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Design For Today   1   1933  Page: 154
 
 The Travelling Spirit
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THE TRAVELLING SPIRIT

By Robert Byron

[In the following pages we have endeavoured to suggest to those interested in the design of things and in the pattern of life generally how they may enjoy a profitable holiday without following the usual routine of sightseeing or conducted tour. Indeed, little that is mentioned will be found in Baedeker. We have invited Mr. Robert Byron, whose travels in the East and Russia have been a delight to many readers, to preface this section with a brief essay.]

Travel is the outcome of impulses both casual and imperative. Some go abroad, not because they like it, but because they hate England more. And some again, because they like England so much that only on return from a month’s purgatory in dago-land can they savour the full richness of a public school tie and a cup of Indian tea on Dover platform. Others are the joy-hogs, who trail from plage to lido and lido to plage in the effort to be still amongst those very people whose company they have enjoyed in England for the last eleven months. And others again are the pain-hogs, for whom travel, to be worthy of the name, must consist of a four-days’ beard, wooden seats in third-class carriages, a rapacious insect-life, and the odour of dry perspiration. These impulses I call casual. Their victims are filled, not so much with a desire to see strange lands, as with grotesque inhibitions for which the process of movement from frontier to frontier acts in lieu of medicine or anaesthetic. The real traveller, the person to whom travel is the fulfilment of a spiritual demand which cannot be denied, is in search of something more important. He may be a specialist, occupied only with his own subject. Or he may belong to that numerous class whose minds — whether through some limitation of intelligence or some flicker of artistic genius — are totally unable to admit even the existence of a place, an object, or a people, unless they have actually seen, heard, or smelt it with their own senses. In the present age, when every part of the world grows daily nearer to every other, when the weekly bread of a Lancashire spinner is dependent on the mysterious fluctuations of the silver market in India, it is a disadvantage to be incapable of appreciating the reality of abroad. It is more than a disadvantage; it is a tragedy. And it is those who feel that in themselves at least the tragedy should be averted — it is those who are the real travellers.

The majority of such people are dependent more on the eye than the other organs of physical sense for their confirmations and discoveries. They go “to see” foreign countries. And the question arises: How “to see” a country? There are the monuments and treasures; there are the inhabitants; there is the landscape. Each must claim part of the attention. But in order to see a country in terms, not merely of its existence, but of why it exists and of how its existence is maintained — in terms that is to say of proper understanding — it is necessary to observe not so much the individual features as the relationship between them. To say that the philosophy or political theory of a nation will be the better comprehended for some acquaintance with its physical appearance may sound farfetched. Yet to me, who may, I hope, be forgiven subjective reminiscence in dealing with a subject which is of its essence subjective, to me the relation between landscape and all branches of human activity constitutes a profound conviction. Well I remember, on the first morning I arrived in Greece, floating in a state of delicious ease upon the surface of the Gulf of Corinth and finding, as I gazed at the interminable mountains of the opposite shore, the long-sought explanation of those diminutive states and infantile wars whose fratricidal interaction disfigured the birth of European civilisation. In a country so formed, only states and wars of this kind could have been evolved. And then, when I had been longer in Greece, when I had sailed into the sunset among the Aegaean isles, spat the dust of Athens from my teeth, and looked down on Sparta from the gaunt escarpments of Taygetus, I realised also why it was here and nowhere else that Europe discovered form, argument and virtue. In Russia, on the other hand, it was the buildings that taught me the origins of Bolshevism. The landscape was under snow. Yet even the snow was not without its revelation.

I would not suggest that any particular activity, in the case of any particular nation, need necessarily be the outcome of that nation’s visual surroundings. I suggest, simply, that visual surroundings will generally provide a key to the understanding and history of those monuments, institutions and human types which they environ. Especially, it seems to me, is this true of the arts. Wagnerian mythology, for example, in all its heroism and all its tedium, can never be fully comprehensible without knowledge of that peculiar acrid blue belonging to the German mountains. And what can people feel of Shakespeare’s lyric poetry who have not picked the wild flowers of an English field?

For all art is the interpretation of things apparent to the senses. And in the case of unfamiliar arts emanating from countries lacking even the remotest affinity with Europe or the Mediterranean, it is only through acquaintance with those things that a true standard of criticism and appreciation
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can be arrived at. Thus when recently the Indian dancers were in London, it was possible to see, during the sword dance, how the eight-armed Vishnu, that favourite subject of Hindu statuary, is not merely an invention of theologians but the reproduction of an effect which actually occurs. So it is also with Chinese clouds, those curly, pot-bellied vapours which adorn half the screens and vases that Celestial imagination ever created. I had thought, always, that these clouds were a formula and nothing more, whose chief significance was their representation of a twist, not in themselves, but in the Chinese imagination. But one day, on crossing the eastern Himalayas, I saw those same clouds in the sky. I then decided that in future I could have no more opinions on Chinese art until I had been to China. I have not been to China. But until I go, peace of mind will be denied me. That, even though it is I who say it, is the travelling spirit.

