Pencil Points, Published Monthly by Reinhold Publishing Corporation at 258 Atlantic St., Stamford, Conn

Home , Palace of the Soviets

AUGUST ENCIL I93H AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL for the DRAFTING ROOM 1' 1. N C I L POINTS FOR AUGUST, 193 + FAVORABLE STRENGTH -TO -WEIGHT RATIO THE BASIS OF ACCEPTANCE

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Pencil Points, published monthly by Reinhold Publishing Corporation at 258 Atlantic St., Stamford, Conn. Publication office, Stamford. Conn. Editorial and Advertising Offices 330 West 42nd Street, New York, N. Y. Yearly subscription $3.00, single copies 35 cents. Entered as second class matter. March 10. 1930. at the Post Office, Stamford, Conn., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Volume XV, No. 8. Dated August. 1934 A Chance for Architects

he National Housing Act has opened up clinging so precariously to their titles and to the opportunity for which many archi• their incomes that they cannot afford to go T tects have been waiting for lo, these deeper in debt. Obviously, millions of rent many months. Funds are to be available, we payers cannot soundly be expected to undertake are told, for loans up to $2,000 to repair and the building of new houses. There are, how• modernize existing buildings and for mortgages ever, other millions who are better situated— up to $16,000 on new construction of homes; they have money in the bank and fairly assured not government funds but private money from (though perhaps reduced) incomes. It is banks, building and loan societies, and other quite sound that these people should go ahead lending institutions, the lenders made confident and spend money, each according to his needs, by government guarantees. All that is needed, for repairs, alterations, and additions to their apparently, for the stimulation of a large vol• properties. It is quite sound for them to go ume of modernization and repair work and, ahead with the new homes they have been look• later on, ne w home construction, is for the pros• ing forward to building. The effect of the pective borrowers to be made confident also. Housing Act, so far as these people are con• This is at once a task and an opportunity for cerned, is to give them an opportunity, hereto• architects. fore denied, to borrow money on really easy Now, while we refuse to believe in the com• terms, to spread their present expenditures over plete efficacy of this program as a means of a period of years, charging them only low in• bringing us to the very end of the rainbow of terest for the privilege. Gone is to be the recovery, we are certain that enough business "junior financing" at exorbitant rates, the "re• for architects and other elements of the build• newal fee" on the short-term mortgage. In ing industry can be developed under this so- their place the home owner is to have a twenty- called "Housing" Act to help materially toward year amortized mortgage which he can pay off the final goal. It represents the strongest effort as he goes along out of his monthly income. so far made by the administration to induce pri• Where does the architect fit into this picture? vate capital to stop marking time and march First of all, he can discover and point out the forward into new investment. The held of places where money can be wisely spent by building was chosen to receive this parade of property owners to put their buildings in repair revivifying loans because it represents that por• and improve them. His past clients offer him a tion of the durable goods industry hardest hit field for this activity. Then he can help de• by the depression and may therefore be ex• velop confidence in clients who have been want• pected to react most strongly to the stimulus. ing to build but who have been deterred by gen• Furthermore, as has often been pointed out, eral conditions and by the difficulty of securing there exists, as a result of the comparative cessa• mortgage money. He can work in close touch tion of construction activity during the past sev• with the committees that will shortly be ap• eral years, a very large potential demand for pointed in his state and community to carry out new houses and repairs to existing buildings. the intent of the Housing Act. He can exer• The Real Property Inventory recently car• cise his influence to guide the developing build• ried out by the Federal government in 100 ing activity under the Act into proper channels, typical cities of various sizes and in represen• seeing to it that such buildings as are built or tative parts of the country has given us factual modernized have architectural supervision. information as to the need and opportunity for To do these things he may have to forget raising the standard of dwellings at least to the some of his professional inhibitions. He will level of common decency. The ravages of have to get out and be active in his community time, fire, and flood, together with normal rather than remaining aloof in the dignity of population growth and the establishment of new his office. In compensation he will at least have families, have combined to create what would be the satisfaction of performing a social service a shortage of adequate shelter, were the people to his fellow citizens and if he does his part financially able to satisfy their natural desires well he can go a long way toward demonstrat• for homes. The potential demand exists; ing to them the real value of the architectural "therefore," says the government, "let us strive profession as a vital and essential element in our to make it effective by making money easy." civilization—which will be something to build Obviously, millions of home owners are on in future.

[371 ] Photo by Arthur C. Haskell

AN OLD COTTAGE NEAR HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS Buildings such as this afford opportunities for judicious repair and renovation directed by competent architects. PENCIL POINTS [ 372 ] (August, 1934) PENCIL POINTS Volume XV August, 1934 Number 8

The Architect and the National Housing Act An Interview with Administrator Moffett

he National Housing Act, according to tect. Actually, in many if not in most cases, James A. Moffett, its administrator, the architect in some way will have to seek out T offers the most hopeful opportunity yet the property owner or prospective home builder devised by the New Deal to revive the long and arouse in him confidence enough to go prostrate building industry. ahead. Interviewed by the editors of PENCIL POINTS, "It seems doubtful that there is a practicing Mr. Moffett stressed the importance of the architect in the country who does not list among part architects will play in getting work started his clients many who have modernization and in the increasing volume necessary to recovery. repair work that needs to be done and that could "In the application of the Act," said Mr. be done with profit to everybody, or who does Moffett, "the architects of the country, who not know of others to whom the thought of have suffered in common with all who depend home building and home owning appeals and upon the industry for their livelihood, will, as who have funds sufficient to build with under a matter of self-interest as well as personal this program. Ownership of a suitable building profit, be unofficial ambassadors of the adminis• lot coupled with financial solvency and good tration and will become one of the most impor• character will in many cases be enough to com• tant factors in the State and local organizations plete a home project. that will be set up in the immediate future to "In a surprisingly large number of cases, make the program effective. As a matter of needed improvements and wished for homes fact, the success of the whole undertaking may have been informally and formally discussed be fairly said to depend on how active the archi• with the architect. The work has not yet been tects are in furthering the movement to modern• done simply because the necessary credit or ize existing buildings and build new houses. mortgage could not be had, or i^available, only "The Act provides for government insur• on prohibitive terms. ance on loans by banks and other private lend• "Now, under the Housing Act, loans for re• ing institutions for two types of work:—the re• pairs and improvements up to $2,000, repay• pair and improvement of existing structures of able in monthly or seasonal payments, and run• all types and the construction of new homes. ning up to five years in duration, may be had "The property owner and the prospective without mortgage security or endorsees. home builder will follow much the same pro• "The test for such loans will be (1) the need cedure they have in the past. First, they should for and economic desirability of the proposed consult architect and /or builder and secure improvement, (2) the reputation of the owner plans and estimates of cost of the work to be for paying his bills, and (3) his ability to meet done. When agreement on plans and cost is his payments out of income. reached, application will be made to a local in• "Stated somewhat differently, the lending in• stitution. This application will be made by stitutions will examine the applications and de• the architect or builder. cide on the eligibility much as they have always "Theoretically, the property owner or pro• done, but in accordance, of course, with the spective home builder will seek out the archi• regulations laid down by the administration.

