The Honeywood Files (8 page)

There seems to be a certain amount of surface water about the site and I shall be glad if you will arrange to pump out the trenches.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove, it will be seen, is muddling along. He has discovered that the small error of 3 ¾ in. is not such an unimportant matter as he supposed. However, although he has had to give three contradictory orders in order to get matters put right, we may assume that he has definitely settled the matter at last and will not have to devise some ugly botch later on.

He has no right to call upon the builder to instal pumps. All he can do is to require the builder to keep the trenches free from water. It may suit the builder better to drain, as it is a sloping site; or perhaps to bail out from sumps may meet the case.

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 4.9.24.

I must request you to emendate the arrangements so that windows come on the left-hand side of the range. I do not object to the small bedroom having no fireplace.

Yours sincerely,

This is thoroughly bad judgment on Brash’s part. Spinlove ought to have been able to persuade him to a right decision and it is probably entirely due to his irritating methods that he has not succeeded in doing so. Perhaps, too, Lady Brash is fretful. The unhappy Spinlove, however, with characteristic tenacity, does not admit defeat.

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 5.9.24.

I was very sorry to read the contents of your letter. I think I ought to see you before altering the plans. I will ring up to-morrow if you will be so good as to leave word what time will suit you.

Yours faithfully,

GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 5.9.24.

Revision of set-out figures received. We have told Bloggs to get on with digging. We will see trenches are kept clear of water; the site seems dry enough.

Yours faithfully,

The following letter indicates that Spinlove’s last resort to persuade Brash to accept his kitchen arrangements was useless. It also supplies an instance of how an architect may be too ready to find alterations in his plans impracticable.

No doubt Spinlove had thoroughly explored alternatives, and it was only the torment of being compelled to revise his cherished schemes which led him to find that he had overlooked one possibility. This sometimes happens, and it also sometimes happens that the revised scheme is an improvement on the original arrangement. One gathers that it may be so in this case.

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 8.9.24.

Since I saw you I have spent some time on the revision of the plan and I am glad to say that I have hit on an arrangement which meets the case excellently, as I think you will agree. I enclose sketch. You will see that by rearranging scullery, servery and den, etc., the kitchen can be lighted from the east instead of from the north, which I think an improvement; and that the length of the corridor to the back door, now a little nearer to the north front, is shortened. The bedroom arrangements, you will see, are improved, as both bedrooms have an east window, and you will note that one chimney stack serves all.

This chimney stack comes to place well on the ridge of the roof of the small gable formed by the projection of the den on the south, and this small gable makes an attractive feature on the south elevation.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove, as usual, is fulsome in pointing out the beauty of his own devices and scarcely leaves Brash any opportunity for discovering any merits in them. He is, in fact, challenging Brash to make objections; but his very frank surrender, which is perfectly sincere and born of his wish to give Brash what it is best for him to have, will be likely to establish him more firmly in favour. Brash, we have noted, has been of late more than usually portentous and stiff, and not without reason.

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 10.9.24.

Both Lady Brash and myself entirely approve of the amended plan as the window is shown on the left of the range. Will you please instruct the builder to make the emendations?

May we have the pleasure of expecting you at lunch at 1.30 on Saturday? There are several matters which Lady Brash and myself would like to discuss with you.

Yours sincerely,

GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 16.9.24.

Bloggs reports that Mr. Potch, the rural district council surveyor, called on site and took great exception to work being begun before plans approved. Shall be glad if you will communicate or he may make things awkward.

Yours obediently,

SPINLOVE TO SURVEYOR
,
MARLFORD DISTRICT COUNCIL

Dear Sir, 17.9.24.

It has been reported to me that you visited the site of the new house at Honeywood and commented on the trenches having been cut out before approval of plans. Please accept my apologies for the oversight.

May I point out that it is more than six weeks since I submitted plans and application form, but that I have heard nothing from you, although I have twice written calling your attention to the matter.

Yours faithfully,

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 17.9.24.

We were motoring in the vicinity of Marlford to-day and diverged on to the site. Both Lady Brash and myself were dumbfounded at the limited extent of the dimensions of the rooms as indicated by the trenches. We comprehended that the dimensions were restricted, but what we observed to-day alarmed us. Are you quite sure that the trenches are correct? The foreman assured us that they were exact, but have they been checked and certified? I cannot comprehend how these inconsiderable squares and oblongs can represent the apartments in which we have to reside. Please communicate by telephone between 2.30 and 3 at the office.

Yours sincerely,

The Brashes have suffered the usual shock with which the owner of a house views its plan entrenched on the ground.. The adequate dining-room of 22 ft. x 16 ft. appears before him as but a plot of grass four paces by six—for the width of the trenches eats up a foot or two along each wall—and nothing but a tape measure will establish his peace of mind. Spinlove no doubt poured assurances into the telephone next day.

SURVEYOR
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R
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TO SPINLOVE

Sir, 19.9.24.

In reply to your letter my council takes strong objection to the high-handed action of beginning operations in contravention of by-laws before plans have been approved.

I would recommend you to attend the next meeting of the Plans Committee which is at 8 o’clock at Marlford School House on Tuesday next, to make your explanation of your irregular behaviour.

Any work you may have done will be at your own risk.

The members of my council need holidays, the same as others do, and there have been no meetings of the Plans Committee since July 28, as you could have learned if you had troubled to inquire.

Yours faithfully,

v. potch.