SCANDINAVIA

Denmark and Sweden stand first in the list of countries that possess outstanding examples of contemporary work that, though related to modern conditions and materials, has still a very strong contact with traditional culture. It is this that gives to the Scandinavian work its peculiar refinement and charm and makes it more akin to English taste than the more uncompromising style of Germany, where the quantity of new work is certainly greater.

The longest time should be spent in Stockholm and Copenhagen, but Oslo and Gothenburg are well worth a visit.

Stockholm

The town hall, built by Ragnar Ostberg and completed in 1926, will of course be the first object of interest, for though the first flush of enthusiasm for it is now somewhat modified, it holds some of the finest achievements in Swedish art and craft, and it is the best starting point for a further study of the modern work of Sweden.

Ivar Tengbom’s work in the concert hall, the Swedish Match Company’s offices (the offices at least still stand) with the lovely Diana fountain by Carl Milles and the Hogalid’s church, Gunnar Asplund’s city library with the charming children’s room, should not be missed and the following should be seen as time allows:

The Scandia Cinema, by Gunnar Asplund;
The technical school and fountain, by Carl Milles;
Housing and flats, by Birgar Borgstrom;
The Englebrecht church, by Wahlman;
The Law Courts, by Westman.

The Nordiska Company’s shop and the Hem- slojdforeningen (Home Industries) Depot are the best places to see and buy the modern industrial products, glass, ceramics, pewter and the peasant handicrafts which, due to the interest of the State, are of a remarkably high standard.

Expeditions should certainly be made to the old Royal Palace of Drottningholm, with its delightful theatre museum and the Chinese pavilion (the palace can be missed unless one has an interest in Louis Seize), and by boat to Saltsjobaden, for lovely scenery and good bathing. Those interested in pottery should break their journey to Salt- sjobaden at the Gustavsberg Ceramic Factory, which in addition to its excellent pottery has an interesting scheme for the employment of workers on the estate belonging to the owners when the pottery is working half time.

Gothenburg

In Gothenburg the buildings of the 1925 Exhibition, especially the concert hall and the Poseidon Fountain by Carl Milles, the art gallery and museum, remarkably well arranged, and the hospital by Arvid Bjerke, which is more like a gracious country mansion than a hospital, are of chief interest, but, like all Scandinavian towns, a walk through the old town and along the quays is an excellent way of seeing the general life of the city.

Oslo

The usual sight-seeing excursion up to Frognese- teran and to Bygdo should be taken. At Bygdo there is one of the most interesting open air museums of folk domestic life, the wooden Stav- kirke, and the Viking burial ship, with the museum housing the treasures buried in it. There are some charming housing schemes with spacious layouts, brightly painted fronts and ornamental pools with statuary. The Seamen’s College has some amusing mural decorations depicting the life of the seamen. Make a point in the town itself of visiting the Norwegian Home Industries Association “Hus- fliden,” where peasant work is exhibited and sold. The New Theatre, built in 1930, is an excellent piece of work.

Copenhagen

This is a city of uniform fine taste, and both the old work and the new are equally deserving of study. See the old town with its churches and quays, the town hall (interesting for comparison with our own Norman Shaw period), particularly Heering’s cherry brandy factory (an old warehouse
Design For Today   1   1933  Page: 156
 
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Footnotes:
The Monkey House at Copenhagen Zoo

The Columbus House, Berlin
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altered and re-decorated most delightfully), the museum of applied art, then:

The new police courts;
The Gruntvigs church and housing scheme;
The crematorium, by Professor Edvard Thomsen;
The shipping company’s offices, by Mon- berg;
Housing blocks, by Kay Fisker; and
The monkey house, Zoo.

The shop called “Bo” (the home) in the Amager- torv Street should on no account be missed. The visitor will find there pottery, glass, furnishing and textiles of an extraordinary high standard of taste and admirably arranged. Nearly all the assistants speak English.

At least one evening should be spent in the Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park with an open air theatre of a kind that we do not know here.

For all of these cities the traveller will find the State Travel Bureaux very helpful and intelligent, and what is perhaps a greater surprise, the names of architects are as well known to the ordinary person as are those of sportsmen here, and the greatest pride is taken in showing the visitor the new work. M.E.P..

