Part 7 (1/2)

THE HOUSE

Man has always been a builder. Like squirrels and beavers and birds he provides himself a home as by instinct. The kind of house erected by a people in the beginning depended upon the surroundings, upon the enemies that prowled about, upon the climate, upon the building materials close at hand. In a hilly, rocky region primitive folk built one kind of house, in a forest they built another kind, in a low marshy district they built still another kind. In all cases they took the materials that were the easiest to get and erected the kind of dwelling place that would afford the greatest safety and comfort.

If one could have traveled over the earth during the first days of man's history one would doubtless have found that dwellings were made of wood, for in those days the greater part of the earth was covered with forests. To build a home in the forest was the simplest of tasks. All that was necessary was to fasten together the tops of several saplings, interlace the saplings with boughs (Fig. 1) and cover the frame with skins of animals or thatch it with leaves and gra.s.s. A cone-shaped structure of this pattern, a tent, or hut, or wigwam, was the first house of all primitive people who lived where there was plenty of wood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--BUILDING A HOUSE WITH WOOD.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.--A CAVE-DWELLING.]

In many regions, especially in parts of northwestern Europe, the wigwam or hut was not always the most suitable dwelling place for early man. In hilly and mountainous districts and along streams where sh.o.r.es were overhung by rocks or pierced by caverns the first inhabitants found that a hollow in the earth was the best kind of house. Sometimes the house of the cave-dwellers was made by Nature (Fig. 2); sometimes it was an artificial living-place dug in the side of a hill or mountain. The cave was truly a rude and gloomy home, yet there was a time when large numbers of the human race lived in caves. The Zuni Indians of Arizona in seeking a refuge from their enemies built their homes far up in steep cliffs where it was almost impossible for a stranger to go.

Coming down from the highlands to the lowlands where there were swamps and marshes or where inland lakes were numerous, we find that the first houses were built upon piles driven in the water or in the mud (Fig. 3).

These lake-dwellings, as houses of this kind were called, were generally connected with the mainland by gangways of wooden piers, although sometimes they could be approached only by boat. In the floors of some of these curious dwellings were trapdoors through which baskets could be lowered for catching fish in the lake below. The children of the lake-dwellers were tethered by the feet to keep them from falling into the water. The beautiful city of Venice in its infancy was a community of lake-dwellers. The rough canoe of the lake-dwelling time has developed into the graceful gondola, and the rude wooden pier has grown to be the magnificent Rialto.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.--LAKE-DWELLINGS, RESTORED.

(From Troyon.)]

In many regions the most convenient building material is stone and all over the earth there are proofs to show that building with stone began at a very early date. The stones in the earliest stone structures were rough and unhewn and were laid without mortar or cement (Fig. 4) yet they were sometimes fitted together with such nicety that a thin knife blade could not be pa.s.sed between them. Remains of stone houses built many thousands of years ago may be seen in Peru, Mexico, Italy, and Greece. These primitive dwellings were humble and simple, but they were made of good material and they were well built. They have weathered the storms of ages and they have remained standing while later and more pretentious buildings have crumbled and disappeared.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.--A PRIMITIVE STONE HOUSE.]

The ill.u.s.trations of early building which have been given will make plain the truth that the people of a particular country have taken the materials nearest at hand and have constructed their homes according to their particular needs. Now since the beginnings of house building have been different in different parts of the earth, the story of the house will not be the same in all countries. In China and j.a.pan, where the light bamboo has always flourished and has always been used in building, the house has had one development; in countries where granite and marble and heavy timber abound it has had another and an entirely different development. What then is the story of the house as we see it in our country? Can this story be told? As one pa.s.ses through an American city looking at the public buildings and churches and stores and dwellings can one go back to the beginning and trace step by step the growth of the house and tell how these came to be what they are? Let us see if this cannot be done.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--AN EGYPTIAN HOUSE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--AN ANCIENT HEBREW DWELLING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--INTERIOR OF AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PALACE.]

Our story takes us back many thousands of years to Egypt, the cradle of civilization. From Egypt it will take us to Greece, thence to Rome, thence to the countries of Northern Europe, thence to America. What kind of houses did the Egyptians first build? They built as simple a structure as can be imagined; they erected four walls and over these they placed a flat roof (Fig. 5). The roof was made flat because in Egypt there is scarcely any rain and there was no need for a roof with a slant. In all those countries where rain seldom falls, or never falls, the flat roof is the natural roof (Fig. 6). Although their buildings were simple in construction the Egyptians left behind them most remarkable specimens of the builder's art. Their pyramids and monuments and sphinxes and palaces have always been foremost among the great wonders of the world. Figure 7 shows the interior of an ancient Egyptian palace. This palace had only an awning for a roof. That was all that was necessary to keep out the rays of the sun. Notice the lofty pillars or columns of this building. You see they are adorned above or below with the figure of the lotus, the national flower of the Egyptians. The column, as we shall see, plays an important part in the history of the house and it was ancient Egypt that gave the world its first lessons in the art of making columns.

