Yours faithfully,
Spinlove has now dropped into the trap in which Hoochkoft, with skill acquired by long practice, has maneuvered to catch him. Spinlove’s contention is that it was part of the bargain that the soft reds should not be included. Hoochkoft has identified this with “picking,” for which he has quoted a higher price; Spinlove, by here adopting the term “picking,” gives Hoochkoft an opportunity for charging for “picked facings.”
It should be added that the tone of Spinlove’s letter is too aggressive—a common fault with him. Such a letter will not, in fact, disturb the equanimity of Hoochkoft, who, in common with his kind, has the hide of a rhinoceros; but it is undignified, and not the sort of letter a professional man should write. It may also be remarked that power largely subsists in self-control; any exhibition of feeling is a mark of weakness.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,2.12.24.
Bloggs informs us that yesterday another lorry load of facings arrived. They are much as previous lots, but as Messrs. Hoochkoft would not have received your letter before loading up, we did not send them back. We shall have to stop work if the facings don’t come regular.
We notice that your brick detail of front entrance, drawing No. 10, omits mat-sinking and shows the front step 1 ¼ in. above finished level of ground floor as fixed by bench mark to your approval. As the 1/8 in. scale plan shows a mat-sinking we set out the brick joint on the floor level, so that the top steps should line up with brick joint. If we raise step 1 ¼ in. it will mean cutting the bricks to build in step, which we think you will not care for. Have we your authority to drop the bench mark and the ground floor level 1 ¼ in.?
Yours faithfully,
We may gather from the above that the horizontal brick joints have been set out to a bench mark approved on the site by Spinlove as the level of the ground floor. The 1/8 in. scale drawings show a sinking for the mat at the front entrance, but Spinlove in his ½ in. detail of the entrance has eliminated the mat-sinking, which harbours dirt, and has, as an alternative, raised the top front step 1 ¼ in. above the level of the floor. Grigblay points out that to build in the step in this position will involve unsightly cutting of the bricks and proposes to make the top of the step agree with the bench mark and brick joint, and to lower the floor 1 ¼ in. below bench mark. That Grigblay should write on such a matter shows him to be a good and careful builder.
HOOCHKOFT TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,1.12.24.
We note your instructions re facings, which shall have our best attention.
We are, dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
This letter is so worded as to support a claim for picked bricks at the increased price, while it gives Spinlove to understand that the objectionable bricks are to be eliminated at the rate originally quoted. Sly deceit of this kind is practised by many business firms, but an experienced architect readily protects himself by exact methods and precision in the use of words, and he soon learns to distrust ambiguous phrases and to spy out the treacherous purpose hidden in them. Spinlove seems to have no suspicion, although the affable subscription to this letter might well have warned him.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,4.12.24.
Thank you for your letter. Please drop the floor 1 ¼ in. as you propose. The finished ground floor will now be 1 ¼ in. below bench mark from which all vertical heights are figured.
Hoochkoft has now agreed to pick out the soft bright-red bricks to which I have objected, and further consignments containing them are not to be unloaded, but must be sent back.
Yours faithfully,
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,14.12.24.
I was on the site yesterday and saw the last delivery of facings, which are quite satisfactory, but they will show up a little darker in tone than the facings you have already built. Luckily there is not much of this and I have arranged with your foreman that he shall mix what remains of the old with the new, and see that the redder and brighter faces of the new bricks are shown in the next few courses so that there will be a gradation of tone from new work to old.
I was glad to notice that the bricklayers have now got into the way of pressing the mortar out of the joints and cutting off with the edge of the trowel as specified; but they are apt, from force of habit, to press the mortar home with the flat, which they must not do. I spoke to your foreman on this matter. He seems to have trouble with one or two of the men, and I told him he would have to get rid of them if they did not do what they were told.
Yours faithfully,
The matter of finish to the brick jointing is of great importance, as Spinlove has evidently learnt. He seems, however, to think that the only occasion for a letter is to find fault. Bloggs appears to be doing his best under troublesome conditions, and the architect ought at least to hint appreciation.
BRASH ON BRICKS
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,19.12.24.
I visited my Honeywood property to-day and was aghast to view the house. I was given to understand that it was to be a red brick mansion, but the bricks are of all colours and they are not smooth, but rough, with wide rough spaces; in fact, thoroughly cheap bricks. I rubbed one of them and it came off on my finger. I never saw worse house building in my life; not like a gentleman’s house, but appertaining to the similitude of a barn. The bricks I desired and which I assumed would be embodied in the fabric are the pretty pinky-red smooth bricks with straight white lines and all matching and not diversified in tint.
There is nothing more elegant and charming than these smooth, neat pink bricks, but the bricks I see are brown instead of red, and exhibit a dirty appearance and are not of one tint, but discoloured and spotty and uneven instead of being smooth. Is it really too late to put the matter right? Cannot the walls be coloured in some way and the spaces made straight and white and not so rough and broad? I have seen such work being performed in London, I think.