NOTE

Alternative routes in order of cheapness:

(1) Newcastle-Gothenburg.
(2) Tilbury-Gothenburg.
(3) Harwich-Ejsburg.
(4) Air service via Malmo.

Visitors interested in design can obtain exact information and introductions from the Svenska Slojdforeningen at Regerinsgatan 40, Stockholm, and for Copenhagen at Bo, the stores.

GERMANY

NORTHERN GERMANY

For ease and comfort and to travel on a ship that really is a ship and not a floating Elizabethan manor house, take the Bremen, or the Europa or the newest German motor ship the Carribea, from Southampton to Bremerhaven. Other routes in order of cheapness: Hook or Flushing; Dover and Ostend; by Imperial Airways.

Hamburg

One of the pleasantest cities in North Germany, owing much to the large lake, the Alster, in its centre, which has been properly respected as the lung and pleasure resort of the city. If it can be afforded stay at the Vier Jahre Zeiten Hotel on the Alster, but at any rate go there for a meal or a cocktail for the hotel has been very pleasantly redecorated by Professor Farhenkamp. Then see:

The new business quarter, which includes the Chile Hause, the Ballin Haus and the Sprinkenhof, planned by the architects O. Gerson and Fritz Hoger; the Nauerberg Cigarette Factory; the Girls’ School, built by Hoger; the new housing at Barmbeck; the Aerodrome Buildings.

Do not miss visiting the St. Pauli districtat night, with its Bier Halles and Bavarian bands, and other more sophisticated pleasures to taste.

Berlin

There is an overwhelming amount of new work to be seen in Berlin and of all kinds, from the fiercely modern which will date as badly as any of the mail-fisted work done after the Franco- Prussian War, to the dignity and simplicity of a building like the office of the Metal Workers’ Trade Union designed by Eric Mendelsohn.

The Ullstein-Reiseburo used to arrange excellent round tours especially to see the new work with the maximum saving of shoe leather. I do not know whether under the new regime these tours are cancelled. At any rate there should be in existence their admirable list of Berlin’s new work.

From the great amount of modern work to be seen the following should be selected:

The Universum Cinema, Kurfurstendamm; the Herpich Store; the Metal Workers’ Trade Union Building; the Titania Palast (Cinema); the Schauspielhaus; the Kurfurstendamm Theatre; the Kroll Opera House; the Shops in the Kurfurstendamm, particularly Grunefeld’s Store with its
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Footnotes:
A Modern Settlement in Frankfort-on-Main showing the Children’s Swimming Pool
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remarkable chromium steel and glass lift; Karstadt Store; the Tempelhof Aerodrome; the Broadcasting House; the Deutches Sportforum, Pichelsberge, Graditzerallee; the Siemens’ Building, Siemensstadt-Gartenfeld, Nonnendamm; the Britz, Ge- hag, Zehlendorf and Neukoln Housing Schemes and the private houses built at Rupenhorn, by various architects.

RHINELAND AND SOUTHERN GERMANY

Düsseldorf

A small and very well planned town with some interesting examples of modern work, particularly in the Exhibition buildings on the banks of the Rhine, which have now been turned into museums, art galleries and to other public uses; the Wilhelm Marx Haus, by Kreis; the Breidenbacherhof Hotel; the Planetarium; the municipal offices.

Essen

It is worth while to make the short journey from Düsseldorf to Essen, if only to see the Osthaus collection of modern art in the Folkwang Museum. Seek that out first in the Bismarckstrasse and then see, as time allows, the Siemens Haus in the Bis- marckplatz, the State Bookshop, the new Sudwest- friedhof, the Bose and the Haus der Technik, near the station, and the Church of the Resurrection (Evangeliche Auferstehungskirche) in the Kurfurstenstrasse.

Cologne

To include the town garbage destructor in the list of things to see in Cologne may cause a shudder among the admirers of the cathedral, but it is one that should be included in the intelligent man’s tour. The remarkable Ford factory is in the same neighbourhood, an additional reason for seeking it out. You will hardly escape the new Mulheim bridge over the Rhine, a strange contrast to the old railway bridge with its statues of the Kaisers and its castellated towers. The Pressa Exhibition buildings, as is usual in Germany, have not been left as a decaying blot on the landscape, but have been turned to civic use, as have also the old barracks on the east side of the river, and must be seen. See also the Kalkerfeld Housing Scheme and its remarkable little concrete church.

