THE IDEAL HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1920, Page 6

THE IDEAL HOME.

WHAT ARE ITS ESSENTIALS? TO-DAY'S TOPIC FOR BUILDERS. At a time when so much building is in progress in all parts of Taranaki the recent article in the Daily News on the ideal home aroused much interest, and correspondents' views on the question have already provided a lot of interest. Now another correspondent has returned to the subject as follows: — In the first article which' appeared in the Daily News on this subject one of the ladies interviewed said she thought there was much to be learnt in the planning of ideal homes from observing the mistakes made by others. Except as regards minor details this theory is hardly tenable; if it was the designing of ideal homes would be an easy task, as examples of poorlyplanned dwellings are plentiful enough. In what way would a collection of poor plans assist anyone endeavoring to evolve a good one? No more than a number of ill-cut misfits would help anyone cutting out a new garment. Even good plans can only be of suggestive value. The study of a fine portrait would not greatly assist a painter in. depicting a. beautiful landscape, or the close inspection of a stone bridge by an engineer would not much facilitate his designing an iron one. There is no easy method of attaining the goal of ideal homes, which is only to be gained by those who have mastered the science of planning, and have undergone a thorough training in the principles of construction, use of materials, and many other matters pertaining to building. The London Daily Mail recently hold an extensive ideal homes competition, and substantial prizes were awarded to the successful competitors, of which there were 3000. One of the prizes, i'oOO, was "gained by a clever young New Zealand architect (Mr. H. L. Massey. of Auckland) for workers' homes in the northern industrial area, and although his design is admirable it would not be suitable for this country, where conditions and requirements are altogether different. The same may bo said of another prize-win-ning design for a labor-saving house for the average middle-class family in England, which would also be unsuitable here, and would, on account of the cost, be quite out of the roach of most families. Every new home is a separate problem, and has to be worked out so as to provide the best accommodation for its owner for the sum which he can afford to expend on it. The high cost, of building is responsible for one good result in colonial home liui'ding, that whereas in the past much good timber and labor was wasted in useless and often very ugly ornamentation, to-day a more simple and far mow attractive stvle of building is in vogue. The teddency to fritter money away on external "frills" is still to be observed and deplored, deplored because often those spending money thus do so with the honest and laudable intention of making their homes look attractive. In this particularly favored locality, where beautiful surromidinjrs can' so quickly be attained, the outside appearance of a house does not depencf on elaboration of detail, which too often destroys the restful and dignified appearance that should be aimed at. both cx'ernally and internally. What constitutes the propejr housing of the average New Zealand family is an important question relating to home building, and may be dealt with in the future.