walls were not trained architects, but simple untutored peasants. One sometimes wonders why our architects, educated in the best of schools and familiar with the best work in architecture, fail to create works as satisfying as those of the peasants of France. There may be something after all to the theory that sophistication is the death of art.
Irregular sized stones can make a very pleasing wall, as shown in the illustration of a house at Mont St. Michel. The quoin stones are large and more or less regular in shape and the lintel over the door is a single great stone. The main body of the wall is made up of stones of many shapes and sizes, with wide joints between. A certain restraint in handling makes this wall pleasingly informal without being heterogeneous. Note the oval door knob and the frivolous cover of the rain barrel, made of lead and scalloped at the edge. Parging is often a very successful treatment for stone work, particularly if the stone is not of a pleasing color. The mortar joints are simply spread over the stones, partially or wholly covering them. Often a stone surface is whitewashed, thus intensifying the play of light and shadow and making a fine background for shrubbery.
Patterned brick work is one of the fine points of old French architecture. A small roadside building,
evidently a fragment of a more extensive work, shows squares of stone and brick set in checkerboard fashion. The tower at Boos, near Rouen, is. I think, the finest example of paterned brick in France. The base and quoins are large blocks of limestone, the faces of the eight sides are wholly covered with colored glazed brick set in intricate designs. The heavy but simple cornice is a fitting cap to this quite elaborate structure. This tower now stands alone at the side of a farm court, but judging from some of the nearby buildings, I would hazard a guess that it was once the dove tower connected with a group of ecclesiastical buildings.
Half timber construction is another of the characteristic features of the French building. One example here given shows a house in the little town of Courmemin, in Central France, a region especially noted for half timber and patterned brick. The projecting second story is supported by heavy oak beams, with braces below, simply but effectively carved. The corner posts and all structural timbers are very sturdy. The great central chimney combines strength in its proportions with a very delicate cap of bricks, and makes the skimpy little modern chimney at the gable end look quite sorry by comparison. In the walls between the
OLD BARN AT FERME DE TOUPTS, NORMANDY
A WALL OF ALTERNATE BANDS OF BRICK AND CHALK