Chinese Houses and Gardens

Book excerpt: First published in 2001. In 1936 Mr. Henry Inn, a connoisseur of Chinese Art, made his tenth extensive tour of his motherland to study the designs of houses and gardens. He travelled from Canton to Peiping and from Shanghai to Wuch'ang, visiting many homes of culture and refinement built according to the traditional patterns of the art of house and garden making elaborated through centuries. It was a rare privilege granted few travellers. With the kind permission of his hosts he photographed and sketched characteristic details. On his return to Honolulu he showed the pictures and drawings to friends interested in architecture, interior decoration and landscape gardening. They all recognized their value, both as a record of a unique and significant art, and as suggestive material for Western builders and garden makers and urged their publication in book form.