Frankfort

Frankfort is remarkable for the vast new housing schemes built chiefly under the direction of Professor Ernst May at Romerstadt and Praunheim, for the new concrete churches on those estates, the Fraufriedenkirche, with its remarkable mosaic Virgin; the Heilig Kreuz, and the Bonifaziuskirche; the primary school built by May; for the Gross- markthalle and for its magnificent Stadium, which has been an object lesson to Europe.

Stuttgart

Stuttgart has had more room to expand than most of the important German towns and there is consequently an air of dignity and co-ordination about the modern work there that sets it in a place apart. The station, by Paul Bonatz, with its spaciousness and order is a sort of keynote for the visitor to the town. The Reichsbahn Hotel is incorporated in the station building and opposite is the Zeppelin Haus. No visit to Stuttgart would be complete without seeing the Weisenhof housing experiment on the hills outside, originally built as a housing exhibition, but characteristically turned to permanent use with the Schonblick Restaurant as a social centre, but the State Swimming Bath, the General Post Office, the Schocken Store and the Breuniger Haus, the Tagblatt Turmhaus, Stuttgart’s only skyscraper, and the Universum Cinema and the shops are among the distinguished examples of modern architecture in the city. M.E.P..

For information and help in seeing modern architecture and decoration in Germany the best help is always obtained from the district headquarters of the Deutsche Werkbund (the German Design and Industries Association), the central offices of which are in Berlin, Liltzowplatz 8.
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Profiles: click on name to see profile
 
Dudok, Willem Marinus [1884-1974. Netherlands. Architect/Interior/Furniture/Jewellery Designer]
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The Byenkorf Store at Rotterdam. Architect: Dudok.
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HOLLAND

The visitor to Holland who has only a week or so to spare, and who wants to gain an impression of the country cannot do better than visit Rotterdam and the Hague on his way to Amsterdam, from which centre he can easily run out to Hilversum, to the Zuider Zee, or to some of the old Dutch villages. Distances are short and it is only necessary to know what is most worth while to see and where to find it.

If the visitor travels via Flushing he should notice the modern villa by Rosenburg, which is the first building to be seen as he approaches the island. He reaches Rotterdam in two hours.

If, however, he travels by the Hook of Holland, he will arrive in the early morning at Rotterdam where the two buildings most worth seeing are the Van Nelle Factory outside the town, one of the earliest functional buildings, and the big Byenkorf Store, one of the most recent works by Dudok, the architect of Hilversum.

Dudok’s store building stands on the Calandplein in the centre of the town. Here the visitor finds modern architecture achieving romance, colour, delicacy and strength. A tram takes him to the Van Nelle Factory, which is one of the finest buildings in Holland. It has so much the same type of beauty as Rene Clair’s decor to A Nous La Liberte that one almost suspects the same absurd ease of production.

Rotterdam itself is too much like an English town to waste further time over. Trains leave every half hour for the Hague, and, if one travels at night one will see from the train the Van Nelle Factory brilliantly lit up. Leaving earlier one would have time to stop for an hour or two in the lovely old town of Delft, where the mediaeval Nieuwe Kerk has modern glass by van Kouynen- burg, Toorop, Nicholas, and others.

Arriving at night in the Hague it is worth while to go and see the Volharding Co-operative Store in the Prinsengracht, a building finely designed for illumination, with walls of glass bricks. Near it is the voluptuous Byenkorf Store, an example of modern brick craftsmanship. In the Kruller Haus is a very fine collection of van Gogh’s paintings, and a pleasant walk can be taken down the beautiful Lange Vorhout, and round the Palace and the Vyverberg.

The journey from the Hague to Amsterdam takes less than an hour. A citro map of the town should be bought at a bookseller’s. From it one learns how innate is the Dutch genius for town-planning. Old Amsterdam lies on three consecutive semi-circular canals which loop from the river Y. Beyond them New Amsterdam has been built since the war. There are big cafes, such as the Schiller Café and the American Cafe on the Leidsche Plein, and an excellent indulgence for the footsore sightseer is to take one of the water-taxis and see the old town from the canals by night.

The next day the searcher after modern functional architecture should not fail to find his way to the building of Het Volk, the socialist newspaper on the Hekelveld and, undeterred by the almost conventional facade, walk into the building and experience the sheer adventure of the main hall. He should also see the fine Telegraaf building nearby, which is by Staal, and then take a tram to the Amstellaan in Plan Zuid and find his way to the high apartment building, also by Staal, on the Daniel Willink Plein.
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Around it the streets are rich with good buildings. It is worth while to take a taxi and see more of Plan Zuid. Going westwards follow the Apollolaan to the Stadionplein, passing over the bridge where five canals meet, where there is sculpture by Krop and others. A little building which is a joy to see is the Openlucht (open air) school in the Cliostraat, by Duiker.

