Vol. CXVIII — 3057
The ARCHITECT & BUILDING NEWS
July 22, 1927
Proprietors: Gilbert Wood & Co., Ltd.
Managing Director: William L. Wood
Editorial, Publishing and Advertisement Offices:
Rolls House, 2 Breams Buildings, London, E. C. 4. Tel.: Holborn 5708 Registered Office: Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, E. C. 4
Principal Contents
The Speculative Small House..................................................... 127 The Towers of Babel.................................................................... 127 Archangel Timber ................................................................. 128
Competition Results.................................................................... 128 India House, Liverpool (Illustration)........................................... 129 Professional Societies.................................................................. 130 Correspondence (Illustration) ..................................... 130 New Cafe-Restaurant, Liverpool (Illustration)............................. 131 The Geneva Competition (Illustrations)................................... 132-143
Memoranda. III.. — Aluminium Paint.......................................... 144
The Tribune Tower in Chicago (Illustrations)...................... 145-149 The Scottish National War Memorial (Illustrations)
150, 151 The Structural Aspect of the New Horticultural Hall
(Illustrations).............................................. 152, 153, 154, 156 London Building Notes............................................................. 158 The Week’s Building News.............................................160
Building Contracts Open........................................................... 162 Tenders Accepted................................................................. 162, 166 Current Market Prices................................................................ 164 Current Measured Rates....................................................... 168, 170
The Speculative Small
House
The speeches at the Architecture Club Dinner last week appear to have roused more than a passing interest. The Manchester Evening Chronicle has been sufficiently enterprising to obtain one or two opinions on the statement of Mr. J. C. Squire, the Club’s president, that over 90 per cent. of the new houses were erected without an architect having any part in their design. Mr. Norman McKellen, secretary of the House Builders’ Association, however, repudiates the suggestion that builders do not employ architects. “A very large majority of the members of the National Federation of House Builders, ” he says, “employ architects, and architects of taste, to design their houses. ” Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and one would like to know where the houses designed by these ‘‘architects of taste’’ are to
be found. Certainly they do not appear to be sufficiently numerous to have attracted much attention. What, also, is an “architect of taste”? Surely, in
this connection, a man without taste could not properly appropriate the title of architect, although the fact that there are many who do is one of the main reasons for the promotion of the Architects’ Registration Bill, which aims at securing a better standard of æsthetic training as a necessary qualification for registration under its provisions. Mr. McKellen admits, however, that there are a great many poorlydesigned houses, but he thinks this is due neither to a falling off in the standard of architectural design, nor to the non-employment of architects. The reason, in his opinion, is entirely an economic one. The financial factor governs not only the size of the house but its appearance; and Mr. McKellen thinks that this is borne out by the housing of local authorities, where the financial aspect has not received such drastic attention as is necessary on a private job. Whatever may be said of the general poor standard of design in modern houses, it is not only the private builder who is liable to criticism. He thinks that municipal enterprise would benefit from the criticism of the local Advisory Committees proposed by Mr. Squire; and he states that ˮmost builders would welcome even more drastic steps than that and, subject to safeguards, would loyally work under a Committee which had power to refuse unworthy designs. ’’ This is very encouraging, particularly as Sir Lawrence Weaver and Mr. R. G. Spiller at the Club Dinner both emphasised their opinion that the speculative builder was a thoroughly well-meaning man, to be encouraged to proceed on better lines rather than
denounced. We feel that the only point on which architects might differ from Mr. McKellen is his contention, which we hope we do not misconstrue, that seemly architecture depends on the economic factor. Mr. Thomas Butterworth, a Manchester architect, also welcomes the idea of local Advisory Committees, and feels that the qualification of local surveyors, who are responsible for much of the municipal housing, lie more in the direction of engineering than architecture. He agrees with Mr. Squire that a large number of builders in a small way concern themselves more with interior construction than external appearances — and many “have not an element of design in them. ” This confirms the opinion of Mr. Spiller, himself a builder, which we mentioned last week, that the gravest evils on the country-side are being wrought by the small, by the village-carpenter type of man just starting on house building in a small way. One must not pass over Mr. Spiller’s suggestion that architects should produce, at a small price, a book of designs, with photographs and plans of detached bungalows and cottages, for various areas in the kingdom, suitable for erection in the traditional manners of those areas. That is a suggestion that presents many difficulties, which are not insuperable, however, if taken up by the R. I. B. A. as the representative body of the profession, and issued under its ægis. Mr. Spiller’s other proposal that placques of honour (to be affixed to the houses) should be awarded each year in each county for the best-designed houses costing specified sums is also well worth consideration, and we have reason to believe that something may come of the suggestion. Mr. Spiller had many other helpful suggestions, among them some for the manufacturers of materials — a smaller brick, a better form of asbestos slating, and so on. Certainly the object — which was exploratory — of the discussion at the Club’s Dinner has been achieved in some measure, and possibly at some later meeting the ideas it produced may be hammered out into some concrete proposals which will command the support of architects and builders alike.
The Towers of Babel
The skyscraper is still a question of controversy in the United States, but according to the New York correspondent of The Manchester Guardian, all the leading American authorities on housing and townplanning are hardening in their opposition to the further erection of these towering structures. There are many solid objections to them, the most forcible being the congestion both for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, on the street level and on the rapid transit systems of subways and elevated railways,
The ARCHITECT & BUILDING NEWS
July 22, 1927
Proprietors: Gilbert Wood & Co., Ltd.