I am afraid to contemplate what Lady Brash will say when she views the edifice on her return from Buxton next week.
I have just arranged to rent a furnished house, “Roselawn,” Thaddington, where we shall reside during the spring and summer so that Lady Brash and myself may be on the spot.
I must request your attention to the question of the bricks which is most urgent.
Yours sincerely,
One may feel sorry for Brash. No doubt he will learn to like his “uneven, dirty coloured, spotty” house, but the disappointment is probably a heavy one. The “operation” he refers to seems to be raddling and tuck-pointing. The penultimate paragraph will not be the tidings of great joy to his architect that he seems to imagine.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,22.12.24.
I am sorry you are disappointed with the facing bricks, but it is difficult to judge the effect of the finished house from a near view of the small piece of walling now built. The bricks are, I assure you, good quality, hand-made red bricks, and the variations in colour will not give a spotty effect as you fear, but a deep, soft colour, instead of the rather thin, hard, insipid tone of uniformly-tinted smooth bricks.
The pinky-red uniform smooth brickwork with fine white joints you speak of would be quite unsuited to the architecture of your house: it belongs to a quite different style of building. You will realize this if you have seen, for instance, Spronton Whytgates, and the Orangery at Kensington Palace. The former represents something of the brickwork effect aimed at in your house; the latter shows the kind you have in mind. I can assure you it would not only be a disastrous anomaly and confusion of ideas to build your house in the style of the Orangery, but almost impossible to do so. I have given close attention to the appearance of the brickwork and I feel sure you will like the effect when the walls begin to display themselves.
Wishing you the compliments of the season,
Yours sincerely,
Spinlove has not chosen the best of all happy moments for wishing Bra
sh a merry Christmas by tagging the message to a letter telling him he does not know what he is talking about. It was certainly an awkward one to have to write, for there is no ground of common intelligence upon which to approach Brash; it would have been better, instead of saying: “You are an ignorant donkey. Wishing you a happy Christmas.” . . . if Spinlove had written: “The bricks are all right. I will explain when I see you.”
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove,23.12.24.
You may be quite correct in what you say from your own personal attitude of view, but you must permit me to inform you that I admire the pinky-red smooth bricks with straight white space lines, which you appear to hold in such contempt. Our diversity of tastes differ in this matter, which I much regret. I desire to add that I visited Kensington Gardens and viewed the Orangery yesterday and I entirely fail to visualize the least resemblance between that building and your design for my mansion. No two edifices could be more dissimilar in their diversity, and I am astounded that you should express the contrary view.
Reciprocating your seasonable good wishes,
Yours sincerely,
The explanation of this letter probably is that Brash was so irritated by Spinlove’s that he did not read it with any care.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,24.12.24.
You have misread my letter. I did not instance the Orangery as having anything in common with my design for your house, but as not having any; and I do not dislike the bricks you say you admire, but delight to use them in a design to which they are appropriate. If I had known that you particularly wanted your house faced with them I would gladly have made a design to suit, but nothing was said to suggest this. I feel confident that when you see the house taking shape you will be pleased, and not find the walling too rough or lacking in warm red colour.
Thank you for good wishes.
Yours sincerely,
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Dear Mr. Spinlove,28.12.24.
Lady Brash has returned home and has perused your letters on the subject of the bricks and is sure that if they are similar to those at Sponton Witgate (sic) they will be extremely pretty. I should mention that Lady Brash has the pleasure of acquaintance with the Rt. Hon. Lady Issit (sic) whose husband the Vicount (sic), as you are probably aware, is the owner of the house, which Lady Brash has heard much of. I apprehend that your judgment in selecting the bricks was quite correct, although they happen to be an innovation to me.
Yours sincerely,
Spinlove has struck it lucky: but poor old Brash! As Lady Brash does not know her acquaintance’s name (Issy) nor the name of her house, and Brash cannot spell her husband’s title, we may imagine that the great lady once opened a bazaar at which Lady Brash was a stallholder; and that the reason Lady Brash never wears a ring in her nose is that on that memorable day the Viscountess did not do so. How deep, therefore, will be the dear woman’s gratification in possessing a house whose bricks are similar to those used in her friend’s famous mansion. I make these comments to elucidate what I gather to be the inner meaning of Brash’s letter. Whether Spinlove caught its significance depends upon how far he is sensitive to the manifestations of social snobbery.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,27.12.24.
We are now several courses above datum all round and have a good deal of material prepared and shall be glad of a certificate for £2,000.
Yours faithfully,
BOX OF CIGARS
SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT
Dear Sir,29.12.24.
On my return to the office to-day I found a parcel containing a box of fifty cigars. I am led to think that these have been sent by you, as your trade card with the season’s greetings was found on the floor.
I appreciate your friendly intentions, but you will understand that it is impossible for me to accept presents from those with whom I do business in my professional capacity.
