When the authors, a pair of respected architects, first published this beautiful book in the late Victorian era, they meant it as a wakeup call to the forward-looking homeowners of the time — inviting them to eschew «the old puritanical hatred of color, which found its natural outcome in white houses with green blinds» and join in the revolutionary trend toward «advanced notions, in which the more positive colors find a chance of expression.» The book helped homeowners to attain this...