Holland, in the days of its great commercial glory, built homes for the great houses that maintained business contacts through out the world and in particular during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries erected many buildings that are standing to this day as examples of industrial production of high order. The home of the merchant was, and usually still is, part of the business structure and this has tended to produce a particular feeling of intimacy in detail that is lost when the typical store building of the mod em scheme is projected. The Dutch houses along any of the great canals in Amsterdam, for instance, are built of brick and are extremely simple in their decoration. The more recent Dutch store design has completely emancipated itself from the domestic store policy and has broken every restriction either of form or of use of material. These façades are interesting experiments though it is more than likely that another generation will choose certain elements of strength from which to evolve a simpler and less bizarre form of building.
On the whole, the variation between the store preceding the 19th century and our own type is essentially that of a change in business policy; the larger store developing from a bazaar into a great organization has required monumental buildings. At the same time, a parallel development of the specialized store has resulted in the construction of special settings for the display and sale of merchandise requiring environment, as, for example, small shops, candy stores and the particularly American develop ment of the drug store which is quite in sharp contrast to the dignity of the apothecary of Europe. With the development of the modern store and the distinctly modern use of large sheets of glass, the frame of the store, in many instances, has become the band enclosing the expanse of display within. The only reasonable explanation of this boldness is the demand for sudden changes of display—hardware in the morning to clothes or food in the after noon. Under such circumstances the less striking the setting the simpler the problem of the window designer. (E. J. K.) Technique.—The great development in recent years iri the design of shop fronts has been caused by the growing expanse of display space, the use of new materials and the intensification of sales technique. The modern shop front is designed as a picture frame for the contents of the window and also as a means of attracting customers at long range. Intelligent merchants have discovered that mere expanse of plate glass is not enough. In other words, the picture needs a frame, but at the same time, the frame must not be so important that it overpowers the picture. The attraction of customers from a distance offers a more diffi cult problem—the reconciliation of the desire of the shopkeeper to have his shop as conspicuous as possible with the desire to preserve the beauty of the street as a whole. It is obtained by
richness of material, interesting form, prominent signs, bright colours, strong lighting.
The extent of display space has been increased by new types of glass joints, metal mouldings and deep vestibules with elaborate convolutions of plan, so that even on a short frontage a large dis play is possible—more powerful lights and greater control by col our screens and spotlights, together with a great advance in the art of window dressing have added to the effectiveness of the dis play itself. Show window interiors should lie designed as a back ground for the display, not so dark as to absorb light or so light as to make prominent shadows, or of a colour or treatment so strong as to overpower the display. The display itself is treated as a composition of sculpture or painting, arranged in mass with stands and drapery and accented by lighting. (R. H. S.) Modern Tendencies.—In the modern store, wood and plaster have practically disappeared and the use of marble, stone, bronze and the less expensive materials, such as cast iron, copper and quite recently polished rustless steel, is usual.
As a matter of solution of design, the stores in America have not shown great brilliancy in spite of the tremendous opportunities that have been presented. This, in large measure, is due to extreme conservatism. Two influences appear in recent years : one, an attempt to introduce into store design the principles of the Colonial or English Georgian architecture, and many excellent examples of store fronts are now in evidence throughout New England. The very close derivation of detail from historic sources has produced charm of design and intimate scale that is in thorough sympathy with the buildings surrounding the shop. The other tendency has been to copy the specialty store, as was particularly developed in Paris during the r gth century, and up to this particular day, the theory being largely that of creating a striking frame for a very special display of goods. In quite a num ber of these stores, however, where the designer has proceeded with a free hand in the solution of a problem, unusually excellent results have been obtained, and on a number of the streets in Paris examples of these stores may be seen. The Rue St. Honore, the Rue de la Paix, Avenue de L'Opera and the Rue Royale, in Paris, as well as Under den Linden and the Kurfiirstendam, in Berlin, are especially to be noticed and there the variety of design is almost as extensive as the quality of merchandise which the stores contain. In these various stores the proportion and size of the show window are in direct relation to the scale of the merchan dise in the store. The back of the window is very often made an interesting part of the composition, but it is not clear that this element of design is of sufficient importance to warrant comparison with the well developed façade and the illumination within.