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The book of houses PDF

150 Pages·1973·27.361 MB·0\150
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Of The Book HOUSES Geoffrey Hindis A pictorial exploration of how we make and use the homes in we which live Amachineforlivingin-thischalleng- ing description of a house is said to have been coined by the great 20th-century architect Le Corbusier-but as author Geoffrey Hindley writes, 'people are untidy and passionate, their homes are homes of love and anger, worry and achievement and of unpredictable people both young and old. No machine has yet been devised that will really serve for living in.' In more than 200 fascinating pictures this book explores homes as they really are. from all periods, m all parts of the world. The Book of HOUSES Thepublishersgratefullyacknowledgethefollowingwhohavesupplied theillustrations forthisbook: J. Allan Cash. London 14/. 16/. 24*. 26/. 364. 37/. 39*. 39/. 52.54/. 56/. 58/.58c 65/.68, 69/. 69*. 12b. 80/.81/. 100*. 101; .American Museum inBath 135A:Ashmolean Museum. Oxford8/.9/. *. 10/.b. 44/; BarnabvsPicture Library. London 131. 138/; Bavaria-\>rlag 12. 28//. 28W,29*/: 29*r.40. 102. 114*, 119//. 128*:Stefan Bu/as. London 30*.95; Cementand ConcreteAssociation. London 130/r: Cooper Bridgeman Library, London66:TrewinCopplestone. London 142A; CountryLife, London 74, 79//,tr\ Courtauld Instituteof.\rt. London38/. 38*r.60: DutchSocietyofSciences. Haarlem 34r:John R. Freeman. London 129/r: PhotographicGiraudon. Paris 18. 19; Glasgow UniversityArt Collection48/; SusanGriggs. London 142/; HamlynGroup. London6/. 17/.20f. 32, 36/. 77/. 82/r. 83/r.84.90/. 122. 126/. 130*. 141/. 143/; HampshireCounty MuseumSer\ice49/; Robert Harding.Associates. London 143*: LucienHer\e, Paris It. b. 1.43/.b. 119/r, 119*. 131*: India OfficeLibraryand Records. London 129*r. 130/: PhilipJohnson. NewYork 144/. *: Keele L"ni\ersitv Library49*; A. F. Kersting. London 1. 17*. 20*.23*. 42.53. 56*.62. 63*.64/. 65*. 75. 76.80*.83//. 87. 112; PaoloKoch. Zollikon 120. 121/r. 121*r. 123/, 124/.*. 125/, *. 126*: Eric Lyons. Cunningham and Partners, London 166; MuseeNationaldu Chateaude Malmaison88: Mansell Collection. London8. 30/.44*. 118b: Mitchell BeazleyLtd., London 55/; National Gallery, London 11. 38/: NationalGallery. WashingtonDC. GiftofEdgarand BerniceGarbisch 14*: National Monuments Record. London 15. 48*. 55*; National Trust. London 13, 59*.81*. 82//. 85; Picturepoint. London 26. 67/. *, 78. 79. 103. 139; RIBA. London82*. 138*. 141*:Scala. Florence22/.98/.99/; Science Museum. London 58*; Spectrum Colour Library. London 25/. 27/. *. 28*. 31*, 33/,*. 34/. 37*. 51. 70.98*. 134. 135/: Dr. Franz Stoedtner. Dusseldorf118/: Thames and Hudson. Ltd.. London97*: .AgenceTOP. Paris 106. 107. 108*. 110. Ill: \ictoria and -Albert Museum, London23/r; WallaceCollection. London23//; Wayland Ltd, London 18*,21. 22*. 24/, 31/,46/,46A,47/,47*. 50/.*; Weidenfelda-d Nicolson Ltd, London 3,35. 59/, 61, 64*. 70/. 71. 72/, 73, 77*.86/.86*.90*.91.92/.93.94.96/,96*, 97/,99*, 100/. 102/, 104, 105, 108/, 113/, 113r. 113*. 114/, 115/, 115*. 116. 117/. 117*/. 117*r, 127, 128/, 132, 136/, 136A, 137*, 139/: Woburn.AbbeyPark57/. ISBN 85674025 \ Published by Triune Books. London, England © Trewin Copplestone Publishing Ltd 1973 Printed in Spain by Printer IndustriaGraficaSA, Tuset 19. Bariclona San X'icentedels Horls Dep<')sitolegal B 18974 1973 MohnGordon Ltd. London Allrightsrescr\ed. Nopart ofthis publication Page 7 The remarkable rococo chinoiserie maybereproduced, recordedor transmitted decorations around the door in the Chinese inanyformorbyan\ means, whether Room, Claydon, which were executed by the electronicormechanical,includingpholocopv. local craftsman, Luke Lightfoot. microfilm, recordingorany information storageand retriexal system, without Page 3 The rustic kitchen complete with pine permission inwriting from [rewin Coppleslime furniture and open fireplace at Monticello, near Publishing Ltd, London Charlottesville, Va., the homeofThomasJefferson. Contents Machines for Living In 6 Homes in a Landscape 21 Towns, Cities and Space 34 At the Big House 44 Homes fit for Gentlemen 56 The Residence of Princes 88 Ritual and Refinement 120 Homes in the New World 133 Machines for Living In 'A machine for living in': it is certainly a chal- lenging definition of a house. The quotation is generally attributed to the Swiss-horn architect. Le Corbusier, though he has disclaimed author- ship. E\en so, it is ohxiously an architect's phrase intended to shock people into a complete rethink ofwhat they expect ofa house. Is it merely a form ofconvenient accommodation or is it .something more? So we start this book with an investigation ofsome ofthe functions ofthe house throughout history and some ofthe qualities ofdomestic life in the past. The house has ne\er l)ecn merelyashelter. The cave paintings of pre-historic man show us that when men settle in even the most primitive form ofshelter, it becomes something more than that. .