The Art of Building a Home: A collection of lectures and illustrations

by Barry Parker; Sir Raymond Unwin

We have chosen for the first example a country house designed for a site in North Staffordshire, partly because this site is not one to very obviously suggest or very imperatively demand a special treatment. The plot of land consists of a small field, long, and rather narrow; it is much the shape of a suburban building plot, though situated right in the country. The main road runs along the north-east end, and the ground rises on the far side of this road, cutting off all view in that direction. The ground falls from the road towards the south-west: the slope being very slight at the top, suggests a level terrace on which to place the house. The land continues to fall away to a stream; across this there is a very pleasant view, which becomes finest to the south of the plot.

See plate [1].

The client required the house to have a good comfortable living-room for the general family life; another good room for entertaining guests and callers; a small den for his own use, with desk, safe, and sample cupboards; four bedrooms, one to be a bed-sitting-room for an only son; and a kitchen with the usual offices. The house was to be arranged to give as much open-air life within as possible. As the site is exposed to the prevailing winds, and the best prospect is in the direction whence they blow, some form of court upon which the rooms might open, suggests itself as a means of obtaining the needful shelter. The stableyard not being very suitable for the purpose, the house is grouped about a very small central court, round which a corridor is planned fitted with sliding windows, so that it can be converted at will into a sort of small open air cloister by sliding the sashes down below the sill. This is roofed over at as low a level as possible, to avoid anything of the feeling of a well, which a court, as small as this needs must be, might soon produce. The main roof also is made to slope away from the court in all directions, so that a good deal of sunlight may find its way in. Upon this corridor the main rooms open with wide double doors, and the court being protected against wind on all sides, it is possible, except when extremely cold, to have the living rooms much more open to the fresh air than is usual. A ventilating stove prevents cold draughts in winter. The kitchen, butler’s pantry, front and side entrances, and stairs all communicate with the corridor, but so as not to destroy the privacy of the living rooms by obliging anyone to pass the doors when going from one to the other. Pleasing vistas are obtained from the rooms across the court, and from the corridor into the rooms, such as it is not often possible to contrive in so small a house. This charm of vista should always be thought of when planning. The living-room, as the most generally occupied, and therefore most important room, is placed at the south corner, having the double outlook to south-east & south-west, and getting all available sunlight and the best of the prospect. It is not enough to give a room windows in the right direction, however; the room must be so arranged that it shall, so to speak, turn its face right; and the windows be so placed that one would naturally look out of them from the most usually occupied parts of the room. For this reason an angle window commanding the pick of the view is thrown out on the south-east side. This brings the sun well into the room, and at the same time provides a good well-lighted position for the piano, from whence anyone can easily face to the whole room while singing. For the same reason the fire is put on the north-east wall; and, that a thorough sense of cosiness may always be obtainable, it is placed in a deep recess or ingle.

Now an ingle affords a very good instance of how easy it is to misuse the old examples which we study, and that in two manners. For while some neglect altogether the suggestions which they offer, others copy the old forms without troubling to understand them. To make use of old features legitimately, of course, one must first understand the reasons which called them into being, the difficulties which they were designed to meet: and when similar reasons or difficulties present themselves to us we may then avail ourselves of the solution which they indicate, not copying slavishly the details, but taking the principle and working it out to suit our own particular circumstances. The ingle had two main uses: the first was to protect a wide open fire from the cross draughts arising from badly fitting or open doors, shutters and windows; the second was to afford sheltered seats near the fire, where the aged and feeble could rest and anyone could keep warm in cold or rough weather. Incidentally, no doubt, our forefathers appreciated the value of contrast, the charm of the ruddy fire-lit space glowing red in the grey ill-lighted building, and the cosiness of the sheltered low recess in the wide and lofty hall. To obtain this charm, as is often done, by forming an ingle so small that one cannot sit in it comfortably, is merely to remove the fire further from the room; while on the other hand, to arrange a large ingle, as is also sometimes done, with a modern tiled register stove set in a chimney breast, is to lose the feeling of sitting on the hearth, and the charm that springs from the fire being able to cast its glow all over the recess and be seen from every part where one can sit. The ingle adapted to modern use, and justifying the space it occupies in rooms of moderate size, must be large enough to be comfortable for one to sit in regularly, a place where one can live, not merely sit to be roasted. The fire must be so designed as to have something of the feeling of the old fire on the hearth, and must not be cut off from the recess or in any way allowed to grow into a fireplace within a fireplace. It is generally well to make the whole recess into the hearth, and we often arrange for the fire to burn in a suitably shaped fire-brick hollow, which answers all purposes excellently. The ingle must be protected from cross draughts, otherwise the fire cannot be sufficiently exposed. Fenders are best avoided, and anything like a loose coal-box is a disadvantage. A coal-box can often be contrived in the thickness of the wall. When properly arranged, and fitted with comfortable low seats, the ingle always proves to be a favourite part of the room; the place where people naturally go to sit and rest.

But I am digressing from the plan, and must return to the living-room which we are designing. There the ingle is of somewhat special construction, having several small windows to afford peeps out towards the court and the view, and to give light conveniently placed for reading; and also having cupboards for the display of oriental pottery. The seats are made long enough to recline on.

See also plates [25] and [50].

A large sunny bay facing the fire is arranged to be used as a dining recess, except in very cold weather. Such a recess relieves a living room from being uncomfortably blocked up with a meal-table. The bay also gives us a west window through which the evening light will come.

In all rooms there is a part by the door where no one willingly sits, because of a certain lack of comfort; it is well to keep such part of the room as small as possible. Very often a room may be actually improved by being reduced in width just where the door opens, while the space cut off may be put to valuable use. In this case the sheltered south-west balcony, which is obtained by narrowing the two rooms opposite the doors, adds greatly to the amount of open air life it is possible to enjoy, and makes it easy to have the pleasure of frequently taking meals in the open: the little window by the sideboard is convenient to hand things through for this purpose. A recessed balcony is, in our climate, much more useful than any projecting verandah. It is possible, owing to the extra shelter, to sit in such a balcony two or three times as often as in the verandah with open ends.

See plate [32].

In this room, a sideboard, a large cabinet and the other important furniture, form part of the scheme: they are thought out and designed with the building. In the treatment of the room advantage is taken of the beams and lintels required for the recesses, and where these are lacking a deep picture rail carrying line with them is adopted, under which the sideboard, cabinet, and most of the windows are arranged to finish, leaving an unbroken frieze above, and giving a sense of order and unity to the whole. This frieze is decorated with a painted suggestion of landscape; but in simpler treatment, if whitewashed, or coloured with the ceiling, it would be light & satisfactory. The lower portion of the walls, under the decorated frieze, is finished in plaster tinted to the required shade by mixing colouring matter with the skimming coat; this forms a good, plain, solid-looking background for either pictures, furniture, or the people who inhabit the room.