The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration, Volume 01, No. 05, May 1895 | Page 2

more effective in this
material if the colors were judiciously chosen.

[Illustration: XXXIII. Portion of the Pavement in the Baptistery,
Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XXXIV. Portion of the Pavement in the Baptistery,
Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XXXV. Portion of the Pavement in the Baptistery,
Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XXXVI. Portion of the Pavement in the Baptistery,
Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XXXVII. Portion of the Pavement in the Baptistery,
Florence, Italy.]
XXXIII to XXXVII.
PORTIONS OF THE PAVEMENT IN THE BAPTISTERY,
FLORENCE, ITALY.
One exception should be made to the remarks above in relation to true
mosaic. The lower left-hand portion of plate XXXVI is without doubt
made up of small pieces put together after the manner of the old Roman
mosaics, and it is possible that the portion shown in the upper left-hand
corner of the same plate is made in the same way. There are several
parts of the floor laid in this manner, but they are distinctly secondary
in interest to the inlaid portions.
The pavement is divided irregularly by squares and rectangles, the
portion especially rich in ornament being that between the door and the
altar. The rectangular patterns are irregularly cut into by special
pavements, placed before several of the monumental tombs in the
walls.

[Illustration: XXXVIII. Portion of the Pavement in the Church of San

Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XXXIX. Portion of the Pavement in the Church of San
Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy.]
[Illustration: XL. Portion of the Pavement in the Church of San Miniato
al Monte, Florence, Italy.]
XXXVIII to XL.
PORTIONS OF THE PAVEMENT IN THE CHURCH OF SAN
MINIATO AL MONTE, FLORENCE, ITALY.
In the first of these plates there is a suggestion of the mosaic treatment
commonly seen in the pavements of Rome, Venice, and Siena. The sort
of guilloche of interlacing circles was very generally used.
Plate XL on the other hand is as plainly reminiscent of textile designs
as it well might be; and in plate XXXIII from the Baptistery the same
characteristic can be seen.

Wood Floors.
The addition which a fine hardwood floor makes to the attractiveness of
a room is appreciated by some architects, but good floors are not by
any means as common as they should be. The expense of hard wood is
not so much more than that of a cheap floor as to stand in the way of its
use when the final result is considered.
It is generally admitted that a floor entirely covered with a carpet is in
many ways undesirable, especially from a sanitary point of view; while
a hardwood floor, wholly or partly covered with rugs, has every
advantage. Furthermore, the fashion, which has a great deal to do with
what shall be used, aside from any question of intrinsic merit, has set
strongly in this direction, and in many cases old floors are replaced
with new ones of hard wood for the sole purpose of giving a chance for
the use of rugs in place of carpets. This is one, even if it be a rare

instance of the agreement of fashion and good taste. In working over an
old floor a plain or ornamental border can usually be laid at no great
expense by using the thin wood carpet, manufactured by all the best
makers of parquetry, and the centre can be laid with a pattern or with
narrow strips such as the "roll goods" which are manufactured by S. C.
Johnson of Racine, which are made up of strips usually one and
three-eighths inches wide and five sixteenths of an inch thick, glued to
a backing of canvas.
Patterns of all descriptions made from all the best foreign and domestic
woods can be obtained, as the designs of the best manufacturers include
an almost unlimited choice, and there is no end to the combinations
which can be made from the stock patterns. As an instance of this, the
catalogue of J. W. Boughton of Philadelphia contains a remarkably fine
selection of borders which can be combined and adapted to almost any
requirement, while the designs for the field or centre of the floor are
fully as varied and usable. These designs are made in such shape that
they can be easily adapted to any shape of room and fitted to all sorts of
irregular niches and jogs at slight extra expense.
Owing to the economy of manufacturing floors made from pieces
which can be put together on a system of squares, hexagons, or
octagons, most of the patterns in common use are made up of these
units, or of triangles or rectangles combining to form these figures.
Curved forms cannot be used to good advantage in this way as it is
difficult and expensive to cut or join them properly. Nevertheless, all
the principal manufacturers will execute to