From Egypt we pa.s.s over ”the sea” to Greece. The Greeks borrowed ideas wherever they could and in the matter of architecture they borrowed heavily from Egypt. But they did not borrow the flat roof of the Egyptians. In Greece there was some rainfall and this fact had to be taken into account when building a house; the roof had to slant so that the rain could run off. Now the Greeks taught the world the best way to make a slanting roof. They made the roof to slant in two directions from a central ridge (Fig. 8) instead of having the entire roof to slant in one direction like an ugly shed. The slant was gentle because there was no snow to be carried off. The roof of two slants formed a gable. The Greeks, then, were the inventors of the _gable_. The column they borrowed from Egypt. But whenever the Greeks borrowed an invention or an idea they nearly always improved upon it. Instead of slavishly imitating the Egyptian columns they tried to make better ones and they were so successful that they soon became the teachers of the world in column making.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.--A GREEK DWELLING.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.--THE THREE ORDERS OF COLUMNS.]

The oldest and strongest of the Greek columns belong to what is known as the Doric order (Fig. 9), a name given to them because they were first made by the Dorians, the original Greek dwellers in Europe. Aside from the flutes or channels which ran throughout its length the Doric column was perfectly plain. In the older Doric columns even the flutes are absent. Its _capital_ or top, was without ornament. Later the graceful and elegant Ionic pillar (Fig. 9) came into fas.h.i.+on. We can always distinguish an Ionic column by the volute or scroll at its capital. The latest of the Greek columns was the Corinthian (Fig. 9), the lightest, the most slender and the most richly decorated of all. A cl.u.s.ter of acanthus leaves at its capital is the most prominent ornament of the Corinthian column. The Greeks carried the art of column making to such perfection that even to this day we imitate their patterns. A column in a modern building is almost certain to be a Greek column. It is worth one's while, therefore, to be able to tell one Greek column from another. One can do this by remembering (1) that the Doric column is perfectly plain and has no capital; (2) that the Ionic column has a scroll at the capital; (3) that the capital of the Corinthian column is adorned with a cl.u.s.ter of acanthus leaves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--AN OLD ROMAN ARCH.]

Our story now takes us to Italy. Greece fell before the power of Rome 146 B.C., but before she fell she had taught her conquerors a great deal about architecture. Indeed the Romans took up the art of building where the Greeks left it. They needed the Greek gable for they had rains, and the Greek column recommended itself to them on account of its beauty.

They used the best features of Grecian architecture and added a feature that was largely their own. This was the _arch_. The Greeks, like the Egyptians before them, bridged over the openings of doors and windows and the s.p.a.ces between columns by means of straight wooden beams or long blocks of stone. The Romans bridged over these s.p.a.ces with the arch (Fig. 10). If you will study the arch you will see that it is a curved structure which is supported by its own curve. You will also see that it is a structure of great strength. The greater the weight placed upon it, providing its bases are supported, the stronger it gets. In teaching the world how to make arches Rome added to the house an element of great strength and beauty. With the arch came the tall building. In Greece a house was never more than two stories high. In Rome arch rose upon arch (Fig. 11); the dome which is itself a kind of arch appeared and palaces were piled story upon story until they seemed to reach the skies.

From Italy we pa.s.s to northern Europe. The power of Rome fell 476 A.D., but before that date the greater part of Europe had been Romanized, and the Roman way of building with column and arch and dome had been learned in France and Germany and England. But the climate of those countries was different from that of Italy and a slight change in the Roman way of building was necessary. In the northern countries there were heavy rains and snows and a roof with a gentle slope was not suitable for carrying off large quant.i.ties of water and snow. A gable (Fig. 12) with a sharp slant was necessary. Hence throughout northern Europe the roofs were built much steeper than they were in Italy and Greece, although in other respects the northern houses resembled more or less closely those of the older southern countries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.--INTERIOR OF A ROMAN CLUB HOUSE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12.--A DWELLING IN NORTHERN EUROPE.]