第71章 A Signal Piece of Constructive Work (1)

The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more beautiful place to live in" now began to be manifest in the grandson.

Edward Bok was unconscious that it was this influence.What directly led him to the signal piece of construction in which he engaged was the wretched architecture of small houses.As he travelled through the United States he was appalled by it.Where the houses were not positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate.Money was wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, or machine-made ornamentation.Bok found out that these small householders never employed an architect, but that the houses were put up by builders from their own plans.

Bok felt a keen desire to take hold of the small American house and make it architecturally better.He foresaw, however, that the subject would finally include small gardening and interior decoration.He feared that the subject would become too large for the magazine, which was already feeling the pressure of the material which he was securing.He suggested, therefore, to Mr.Curtis that they purchase a little magazine published in Buffalo, N.Y., called Country Life, and develop it into a first-class periodical devoted to the general subject of a better American architecture, gardening, and interior decoration, with special application to the small house.The magazine was purchased, and while Bok was collecting his material for a number of issues ahead, he edited and issued, for copyright purposes, a four-page magazine.

An opportunity now came to Mr.Curtis to purchase The Saturday Evening Post, a Philadelphia weekly of honored prestige, founded by Benjamin Franklin.It was apparent at once that the company could not embark upon the development of two magazines at the same time, and as a larger field was seen for The Saturday Evening Post, it was decided to leave Country Life in abeyance for the present.

Mr.Frank Doubleday, having left the Scribners and started a publishing-house of his own, asked Bok to transfer to him the copyright and good will of Country Life--seeing that there was little chance for The Curtis Publishing Company to undertake its publication.Mr.Curtis was willing, but he knew that Bok had set his heart on the new magazine and left it for him to decide.The editor realized, as the Doubleday Company could take up the magazine at once, the unfairness of holding indefinitely the field against them by the publication of a mere copyright periodical.And so, with a feeling as if he were giving up his child to another father, Bok arranged that The Curtis Publishing Company should transfer to the Doubleday, Page Company all rights to the title and periodical of which the present beautiful publication Country Life is the outgrowth.

Bok now turned to The Ladies' Home Journal as his medium for making the small-house architecture of America better.He realized the limitation of space, but decided to do the best he could under the circumstances.

He believed he might serve thousands of his readers if he could make it possible for them to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed houses by the leading domestic architects in the country.He consulted a number of architects, only to find them unalterably opposed to the idea.

They disliked the publicity of magazine presentation; prices differed too much in various parts of the country; and they did not care to risk the criticism of their contemporaries.It was "cheapening" their profession!

Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the futility of these arguments.At last he persuaded one architect to co-operate with him, and in 1895 began the publication of a series of houses which could be built, approximately, for from one thousand five hundred dollars to five thousand dollars.The idea attracted attention at once, and the architect-author was swamped with letters and inquiries regarding his plans.

This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public willingness to accept such designs; upon this proof he succeeded in winning over two additional architects to make plans.He offered his readers full building specifications and plans to scale of the houses with estimates from four builders in different parts of the United States for five dollars a set.The plans and specifications were so complete in every detail that any builder could build the house from them.

A storm of criticism now arose from architects and builders all over the country, the architects claiming that Bok was taking "the bread out of their mouths" by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously questioned the accuracy of the estimates.But Bok knew he was right and persevered.

Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading architects, who saw that he was appealing to a class of house-builders who could not afford to pay an architect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation, he might become an influence for better architecture through these small houses.

The sets of plans and specifications sold by the thousands.It was not long before the magazine was able to present small-house plans by the foremost architects of the country, whose services the average householder could otherwise never have dreamed of securing.