[ 373 ] I' K N C 1 I. V O I N T S FOR A KIL'ST, 1 9 3 4

"If the Joan is granted, the owner of the "I have been asked if the government will property will execute a note to the contractor more readily give approval to projects in which and will be credited with the amount. On the an architect is retained than to those where no architect's certificate that the work has been sat• architectural services are involved. Please bear isfactorily completed, the builder will discount in mind that the principal objective of the Act the note at the bank and receive his cash. is to get work going so that purchasing power "These loans will be attractive to lending in• may again be distributed through the building stitutions because they will be insured against industry. This being the case, we cannot afford loss up to 20% of the full value of the total to quibble over this point. 1 will say, however, of all such loans they make. Experience has that since the government is guaranteeing the shown that not more than three per cent of mortgage loans on these buildings we are cer• loans of this type have proven poor. tainly going to safeguard the spending of the "The procedure in the case of mortgage loans money by seeing to it that the buildings are against new home building will be much the soundly constructed with good materials and same when that division is ready, a few months equipment. A good architect on the job is an hence, to start. These mortgage loans, limited obvious safeguard, particularly in the case of to 80% of the value of the completed property, new construction. but not to exceed $16,000, will run for 20 "We suggest at least one architect on each years and bear interest at 5%, Under the pro• local committee and his advice will surely be visions of the Act, the client of an architect own• heeded by the other committee members and by ing a lot fairly appraised at $4,000 may secure the lending institution involved. a mortgage of $16,000 and, without any further "Can an architect do one of these low cost financing, may have title to a $20,000 property houses, you ask me, by the widely used method when the building is finished. The architect's of Jetting no general contract but only special fee may be included in the appraised value of contracts between the owner and the various the house. trades? Again, I say, the objective is to have "The lender of the $16,000 is protected the work go ahead and we are not going under the Act by insurance covering the full to obstruct it by adverse rulings on details value of the loan, and is protected in the matter of method so long as the method is essentially of liquidity by the reasonable discount provi• sound. sions of the Act. The home owner, in place of a "Architectural draftsmen who are competent short term mortgage of from three to five can also be of help, particularly on moderniza• years with junior financing' at high rates of tion and repair work where their experience is interest to burden him further, will have an adequate< amortized mortgage and twenty years in which "I wish to emphasize again that the govern• to pay it off. ment cannot do this thing alone. It will need " The architect has in the past been handi• the active cooperation of every interested group capped by the necessity of placing second mort• —materials and equipment manufacturers and gages on new construction work. Under the dealers, real estate men, publishers, builders and Housing Act, he will have no such difficulty, contractors, and, perhaps most important of all, for mortgage loans will be made up to 80% of the members of the architectural profession, the appraised Value, a safe limit because of the whose instincts and training incline them to want amortization feature. to see each job done right so that it will not only "Architects should get busy at once in prep• be a credit to the nation but a safe basis for aration for the work that must be done. In government guarantee on its mortgage. many communities they, together with other in• "The work will not go ahead by itself. An terested groups, are already lining up borrowers architect cannot sit in his office and expect it for repair and modernization work especially to come to him. He must go after it, ethically and also for some new work. of course, but in ways that are known to him "The architect can be of inestimable value through his years of practice. in pushing things along right now in his own community by working in close touch with his "The government has made mortgage and local lending institutions and with his list of loan money a lot easier to get. potential clients. "Now, architects, it's up to you."

[ 374 ] Painting Your Way Out of the Cellar Renovation Enhanced by Mural Decoration

By Wesley Sherwood Bessell, A. L A.

A rchitectural commissions both large and small have his work, so that the scenes portrayed are filled with those been withheld from the profession fot lunger than memory pictures. Six murals were incorporated into the JL \ we care to remember. The depression h.\< been re• new architectural changes, which give the rooms both life sponsible for many unpleasant things, but to this particular and color, plus expansive vistas. architect came an enjoyable opportunity which iKcupied Primitive colors—red, yellow, and blue—were used both his time during many lean months. He was given the in the architectural setting and in the murals. The deco- chance to make architectural changes in the cellar of a lativc theme found in the humble but cheerful homes of residence in Bound Brook, New Jersey, and at the same the peasants, throughout Italy, was employed here to en• time he was commissioned to paint the murals required, liven a stairway, a mantel, or built-in shelves. to carry out the scheme of the alterations, in the "Italian" In the Play Room a false beam, covering pipes, and the manner, wanted by the client. old beaded wainscot, painted cerulean blue, were used The before and after alterations plans, if studied care• to create the composition of Mount Ktna, seen as though fully, will show that those "boogy-boos" of architects' night• mares, the plumbing and steam pipes; cumbersome and annoying projections, such as water, gas, and electric meters, were enclosed by false beams and by false walls. The things which usually litter a cellar have been made to fit into the whole scheme by whitewash• ing both the false beams and ceilings throughout, while the three meters, which were much in the way, have been used to make a deep wall for a window open• ing (•)• The window is in reality a blank space on which was painted the window, including open casement sash through which is a distant view looking down upon a town in Italy. Two small rooms were made into the new Hall. The com• bined rooms arc paved with brick, using no mortar. This actual pavement is carried into the pave• ment painted in the street scene at the end of the hall. The eye follows on down the street into the valley beyond. The atmos• phere of reality is caught by show• ing the villagers loafing under the tree in the square and the old lady, with her basket of flowers, asleep on the church steps. The color scheme of the Bar Room is dominated by red and pink. Both murals portray rustic Italy—one an old man on h\< W9) to the bar to refill his empty bottles and the other of a youth, vigorously enjoying Bacchus' gift to man. WINDOW MURAI. IN IM.AY ROOM Memories of past tisits to Italy came vividly to mind as the author ALTERATIONS TO CELLAR FOR ARTHUR NETHERINGTON composed the set of sketches for Wesley Sheruood Bess el i', Architect and Artist

[ 375 |

THE BAR ROOM

ALTERATIONS TO CELLAR—ARTHUR HETHERINGTON RESIDENCE, HOUND BROOK, NEW JERSEY

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the observer were looking out from under a pergola. away from the troublesome path of present architectural Needless to say, the author was more than repaid for his trials, and while doing this he was.Jiving again in those time in the exhilarating moments spent on the canvas, pleasant Italian memories, which never seem to fade away.

I 376 ] PENCIL POINTS FOR AUGUST, 1934

ALTERATIONS TO CELLAR—ARTHUR HETHERINGTON RESIDENCE—PLAY ROOM ABOVE, HALLWAY BELOW Wesley Sherwood Bessell, Architect atid Artist

[ 377 ] THE CLOISTERS, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK.

