| OCR Text |
Show dered from a local mill specializing in such decorations. Folk architecture does not exist in a cultural vacuum; people in early Utah were exposed to progressive movements in architecture through a wide variety of books and newspapers, not to mention firsthand accounts of travelers to Salt Lake City and the East.29 Yet the willingness to accept the new was tempered by its reconciliation with the old.30 Innovation was tolerated, but only to an extent that left the line of tradition unbroken. The folk buildings encountered in Utah which have some, but not all, of the characteristics of certain recognized architectural styles should not be seen as incomplete and naive renderings of the high-style designs, but rather as the complicated culmination of a vigorous dialogue between the old and the new, the conservative and the innovative.31 Decoration plays an important role in Utah folk architecture as underscored by the multifaceted visual treatment of dormers (Figs. 53A-F). How a house is decorated is one part of a complex system of house composition. The folk house is not a simple repetition of an old form-it is a consciously designed entity composed from a design inventory file in the builder's memory. House Design: Complex Event. Beginning from a base concept-the floor plan-the house rises to completion as a series of decisions that the builder makes about size, height, roof orientation, window placement, and decoration.32 The choices are reached by the builder through the application of a series of designing rules-rules which gain authority by their compatibility with the prevailing traditional aesthetic.33 Confronted with unlimited possibilities for what the house might look like, designing rules are intended to narrow the field of choice to insure that the house, when finished, will look "right." The rules allow the builder freedom but at the same time place a ceiling on the number of potential selections. For example, assume that a builder in St. George was contemplating a new house. After choosing the basic floor plan, his next step would be to decide the orientation of the roof. Within the Utah tradition the ridge of the roof may be placed either parallel or perpendicular to the public space (usually the street), but never at an angle. The St. George carpenter chooses a parallel ridgeline type and then proceeds to questions about the height of his new dwelling. The folk repertoire contains rules for one-, one-and-a-half-, two-, and two-and-a-half-story buildings. Depending upon his pocketbook, the builder makes a choice. Similar processes determine the placement of chimneys, the arrangement of the front door and window, and the application of decorative elements. Obviously there is no set order for the consideration of the designing rules, but all are brought into action before the house is completed. The rules bring order to chaos 45 |