Managing Director: William L. Wood
Editorial, Publishing and Advertisement Offices:
Rolls House, 2 Breams Buildings, London, E. C. 4. Tel.: Holborn 5708 Registered Office: Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, London, E. C. 4
Principal Contents
The Speculative Small House..................................................... 127 The Towers of Babel.................................................................... 127 Archangel Timber ................................................................. 128
Competition Results.................................................................... 128 India House, Liverpool (Illustration)........................................... 129 Professional Societies.................................................................. 130 Correspondence (Illustration) ..................................... 130 New Cafe-Restaurant, Liverpool (Illustration)............................. 131 The Geneva Competition (Illustrations)................................... 132-143
Memoranda. III.. — Aluminium Paint.......................................... 144
The Tribune Tower in Chicago (Illustrations)...................... 145-149 The Scottish National War Memorial (Illustrations)
150, 151 The Structural Aspect of the New Horticultural Hall
(Illustrations).............................................. 152, 153, 154, 156 London Building Notes............................................................. 158 The Week’s Building News.............................................160
Building Contracts Open........................................................... 162 Tenders Accepted................................................................. 162, 166 Current Market Prices................................................................ 164 Current Measured Rates....................................................... 168, 170
The Speculative Small
House
The speeches at the Architecture Club Dinner last week appear to have roused more than a passing interest. The Manchester Evening Chronicle has been sufficiently enterprising to obtain one or two opinions on the statement of Mr. J. C. Squire, the Club’s president, that over 90 per cent. of the new houses were erected without an architect having any part in their design. Mr. Norman McKellen, secretary of the House Builders’ Association, however, repudiates the suggestion that builders do not employ architects. “A very large majority of the members of the National Federation of House Builders, ” he says, “employ architects, and architects of taste, to design their houses. ” Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and one would like to know where the houses designed by these ‘‘architects of taste’’ are to
be found. Certainly they do not appear to be sufficiently numerous to have attracted much attention. What, also, is an “architect of taste”? Surely, in
this connection, a man without taste could not properly appropriate the title of architect, although the fact that there are many who do is one of the main reasons for the promotion of the Architects’ Registration Bill, which aims at securing a better standard of æsthetic training as a necessary qualification for registration under its provisions. Mr. McKellen admits, however, that there are a great many poorlydesigned houses, but he thinks this is due neither to a falling off in the standard of architectural design, nor to the non-employment of architects. The reason, in his opinion, is entirely an economic one. The financial factor governs not only the size of the house but its appearance; and Mr. McKellen thinks that this is borne out by the housing of local authorities, where the financial aspect has not received such drastic attention as is necessary on a private job. Whatever may be said of the general poor standard of design in modern houses, it is not only the private builder who is liable to criticism. He thinks that municipal enterprise would benefit from the criticism of the local Advisory Committees proposed by Mr. Squire; and he states that ˮmost builders would welcome even more drastic steps than that and, subject to safeguards, would loyally work under a Committee which had power to refuse unworthy designs. ’’ This is very encouraging, particularly as Sir Lawrence Weaver and Mr. R. G. Spiller at the Club Dinner both emphasised their opinion that the speculative builder was a thoroughly well-meaning man, to be encouraged to proceed on better lines rather than
denounced. We feel that the only point on which architects might differ from Mr. McKellen is his contention, which we hope we do not misconstrue, that seemly architecture depends on the economic factor. Mr. Thomas Butterworth, a Manchester architect, also welcomes the idea of local Advisory Committees, and feels that the qualification of local surveyors, who are responsible for much of the municipal housing, lie more in the direction of engineering than architecture. He agrees with Mr. Squire that a large number of builders in a small way concern themselves more with interior construction than external appearances — and many “have not an element of design in them. ” This confirms the opinion of Mr. Spiller, himself a builder, which we mentioned last week, that the gravest evils on the country-side are being wrought by the small, by the village-carpenter type of man just starting on house building in a small way. One must not pass over Mr. Spiller’s suggestion that architects should produce, at a small price, a book of designs, with photographs and plans of detached bungalows and cottages, for various areas in the kingdom, suitable for erection in the traditional manners of those areas. That is a suggestion that presents many difficulties, which are not insuperable, however, if taken up by the R. I. B. A. as the representative body of the profession, and issued under its ægis. Mr. Spiller’s other proposal that placques of honour (to be affixed to the houses) should be awarded each year in each county for the best-designed houses costing specified sums is also well worth consideration, and we have reason to believe that something may come of the suggestion. Mr. Spiller had many other helpful suggestions, among them some for the manufacturers of materials — a smaller brick, a better form of asbestos slating, and so on. Certainly the object — which was exploratory — of the discussion at the Club’s Dinner has been achieved in some measure, and possibly at some later meeting the ideas it produced may be hammered out into some concrete proposals which will command the support of architects and builders alike.
The Towers of Babel
The skyscraper is still a question of controversy in the United States, but according to the New York correspondent of The Manchester Guardian, all the leading American authorities on housing and townplanning are hardening in their opposition to the further erection of these towering structures. There are many solid objections to them, the most forcible being the congestion both for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, on the street level and on the rapid transit systems of subways and elevated railways,