FROM A CHARCOAL DRAWING BY E. P. CHRYSTIE PENCIL POINTS [ 378 ] (August, 1934) Housing for the Small Office Zoning Ordinances Have Created Opportunities for Architects

By Carter Hewitt

f late some of the most distinguished and price bid, rather than ordering at the lowest price thoughtful members of the profession have asked. Finally we have the prefabricated house, which O been proposing remedies for what they are as yet has made no appreciable effect, but which stands pleased to call the Housing Problem. These remedies ready to invade the field at the first opportune moment. have occasionally appeared in bricks and mortar, but Altogether it is obvious that the architect's bid in this more often they arc presented as ideals toward which field is way out of line—is in fact antiquated. the profession, and supposedly the American people, The writer believes that there is another field, how• are striving. Most of these plans have involved large ever, from which the architect may draw some busi• scale, co-operative action, a large investment at a low ness immediately, and without recourse to the R.F.C, rate of interest, and the use of large tracts of contigu• the state housing board, or any other agency than the ous land, in most cases now controlled by hundreds of old-fashioned source of architectural commissions, the individual property owners all imbued with one idea: property owner. In order to describe this field, let to make as much money as possible from their property. us imagine that we belong to a small firm in a city of Methods for surmounting these obstacles have been 100,000 population (the opportunity exists in many proposed, but they are not now within the reach of cities both larger and smaller than this), and that this the average small architectural office. city adopted a city plan, and passed a zoning ordinance For the small office, all this means just one thing: five or six years ago, as so many cities did all over the whatever the future of large scale housing may be, country. The Aldermen paid a fat price for the city there is no bread and butter in it now. The "housing plan, a few zealous citizens became indissolubly welded to it, and what was the result? problem" has an entirely different meaning to the average architect, to the layman who bought mort• Up to that time the city had grown into a complex gage bonds, and to the realtor. These men see not but organic pattern dictated by heterogeneous social, the inadequacy of present facilities, but the obstinate economic and physical forces. In the main there was facte of untenanted houses and apartments, receiver• a business district surrounded by ever widening circles ships, and tax sales. The architect in particular gazes of residential construction, broken by industrial sec• sadlj upon the decimated expenditures for new con• tions here and there, with their own periphery of tene• struction; for him the "housing problem" is embodied ments, workers' housing, etc. As the rings of resi• in the question, When will someone build a house? dential neighborhoods pushed farther into the hinter• First let us recognize that the building of small land the inner, older rings rotted. The old mansions houses has begun again. Owners who have delayed of the early settlers became cheap rooming houses; their lawns were used for parking spaces; apartment in fear and trembling are beginning to listen to pre• houses arose; and the district changed character en• dictions of higher prices in the future, and many are tirely under the pressure of the peculiar form of growth heartily sick of the makeshift provisions they have put or retrogression to which the organism was subjected. up with during the long years of depression. But is there business in it for the architect? Every designer Now the intention and effect of the zoning ordi• knows that there is just as much grief and sweat in a nance was to prevent the instability caused by this $5,000 house as there is in a $50,000 office building. continual flux so natural to the organism. It repre• The one-man office can manage to make wages out sented an attempt to crystallize the city in its then of his 6% commission, but very little more. form, with due allowance for improvement and further Competition in this field, moreover, is very keen. expansion in the future, but firmly forbidding the There are the syndicates, furnishing plans and speci• further decline of declining neighborhoods. As there fications for $1, ready to furnish mortgage money, has been very little expansion since the ordinance went and willing to make changes free, or for a very small into effect, the city is today ossified. fee. Then there was the Architects Small House Bu• It is true that the ordinance can be changed by a reau, supplying excellent designs for a trifling amount, vote of the City Council, but so long as the law is along with the usually futile recommendation that an effective at all, it cannot be changed to allow a resi• architect be employed to oversee the construction. The dential district to deteriorate in the way which eco• speculative builder, too, has been doin«r more business nomic factors would otherwise dictate, and the writer lately. He has the advantage of selling a concrete believes that such has not occurred generally. object, whose faults he may carefully conceal from the What has occurred however is a vacuum. Let us purchaser, and this is apparently sufficient to blind the consider a particular type of residential d:strxt which public to the fact that they are buying at the highest exists in many thousands of cities the country over, the

[ 395 ] P R N C I L POINTS FOR AUGUST, 1934 old-fashioned Gold Coast of the eighties and nineties. denly at an inopportune time. Then there are the What is its relation to the city at the present moment r young couples with children who have been living with Here lived once the wealthiest families of the city5 relatives during the depression. They have learned a few still remain. These individuals were justly through observation what can happen to those who taxed for the support of the city government, and the embark too confidently on ownership, and are glad to basis was their real property. Hut while they were rent for a while until they can see their way more gradually moving Quit of this section the expense'- of clearly. Finally there is the dispossessed home owner, what may now have become a thoroughly corrupt victim of the Own-Your-Own-Home Movement of municipal government were mounting by leaps and the twenties, and the depression. His ringers were bounds, and so no assessments in this district have burned, and he will think long before he tries again. been reduced for over twenty years, although sales With this in mind, is there not a solution for the long ago ceased to corroborate the assessed valuations. property owner mentioned? The writer believes During the depression some ?>()'/< of the city's expen• there is. It lies in a more intensive use of land in ditures have gone for relief, so the tax rate is higher sections of this description for the purpose of resi• than ever before, and taxes based upon the now ridicu• dences for rent. Under the zoning ordinance this can lous assessments are more and more burdensome. be accomplished either by the use of the single family Meanwhile the district has become less and less house, or the semi-detached, two-family form. Here fashionable, although it still retains every advantage is a comparison of the two types made under a typical which made it once the first residential district of the zoning ordinance: city. Schools, churches, streets shaded by fine trees, Ft>r a one-family house 4,000 sq. ft. is the minimum parks, a small library, and proximity to the shopping area allowed, with a coverage of not more than 35%. district—all these are still real. The trouble is that If it could be worked out to the exact minimum, the the few who could afford to live in this district prefer tax bill per family would be $152 per year on land the newer residential colony which centers on the golf alone. (This assumes land at $1 per sq. ft., and a tax club; and perhaps it is worthy of notice that this class is rate of $38 per thousand valuation.) In practice, how• the only one able to indulge its preferences. ever, since it is required to leave ft. of "side What is the character of the district now? A few yard" on each side, the practical minimum width is apartment houses went up before the ordinance was 50 ft., and as lots are usually 120 ft. deep, the prac• passed. A scattering of comparatively modern houses tical minimum area for the single family type is 6,000 of widely varying types were built at various times sq. ft., or a tax bill of $228 per family per year. For during the last three or four decades. But the domi• this amount the tenant or owner has the doubtful nant type is the huge family domicile of the late nine• privacy of 1 5 ft. between his house and the next, and teenth century, set upon an uncommonly large lot, a house necessarily cramped and awkward. sometimes a small estate. Many of the cellars still If the semi-detached form is used, housing two harbor the cast iron dogs and rabbits which used to families under one roof, and dividing the two with grace the front lawns, and the old stable at the back, a brick fire wall, a minimum area of 5,500 sq. ft. large as a comfortable modern house, now shelters a with the same coverage allowable, 35$ • In practice motor car or two. Land is assessed at $1 to $1.50 it is considerably easier to approximate the minimum per sq. ft., and the tax rate stands at $38 per thou• area allowed with this form, and with little sacrifice sand. A house seventv years old, a nuisance to its of comfort and amenity. The tax hill per family is owner, is assessed at $10,000. It is actually worthless. thus reduced to $104.50. This means a saving of Normally this house would have been sold for a $48.50 per family per year over the minimum require• funeral home, or clumsily made over into apartments, ment for a single family house, and of $123.50 over or taken over as a boarding house. Now the owner the practical minimum for the same—an amount of is stuck with it, because the zoning ordinance forbids not quite $10 per month on the rent! To this must the use of property in this neighborhood for any other be added the advantages obtained by building the purpose than dwelling, and restricts the types to one- two suites at once, the relative ease of upkeep, and or two-family houses! Very often he tears the house certain other economies made possible by this form. down to avoid further taxation, and resolves to sell Here then is a real opportunity for the architect, the. land. So far, however, he has had no attractive and within his grasp properties suitable for such de• offer for it, and he begins to wonder if he ever will velopment are often held by individuals or estates still have. So there is a vacuum. Into this vacuum may possessed of some substance. A proposal to make these step a competent architect. properties pay is at least addressed to persons capable Perhaps this is a suitable place to say a word about of making the investment if they allow themselves to the desirability of building residential properties for be persuaded; and in most cases the investment need rent rather than for sale. There are three factors just not be large. Where the properties amount to small now which seem to make for the increased popularity estates, a combination of the two forms may be found of renting over owning. First, there is a large class desirable. The problem exists regardless of the forms of "floaters," employed by national concerns, and sub• used in solving it, and the writer believes it can be ject to removal from one city to another, such as the solved by architects to the profit of themselves and managers of chain stores. These men do not want their clients. The above solution is rendered as one to own real estate which they may have to sell sud• the writer believes will fit a large proportion of cases.

