The Croft, Chesham

The next house. The Croft, at Chesham, involved an expenditure at the rate of eightpence per cubic foot (this cube foot standard is by far the most informing), and it will be useful to enquire the reasons of the increase. They are in the main two. The plan of Rhoswyn Cottage was extremely compact, whereas here not only is the arrangement more spread and the grouping more diverse, but the materials are more costly, notably in the large use of old oak. The spread of the plan involves the need for four chimney- stacks as against two at Gerrard's Cross, and the external walling is of much greater amount in proportion to the spaces enclosed. The result is vastly more picturesque and gives the general impression of greater size; and yet the hall is only a little larger, the drawing-room, though of more interesting shape, has about the same floor area, and the dining-room is actually smaller. On the other hand, the extended plan in the Chesham house involves a much larger floor space absorbed in passages which are reduced to a minimum at the Gerrard's Cross cottage by its very compact arrangement. Clients would save themselves some disappointment, and their architects much wasted labour, if they would, at the start, clarify their ideas as to their needs. Picturesque and irregular grouping makes for additional cost. It may very well be worth it, but architects cannot be expected to design a house thus treated which will work out at so low a cost per cube foot as a building conceived on simpler lines. Before leaving the Chesham house, attention may be drawn to the charming effect of the timber work, with its filling of brick mostly arranged in herring-bone, and to the agreeable sense of enclosure and comfort given to the drive by the low wall, which reaches outwards from the house.