Architectural Record

tTbe VOL VI APRIL-JUNE, 1897. NO. 4. WOODEN HOUSES IN SWITZERLAND. to the Geneva National amples presented have been taken VISITORSExposition of 1896 have had an from almost all parts of Switzerland, opportunity to admire quite a and we find every architectonic form large number of wooden buildings of wooden house, from the humblest typical of those peculiar to the different and most modest, such as the little Cantons of Switzerland chalets for chalets (mazots) built high up on the mountain, valley and plain, country mountains to shelter the cowherds in houses, etc. of various epochs, from summer time, to the richest and most the sixteenth century to the present day, artistic creations in the way of carved all grouped together under the title of and painted fagades adorning cha- the "Swiss Village." The idea in the lets of the valley and of the plain, minds of the organizers of the Expo- handsome inns, or dwellings of well- sition was to give a sort of epitome of to-do farmers, such as the Chalet de one of the most interesting, and cer- Fischental or the Auberge de Treib. tainly the most original chapters in Everything is authentic enough to the history of Swiss art that of house satisfy the most exacting of archae- building in wood and it was import- ologists. Imagination has been ant that visitors should have before brought into play only in the group- their eyes a picture of the surround- ing of the chalets and the arranging ings amid which former generations in a village street, square, lanes, passed their lives, and should see pump, etc. of elements procured what a thorough and charming sense from all parts of Switzerland. of art, what graceful and picturesque But the "Swiss Village" in the Ge- originality, had been displayed by neva Exposition goes beyond the ob- Switzerland in that architecture which ject which was at first contemplated. is peculiarly her own. The "Swiss The idea was to reproduce a national Village," therefore, was arranged on feature, and we find that the bringing historical lines. Each house or chalet together of the elements of this his- figuring therein exists, or did at one torical picture has resulted in the re- in each has its vival of a and the restoration to time exist, reality ; date, style of honor of a mode of house- its place of origin in fact, its identity a place which can be at the is fully established. These reproduc- building employed thus a va- tions are absolutely faithful, not only present day, resuscitating most architectonic the general plan and the mode of con- riety of agreeable It is a natural album for the use struction being exactly followed, but forms. and we are in- also the smallest details of the painted of architects and artists, and carved ornamentation. The ex- clined to believe that, the example now RECORD COMPANY. All rights reserved. Copyright. 1897, by THE ARCHITECTURAL Vol. VI. 4. 1 . 416 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. having been given, we shall witness a the decoration of the interior. Noth- renaissance of the art of wood- ing is better adapted for this purpose working. In Switzerland, architects than wood, by its color, its grain, and have already begun to study the old the facility with which it can be orna- models of chalets, and the modern edi- mented, moulded and carved; yet in fices in course of erection (photo- most cases it is sought to hide the ma- .graphs of which will be given) no terial employed by means of papers longer present those architectural ab- and hangings, thus taking away the surdities that are embodied in certain stamp and character of the building. fanciful chalets built during the last Lastly, the deplorable custom which twenty-five years. By studying the exists in the United States of painting faultless works of former times one the whole of the woodwork puts the gets a fuller comprehension of the finishing touch to it! All the houses fundamental principles of chalet archi- are colored in some hue or other, and tecture, all of which principles have beneath this coating there might just their in the art of in as well be or or stone. origin working plaster, brick, wood in carpentry. The effect is cold and commonplace. In America, where wood is such a In Switzerland, on the contrary, where favorite material for the construction the woodwork is left in its natural of country houses, it is evident that the color, being merely treated with re- fact mentioned above, namely, that fined linseed oil, the fronts of the cha- this art has its own principles and its lets become bronzed and take various own technique, is in too many cases shades as the years go by with their forgotten or ignored. It would ap- showers and their sunshine, and they pear that architects are unable to acquire an exquisite patina which cast aside the theory and practice of makes each habitation a living thing in stone work and believe it is possible to harmony with its surroundings and its produce the same effects with wood that climate. are obtained from