1935-08-31 — Page 7

No. 25

China Mail

HOME SUPPLEMENT

Introducing...

An Actress At Home

"MAGINE a cool. light hall

IMAGIN

with ivory-white walls, ceil-

ing and paintwork and a pale

HONG KONG, SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1935

No. 25

SWEDEN OFFERS A LESSON

grey polished floor laid with There, Stockholm and

grey-white hand-made rugs

patterned in grey and beige! Other Cities Have

The inside of the entrance door is one large mirror let into a narrow panelled frame of the - wood

If you should ever happen to go and see Miss. Victoria Hopper this is the scene which would greet you. It is the fat which she has just decorated and furnished for herself and her husband, Mr. Basil Dean, in"Lowndes-square, and certainly is a perfect setting for Tessa of "The Constant Nymph.”

Provided

Comfortable

Homes at Low Cost for

Thousands

of housing for

In the inner hall stands a writ SHORTAGE of hulans had

silver. ornamented with insets of mirror glass holding an ivory tele- phone. It is lighted by a bar wall light above, in chromium and peach tinted glass, and has a silver stool with an apple green velvet seat. This same green velvet is used for covers on the telephone books.

The long sideboard is also paint-. ed green, and silver and holds a golden yellow bowl lamp of crackle glass with an ivory shade. These subtle touches.

been a matter of municipal and individual concern in Sweden for some 50 years, but it did not become socially acute until the World War, when-thousands of to the non-combatants fled havens of peaceful Scandinavia. shelter was Every available

Rents soared, seized

had forcing those families who lived in two rooms into one, driving them from simple dwellings to the dark, tumbledown relics of the Mid- dle Ages which cost less or nothing at all.

greedily of peach, golden yellow and apple green are lovely with the glossy white walls and grey floor.

The doors leading into the draw- ing-room and the dining-room have Horizontal panels of blistered glass and crystal glass, and chromium. These two rooms are connetted by: sliding doors and therefore the. floor in both is covered with the same oyster grey pile carpet..

The grand piano is an old friend Victoria Hopper has had it since she was 14 It is mahogany, but has now been painted old ivory colour picked out with dull gold. All the furniture is grey walnut beau- tifully inlaid, and the chairs have quilted needlework seats with a gay flower pattern on a dark peacock. blue ground.

A standard lamp is also painted ivory colour to match the piano and built-in bookcase, and has a lovely cream brocade shade edged with coffee-coloured fringe.

Victoria Hopper's own bedroom is mostly furnished with pieces col- lected from the various plays in which she has made ber name. One or two from "Martine," others from "The Constant Nymph" and "Hansel and Gretel," and she has had them all painted old ivory white, picked out in panels with a pinky oyster shade...

It was at. this time that Stock- holm's Colony Gardens were widely developed. There thousands of workmen could, with municipal aid, build miniature houses at the city's edge and grow vegetables and flow- ers for their families in the Sum- mer.. But this was only a pallia- tive measure; when the long cold Winter returned the influx to the city began and the situation grew steadily worse.

The fact that these

men and women were literate com- patriots, of a common cultural tra- dition, made their plight all the more shocking to the nation. The public conscience became thorough- ly aroused and the housing cam- paign was renewed, this time with a different approach, but with that intelligence, imaginative

same

where great social issues are in- volved, that has marked Sweden as- one of the most civilised of all countries..

To-day throughout Sweden enor mous apartment houses containing a total of 22,000 flats" are now occupied by workmen, tradesmen; professional people, government officials and their families. In Stockholm alone 78 up-to-date “clif dwellings" top the hills to catch the view and change the skyline, afford- ing homes to about 60,000 people, or 10 per cent. of the city's popula tion. Stockholm's co-operative housing movement has been copied by ten cther municipalities, the largest of them being Gothenburg, Malmo and Norrkoping.

Approximately $180,000,000, or $26 for every man, woman and child in the country, has been spent in the construction of the build- ings, giving work to the unemploy ed and stimulating industry. The standard of living for large sections of the population has been raised.

thrift has been encouraged and the health of innumerable children and old people protected and restored.

to

Let us visit one of these "ele phant houses, so-called by an early sceptic who returned praise, the one crowning the hill which overlooks the Malarstand and the famous Town Hall in Stockholm. As one passes through the gateway one sees the com- munity playground 'crowded with children and, beside the walk, lawn, hedges and flower gardens trim and gay, cared for by the community gardener.

Here and there is a sign in a window announcing that the occu- pant is a hairdresser and solicits patronage, or more likely it is a card which states that washing and ironing: are cheaply done on the

the premises. the basement the, lanndress from upstairs and several of her neigh- bours: are manipulating electric washing machines, wringers, cen- trifugal dryers and mangles- women whose backs had been shap- ed by long years of bending over washtubs. The clothes are dried in a steam-beated room, a fine thing for knotted hands that have here- tofore fought against the sting of cruel Winter.

There are 205 apartments of two, three and four rooms. A knock at the door brings a ready answer, for the tenant is proud of his new, home and eager to show it, especial- by the bathroom with its hot and cold running water and mirrored medicine cabinet. The kitchenette is another show place. The house. wife tries to tell how she feels. about it all the cupboard with glass doors and the china arranged neatly within; the electric refrige rator and gas stove, and last, but not least, the porcelain sink with all the hot running water that a woman's heart could wish for.

the com- On the top floor is

mothers munity nursery, where who work outside may leave their children at very small cost in the care of trained nurses. From the dining room where warm meals are served to the children one passes into the library with its generous collection of books. A story-telling hour is part of the daily schedule. There is an infirmary beyond. where, the young nurse in charge says, a child is sent at the first sign of illness. From a window one may see the roof garden, a popular place in Summer for sun- baths and naps.

the Consideration is given to simplest details if they contribute.

in any way to the convenience and The comfort of the tenarts. newer buildings are of cement and are fireproof and have automatic elevators... Electrical appliances wherever possible carry on the labour of the households. Incine- rator shafts on each stair landing convey the rubbish and garbage to the basement, where they are burn- ed. Even the windows have been made of so-called mirror glass, of one piece, so that the view-and there usually is one-may be un-- obstructed.

window When the needs to be washed it is swung into the room so that the cleaner may wash it without standing outside on the window ledge. All of the floors are fitted with linoleum, and every apartment may have a radio receiving set, through a special arrangement whereby the central radio, which is part of the equip- ment of the house, redistributes the programmes to the various täis.

Finally, there is a device, housed in a small building, which auto- matically beats rugs and mattresses and disposes of the dust. In order ̈to avoid vermin, every tenant must have his household goods disinfect- ed before he moves in..

The movement also aims at rais ing the standard of taste in de

The corations and furnishings. Swedish workman often has clumsy furniture; he likes dark red and green wallpapers with gaudy de- signs in gilt. To assist him in im- proving his taste an exhibition of model apartments with furniture and rugs made in the society's fac- tory was held last year in the Town Hall of Stockholm..

The apartment walls were cover- ed with soft shades of paper and it was pointed out that they were not only more suitable but cheaper in the end, inasmuch as dark walls absorb light and increase the cost of electricity. Balconies

with flower boxes, bright awnings and porch furniture were also shown. And exhibitions of apartments suitably decorated were held in all houses a few days before the ten- ants moved in.

Sweden has proved to her own satisfaction that a successful slum clearance and housing programme requires a technique that reaches far beyond the old conceptions of procedure. And she has discover ed that decent homes for the poor are economic assets of the highest order, decreasing crime and disease and restoring to men, and women self-respect and giving them a new outlook upon life.