IX.
It will be noticed in all these designs that whatever grace or charm they may have is the result of the simplest treatment. A building should be logically designed, and the exterior be the natural expression of the plan. This is what is meant by Truth in Architecture. But just how much need be expressed, is not always clear. A proper regard for our architectural morals does not require us to exhibit to the passer-by every detail of construction and arrangement. Only what is shown must be true. A building ought at least to declare its purpose, which should be recognizable at a glance. But a house may well express more than the fact that it is a house. It may have a pretentious and showy appearance, or be modest and unassuming. It may look cheerful and hospitable, or cold and forbidding.
Now, for a cottage to be pretentious is in bad taste. It need not be so humble as to nestle among the violets, but it can assert itself sufficiently without being decked with tawdry ornaments, or the vanity of cupola or towers.
On the other hand, it would be equally false for a large mansion which should have an air of dignity and magnificence to attempt to assume a simple, rustic appearance. Indeed, Southey informs us that the devil’s “favorite sin is the pride that apes humility.” Proportion—that is, the relation of parts to each other and to the whole, is the most important element of beauty in architecture. This has been the subject of much discussion and controversy. The parts of a building having a certain mathematical relation to each other, numerous attempts have been made to formulate this and establish reliable rules for the guidance of the designer. All the theories, however, are conflicting; notwithstanding that most of them are proved by their authors to apply directly to the Parthenon, which
“Earth proudly wears...
As the best gem in her zone.”
It seems that the sense of proportion, like an eye for color or an ear for music, is an innate quality possessed by some and lacked by others; and that it is as impossible to design a building as to make a musical composition by mathematical rules.
Beauty alone is not sufficient to constitute architectural excellence. Architecture is the art of building, and utility is the first consideration. If the architect be an artist, endowed with an appreciation of form and color, he will so combine the materials at his command that he will produce a building at once useful and beautiful. Exterior ornament should be sparingly used on cottages, and, if at all, should be so employed as to emphasize the design. But it seems more sensible in an economical dwelling to keep the exterior quite simple. While we should not inflict our neighbors with an ugly house, we will not be open to the charge of selfishness if we choose the extravagance of a daintily carved oak mantel in our sitting-room to that of ornamented brackets and posts on the veranda.