Vol. CXVIII — 3079
The ARCHITECT & BUILDING NEWS
December 23, 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
Notes and Comments.................................................. Pages 941, 942
Tradition..................................................................................943 The Great Hall, Hampton Court (Illustrations).............. 944-946, 948 The Kit-Cat Restaurant (Illustrations).................................... 947, 948 “Treyford, ” Hitchin Road, Letchworth (Illus
trations)........................................................................ 949
Book Review.........................................................................950 Building Craftsmanship — Old and New. — X. (Illus
trations)......................................................................... 951
Knotts Green Special School (Illustrations)............................. 952-954
The New Bridges of Amsterdam (Illustrations).................... 955-958 Points from Papers................................................................ 959-961 The Situation in the Plastering Trade.......................................... 961 Professional Societies.................................................................. 961 London Building Notes............................................................... 962 The Week’s Building News......................................................... 963
Building Contracts Open............................................................. 964 Building Tenders......................................................................................................................... 964, 966 Current Market Prices............................................................ 965, 966 Current Measured Rates...................................................................................................... 967, 968
NOTES AND COMMENTS
Sir Frank Baines is a breezy lecturer, and possibly the more entertaining part of Us paper, at the meeting of the London Society last week, was furnished by the interpolations, both humorous and explanatory, which enlivened his prepared notes. He was, for ihstance, appreciative of the business ability of Henry VIII, who, having frightened Wolsey. into giving him the Palace in 1525, allowed the Chancellor to go on spending his money on the buildings for another four
years. The lecturer’s remarks on Wren were a little severe, for while one might agree, in the abstract, that the Palace, as Henry completed it, would have been a great national treasure, Wren’s additions and his east front are also very perfect things of their kind. Certainly, one can be glad that the buildings on the north side were never superseded, though they are a rather inconsequent jumble; but, as Sir Frank admitted, Wren always appreciated the Great Hall, and his plan for the rebuilding of the Palace on this side provided for a great approach from Bushey Park, with the Hall as a vista point. So far as the unsympathetic “Hollanders” were concerned, the real “Hollander” was never greatly interested in
Hampton Court. It was his English Queen who was mainly concerned with the Wren additions, and, as Mr. Arthur Bolton has revealed to us, who impressed the great architect with her wisdom and abilities. Sir Frank reserved his panegyrics for the extraordinary richness, delicacy and spontaneity of the carving of the Hall roof, although he admitted that it was a sign of a decadent period, for, unlike the Westminster Hall roof, the structural members are nowhere allowed to show clear. The roof structure is, in fact, plated with mouldings and ornament, the magnificent carvings in the spandrels under the hammer beams and elsewhere being cut in the round and applied on to boarding. In the main timbers behind all this plating, the death watch beetle and a peculiarly malignant type of dry rot had flourished very successfully together, and their ravages had continued to such an extent that consequent failures and settlements of the trusses cracked the sustaining exterior buttresses and begun to push out the tops of the walls. To Sir Frank’s skill and experience in stemming this kind of ruination, we owe the renewed existence of the roof in its original form. The trusses have, as at Westminster Hall, been strengthened with steel; it would, perhaps, be more correct to say that the steel now takes the stresses of the original trusses. The introduction of steel in these roofs has been much criticised, but it is the only practical solution of the problem. The main damage is nearly always
in the vicinity of the joints, as it is there that the female of the death watch beetle usually lays her eggs and from there that the grub begins its depredations, tunnelling about in the timber from two to three years before it emerges on the surface as the perfect insect. The idea that you can scarf on new pieces where the timber has been eaten away is out of the question, because the strength of the members lies mainly in their being whole and homogeneous entities. One lantern slide showed how, in some previous repairs, a piece of new wood had been inserted into a cavity large enough to take an infant. The addition, so far from increasing the strength, simply added a deal load to an already badly attenuated member. Sir. Frank emphasised the extreme importance of keeping roofs like this up; if you once began to take them down, you could never get them up again. The preservative solution applied to the wood had been proved by test to be fatal to the grub of the death watch beetle, but the lecturer was not prepared to say that the treatment was permanent. He thought that the public should insist upon a periodical examination of these fine roofs in State buildings, with a renewal of the treatment if found necessary. Sir Frank explained the name of the insect as being due to the peculiar tapping noise of its sex-call which could be heard twelve feet away. He kept a specimen in his office at Westminster, and tried for a long time, without avail, to get it to reply to his tapping. It was not, however, until he lit on the correct rhythm of the tapping (which he illustrated on the desk before him) that the creature responded, which it did vigorously. Subsequently he demonstrated the call and response to a lady visitor, upon which she exclaimed: ‘‘Oh, how clever of you to have taught it that! ”
The Manchester Guardian is usually so appreciative of the architects’ efforts that one regrets to find it criticising him on insufficient grounds. The architect may sin through too strong an affection for the trappings of the past; but his misdeeds seldom extend to wilful faults of omission in accommodation. Says our contemporary — “Long after the habit of. taking a bath had been established in this country, large houses were built on the assumption that one bath was as good as a feast, and even to-day, with the small motor-car beginning to wear its hundred-pound look, numbers of houses are being put up for potential motorists with neither a garage nor space for a garage.’’ Our critic must understand that the architect can only give his client what he consents
