|
Do not attempt to
build a dwelling upon your farm after the fashion of the
town-house of your friend, the city merchant; do not attempt to
give the modest little cottage the ambitious air of the ornate
villa. Be assured that there is, if you will search for it, a
peculiar beauty to each of these classes of dwellings that
heightens and adorns it almost magically; while if it borrows
the ornaments of the other, it is only debased and falsified in
character and expression.
A.J.Downing, The
Horticulturist, 1848
However small a
building may be, let it never show an awkward conception, when a
good form is more easily made than a bad one.
A profusion of
decoration, or ‘gingerbread work,’ so often seen, more
commonly shows a want of true architectural taste than its
presence.
In all cases study beauty of form
and proportion, and not ornament. Tasteful simplicity is better
than fanciful complexity -as a statue in simple drapery is
better than one bedizzened with feathers, ribbons, and unmeaning
gewgaws.
The Register
of Rural Affairs, 1858
Fashion is not
the synonym of taste; nor is beauty monopolized by wealth. A low
log-cabin, nestled in the woods, the moss grown over its roof,
the morning-glories climbing to the rustic window, is more
attractive and is a better home than many a costly marble
mansion. But the effort of ‘putting the best foot foremost,’
and anxiously attempting much display, costs our country homes
the truth, the comfort, the sobriety which ought to characterize
their architecture.
No house can fail
to please whose form and hue accord with the adjacent country;
which looks just what it is, neither less nor more; whose
proportions and details are formed upon the principles of taste;
and whose inner arrangement regards economy of space and gives
attention to the laws of health, - requiring the fewest steps,
presenting the greatest cheerfulness, neatness and convenience
for common and daily use. All which the poorest man who builds
can have as well as the rich; for Providence opens a short road
to comfort, but hedges up the path to luxury.
The Register
of Rural Affairs, 1865
Proportion may be shown in the
smallest cottage as well as in the most magnificent palace - and
the former should be carefully designed as well as the latter.
The Register
of Rural Affairs, 1856
Those who have
watched the progress of Rural Architecture for some years past,
have noticed a marked advance in architectural design and
proportion and convenient and economical interior arrangement;
yet, compared with the large number of structures yearly put up,
the really attractive and tasteful buildings form the exception,
and not the rule. Building, at best, is an expensive
undertaking, and those who engage in it without availing
themselves of the progressive improvements of the day, make
investments from which it is difficult to realize first cost;
while he who embraces the principles of beauty, harmony, good
taste, etc., rarely fails to command his customer, and a
handsome profit when ready to sell. The fact we desire to
impress most thoroughly is, that it costs no more to build
correctly and beautifully than to ignore all rules of taste, and
that every one in this broad land who means to have a home of
his own, should have a home worth owning.
The Register
of Rural Affairs, 1858 |
