Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 149, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1918 — Home Town Helps [ARTICLE]

Home Town Helps

TOO OFTEN LACK HARMONT I.■ . ■ Groups of Houses, Especially In Suburbs of American Cities, Express a Spirit of Unrest. Harmony in design in groups of houses is coming to a sense of appreciation,, as is evidenced by several housing schemes and the architectural treatment followed in certain developments. The American, when he builds’ for himself, has a strong desire for individuality of expression. This is shown particularly in almost any suburb, where you will stee a neighborhood of houses in which many styles of architecture, class of materials, color schemes, etc., are represented. Th& lines and shapes have no relation to each other, so that as you look at the group there is a spirit of unrest and clashing in many respects. The whole group lacks repose and the homelike feeling is interfered with, even although each individual house might be good enough in itself. Possibly this result is a reaction from the individuals having previously lived In city rows of a stereotyped plan; thus, having been previously suppressed, when the opportunity offers they go to an extreme of expression, or possibly it might In some cases be due to the architect’s desire to have the individuality of the house stand out, or the wealth of materials and knowledge of styles which we have at our disposal may also tend to this variety in treatment. In any case the result is not entirely satisfactory and could be improved. Variety and individuality sufficient for a reasonable nature may be obtained even when the buildings are designed with relation to each other, and harmonize in line, shape, materials, color, etc., and thus produce a more artistic and homelike feeling to each one and the entire group.