The ARCHITECT & BUILDING NEWS
December 23, 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
Notes and Comments.................................................. Pages 941, 942
Tradition..................................................................................943 The Great Hall, Hampton Court (Illustrations).............. 944-946, 948 The Kit-Cat Restaurant (Illustrations).................................... 947, 948 “Treyford, ” Hitchin Road, Letchworth (Illus
trations)........................................................................ 949
Book Review.........................................................................950 Building Craftsmanship — Old and New. — X. (Illus
trations)......................................................................... 951
Knotts Green Special School (Illustrations)............................. 952-954
The New Bridges of Amsterdam (Illustrations).................... 955-958 Points from Papers................................................................ 959-961 The Situation in the Plastering Trade.......................................... 961 Professional Societies.................................................................. 961 London Building Notes............................................................... 962 The Week’s Building News......................................................... 963
Building Contracts Open............................................................. 964 Building Tenders......................................................................................................................... 964, 966 Current Market Prices............................................................ 965, 966 Current Measured Rates...................................................................................................... 967, 968
NOTES AND COMMENTS
Sir Frank Baines is a breezy lecturer, and possibly the more entertaining part of Us paper, at the meeting of the London Society last week, was furnished by the interpolations, both humorous and explanatory, which enlivened his prepared notes. He was, for ihstance, appreciative of the business ability of Henry VIII, who, having frightened Wolsey. into giving him the Palace in 1525, allowed the Chancellor to go on spending his money on the buildings for another four
years. The lecturer’s remarks on Wren were a little severe, for while one might agree, in the abstract, that the Palace, as Henry completed it, would have been a great national treasure, Wren’s additions and his east front are also very perfect things of their kind. Certainly, one can be glad that the buildings on the north side were never superseded, though they are a rather inconsequent jumble; but, as Sir Frank admitted, Wren always appreciated the Great Hall, and his plan for the rebuilding of the Palace on this side provided for a great approach from Bushey Park, with the Hall as a vista point. So far as the unsympathetic “Hollanders” were concerned, the real “Hollander” was never greatly interested in
Hampton Court. It was his English Queen who was mainly concerned with the Wren additions, and, as Mr. Arthur Bolton has revealed to us, who impressed the great architect with her wisdom and abilities. Sir Frank reserved his panegyrics for the extraordinary richness, delicacy and spontaneity of the carving of the Hall roof, although he admitted that it was a sign of a decadent period, for, unlike the Westminster Hall roof, the structural members are nowhere allowed to show clear. The roof structure is, in fact, plated with mouldings and ornament, the magnificent carvings in the spandrels under the hammer beams and elsewhere being cut in the round and applied on to boarding. In the main timbers behind all this plating, the death watch beetle and a peculiarly malignant type of dry rot had flourished very successfully together, and their ravages had continued to such an extent that consequent failures and settlements of the trusses cracked the sustaining exterior buttresses and begun to push out the tops of the walls. To Sir Frank’s skill and experience in stemming this kind of ruination, we owe the renewed existence of the roof in its original form. The trusses have, as at Westminster Hall, been strengthened with steel; it would, perhaps, be more correct to say that the steel now takes the stresses of the original trusses. The introduction of steel in these roofs has been much criticised, but it is the only practical solution of the problem. The main damage is nearly always
in the vicinity of the joints, as it is there that the female of the death watch beetle usually lays her eggs and from there that the grub begins its depredations, tunnelling about in the timber from two to three years before it emerges on the surface as the perfect insect. The idea that you can scarf on new pieces where the timber has been eaten away is out of the question, because the strength of the members lies mainly in their being whole and homogeneous entities. One lantern slide showed how, in some previous repairs, a piece of new wood had been inserted into a cavity large enough to take an infant. The addition, so far from increasing the strength, simply added a deal load to an already badly attenuated member. Sir. Frank emphasised the extreme importance of keeping roofs like this up; if you once began to take them down, you could never get them up again. The preservative solution applied to the wood had been proved by test to be fatal to the grub of the death watch beetle, but the lecturer was not prepared to say that the treatment was permanent. He thought that the public should insist upon a periodical examination of these fine roofs in State buildings, with a renewal of the treatment if found necessary. Sir Frank explained the name of the insect as being due to the peculiar tapping noise of its sex-call which could be heard twelve feet away. He kept a specimen in his office at Westminster, and tried for a long time, without avail, to get it to reply to his tapping. It was not, however, until he lit on the correct rhythm of the tapping (which he illustrated on the desk before him) that the creature responded, which it did vigorously. Subsequently he demonstrated the call and response to a lady visitor, upon which she exclaimed: ‘‘Oh, how clever of you to have taught it that! ”
The Manchester Guardian is usually so appreciative of the architects’ efforts that one regrets to find it criticising him on insufficient grounds. The architect may sin through too strong an affection for the trappings of the past; but his misdeeds seldom extend to wilful faults of omission in accommodation. Says our contemporary — “Long after the habit of. taking a bath had been established in this country, large houses were built on the assumption that one bath was as good as a feast, and even to-day, with the small motor-car beginning to wear its hundred-pound look, numbers of houses are being put up for potential motorists with neither a garage nor space for a garage.’’ Our critic must understand that the architect can only give his client what he consents