of Architectural Design and Building Construction. By the Editor of The Technical Journal. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1888.

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Friday Finds in Special Collections : J. M. Mauch

Mauch, J. M. The Architectural Orders of the Greeks and Romans. New York: Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., [1927].

Mauch, J. M. The Greek and Roman Orders [by] J.M. Mauch. Architectural Edition with Description of Each Plate Translated into English by E.R.A. Litzau and edited by W. B. Olmsted. Washington, D.C.: The Reprint Co., Inc., 1910.

These two works were printed in the States by two different publishers and represent two interpretations of Johann Mauch’s Die Architektonischen Ordnungen der Griechen under Römer, which I believe was originally published in 1845 but had at least two other editions in 1875 and 1896. The 1910 version appears to be a facsimile of the 1845 plates and may retain the original order. It also includes a translation of the text associated with each plate. Having removed all explanatory text, the 1927 version is only a collection of 100 loose plates. There are further differences between the two editions. The 1927 version is missing two plates, which were present in the 1910 publication. The frontispiece was used to decorate the cover, while “Plate 100: A View in the Tripod Street at Athens” was not included at all. The editors substituted plans and drawings of buildings on the Acropolis, which were included in the 1875 edition.

I wanted to share these two works not to discuss variations of editions but rather because each copy was once part of an architect’s library. The 1910 and 1927 editions at the Architecture and Planning Library were owned by Atlee B. Ayers and Flint & Broad, respectively. The 1910 edition has both the stamps for Atlee B. Ayers and Atlee B. and Robert M. Ayers on the end papers. Their book is well worn and shows signs of use- finger smudges, impressions of paper clips, taped pages, and scrap paper, one with a small drawing of a capital profile. The 1927 edition also bears the stamp of  Flint & Broad on its end papers as does the back of each individual plate. This copy as well shows signs of use- finger smudges, marks of a wayward pen or pencil, and more extensive wear on some of the plates. These two books might be useful in providing insight about practice and inspiration at the two firms. It is might also be useful to think about what books were present in firm libraries during a any one period.

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Friday Finds in Special Collections: Picturesque and Pattern Books

Parker, Charles. Villa Rustica: Selected from Buildings and Scenes in the Vicinity of Rome and Florence; and arranged for Rural and Domestic Dwellings with Plans and Details. London: J. Weale, 1848.

In the following pages it is proposed to give…a few examples…of Domestic Architecture of Italy, the ruined edifices of which have so many years engaged the attention of those who devote themselves to the study of Antiquities, with a view to their application in the Rural Architecture of England.

Throughout the whole country, and especially near Rome and Florence, there exist a great number of habitations, which, under very natural forms, produce many pleasing varieties; combining picturesqueness and symmetry without disorder or monotony. The peculiar object therefore of the Work will be to delineate the exterior of these buildings, with their surrounding scenery, modifying the interior to the wants and manners of this country. (iii)

Charles Parker provides plans, elevations, renderings, and the cost to construct the building in England to the scale and materials prescribed. The models for his buildings are both actual and imagined. Included are drawings of non-specific details to make one’s construction more authentic, for example roof tiles. His examples provide designs for the homes of servants and staff of the country estates, for ancillary buildings like lodges and mills, for schools, and for leisurely pursuits like hunting and fishing. His examples raise the question: For whom and for which building types is the Picturesque appropriate?

Birch, John. Picturesque Lodges: A Series of Designs for Gate Lodges, Park Entrances, Keepers’, Gardners’, Bailiffs’, Grooms’, Upper and Under-Servants’ Lodges, and Other Rural Residences. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1879.

Recently, I shared one of John Birch’s other books from Special Collections- Concrete Buildings. In both the previous work and Picturesque Lodges, Birch is concerned with the cost of production and the comfort of the inhabitants. The designs of both reference the local and reflect vernacular English architecture. One might also argue that Birch suggests that a certain type of building is well suited to the Old English Rural Style, namely servant and staff housing and other ancillary buildings on country estates and parks. He writes:

Comfort and economy are the characteristic features of the plans, and most of the designs have been executed at moderate cost in various parts of the country. To those who have the taste to encourage a style of architecture adapted to English country scenery and the liberality to provide well-arranged and comfortable homes for their dependents, without pretending to make “every gentleman his own architect,” I trust this little work may prove of some service in stimulating a desire to combine the picturesque with the useful and comfortable. 

Harmony and fitness with the surrounding scenery forms the chief element of the picturesque in country buildings: too much pains cannot be taken in selecting appropriate sites and having designs prepared to suit the requirements of each situation, in order to accord with the surrounding scenery and landscape.

Most of the following designs partake of the Old English Rural Style in preference to anything of a classic character, being considered more suitable for this country, and admitting of greater variety and simplicity of form and outline in harmony with country scenery. (pgs. v-vi)

Dana, William S. B. The Swiss Chalet Book: A Minute Analysis and Reproductions of Chalets of Switzerland, obtained by a Special Visit to that Country, its Architects, and its Chalet Homes. New York: The WIlliam T. Comstock Co., 1913.

In this book the author has endeavored to transport from the center of Europe to the Western Continent, in as complete and illuminating a way as language and line may do it, the chalet of Switzerland. To some extent, too, it is hoped, the atmosphere itself has been reproduced. (preface)

Perhaps, The Swiss Chalet Book is not a pattern book in quite the same manner as those by Parker and Birch. Dana documents the buildings he found in Switzerland to include descriptions, plans, elevations, renderings, photographs, and details. While we might argue about authorial intent, Dana’s work, like the other two, does reflect the transmission of architecture, a sharing of ideas and forms.

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