the design and plan, does not hold good. Taking a job such as this dignified example of the best Tudor traditions, let us analyze just what has taken place— not from a purely suppositional viewpoint, but one that is based on actual investigation. First a perfectly equipped organization takes the client in hand at a time when the only well-defined purpose he has in mind is that he wants to build a house on which he will only expend a determined sum of money. There is a certain mental equipment that the archi
tect must possess in a case like the present one, where an expenditure bordering on a quarter of a million dollars will represent the total investment.
Before he places in evidence his ability as an artist he must prove his competency as a student of character. The architect must study his client in the same way that he will next have to study his plan. Ready-made houses, like ready-made clothes, seldom perfectly fit. So, then, the architect must study all the “mental contours” of his client so as to give him a most accurate fit. His fads and hob
bies, his temperamental habits, even his daily occupation must be considered.
All these things having been fully learned, then the architect becomes an artist, and with his client as the model, he designs a house to fit him. The artist-architect is now fully in evidence. At last the final conference has been held, the last major change made, and the work goes forward.
Just here enters the business man. Certainly it is a business to co-ordinate all the trades and crafts
which combine to bring this artistic creation to perfection. Let no one contend that at this point the architect may turn over to a well-drilled organization all the many and complex things, any one of which means, as it is handled, either waste or saving to his client. He may, of course, delegate to others certain details and routine, but he must be constantly in touch with every phase, quick to detect error of business acumen, in order to direct and control every phase of the work.
Personally will he give service, standing before
PLOT PLAN
tect must possess in a case like the present one, where an expenditure bordering on a quarter of a million dollars will represent the total investment.
Before he places in evidence his ability as an artist he must prove his competency as a student of character. The architect must study his client in the same way that he will next have to study his plan. Ready-made houses, like ready-made clothes, seldom perfectly fit. So, then, the architect must study all the “mental contours” of his client so as to give him a most accurate fit. His fads and hob
bies, his temperamental habits, even his daily occupation must be considered.
All these things having been fully learned, then the architect becomes an artist, and with his client as the model, he designs a house to fit him. The artist-architect is now fully in evidence. At last the final conference has been held, the last major change made, and the work goes forward.
Just here enters the business man. Certainly it is a business to co-ordinate all the trades and crafts
which combine to bring this artistic creation to perfection. Let no one contend that at this point the architect may turn over to a well-drilled organization all the many and complex things, any one of which means, as it is handled, either waste or saving to his client. He may, of course, delegate to others certain details and routine, but he must be constantly in touch with every phase, quick to detect error of business acumen, in order to direct and control every phase of the work.
Personally will he give service, standing before
PLOT PLAN