. Lutyens houses and gardens . and modulations ofhis own. It has already been said that the exigencies ofthe site have impressed on it some of the characteristics of atown house. Town manners have given to the word urban-ity its significant shade of meaning, and, despite the severityof mass and outline that marks the design of Nashdom, therepose with which it is instinct gives it an over-veiling senseof the urbane and makes it soundly domestic. Withoutthat urbanity, without the hint of the spirit of Versailles inits great garden stair, without, in fact, the originality whichbrings personal emp
. Lutyens houses and gardens . and modulations ofhis own. It has already been said that the exigencies ofthe site have impressed on it some of the characteristics of atown house. Town manners have given to the word urban-ity its significant shade of meaning, and, despite the severityof mass and outline that marks the design of Nashdom, therepose with which it is instinct gives it an over-veiling senseof the urbane and makes it soundly domestic. Withoutthat urbanity, without the hint of the spirit of Versailles inits great garden stair, without, in fact, the originality whichbrings personal emphases and modulations to give vitalityto the usual, Nashdom would have looked like an institutioninstead of a dignified country house. For a basis of comparison in this austerity of characterwe must look to Italian examples, such as the great Romanpalaces. There is a hint of Roman largeness of idea in theDoric porch, which forms so effective a link in the dualdesign of the house. But when all is said, the singular Nashdom 161. < xW ci-J w a H O s 0 Q CO 162 Nashdom interest of the house is its uncompromising assertion of theright of whitewashed brick to a place among the materialsof right use in a great mansion no less than in a waysidecottage. It is a claim of the humble to pride of place, andthe claim must be allowed. Nashdom, with its atmosphere of mingled opulence andausterity, is a fine exercise in that simplicity which has init a hint of arrogance. It is the more interesting to thestudent of Sir Edwins work because its character is remotefrom the broad humanism that marks his work in the Englishspirit of the early eighteenth century.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecta, booksubjectgardens