The explanation of this extraordinary letter is that Marlford is a small provincial town with its own local architects, surveyors, auctioneers, agents and traders; and these men hob-nob together and play into each others’ hands and are jealous of any who do not belong to the place taking money out of it. We have also seen that Nibnose & Rasper, who belong to the place, have a grievance against Spinlove which, in such a community, would become general knowledge; and if neither member of the firm is on the council their friends are sure to be.

It is also possible that Mr. Potch practises privately as an architect independently of his official duties, and that it is in his interest to make things difficult for all architects who trespass upon his local preserves, so that it may be generally perceived that any who employ Potch as their architect will have no trouble with interference by the district council, but that if they employ anyone else they probably will have. Potch’s proposal that Spinlove should attend at Marlford at 8 p.m. is part of his system of inflicting annoyances upon his rivals. If Spinlove was so foolish as to act on the suggestion the surveyor would perhaps forget to mention that he was in waiting, or persuade his committee to decline to see him.

Mr. Potch has impudently ignored a fact of which Spinlove appears to be ignorant, namely that the Public Health Act ordains that approval or disapproval of intended work shall be signified by a local authority within one month of the deposit of plans.

SPINLOVE TO CLERK
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MARLFORD R
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Sir, 20.9.24.

I enclose copy of my letter to your council’s surveyor and of his reply, and shall be obliged if you will ask your council for an explanation of that reply.

I do not propose to attend the meeting of your Plans Committee on Tuesday.

I have to point out that I complied with your by-laws in submitting application form and plans nearly eight weeks ago, and that if I am called upon to stop the work your council will have to accept responsibility for breaking the contract.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove has, apparently, “been there before.” He wisely addresses himself to the clerk: he could scarcely reply to Potch’s letter, and if he did so the council would probably never see the correspondence, but would have only the surveyor’s hostile report.

THE CLERK
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MARLFORD R
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TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 24.9.24.

Your letter and enclosures were laid before the Plans Committee on Tuesday and the surveyor was instructed to write you.

My committee instructs me to say that the dates of their meetings are fixed to suit general convenience and can be obtained on application, and that they have instructed the surveyor to stop work being commenced before approval of plans as much trouble is caused.

Yours faithfully,

POTCH TO SPINLOVE

Sir, 24.9.24.

I have to inform you that the Plans Committee of my council are prepared to recommend plans of Honeywood subject to alterations, see below. Plans and form returned under separate cover.

Attic to have vertical height at wall 5 ft. 6 in., and average height of ceiling over floor area of 9 ft. 6 in.

Window area to be not less than one-tenth floor area.

Independent vent, as per by-laws.

Walls of house to be increased in thickness down to ground to comply with by-laws for house of three floors.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO POTCH

Sir, 25.9.24.

There is no attic. The third floor is roof space and is clearly marked boxroom.

I return plans and application form and shall be glad to receive notice of approval.

Yours faithfully,

POTCH TO SPINLOVE

Sir, 27.9.24.

I am obliged to you for pointing out that an attic occupies roof space. Unfortunately, my committee are not in the habit of regarding habitable attic rooms as roof space because the architect calls them boxrooms on the plans.

The plans and application form herewith.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO POTCH

Sir, 29.9.24.

I have amended plans by writing “roof space” instead of “boxroom,” as you ask. The concrete will be laid in trenches immediately. Plans and form are returned herewith.

The parcel containing your letter and the plans was not stamped. I enclose the label with excess stamp and shall be glad to receive refund of 1s. 6d.

Yours faithfully,

Potch’s quibbling attempt to force Spinlove to alter his drawing, and his neglect to stamp the parcel, are all part of his method of obstructing and bullying those who, in his private practice, he regards as rivals. If he could infuriate Spinlove into some indiscreet act of protest or retaliation which could be adversely commented on at the council meeting and reported in the local paper, which loyally supports local interest, Potch would consider his trouble well rewarded.

One cannot but commend the characteristic tenacity of Spinlove as exhibited in his letter that follows.

SPINLOVE TO CLERK
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MARLFORD R
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Dear Sir, 6.10.24.

A week ago I had to ask your surveyor to refund 1s. 6d. excess postage paid by me on parcel of plans sent unstamped. I enclosed label showing the excess stamp. I have had no reply except a form of approval of plans. I shall be glad to receive the money.

Yours faithfully,

CLERK
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MARLFORD R
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TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 8.10.24.

In reply to your letter, Mr. Potch states that you did not enclose excess stamp, and also states that postage on parcel is recorded in his stamp book. It appears, therefore, that there must be some mistake or else the stamps came off in the post.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO BULLJOHN

Dear Mr. Bulljohn, 9.10.24.

I know you to be a local magnate and I am writing to ask your help in what seems to me to be a public scandal, for if I submit to the obstructions of the Marlford Council I may get into serious difficulties in the building of this house at Honeywood.

I enclose copies of correspondence with the clerk and surveyor. I pinned the excess stamp on to the letter myself. I have no doubt the parcel was intentionally posted without stamps just as the reply to my request for refund was purposely ignored.

You will notice also the tone of the other letters. If this sort of thing goes on I shall have to make a strong protest to the council, but probably a word to the right person will act as a warning.

I am informed by the builder that Mr. Potch is notorious, and that he has a private practice so that it is to his interest to make difficulties for everyone who does not employ him as architect.

I should be much obliged if you could drop a hint in the right direction.