The Honeywood Files (11 page)

HOOCHKOFT TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 15.11.24.

We have respectfully to point out that you accepted our quotation for bricks ex kiln. It is true you said you did not care for the bright-red bricks and we are accordingly extra firing the bricks for your order, but we cannot guarantee that there will not be a small number of bright reds unless we send you picked, for which our price is 182s. per thousand instead of 147s.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove’s letter accepting quotation for facing bricks was as follows: “I like the samples of the bricks and the price is satisfactory. The very bright-coloured bricks seem soft and under-burnt; the red and purple brindled bricks will give me all the variation in colour necessary. I have directed the builder, Mr. John Grigblay, to place the order with you.“ This is a sloppy letter. Spinlove means to say that he accepts the tender on the understanding that the bright, under-burnt bricks are excluded, but he does not say it. He first approves of the samples and the price, and then expresses a preference, only, for the better-burnt and darker bricks—that, at any rate, is an interpretation which the “shrewd, hard-headed business man” that Samuel Smiles taught us to admire (before we taught ourselves to recognize the commercial sharper) would put upon the letter if it helped him to a half-sovereign. In some firms the taking advantage of verbal ambiguities and the dealing in them themselves is part of a daily routine. It is best for an architect to buy only from merchants and manufacturers of established reputation; but whether he does so or not it is his duty to be exact and precise in his directions, or he may mislead an honest man to his disadvantage by the same loose phrases by which he places himself at the mercy of a dishonest one. Hoochkoft’s talk of extra firing is nonsense; if all the bricks were thoroughly burnt some would be over-burnt and there would be waste. Hoochkoft seems to have got our friend Spinlove on toast.

SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT

Dear Sirs, 17.11.24.

My order was for facing bricks to sample, but omitting the soft bright-reds. It was for you to amend your price if necessary, but you did not do so, but took the order on the tendered price. I cannot use the soft bricks and no more must be sent on to site.

Yours faithfully,

HOOCHKOFT TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 19.11.24.

We respectfully regret that we cannot agree that the price we quoted and which you accepted was for picked. We are doing our best to reduce the number of bright-reds and do not know what you have to complain of, but we cannot supply picked at same price as ex kiln as quoted, but to meet you will offer you special rate of 175s. per thousand picked.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 20.11.24.

I enclose copy of my correspondence with Hoochkoft. Can you arrange to take over the bricks thrown out and credit them? The extra cost of the picked bricks will be about £70, as nearly as I can judge.

Yours faithfully,

GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 22.11.24.

Another lorry of facings has been delivered with about the same number of soft reds as before. We were willing to throw out from the first load, but you will realize this is going to be a serious matter for us if we are to pick over the whole facings. We estimate 15 percent will have to be thrown out. The only offer we can make is to credit the throwouts against the cost of picking and use them in the back walling. We await your instructions.

Yours faithfully,

Grigblay’s proposal is fair, but the bargain would, no doubt, favour him. The result would be that Brash would pay 175s. a thousand for perhaps 7,000 extra useless bricks. It seems, therefore, that when Spinlove said he would engage not to run into extras he flattered himself, for his difficulty with the brickyard is entirely his own fault. It will be remembered, however, that Spinlove has included the sum of £300 as a provision for contingencies upon which he can draw without involving Brash in an extra; but I do not recall that he explained to Brash that this £300 provision was to cover the contingency of the architect making mistakes, although it is available for this purpose, as all architects are thankful to know. This is not unfair. A small margin for error is the due of the most exact human machinery.

SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT

Dear Sirs, 24.11.24.

A third load of your facing bricks similar to those to which I have objected has been delivered. I have told Mr. Grigblay not to allow any more to be brought on to the site, and I must ask you to send only bricks equal to approved sample as ordered.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 24.11.24.

I am obliged for your letter but the bricks were ordered to approved sample. If I accept your proposal it appears there will be an extra of about £120. I enclose copy of my letter to Hoochkoft of to-day. Please refuse to allow any further consignments including defective facings to come on to site.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove has not realized the consequences of this prohibition.

GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 25.11.24.

May we remind you that we have some face work now built on part of the south front and that we shall have to close down the work if we send back facings. We have been urging delivery. It will also be impossible to match the bricks from another yard, and it seems necessary to come to some arrangement with Hoochkoft at once.

Yours faithfully,

HOOCHKOFT TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 26.11.24.

We can only repeat that we did not quote for picked and that the bricks we have sent you are as per your order.

We gather from your letter informing us that no more unpicked will be accepted that you wish us to send picked facings in future.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT

Dear Sirs, 28.11.24.

It is no concern of mine what steps you take to supply facings similar to samples approved by me, but further consignments containing the soft bright-reds will not be received on the site. If, therefore, you cannot supply to sample without picking, the bricks must be picked.

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 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.