[ 396 ] A Brief International Bibliography of Housing

By W. K. Oltar-Jevsky in collaboration with Louis C. Stone

WOHNBAUFIBEI. (Primer of Housing); by Otto THE BUILDING OUTLOOK; by Thomas M. McNiece; Voelckers, Stuttgart, 1932; summarizing and illustrating published in the "American Architect"; January, 1934. the latest technique and requirements in German housing, G eneral. planning, layout of dwellings, construction, and equip• PRE-PI.ANNING LOW COST HOUSING PROJECTS; by ment. Economics. Alfred M. Butts; published in the "American Architect"; HOUSING IN EUROPE; by John W. S. McCullough; March, 1933. Economics. published by The Social Service Council of Canada, 309 THE SAD STORY OF AMERICAN HOUSING; by Henry Metropolitan Building, Toronto, Canada; April 2nd, Wright; published in "Architecture"; March, 1933. 1928; 98 pages; a monograph submitted by the Committee General. on Research to The Social Service Council of Canada. General. ARE WE READY?; by Henry Wright; published in "Architecture"; June, 1933. Social. INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE, HOUSING POLICY IN EUROPE; published by the World Peace Foundation, 40 MANUAL OF HOUSING, PARI- 1 ; by Henry Wright; pub• Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Mass.; 1930; 378 pages; cheap lished in "Architecture"; July, 1933. Structural. home building. General. MANUAL OF HOUSING, PARI- 2; by Henry Wright; pub• HOUSING PROGRESS IN WESTERN EUROPE; by Edith lished in "Architecture"; August, 1933. Structural. Elmer Wood; published by E. P. Dutton & Company, New A SELF STARTER FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY; by York; 1923; illustrations and plans. General. Henry Wright; published in "Building Investment"; July SUMMARY OF FINDINGS IN REGARD TO HOUSING IN and August, 1932. Economics. CANADA; prepared by The Committee on Research; pub• A MODEL HOUSING LAW; by Lawrence Veiller; pub• lished by The Social Service Council of Canada, 44 Vic• lished by the Welfare Council Library; 1922. Law. toria Street, Toronto 2, Canada; April, 1929. General. A NEW MARKET FOR THE BUILDING INDUSTRY; by THE HOUSING PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES; by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in "Building Invest• Lawrence Vciller; published by the National Housing ment"; 1931. Economics. Association, 105 East 22nd Street, New York; 1930; 31 WHAT SHALL WE BUILD FOR THE NEW MARKET? ; pages. Economics. by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in "Building Invest• HOUSING AND THE HOUSING PROBLEM; by Carol Aron- ment"; 1931. Ehwncial. ovici; 1920. Social. WHERE SHALL WE BUILD FOR THE NEW MARKET? ; PLANNING AND NATIONAL RKCOVERY; by Eugene H. by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in "Building Invest• Klaber, Harland Bartholmew, Edwin S. Burdell, Robert ment"; 1931. Social. D. Kohn, and others; published by the National Confer• How SHALL WE BUILD FOR THE NEW MARKET? ; ence on City Planning; 1933; 158 pages; slum clearance by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in "Building Invest• and city planning. General. ment"; 1931. Economics. PRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE ON HOME BUILDING AND WHEN SHALL WE BUILD FOR THE NEW MARKET? ; HOME OWNERSHIP; Reports of Committees, Washington, D. C; 1931 ; planning for residential districts; slums, large- by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in "Building Invest• scale housing and decentralization; farm and village hous• ment"; 1931. Social. ing; financing. General. A PRIMER; by John Taylor Boyd, Jr.; published in RECENT TRENDS IN AMERICAN HOUSING; by Edith "Building Investment"; January, 1932. General. Elmer Wood; The Macmillan Company, New York; PRINCIPLES WHICH SHOULD CONTROL LIMITATIONS IN 1931. General. BULK OF BUILDINGS; by F. L. Olmstead; published as official organ of American City Planning Institute and REICHS FORSCHUNGS GESELLSCHAFT (Research Society of the Reich for Economics in the Building Trade and National Conference on City Planning, 9 Park Street, Housing); by Alexander Klein, Architect, Berlin; pub• Boston, Mass.; January, 1931; city planning. Planning. lished by Technische Tagung in Berlin (Technical Con• PROGRESS IN HOUSING; published in the "Architectural ference in Berlin); April I5th-I7th, 1929; planning and Record"; March, 1933; a summary of activities by archi• shaping of row-houses and the methods of their exploita• tects and associations covering Cleveland Housing Study; tion. Economic Research. The Plan of Boulder City, Nevada; A Chicago Housing HOUSING AMERICA; by the Editors of "Fortune"; pub• Project; Negro Housing Proposed for Richmond, Va. lished by Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York; 1932. Social', Economics, and Planning. General. HILLSIDE GROUP HOUSING; published in the "Archi• ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; chapters on "Housing" tectural Record"; October, 1932; a study under the direc• and "Social Architecture." General. tion of Henry Wright, Architect. Planning.

