VII.
Materials of all kinds have been used for building, but for our purpose only stone, brick and wood are suitable, and mud, papier-maché, glass, iron, and many others need not be considered. Stone is the favorite for all monumental buildings, but it may be occasionally used to advantage in low-cost country houses. If it must be brought from a distance, and is to be cut, tooled and dressed, it will be much beyond the average cottager’s means. But when found in the immediate vicinity and laid in irregular courses “just as it comes,” with the corners squared off only enough to make good joints, we shall get excellent effects without great expense. It is well to use it only for the first story of the house, as shown on Plate [XII]. If cut stone lintels and jambs are too costly, we may use brick, either red or buff, selecting the one which harmonizes best with the color of the stone. The doors and windows in this case will be arched and not square-headed. Stone walls need not be very thick—18 inches will be ample—and they need not be damp if properly furred, leaving an airspace.
Frequently use large stones, the entire thickness of the wall, as “binders,” and leave the natural surface as much as possible. Then, if the stones are well selected, we shall have a beautiful surface, whose color, softened by that of mosses and lichens, and partly covered by the creeping ivy, will become more beautiful and mellow with age.
Brick is a most valuable building material, wonderfully durable, as the remains of the old Roman buildings testify, and fire-proof, as often demonstrated. To the minds of many, brick suggests all the ugliness of the immense crop of buildings that has sprung up in our American cities—buildings with wondrous painted and sanded cornices and window caps, with a front pierced with regularly spaced square-headed openings. But the builder and not the material is at fault, for as countless European examples show us, brick can be used with most excellent effect. Bricks are now made in many shapes, and good mouldings can be obtained for cornices, belt courses, etc.
Then terra-cotta, which is nothing more than its name implies, baked earth, or brick in other forms, comes to our aid, and we have ornamental panels, columns, pilasters, voussoirs and all sorts of architectural finery. For small cottages we may use brick laid in red mortar, combining it with wood, and perhaps some of the simpler mouldings, with a terra-cotta panel or two, to give character to the design.
Wood is the material that will commend itself, as being the cheapest for building country houses, needing only a light foundation and being easily handled. The old “half timbered” houses give us suggestions for a most picturesque treatment. In these buildings the frame is exposed and filled in with brick or stucco, producing an excellent effect. In the north of France, where rain is abundant, the exposed wood is sometimes covered with slate. This method of construction is adapted to our climate, but brick is better for filling in than plaster or stucco, which is likely to be affected by our severe frosts. Clapboards and shingles are both excellent. The shingles may be cut in different shapes, or irregularly laid, giving a variety of surface. Tiles, which are more durable but more expensive, may be substituted. Battened houses, that is, houses faced with vertical boards, the joints of which are covered by narrow strips of wood or “battens,” are not recommended.