The background: The April 13, 1890 edition of The Atlanta Constitution published this wide-ranging conversation with G.L. Norrman in the article “Eight Millions More”. The reporter had visited Norrman’s office to solicit his thoughts on construction prospects in Atlanta for the upcoming building season, but Norrman was more interested in discussing his ideas about architecture.
Norrman’s remarks:
“My advice is that people build simple houses, especially if they have not much to spend. The main object of a house is to make people comfortable, and to build simply for show is in bad taste. They put on all kinds of cheap ornaments that are vulgar even on expensive houses, and where they are trying to make a show with little money it is the shoddiest building they can get up. It is expensive and not ornamental.
A house should always be made as simple as possible; nothing should be put on that may be left off. It is strange that business men of good sense should use it so badly when they come to build, and instead of building for comfort should build entirely for show. They even put tops on school houses that make them look like summer hotels.”
Reporter: What is the prevailing style?
“The prevailing style is no style at all. But few houses here or elsewhere are built in good taste. Any style is good. There is no preference, so that the style is carried out. A building should also suggest in its architecture the purpose for which it is intended.
The Romanesque style was introduced into this country by Richardson, who has used it very effectively; but his imitators always make a failure of it because they are not as cultivated as he, and consequently do not know how to carry it out. I do not think it a good style for libraries and public buildings, because it is a style that was developed in the most barbarous age and has no suggestion of learning.
The colonial style has been introduced lately by McKim, Mead & White, of New York, and it is very good as they designed it, but there are few who carry out the style well. At best it has a number of absurdities that are only interesting because of their association with the early history of this country.
The so-called colonial style is barbarism of the Italian renaissance interpreted by Sir Christopher Wren. The best buildings on this continent are as a rule of that style. Mr. [E.C.] Gardner, of this city, who is a very cultured architect, is strong in colonial style.
Whatever suits the occasion is best no matter what style, whether gothic, Romanesque, Queen Anne or renaissance so it is harmoniously carried out.
Shingle as a rule is the best wall covering for frame houses, because the grain of the wood is perpendicular, whereas in weatherboarding it is not. But when shingles are put up as an ornament, it is in bad taste, for there is no particular beauty in the shingle.
There should always be eight inches of brick around flues where the brick touches woodwork. It takes more brick, but it is the only safe way to build a chimney, and I always put it in the specifications. Architects, as a rule, do not build chimneys large enough. Usually they only put four inches of brick between a flue and woodwork. That is not sufficient.
Galvanized iron does not harmonize with anything. It is a makeshift. It is used because stone is too costly.
If a child looks up and sees iron painted to imitate stone, his keen eyes detect the fraud; and when his father undertakes to teach him truthfulness, the child tells him he is another. Why, I have even known ministers to build such falsehoods in their churches.”
Reporter: Do you get any ideas from nature?
“Painting and sculpture are intended to suggest nature, but architecture is not. There is nothing in nature that you can pattern after. A great many writers on architecture know nothing about it. There is Ruskin who wrote so many books about architecture without understanding his subject. In his description of the church of San Marco, he said the undulatory appearance of the floor was the architect’s representation of the waves of the Adriatic. If he had understood construction he would have known that the church was built on piles and the floor settled.
The outlook for building is good this year, and I think there will be more of it done this year than last; certainly the houses will be of a better character.”