If we now jump to the period between 1865 and 1889, we find that the awful atrocities of architecture were being built in the East with similar heavy frames, although slightly less massive. Where tradition was less strong in the West, the balloon frame had grown up, but during the same period houses of equally bad design were built with one or the other systems, showing that the system of construction had very little to do with the style of architecture. Even consider the variety of styles used in modern domestic work, and then one can realize that all of these different types of buildings are built much in the same way. Good design has apparently little relation to good construction, although good design is improved when it expresses the construction. We often see very beautiful houses set up for moving-picture plays, but these are built of flimsy stage scenery. We have also seen very ugly houses which make us curse the builder for having built them so well. _Fundamental Building Traditions Inherited from England_ It is from England that we have inherited most of our building traditions of domestic work. The earliest methods of constructing a home were much the same for all European countries. Woven brushwood of the crudest sort was undoubtedly the first beginnings of domestic construction. The next step in advance was, according to a German theory, invented by a woman. It consisted of erecting leaning poles and stakes and filling the space between with inwoven wattlework. The shapes were conical, like the Indian tents, but later the gable roof shape was adopted because of the greater interior space allowed. In building the gable-shaped houses the early builders used very heavy and massive construction for the ridge-pole and its support, for they believed that this upheld the rafters. This tradition was kept alive until quite recent times, but now we know that when rafters are supported at their base, the ridge-pole practically takes none of the weight and need only be used for ease of erection. [Illustration: PRIMITIVE TYPE OLD ENGLISH CRUCK CONSTRUCTION]