If you will confirm that you sent the parcel I will return it to you.
Yours faithfully,
Spinlove is right in returning the parcel and in the reason he gives for doing so: and, as he lays claim to no superior virtues, he will wound no susceptibilities—if Hoochkoft should harbour any, which is unlikely. It occasionally happens that a builder or specialist or merchant, yielding to a feeling of good fellowship or personal regard or gratitude for some friendly act, will, as an individual, send an architect the kind of gift that passes between convivial friends at Christmas, but all such ingenuousness has been rendered suspect by commercial enterprise, which is ready to falsify the purest motives of humanity at sixpence a time, and which fouls everything it touches. To accept gifts from firms is impossible; and an architect who accepts from individuals must expect to lose the respect of the giver as he deserves to do, for he has in like degree lost his own self-respect.
There are practising architects who are contemptuous of those who refuse gifts, and laugh scornfully at the idea of a couple of boxes of cigars or a case of champagne weighing with them when, as arbiters, they have to determine the measure due from and to the giver, and to interpret the contract against his interests. The scornful tone of that laugh is the reaction from the laugher’s contempt for himself in accepting; and if his impartiality in meting out justice is not, in fact, swayed, it is because his nature is insensitive to obligations that do not involve self-interest. The gifts are offered as an investment by those whose business it is to get full return for their investments, and they are accepted by those who desire possession and whose greed outweighs their self-respect.
HOOCHKOFT TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,31.12.24.
We thank you for your kind appreciation and trust that you will not put yourself to the inconvenience of returning the small customary token we venture to send at this time of the year to our more valued customers, with whom we trust we may be permitted to include your good self.
With our respectful compliments for your good health and prosperity in the coming year,
We are, dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Hoochkoft sent this greasy letter in view of the fact that they have deceived Spinlove and intend to press the claim for picked bricks which they know he will resist. The reference to the architect as a customer is a deceptive gloss. Spinlove is the agent of Brash, who is the customer—a very different matter—though Spinlove’s habit of ordering goods without stating that he does so on behalf of his client would lead us to believe that he is not fully aware of the distinction. There is no reason why Brash, as a customer, should not accept Hoochkoft’s cigars, but this he will never have a chance of doing. It is never the principal to whom the gift is ordered, but his agent; it is not the lady of the house to whom the grocer sends the drum of candied fruits, but her cook.
SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT
Box of cigars posted to-day under separate cover.
for j. spinlove,
r. s. pintle.
A distinguished architect tells me that when any gift is sent to him he accepts it with a grateful letter of appreciation and thanks, and an expression of his very deep regret that his doing so will make it impossible for him to place any orders with the giver in future. If his example were widely copied the practice would soon end.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,1.1.25.
In reply to your letter asking for certificate, will you let me know how you arrive at your estimate of £2,000?
Yours faithfully,
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,5.1.25.
We enclose estimate for certificate, as requested. If not convenient please draw certificate for such less amount as you may think proper.
Yours faithfully,
SPINLOVE TO TINGE, QUANTITY SURVEYOR
Dear Mr. Tinge,7.1.25.
The builder has applied for certificate for £2,000. I enclose his estimate. The walls are up an average of two courses above ground floor all round—there are about 10,000 co
mmon and 3,000 facing bricks on site and ground-floor window frames are practically made. His claim for materials prepared and on site seems excessive, and the inclusion of £400 out of preliminary and general provisions does not appear justified. Will you please examine the figures?
Yours truly,
TINGE TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,10.1.25.
Value of work done and materials prepared or on site £2,250, less 20 percent retention, £1,800.
Estimate returned herewith.
Yours faithfully,
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,12.1.25.
I have examined your estimate, but am unable to agree that you are entitled to a certificate of £2,000; and as the contract stipulates that certificates shall be for not less than £2,000, you are not entitled to any certificate.
Yours faithfully,
Spinlove has no business to write these graceless letters to the builder, which will wound his self-respect and make bad blood. The tone is that of Scotland Yard addressing a ticket-of-leave man. No doubt Grigblay is “trying it on,” but there is no harm in asking, for some architects are easy-going and, knowing their man, are willing to stretch a point to oblige him, for the architect usually has the right to draw a certificate for less than the minimum named if he thinks fit. A builder has to pay his merchant or lose the 2 ½ percent discount usually allowed for settlement within three months, and if he is to make full use of his capital, as most of them do, he must get his money in promptly or borrow at interest, in which case his profits will vanish.
Spinlove ought to identify himself with the builder’s interests as well as with his client’s, and the sort of letter he ought to have written is somewhat as follows: “As I was not able to follow the details of your estimate I referred it to Mr. Tinge, who arrives at a figure, less retention, of £1,800. I should be glad to certify for this amount, but you will see that the contract stipulates a minimum of £2,000. I am afraid, therefore, that the matter must stand over for a few weeks.”
The Honeywood Files Page 9