\ house is a permanent dwelling, often inhabited by thesame familyand itsdescendantsoveralong period of lime. We shall be seeing a number of 'machines for li\ing in" in this book; they range from the grandiose to the humble, but they have this incommonthat lhe\ allha\c toaccommodate that variable and awkward commodity, human nature. Shortly after the Second World War, Le Corbusierreceived a commission from the French Ministry of Reconstruction to build a block of flats in Marseilles in southern France, intended to house 1500 people. The result was a building which some feci revolutionized the direction of modem architecture. This is partly becauseofthe exciting way in which the architect handled the technical problems posed by post-war shortages both in materials and skilled labour. The genius of Le Corbusier was able to create architectural poelr\- in the textured surfaces he got from rough Le C^orbusier was also determined to give the and often clumsily cast concrete. low income families lor whom the place was For us the social concept ofthe Unite d'Habita- designed, thesenseofspaciouslivingandgrandeur lion ('Dwelling Unit"), is even more interesting. i()und in the lofty rooms ofa mansion. Each flat The whole building rests on massive pillars. Le has a two-storeyed living room with a gallery Corbusier, in the 1940s far ahead of the current round it at first floor level for the bed. Stretching environmental fashion, regarded land as a scarce back from it through the width ot tlic building resource, so at Marseilles children play in the were long narrow second i)edroom. kiulien and open air and drivers park their (ars under a bathroom. These dwellings, shaped like an L' on vertical township. For, besides the residential its back overlapped one another so that two Hals flats, stacked 'like bottles in a rack", there is also a took up three storeys. Ihe idea was brilliant and huge shopping precinct halfway up the building enlightened, but for a large family, where those and evena hotel. ()n the roofthereisagymnasium sleepingin thelivingroom gallery arebound tobe and swimming pool as the architect aimed to disturbed ifothers want to sit uj) late, there arc- provide all the services ofa town in his Unite. obvious practical disadvantages. The same sort The Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier built his 'pilotis'. The roof, with its sensational view of the Unite d'Habitation at Marseilles, France, to neighbouring mountains, was used to the full, provide low cost housing for about 1500 with play areas for children and sports facilities. people. Because he regarded land as a scarce Below right The interior of a flat by Le Corbusier. resource he raised the building on pillars, called ofthing has been found in many other flats. 'Housing' and 'accommodation' arc the words we tend to use today instead of 'house". People have to be put somewhere and the answer is often these high rise flats to make the maximum use of land and materials. But li\ingat great heightscan be psychologically disturbing while the fact that children may have to go the whole height ofthe building to reach their playgrounds and that the entrances to the dwelling units are on long and usually dark corridors, breaks up the sense of community that is to be found in a conventional city street of family houses. P'or many people a houseoftheirown is the ideal. Ahouseis notjusta form ofaccommodation, it is something more. In every- civilisation it is the great houses that have set the fashions which others have followed where they can. In the West, the Roman villa was for centuries the ideal of the house for the rich and powerful. 'My dear Gallus. you may wonder why my Laurentine place is such a jo\ to me. but once you reali.se the attractions ofthe hou.se itself, the amenities ofits situation, and its extensive seafront, you will have your answer.' The writer is Pliny the Younger and in the letter that follows he sets out the beauties of the ideal country place near Rome in about the year .\D 100. It was the city man's dream, only se\en- tcen miles from the capital so it was possible to do a full day'swork and ride back in time fordinner. The main dining room was, in Pliny's \icw. "realK- rather fine." It ran out towards the sea so that when the wind was in the right direction light plumes ofspray came into the terrace; when the weather was colder or rougher one simpK had to close the folding glass doors so as to enjoy the luxury of a modern waterside restaurant. Leading offfrom the dining room was a suite of bedrooms and a library set so that the ra\s oftlie morning and evening sun streamed in on them; behind them were the rooms of the slaxes and freedmen. .Along the sea-front from the dining room was the ball court and the iieatcd swimming pool, "much admired and Irom which the swimmers can see the sea." On the land side was a small dining room overlooking a quiet garden and a pergola forvines where thesoil was soft and gentle e\en to bare feet; in the corner between this and the dining room was the well stocked kitchen garden. The far side of the vine garden was bounded by an arcade witli windows looking out onto the sea, which led out to tlie suite of rooms that Pliny built onto the house as his personal retreat. Here was a sun room facing the terrace on one side and the sea on the other with next to it a beautiful alcove divided from the sun room byglass partitionsand curtains which could be drawn to make a single charming room. l"he letter is so detailed that a modern scholar has been able to build a scale model of Plinv's place in the country. The description also contains a numl)cr of themes that will recur in this book. The wealthy Roman certainly did not look on his hou.se a.s a machine for living in. Pliny was a bus\- imperial administrator and Laurcnlia pro\idcd lor him a peaceful retreat from the cares of the (iu. I h, city dweller's yearning for the comitiAside is as old as civilisation. Excavation has re\ealed handsome country villas on the fringes ofancient 8

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