STRAIGHT LINE ARCHITECTURE

Evening Star, Issue 19802, 28 February 1928, Page 2

STRAIGHT LINE ARCHITECTURE

ACHIEVEMENT OF ENGLISH HOME BUILDER An Englishman, Mr W. J. BassctLowkc, whoso hobby is the improvement of housing and furnishing, has fulfilled a cherished ambition and built a house in sympathy with his feelings and convictions. He has realised his ideal that the modern man should have everything in his home constructed since the year of his birth. The result, “New Ways,” is interesting in the extreme—a joyful, entertaining, and amusing expression of strong personality, says Mr E. W. Hobbs, in ‘The Ideal Home.’

The general design-detail of the hall lounge, dining room, and exterior emanates from one of tho master minds of Continental design, Professor Ur Peter Behrens, of Vienna and Berlin, under whose directions by correspondence tho owner supervised the work. It was completed early last year, and is now occupied and rendered into a home in tho best sense.

Despite tho resemhlantcc to an allconcrete house, says Mr Hobbs, “ New Ways” is in reality built with local brick, cement rendered and sack finished, to impart a texture and richness to the surface.

Tho entrance doors, painted ultramarine blue, have glazed orange and white panels, and admit to an inner hall, with lavatory and cloak room, by ascending a few broad and low steps, to tho spacious inner hall, with a greywhite and black tiled iloor of subtle design. Were it not for the consistent interest of the other apartments, tho hall, with its walls of primrose-yellow, matt grey enamelled flush-faced doors, wKli intriguing embellishments, would stamp tho house with a peculiar individuality. Tho mirror frames in black and vermilion and the pierced radiator grills carry out tho same motif as tho floor design; one side of the hall lias a tiled piscina or fountain; in tho coiling is a radiant star with centre electric illumination ; and in the gallery a built-in clock of attractive design with red and blue colored hands.

Taking the individual rooms in turn, the writer describes the dining room as a delightful apartment in figured walnut. with a simple brown pile carpet, furniture of direct and efficient design, a practical service hatch ably concealed and opening into a service hall adjacent to tho kitchen. The special ceiling light is composed of walnut strips and opal glass. The lantern wall lights in walnut ipilasters make a delicious enser hie, with a background of light string-colored wallpaper and very deep orange curtains. french windows give access to a re-', cessed loggia, having .steps to the old-/ world garden, which existed prior to the house. Other French windows permit of additional entrance to the largest room in tho house. The lounge, an apartment full of original' conceptions, is super-modern in treatment. The walls are temporarily papered in bluey-grcen. The furniture is upholstered iu almond-green with faint red lines forming a rectangular pattern. The oak parquet flooring, oak dado, and wall enrichments form a background for the specially made furniture. Tho stone fireplace has a tiled interior patterned in gold and black on a faint buff ground. The fascinationg ceiling, with its irregular levels, catches the fanciful play of light and shade. All these combine to form a dignified ensemble, enlivened by the gaily patterned Parisian carpet by the Galleries Primavera.

The study is a room of cool aud dignified refinement based on original designs. The stencilled motif in flat colors—orange, red, blno, grey, and yellow on the primrose walls, are balanced bv the black doors, floor, and furniture. The amusing central light, with its cunning ceiling piece, is another refreshingly new idea, and withal remarkably effective.

I'u the domestic apartments a soft green is the predominating note of color, and the kitchen is a. model of thoughtful application of proven modern ideas. The owner’s bedroom is carried thro -gh in a color scheme of cerise and blue, with grey painted furniture, and a touch of strong vital color imparted by the purple curtains. • Direct access to a well-conceived bath-dressing room, with tiled bath recess, basin, and other conveniences, is a desirable feature •worthy of the sincerost form of flattery.

The guesVs bedroom on the opposite side of the landing is conceived on similar lines, and an exact duplicate of the owner’s bedroom, but the color scheme m if anything still more strikingly effective, and exhibits a praiseworthy fearlessness in the handling of strong colors. Light oak furniture is placed on a vivid green carpet, the windows curtained with French chintz, boldly patterned in red, orange, and blue, and the same' material employed for the chair tops and for other vigorous touches. Tho walls arc white with silver strips.

“ New Ways,” says Mr Hobbs in conclusion, is a comparatively inexpensive building, but as a home of delightful color, a new expression of a personal taste, incorporating every modern aid to comfort and efficiency, it is in every sense of the word a home of the present day.