ENGLISH HOUSES OF WOOD

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 16 (Supplement)

ENGLISH HOUSES OF WOOD

Will Era of Brick Go?

A CAMPAIGN is under way to reintroduce timber houses in Britain. This news item invites examination of one of the most striking physical differences between Britain and the United States. In wood is used lor garages, dog kennels and week-end bungalows by the sea; but the vast housing estates w meh have sprung up in recent years are a sea of brick, with concrete structures appearing as occasional white horses. Consequently an Englishman visiting the United Btates is amazed at the extent ot timber houses I'he tram trip from New York to Boston is a 230-mile exhibition ot the modern use of tiie more ancient building material. Similarly Americans abroad are often heard remarking on the complete predominance oi red brick houses in Britain. A change seems disceruioie in England, however. The vanguard of the movement was a novel train which steamed out of Paddington, London terminus, recently on a tour of 27 towns in England, Scotland and Wales. Its object is to educate people in timbei matters, and especially in the desirability of wooden houses. The tour has been arranged by the Timber Development Association and has encouragement from the Government through the forest Products Research Laboiatory. Timber experts are on the train to give lectures and information, and there is a library of books on timber as well as samples of 72 different kinds ot wood. Several model wood houses are also carried, including an English Georgian country cottage, an American colonial house, a Canadian log cabin, a modern Swiss lakeside chalet, and a Dutch cottage. Other methods being used to remove apparent English prejudice against timber houses are literature, talks and architectural competitions for young architects —young ones, because they are regarded as representing the building ideas of the future. Actually all this propaganda is rather strange in view of the fact that Britain has a tradition in wood«-n house building. Eor while many English people have probably never 6cen examples ot their ancestors’ craft in this medium, there are some hue specimens to bo found off the beaten track. Lovely little villages of weather-boarding exist in Sussex, such as Steyning, Nortliiam, Mayfield, Groomsbridge, and at Chatham in Kent. Old half-timber-ed houses are a feature of the counties ot Shropshire and Warwickshire. Why then has wood lost favour with British householders of to-day? The Victorian era developed architecture ot a heavy everlasting style. But times have changed and such solidity does not match the twentieth century. Hough figures sometimes given for the minimum lives of wooden, brick and stone houses are 25, 50, and 100 years, respectively. But in practice the seventeen th and eighteenth century timber houses which still can be discovered in parts of Britain are proof of the durability of their material. The writer of this article lives in a Tudor farm cottage dating back 500 years. Great oak beams hold the structure together. Brick and plaster are

used for some of the walls. Others on investigation, first by mice and then by men, reveal a composition of thin wooden laths, straw, sticks and piaster. These walls have stood up to eeuturies ot wind, rain and storm, and show that brick, stone and coucrete provide by no means the only ways of keeping dry and warm. Cost of labour has been a big factor in deciding the types of houses most popular in Britain and the United States. American wages being higher, speedier building is necessary and wood becomes a moie suitable material. In Britain all-brick-built homes with three bedrooms, two reception looms, bathroom and kitchen are being sold at as low as £SOO. This includes bathroom, bath, plumbing and coke sto\e for heating watei, but not steam or water heat for rooms, o* central heating, as it is called here. Although one form or another of central beating is tending to become more a necessity than a luxury in well-to-do homes in Britain, the vast mapority of modest homes still expect to do without it. Coal, gas and electric fires are used for warmth. It seems that prices of houses in England are as low as they can be expected to go. Builders’ wages tend to rise and there is a demand for still cheaper houses lor lower-waged workers. is claimed that the majority of families spend far more in rent or instalments lor their houses than economists would have them do in proportion to their total incomes. It is suggested therefore that timber could play a big part in reducing siicb costs. Another branch ot building in which timber shows signs of coming into its own in Britain is school construction. Very large sums have in the last decade been spent in erecting costly brick schools. Advancing educational ideas have in some cases made these schools out ol date. The Timber Development Association is finding school authorities ready to admit that wooden buildings have the advantage of lower initial cost, aud can be modified or extended more easily. Lack of experience in constructing with wood has been another hindrance. But the activities of the Timber Development Association are helping to provide experience in building and in estimating costs of timber dwellings.

Quite a lot of totally wrong ideas about birds exist, and some are -ven harboured by naturalists and mentioned in popular Nature books. The most prominent is the idea that a robin, thrush, etc., hopping about a lawn and cocking its head to one side is “listening for worms.” Actually it is focussing one eye on the ground to see better the tip of the worm protruding from its burrow, just as the bird* with different vision to us, turns its head aside to inspect the food on the bird table or on the stone path. —“Armchair Science.”