[401 ] PENCIL POINTS FOR AUGUST, 1934

RATIONELI.E BEBAUUNGSWESEN (Rational Layout); by NEIGHBORHOODS OF SMALL HOMES; by Robert Harvey International Kongresse Fur Ncucs Bauen; published by Whittcn and Thomas Adams; published by Harvard Uni• Englert and Schlosser, Frankfurt A. M., Germany. Plan• versity Press; 1931; 205 pages; contains analysis of eco• ning. nomic density of low cost housing in America and England. Economic analysis. DAS NEUE WIEN ; reports on ten separate housing de• velopments with descriptions. Plans and layouts of sev• THE REBUILDING OF BLIGHTED AREAS; by Clarence Arthur Perry; published by the Regional Plan Association; eral housing blocks. Planning. 1933; 59 pages; the "Neighborhood Unit" principle is DIE FEACHHAUWOHNUNG FUER DAS EXISTENZMINIMUM ; applied to blighted area in Queens which has been selected published by Heincke, Berlin, Germany; 1931; complete for theoretical rehabilitation. Recognizing the difficulty analysis of the planning and financing of one-story houses. of obtaining cheap land, the author suggests the creation Economics. of housing development by property owners who would trade their land for proportionate equity in the new ven• 40 JAHRE AKTIENBAUGESELLSCHAFT FUER KI.EINE ture. With the release of vast sums by the Federal Gov• WOHNUNGEN (40 years of practice in housing by one of ernment for slum clearance and low-cost housing, this will the largest building concerns in Germany) ; published in prove very useful. Economics and Research. Frankfurt A.M., Germany; illustrations and plans. Plan• ning. AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION COST OF DWELLINGS IN PRIN• CIPAL CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES; Monthly Labor Re• SLUM CLEARANCE IN AMSTERDAM ; published by the view, Department of Labor, Washington, D. C. (see since Municipal Housing Department, Amsterdam; 1930. Plan• 1921). Structural. ning. METHODS OF REDUCING THE COST OF HOUSING; by NEUZEITLICHE MIETHAEUSER AND SIEDLUNGEN (Con• E. P. Goodrich; published by the National Association of temporary Apartment Houses and Housing Development); Real Estate Boards, 29 E. Van Buren Street, Chicago, 111.; by Leo Adler, Berlin; 1931 ; photographs and plans show• 1930; annals of real estate practice. Structural. ing a wide selection of German and foreign housing de• MUNICIPAL HOUSING; by Helen L. Alfred; published velopments, both rural and urban. Planning. by the New York League for Industrial Democracy; 1932; 3 5 pages. General. THE SOCIAL IMPORTANCE OF HOUSING NOW AND IN THE FUTURE; published by Internationalcr Vcrband Fur Low COST HOUSING, NATIONAL CONFERENCE; published Wohnungswcstm, Frankfurt A.M., Germany; 1931; 550 by the Cleveland Engineering Society; 1933; illustra• pages; a discussion by the international experts on the fol• tions and diagrams. General. lowing questions: (a) Whether and to what extent under HOUSING BASED ON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC NEEDS present conditions private building enterprise on a profit JUSTIFIES FEDERAL AID; by Carol Aronovici; published in producing basis is able without the support of public funds the "American Architect"; November, 1933; community to supply the need of small dwellings among the broad planning and housing consultant. Social. masses of the population in a way which will satisfactorily THE ONE HOPE FOR LOW-RENTAL HOUSING; by Carol fulfill all economic, social, hygienic, and other modern Aronovici; published in the "American Architect"; Janu• requirements, (b) How can building enterprise be organ• ary, 1934; community planning and housing consultant. ized so as to insure the need for small dwelling be met in Economics. a satisfactory manner. Economics, Analysis and Research. RECOMMENDED MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL LOWERING OK RENTS IN NEW DEVELOPMENTS (Miet- DWELLING CONSTRUCTION; published by the Department esenkung in Den Ncubauwohnungen); by Ernst Kahn, of Commerce; editions of report of Building Code Com• mittees which the Building Code has thoroughly revised Frankfurt, Germany; 1932; general financial analysis by and brought up to date; 1932. Structural. the best German authority on housing economics. Eco• nomics. STEEL FRAMING FOR DWELLINGS; published by the Steel Frame House Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.; 1929. Struc• THE SLUM, ITS STORY AND SOLUTION; by Harry Barnes, tural. London, 1931; solid history and recommendations. Social. MASS-PRODUCED HOUSES IN REVIEW; published in BRITAIN'S NEW HOMES; published by Times Trade & "Fortune"; Vol. 7; April, 1933. Structural. Eng. Sup., Printing House, House Square, London E.C.4, STANDARD CONSTRUCTION METHODS; by G. Under• England; April 11, 1931; an unsurpassed social develop• wood; published by the McGraw Hill Publishing Com• ment. Social. pany, New York; 1927. Structural.

To the above should be added the excellent material in the February, 193*11 issues of The Architectural Record and 'The Architectural Forum. Also the jour articles on housing that appeared in The New Republic for February 14, February 21, February 28, and March 7 of this year are well worth reading.

[ 402 ]

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DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY NORMAN W. ALPAUGH, ARCHITECT, OF LOS ANGELES, CAL. PENCIL POINTS I 403 ] (August, 1934)

PENCIL POINTS-FLAT GLASS INDUSTRY ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION'

DESIGN FOR A RKSI DENCE ON A NORTH BAST CORNER LOT (Total First arid Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY MAI/RICK FKAT1IKR AND NIELS II. l.ARSFN, ARCHITECTS, OK BOSTON, MASS. PENCIL POINTS I 404 | (August, 1934) ":• • ™1 l;'v ;s'™, i:""l!" ,;ilvl"^!V";,™::n;^»whWBsi(,ii'

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DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BV ERNEST 1RVJNC. FREESE, ARCHITECT, OF I.OS ANGEI.ES, CAE. PENCIL POINTS \ 405 (August, 1934)

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zJ'outh otnetion Jj^orth Elevation. 'encil- ^Points "FL-at S INDUSTRY Architectural < TITION SUBMITTED BY OZOWJZ'

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY ELMER GREY, ARCHITECT, OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA PENCIL POINTS [ 406 ] (August, 1934)

• PENCIL POINTS EL AT GIASS INDUSTRY ARCWBTECTLmL COMPETITION •

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY J. BYERS HAYS AND RUSSELL SIMPSON, ARCHITECTS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO PENCIL POINTS I 407 ] (August, 1934)

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY ROBERT S. KITCHEN OF OAYTON, OHIO PENCIL POINTS [ 408 ] (August, 1934)

-NODTH ELE.VATKON KMC ttr-r-o" PENOL- POiNTS-FI .AT- CI ASS • iNDVSTRY; ARCH1TECTVML- COMPETITION

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

HY JOHN W. KNOBE1. OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK PENCIL POINTS [ 409 ] (August, 1934)

VhNUI-mrNI.V-H A I •

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (To/a/ First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY LOL IS KURTZ, ARCHITECT, OF YONKERS, N. Y. PENCIL POINTS [410] (August, 1934)

PENCIL POINTS FLAT-GLASS INDUSTRY • ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY ANGUS MC D. MC SWEENEY, ARCHITECT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL PENCIL POINTS [411 ] (August, 1934)

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DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY ROI L. MORINj ARCHITECT, OF PORTLAND, OREGON FENCIL POINTS I 412 J (August, 1934)

