The
Importance of Building Earnest
August 2006
From the 1860s, the ideals of a modest country house
in Victorian England grew out from the rejection of industrialization
and urban growth towards a more rural life as a model for social
reform. It became a symbol of harmony between man and nature, an
influential idea that carried much significance to a generation
of artistic designers such as Philip Webb, Richard Norman Shaw,
C.F.A. (Charles Francis Annesley) Voysey, Louis Sullivan, and Frank
Lloyrd Wright.
Idealized rural communities were created to inspire
a collaboration between painters, architects, craftsmen and builders
for the revival of English domestic architecture. The agricultural
slump of 1879-94 led to an economic downfall and a decline in the
demand for the working estate country house. The demand for the
modest country house, with extensive grounds that comprise mostly
of gardens and woodland, continued to be on the rise.
With their asymmetrical and long sloping roofs, Dutch
gables, diapered (decorative) brickwork, half-timbering, and tall
chimneys, the country houses made an honest attempt to depart from
the grand-scaled homes of the predominant Beaux-Arts Style around
that period.
Mid-19th century English vernacular architecture
stemmed from the philosophy that the building is rooted in its landscape.
The design of the building should be a direct response to the vernacular
building techniques and materials of its locality, sound proportions,
fine materials and good craftsmanship, honestly expressed. Traditional
architecture, from classical to vernacular, teaches us about the authenticity
of buildings by understanding proportion, scale, honest use of materials,
light and response to the natural site. It is important for the architect
to continue to have an understanding of a region's building materials and
methods, and how to utilize this knowledge in the construction of today's dwellings,
whether traditional or modern. Within economic and functional means, we should
attempt to seek the truth in how a building is perceived by respecting the past
as much as looking forward with thought-provoking ideas.
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