stone. Hence the In Switzerland, too, and the other ridiculous result that many of the countries where the woodworking art of in country houses wealthy people has flourished and created a style, in- the United States have colonnades and stead of masking and hiding the mate- frontons, attics and porticos, treated rial employed, every effort has been in wood. This has 'been done and is exerted to make the most of its deco- still done and it is rative hence the being every day, properties ; joists are nothing less than an architectural exposed, the projections of the upper heresy. It is a complete jumble floors emphasized, and the joints left of the most elementary principles of uncovered; the roofs are developed the building art. An architect who and the eaves extended, protecting the desired to reconstruct the Parthenon house and producing the finest decora- in iron would not be guilty of a graver tive effect imaginable with their sup- error than this. porting brackets. Inside, .wood forms Another cause of the inferiority of are the basis of the ornamentation, the wood architecture in America is the walls are wainscoted and the beams manner of placing the boards on the are left visible in the ceiling. This is walls, the upper ones usually over- the natural and logical decoration of a lapping the lower. The certain result of chalet. Following in this way the most this is to prevent any decoration of the simple and the most evident principles fronts, and to produce, by the numer- a style of architecture has been created ous lines of the revetments, a fatiguing which is full of grace and originality. effect which mars the appearance of Before giving a detailed description the edifice. Besides, the joists are not of the different types of chalet, it is visible and give no idea of the internal necessary to furnish a little general in- structure of the house. Furthermore, formation as to their dates and history. a proper use of wood is not made in The art of building in wood has flour- WOODEN HOUSES IN SWITZERLAND. ished in Switzerland to a special ex- very curious survivals, showing how tent since the sixteenth century. The the trades' corporations have clung to finest specimens of wooden edifices their traditions and defended them belong to the seventeenth and eigh- against the learned innovations of the teenth centuries. The chalets of those architects. Even in the masons' trade periods are those which have the best we see how the existence of the Gothic ornamentation and present the most arch has been prolonged long after the perfect styles. The farmers' cnalets of resurrection of Vitruvius radically our own day are not so rich, nor in modified the principles of architecture. such impeccable taste. It is for the In the woodworking branch this resist- edifices of the upper classes to con- ance has been complete. The carpen- tinue the sound traditions of~the last ters have repelled all attacks made century. All the elements exist, and upon the traditions handed down to architects have the opportunity to them by their ancestors. They have make a close study of the most perfect realized that they exercise a special models. It would be unpardonable to art, with its own principles, require- copy the errors of our predecessors ments and beauties, and also its own and be content merely to get some- limits. These principles have been de- where near the mark. veloped by them and carried to their There is another interesting obser- full conclusion, and, remaining thus vation to be made upon the style of faithful to themselves, they have at- decoration illustrated in chalets. We tained a genuine architectural style. have here an art which flourished in Even if one is only slightly ac- the sixteenth, seventeenth and eigh- quainted with the early Romanesque teenth centuries that is to one cannot fail to see the ; say, during decoration, the period when, in stone architecture, resemblance thereto of some of the the ornamentation borrowed from the motives met with in the Swiss chalets. antique Roman was, through the neo- And if one has studied the origin of classic Renaissance, at the height of its the Romanesque style and traced its when the of ancient bas- roots in the industrial arts; if one has glory ; study reliefs and monuments led Italy, first, examined the earliest manifestations and then France and the rest of the of carpentry in Norway and Sweden civilized world, to abandon the archi- all that distinct and very original deco- tectonic and decorative styles evolved ration revealed in the doors of certain by Christian and feudal Europe, in or- churches constructed in wood one der to resume a tradition long dead and cannot have helped noticing the large which had been beautiful and brilliant part which wood decoration, in a word the has in the only because it was the natural and carpenter's art, played formation of the am1 legitimate outcome of a special society Romanesque This influence is unde- and a special civilization.

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