MORTH ELL VAT ion • PENCIL - POINTS —FLAT • GLASS • INDUSTRY ARCHITECTURAL • COMPETITION

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY CONSTANT1N A. PERTZOFF, ARCHITECT, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASS. PENCIL POINTS [413 J (August, 1934)

PENCIL POINTS-FLAT GLASS INDUSTRY ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION i

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT

(Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY LOUIS C. ROSKNBERG, ARCHITECT, OF FAIRFIELD, CONN. PENCIL POINTS [ 414 ] (August, 1934)

PITML PlfiN PENCIL POINTS-FLAT GLASS INDUSTRY AR.CHITLCTUHL COMPETITION

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY RICHARD HAVILAND SMYTI1E, ARCHITECT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. PENCIL POINTS I 415 ] (August, 1934)

P t N C 1 L POlNTy-FLAT G L A J / INDtlJTILY A R_CH 1 TLCTU I A I COWPLTION

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

DY DLOODGOOD TUTTI.E. ARCHITECT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO

PENCIL POINTS

[416] (August, 1934) c~—

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DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet) jy EDGAR I. WILLIAMS AND C. B. F. BRILL, ARCHITECTS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. PENCIL POINTS

I 417 ] (August, 1934)

HUB. • t L t V A.T ION iND -lltVMION- OtCONJi- rtoot- DlAGUM- IWriAI'illS' INDlJ5TRTAKIJlTfaUMLC0.SlPim

DESIGN FOR A RESIDENCE ON A NORTHEAST CORNER LOT (Total First and Second Floor Area—1900 Square Feet)

BY ROYAL BARRY WILLS, ARCHITECT, OF BOSTON, MASS. PENCIL POINTS [418] (August, 1934) "The Upper Ground" Being Essays in Criticism

By H. Van Buren Magonigle, D. Arch., F. A. I. A., A. N. A.

"Take the upper ground in manrevr'm' Terence I sez 'an' you'll he a gin'ral yet,' sez I. 'An' wid that I wint up to the flat mud roof av the house, and looked over the par'pet, threadin' delicate." R. K. "My Lord the Elephant."

Ill Of public buildings all the periodicals show very e could not quite complete the January and little. I will select two for comment—the Seattle Art Museum by Bebb and Gould and the Palace of the February issues and therefore continue: Soviets in Moscow by Mr. Boris* M. Iofan as to * * * * whom we have the word of Professor Isadorc Rosen- Architecture shows a shop for women's wear in field of New York University that he, Iofan, has "be• Westwood, California, by John and Donald B. Parkin• come one of the most widely acclaimed architects of son; owner and architects are to be congratulated our time." "Acclaimed" is one of those lovely news• upon the inclusion of an enchanting little patio entered paper words served up with breakfast every morning; both from shop and sidcstreet. A far lovelier place wouldn't "outstanding" have been better? It is a for a tryst than the vestibules of Stern Bros, or Lord word so little used and has the force of novelty. As and Taylor's—but I am referring to a New York a test of the resonance of the acclaim I have asked a custom probably long since out of date. number of up-and-coming up-to-the-minute architects * * * * to name the architect of the Palace of the Soviets and 'J'lie February Record has a most interesting article found them as uninformed as I had been. I accuse the by Clarence Stein and Catherine Bauer on Store Build• propaganda agencies of The Soviet Union of gross in• ings and Neighborhood Shopping Centres indicating efficiency in this matter. And I ask them or some• what the architect can do to relieve the intolerable body why the proletariat is to have a Palace—it seems traffic conditions of most small towns where the shops to the uninitiated just a bit incongruous. are strung along a main street with cars parked The Palace itself closely resembles one of those crea• fender to bumper on both sides, through traffic whiz• tions of the pastry cook so familiar to us. The principal zing by between them, and the tedium of small town feature is a circular tower treated with a colonnade in life mitigated for the housewife on shopping bent by an ascending spiral—or descending if you prefer, I dashes across the street, the life in one hand, offspring am not at all fussy—which rises out of, or is about and purse clutched in the other. Here are suggestions to sink into an apparently unorganized group of struc• for well planned arrangements in parking both cars tures whose lines would surely give anything or body and children and convenient disposition in the shops but a Soviet the willies in execution. But in justice themselves. This is a great step forward for com• to Mr. Iofan there should be plans, elevations and munity life and a careful study of this article will re• sections of his building; all one can judge by is this pay the reader richly. photograph of a model reproduced herewith. * * * * * * * * In the Architectural Rctiiew (London) I find a The Seattle Art Museum is an interesting experi• "Retreat" for a religious order, the Oblate Sisters of ment in unpierced wall surfaces as far as the main St. Benedict. Why, with such a start, the architect, facade is concerned; here there are only the three Herr Hans Steinedcr of Austria, did not produce a entrance doorways. The walls have nothing at or slightly flattened spheroid is a question for the devotees near the top to indicate that they have stopped rising of that recently re-discovered shibboleth "Form Fol• and are topped out, not even a little bevel that might lows Function" to explain. But the masses are queer catch the light and say so, and this gives one an un• enough without that, and it must be a shock to come easy feeling of incompletion. In the plans published upon this in the pleasant countryside it lies in. One with the facades and details one finds no structural cannot but contrast this business-like machine for warrant for the semi-circular fluted scooped-out re• living apart from the world and efficiently close to cesses that act as end pavilions—nor Tor the curved God, with such delightful places as the cloistered re• form in which the entrances occur; it seems to be the treats one finds all over Italy, where it would be a terminating form of a dominating mass in plan, but the lot easier to be good. God knows modern religious plan does not bear out this indication. The disposition architecture is pretty poor stuff usually, but this has of the rooms is so managed as to throw all the rooms also all the aridity and soullessness of this vaunted requiring windows to the rear and this results in a Modernism. rear elevation of a totally different character that

[419] PF. NCIL POINTS FOR AUGUST, 1934

From Architecture, January, 1934 does not look as though it belonged to the same build• ing. There are a lot of arbitrary things done, apparently for the sake of doing them, regrettable in so important and imposing a building. Some playfulness may be permitted and enjoyed in a little building, but in any• thing as big as this it seems frivolous. Just being different is not a very good reason in a serious struc• ture. The interiors are unnecessarily ugly and seem in the photographs to be thin and trivial. The function of the interior of an art museum is to be discreetly quiet and serve only as background; horizontal stripes of glazed material do not conduce to that effect. And one observes with much regret the use of imitation travertine, imitation marble, and that sort of thing; a ceiling is noted as being of gold leaf but that may mean Dutch metal. The use of imitation materials is always to be deplored and especially in a museum of art—it makes one wonder whether the exhibits also arc imita• tions. PATIO—BULLOCK'S BRANCH STORE * * * * John and Donald B. Parkinson, Architects In The Architectural Review for February is an article on the "One-room Mat" which merits exami• nation by those who deal with this class of problem. I rum Architectural Record, February, 1934 Some of those illustrated arc- in London, some in Czccho-Slovakia and Vienna, and all sorts of ingenui•

ties are practiced with convertible and "nestible" fur• niture. "Nestible" sounds as though the inmates might use runciblc spoons. A lot of attention is given to the compact disposal of belongings of all sorts. * * * * The most interesting item in the February Archi• tect anA Engineer is an article on the Go'den Gate Bridge which promises to be a superb piece of pure- engineering design. * * * * London, up Hattersea way, has gone in for a monu• fin 1 f vm mental Power Station with immense chimney stacks— f' fc ft- « twi so immense that they will be very conspicuous features NEIGHBORHOOD SHOPPING CENTER of the district and this prominence requires a more Clarence S. Stein, Architect architectural treatment than is usually accorded chimney stacks. The architect is Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who has succeeded in making them handsome without concealing their function. They arc un• From Architectural Review, London, February, 1934 mistakably chimneys. The decoration which relieves them and the stark masses of the buildings is bold and strong and clear and exactly suited to an utilitarian building. The finest piece of utilitarian architecture in many a weary day. * * * *