A second day in Amsterdam may be well employed in visiting the Ryksmuseum, and especially the Stedelyk Museum with its magnificent van Gogh’s and other later paintings.

Hilversum must, of course, be visited. The journey from the Central Station takes just over half an hour. A few minutes before the train runs into the station, look out, on the heather land to the left of the line, for the little white cemetery building.

It is an epic of architectural interpretation.

Opposite the station there is a Travel Bureau where all necessary information can be obtained. The interior of the Town Hall is shown at certain hours during the day, and the interior must not be missed. Quite near the Town Hall is the little V.A.R. A. broadcasting station, whose architects are Snellebrand and Eibank.
A taxi should be taken to see some of the various schools by Dudok.

Other day trips which can be made from Amsterdam are by boat to see the engineering feat of the Zuider Zee dam, and expeditions to the “olde worlde” villages of Marken and Volendam. But Alkmaar, Hoorn and Enkhuisen in North Holland are the towns for those who want to see bourgeois architecture at its zenith. V. DER H..


IN THE BRITISH ISLES

There are great advantages in going abroad for a holiday. The change is a tonic to the nerves, the senses are quickened by the strangeness of the scene and the mental rest is more complete. But there are times when we cannot afford the journey and there is also something to be said for seeing more of one’s native land. Admittedly there is not very much that is new in England that it is pleasurable to see. It is instructive to visit Slough or the suburbs of London, but I cannot recommend it for a holiday. There are a few buildings which are worth an effort to see. The Boots factory at Nottingham is one, but there are not many. In London a few days could profitably be spent seeing the Underground building, the new stations, Beck & Pollitzer’s, the Great West Road, the Daily Express building and others, but I am going co suggest that this should be combined with a tour of those older parts of London which are not all very familiar to visitors and which have a lesson for us to-day. For instance the Temple, the remaining Bloomsbury Squares, Queen Anne’s Gate, Chelsea Hospital and Greenwich. Within easy reach of London are Welwyn and Letchworth, the garden cities, and near Birmingham is Bournville. It is worth comparing the lay-out and the social life they postulate with the garden cities of Germany and France.

It is unnecessary to mention the abbeys and castles which form the stock in trade of guide books and guides. But apart from such antiquities (which, except to antiquarians, have rather a sameness about them) there is always the possibility of a very pleasant architectural tour of the country, preferably to be carried out by road. Personally, I should recommend a bicycle and the by-roads, but I know motorists will hoot with derision. East Anglia has not only some lovely scenery, but is rich in the best seventeenth and eighteenth century architecture. Good solid farmhouses and compact little towns reflect a once prosperous agriculture and sober bourgeoisie. Visit Hadleigh, Sudbury, Newmarket, Downham, Brandon, Southwold, Clare, Long Melford and a score of other little village-towns. Norwich is of course worth several days of exploration. Cotswold architecture would form an interesting companion if seen on the same holiday, though its villages are too well known for enumeration. The Lygon Arms of Broadway has published a shilling book on the Cotswolds and its architecture, which might be taken by other hotels as a model for publicity.

I would suggest, however, that Bath, Cheltenham, Leamington and Buxton are also worth a visit, although their charms are rather out of fashion with the young to-day. They are amongst the few English towns which were ever planned, and the best parts of them are a fine expression of the English genius. None can compare, of course, with Edinburgh or Dublin. These should be seen before the individualist development of our present capitalist system destroys them as out-of-date. Shrewsbury is another city which repays a leisurely visitor, as will of course York and other provincial capitals.

The country houses of England are for the most part unknown except for a few palaces. Otherwise only their owners and readers of Country Life know anything about them. Yet there is nothing to compare with them all the world over, and their variety is inexhaustible. Naturally enough they cannot be inspected as they are still homes, and I pray the day is still distant when they will become schools or museums. But during each summer there is a chance of seeing the grounds of most of them and the interiors of many, in connection with the Gardens of England scheme of the Queen’s Institute. An illustrated list of gardens with opening dates and all particulars of what can be seen is published by Country Life Ltd. for a shilling, and I would suggest that anyone who contemplates a motoring tour of England takes a copy with him. As likely as not a famous country house could be included in each day’s itinerary.

Lastly, I suppose all my readers know Port- meirion, the one and only planned seaside resort of the twentieth century. If not, it is in Wales and they had better get Portmeirion Explained. C.