In evident reaction to the article in June PENCIL POINTS is the following letter from an old acquaintance whose name I withhold; I was glad to get it and wel• come more; there is nothing like free discuss'on to clear the mind. Here it is: "My dear Magonigle:— "I was interested in your article in this month's edition of 'PENCIL POINTS,' particularly the para• RELIGIOUS RETREAT, KREMSMUNSTER. graph in which you rather give 'The run around' Hans Steineder, Architect to 'firms' of architects, and indicate your rather firm

[420 ] "THE UPPER GROUND," 3 belief that there is good only in the work of the From American Architect, January, 1934 individual. "I recall very well a conversation I had with you on a train returning from California a good many years ago. We were discussing 'competitions,' to me the 'Bete noir' of the profession, and I recall that I claimed that a beautifully prepared competition draw• ing meant nothing beyond its danger in deceiving all parties as to what the results might be. "You did not agree with me at all—why should you have? for you are then (and possibly now) the ex• ponent of skillful 'competition' draftsmanship. "I have always felt that to be a skillful draftsman did not elect one to the title 'Architect.' I maintain that real design is a mental process in which the proper use of materials plays a far more important part than does the ability to skillfully render the project. "Draftsmanship is more the tool of the architect —not his end. "I am quite sure that a group of men, in perfect accord can produce architectural design of a much higher character than can an individual working alone. The group, not interested in who does it, or who is accredited with the result, yet can be, and in all like• lihood are, intensely interested in the result, and the SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ART MUSEUM constructive criticism which comes to each from the Hebb & Gould, Architects others, is not only chastening but improving. "At no time in my life have I worked absolutely From Architectural Review, London, February, I9M alone, and I should miss the help that comes from well meant criticism. I believe the same criticism would help any one but a dyed in the wool egotist, who was more interested in personal publicity than in creation of architecture that was as far as possible above criticism. "Individuals forming a 'firm' may work largely alone but always have a kindly critic at the elbow. "Yours very truly" My reply follows: "My dear Blank: "I am very glad to hear from you after all these years, and thank you for being sufficiently interested in my debut as critic in the June PENCIL POINTS to write me. Because you miss the point in some re• spects, may I take the liberty of a public reply (pre• TWO BRITISH ONE-ROOM FLATS serving your anonymity of course)—for it is quite Frederick Gibberd, Architect likely others have misread what I wrote as you do, and I should like to keep things clear. From American Architect, January, 1934 "I have carefully re-read the article and, first dis• claiming any intention of giving 'the run around' to firms of architects, can find no warrant in it for your impression that I think 'there is good only in the work of the individual.' Like the Earl of Pawtucket 'I don't think I'm that kind of an ass.' If you will do me the honor to read it again you will observe that almost all I say is cast in the interrogative form. I am not dogmatizing. I am asking myself, out loud, so that others may ask themselves, what is best for American architecture at the present moment—coal• itions, aggregations, syndicates, or the single respon• sible practitioner. I was, and intended to be, pretty THE PALACE OF THE SOVIETS, MOSCOW definite about the 'syndicates' that have sprung up in Boris M. to fan, Architect

[421 ] PENCIL POINTS FOR AUGUST, 1934

recent years, because I believe they From Architectural Review, London, ship wherever it is found, and there do harm to architecture as an art. February, 19.H is no brand peculiar to competitions. Letters like yours will help us all to A man will, if he is sensible, take a find out what is best—for we ought lot of pains to present his ideas in as to find out and be keenly interested workmanlike and attractive a in the trend of architecture and manner as possible, knowing that he architectural practice. has anywhere from five to fifty or "As to draftsmanship: In the more men against him. I fear you imaginary conversation I invented, share with others a long-exploded 1 was talking about general drafts• superstition that somehow there is manship of the standard and practi• some trick, some hypnosis, about a cal sort, not of that mythical beautiful drawing, and if it be sub• 'competition il raft sm an ship' to mitted in Competition the trick ami which you refer. The text dis• the hypnosis an raised to some wth tinctly implies this—the ability to power that obscures the judgment make a good sketch (in competition of the jury, who fall an easy prey or not), translate it into good, clear, to this 'competition draftsmanship.' complete, working drawings, de• Well, I have been on both sides of velop scale and full size details that fence many times, have acted from those, and write competent on juries times out of mind and specifications, all shut up alone with• never have I known a jury to be out assistance from others. swayed by mere drawings. If they "It distinctly is my firm belief— had been then they would not have and I am very glad to have the been fit to be jurors. Their busi• opportunity to repeat it once more ness is to judge the relative merits of —that an architect who can't draw tin various solutions of the program is, in the high majority of cases, not in plan, section and elevation, to a good designer. There is only one make as shrewd and close a guess way really to train the eye and that BATTKRSKA POWER STATION as |K)Ssible how they would look in is by drawing and drawing and Sir Giles Gilbert Scoll, Architect for Exterior execution, and award the first p/m c drawing. I believe that a man who to the best budding, not to the best set of draivings. has trained his eye by carefully and intelligently draw• ing a thousand things, who has measured up good "You say 'that a group of men in perfect accord architecture and intelligently translated it back onto can produce architectural destgri of a much higher paper, back to the flat, back to two dimensions with the character than can an individual working alone.' third duly taken into consideration, is far more likely to Would not that depend upon the quality and ability of do good architecture than a man who never cared both group and individual? Or do you mean that enough about his art to go through those laborious, in• any group can do better stuff than any individual? structive, and formative processes. After exactly 53 "Your penultimate paragraph would seem to con• years, to a day, of endeavor and experimentation I have vey the idea that a man who works alone is an 'egotist found no way to get the exact shapes and proportions more interested in personal publicity than in creation that satisfy my own eye except by drawing them my• self. To be sure, one might by sitting alongside a of architecture as far as possible above criticism.' Well, draftsman as McKim used to do, and using him as a production by a group doesn't exactly insure architec• kind of animated tool, get, eventually, pretty near to ture of such high quality that it is above criticism, does one's vision. Hut what a waste of time—two men to it? And if a man is so constituted that he prefers for do one man's work. any of a number of reasons to work alone does he differ widely from a painter who paints his own pic• "We have all seen good drawings prove lamentable tures, a sculptor who models his own sculpture? And failures in execution—but that wasn't because the are these fellow artists of his egotists also because their draftsmanship was too good—it was because the archi• product is the work of their own hands? tecture was bad. Of course I agree with you fully "Of course the whole matter comes back to the 'that to be a skillful draftsman does not elect one to fundamental question: What is an architect? ... I the title of architect.' So many things go to make an look back now over the whole history of architecture architect, and so many things go to make good archi• and I find that the work of the architect has always tecture, that draftsmanship has only its due place in been up to very recent years regarded as a work of that group of qualities. But there is a tendency among art—hence, as the work of an artist. If that standard men who wouldn't or couldn't learn to draw archi• of judgment is to be changed, well and good. If the tecture well to despise draftsmanship as negligible— architect as an artist is to disappear, well and good. which is perfectly human and understandable. Circumstance will have been stronger than either. "Your reference to 'competition draftsmanship' "It is our duty to look ahead and find .out if we can gives me the opportunity to say that, by your leave, —and your letter is a helpful step in that direction. there is rid such thtrtgi Draftsmanship is draftsman- "Very truly yours"

[ 422 ] SlA"- Like the other drawings on the sheet it was quite quickly done, and was reproduced by line engraving. It was "fixed" when completed to keep the soft pencil work from rubbing.

AA . LITTLI.ITTf EV DEPARTMENDFPABTk(nJT OHF lADruircrTiinA'ARCHITECTURAfL ESTHETICS'rc-i-.ir-- , WITH If you have questions about this mate• rial or its use, don't hesitate to ask them. EMPHASIS ON SKETCHING AND RENDERING This holds for anything I discuss in these columns.

Rendering Project No. 3 arc to remain white. The brush is best Our Little Crit for this inking. It is then scratched, Continuing last month's discussion of What a bully tree Chamberlain gives when dry, to simulate the tooling of rendering media and methods suited to actual wood-cuts. The sketch at 2, us on this month's cover! Sort of Corot- inexpensive reproduction, I present on though not of the wood-cut type, was likc, and all too suggestive of autumn Sheet 3 a material which, though popu• produced by this same method: the just around the corner. lar among commercial artists, is rela• scratching was done with an ordinary And what a splendid batch of pen tively unknown to the architectural pro• penknife. If mistakes develop on renderings from the competition! I fession. I refer to Ross board. blackened surfaces, they can be "erased" (an't begin to discuss them all. Note the Ross hoard is a heavy drawing paper with ink! Sometimes the same surface extremely simple treatment of the resi• about the weight of two or three ply is scratched and re-inked several times dence in McSwccney's: the manner in Bristol. It is made in over a hundred until the desired effect is obtained. which Rosenberg has played his chaste surfaces. Some are white and smo:>th; white structure, with its punctuating some arc white and rough (formed into The small sketch at 3 was drawn on blacks, against a lacy foil of foliage: the ridges, stippling, etc.) ; many, whether grained board. At 1 we show two addi• vertical line silhouettes by Freese, in smooth or rough, arc printe.1 in lines, tional samples of grained surfaces, while dots or patterns. Every Ross board is a in Sheet 2, last month, still others were which trees and grass are cleverly "scratch" board, its surface being coated pictured at D, I'". and G. The grained united: the refreshing utilization by with a compressed chalk-like substance boards, with a few exceptions, arc not Ifavs and Simpson of leafless vertical which will take pen, brush or pencil to as good for pen work as arc the smooth trees, forming end patterns to bracket advantage hut which can be scratched ones, but they permit pencilling so and complement the plain residence, away, wherever desired, by means of a broken by the grain that it can be repro• etc., etc. The pine in Feather and knife or other suitable instrument. This duced by line engraving. A black pencil Larsen's design is a splendid study: characteristic not only guarantees ease of is best, such as the Koh-i-noor Negro, Bloodgood Tuttlc has revealed marvel• correction but makes possible no end of the Dixon Best Black No. 331, or the ous patience, while Wills shows us how novel and expressive effects. Further• Korn lithographic. Pencilling and to do it with the utmost economy of more, most Ross board work can be suc• brush work in black ink arc often com• line. Elmer Grey's treatment is inti• cessfully reproduced by the relatively bined as in Sketch 3; you see such mate and sympathetic. In short, every cheap line engraving (see July issue). effects constantly in the daily papers. one of these renderings, like those of Scratching was used very sparingly in last month, has commendable qualities. It is only by experimenting with this this sketch: note the grass, vines, etc. material that you can get more than a Though in such competitive work as Scratching on grained papers customarily hint of its remarkable qualities and this, presentation is quite properly a spoils the grain, making it impossible to numerous uses. Undoubtedly the Chas. secondary consideration, it is bound to work over the scratched areas satisfac• J. Ross Co. of Philadelphia, its manu• be true that the published results will facturers, would be glad to supplement torily in pencil again. exert a strong impression on the develop• the few pointers offered here. Ross boards of the third class are ment of rendering. Be sure you learn printed in patterns and so are perhaps The smooth white scratch boards are sour lessons. perhaps the best known (see Sketch 2, the most fascinating of all. They come The pen, a tool for forming lines and Sheet 3). You draw on these with pen in a wide variety of printed line and dot dots, can seldom give us as convincing or brush much as on any paper or board. combinations, in addition to which an interpretation of architectural masses 'They can be used for pencil work but some arc pressed into rough surfaces like as can wash, crayon, or charcoal. unless it is absolutely black it cannot be those of the second group. At 1, three Edward Chrystic shows us on page 378 reproduced by line engraving. When boards of this type arc shown, while that charcoal still remains one of the you desire to make corrections you Sketch 4 was done on another. In best media for architectural representa• scratch away your mistakes instead of making this sketch a Negro pencil, a No. tion, especially where effects of texture erasing them. In addition to the 5 pointed brush, a pen and a penknife arc concerned. And for depth, too, and natural, straightforward types of results, were used. An advantage of the gray atmospheric vibration. As to crayon, let many unusual effects are obtainable, as by boards (the printing is actually black, us turn to Dctlie's drawings published alternately lining and scratching: sec my only the effect being gray) is that they last month on pages 365 and 368. The book Drawing zvith Pen and Ink. If you permit the easy development of a center proofs of these caught me in Maine too use a pen, wipe it constantly, as it tends of interest or the direction of attention late to permit the expression of my ad• to load itself with the fine particles it to any desired feature, any white or scratches loose, with a consequent thick• miration. They are powerful, well dark demanding surprising attention. A ening of line. Some prefer a fine brush composed, nicely textured, and portray disadvantage of some patterns is that for pen-like work, thus avoiding this splendidly the character of weighty they prove a bit trying to the eyes while difficulty. For wood-cut effects, this masses. They are thoroughly modern, the work is being carried on. Ross smooth scratch board is particularly too, without resort to the senseless boards are not cheap, either, though a popular. It is inked black all over, or trickery so often seen. Study them well -mall piece will do for the average sub• with the exception of a few areas which if you have failed to do so. ject. Sketch 4 measured only x

[ 427 ] A . L . GUP T ILL'S CORNER

PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE. TENDERLING PROJECTS

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