The Honeywood File: An Adventure in Building

Honeywood #1

by H.B. Creswell

In this first U.S. publication of a richly comic classic—originally published in England in the 1920s—the pitfalls and vicissitudes of home building are presented in sharp and unforgettable detail, in the form of letters to and from the architect—a hapless young man named James Spinlove, who, in his valiant attempts to create the Honeywood mansion for Sir Leslie Brash, encounters a motley collection of contractors, surveyors, plumbers and town planners—to say nothing of intensely litigious lawyers, and Sir Leslie Brash himself, along with his good lady. There are letters from the subsidiary but crucial characters named Nibnose & Rasper, Mr Snitch, V. Potch and Hoochkoft the surveyor of bricks, among others.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Humor, Architecture, British Literature, Adult

230 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1999

About the author

Harry Bulkeley Creswell FRIBA (1869–1960), was a British architect and author.

Reviews

[Lisa Lincoln Collins]

Reading this one via The Honeywood Daily https://honeywooddaily.substack.com/

[khaz.]

HONEY WE ARE HOME

What is this about?
H.B. Cresswell’s The Honeywood File, from 1929, is an epistolary novel about an architect’s correspondence file while he is trying to build a home. The Honeywood Daily - run by Matt Kirkland - is a reading newsletter that send the days' entries of the book on the days that they happen, except for the start of April so that we can fast-forward and catch up to the protagonists in late April.
This project is expected to go through two years! Excited to try this, will update this review accordingly as I receive the letters.

---

Day 1
[...] I told him what an incompetent ass you are and of that house of yours which is getting ready to fall down
Sir there is really no need to introduce our architect like that-

Day 2
We meet the client! Either he is dumb or have a poor eyesight, for he failed to notice a chimney right in front his new property.

Day 3
Some of the letters are commented by an editor and the poor man is not having a good grammar day.

Day 4
A solution to the Chimney Problem has been proposed but I fear it's not over yet. The editor doesn't have opinions on the chimney, but a lot to say about the architect's ramblings.

Day 5
The client is not satisfied with the plans made by the architect, especially the cost of it... it's giving "can you draw x characters for free?" except it's to built a freaking house

Day 6
The architect strikes back! The editor is a bit in love - and so am I.

Day 7
the client: it's too expensive, ask me less money!!
also the client: I want a third bathroom and three more bedrooms.

Day 8
"Also, I am afraid, it will be impossible to enter the house by the front door" - this is going great.

Day 9&10 -cause I'm late-
The client said "read and doesn't care" and at this point the architect is literally begging him to not make anymore stupid decisions

Day 11
I didn't need to know how affordable building a house was back in the day and I shall never recover from that.

Day 12
The client approves the sketches, praise the Lord

Day 13
the letter: please don't worry about the chimney
me: well I'm definitely worry about the chimney NOW

Day 14&15
We are finally ready to go to the next step: finding a building team!

Day 16
Of course the client si not happy with a) the time it would take to built a house b) the name of the persons it would take to built a house

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't have picked up this rather odd little book from a reading of the blurb, but someone put it into my hands at a Bookcrossing meet-up after which I read it at one sitting and enjoyed it. It was a somewhat older, British edition, which I cannot find on here.

The characters are endearing, the humour gentle and the plot (no pun intended) intriguing, in spite of it being apparently mundane. Part of this is because of the insight into the process and part of it, perhaps, because of what it shows about the time (1920s). What makes it odd is not so much the epistolary style as the rather arch commentary which links the documents. This turns it into a case study for young architects on how to (or how not to!) manage clients, contractors, officials and landowners.

[Heather Hern]

Reading through the honeywooddaily substack, dispatched from the team of Dracula Daily

[rosy]

reading as part of honeywood daily, email threads from matt & erika kirkland

[Jim Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the 1920's, this epistolary novel describes the trials and tribualtions of architect james Spinlove as his designs and builds a mansion for Sir Leslie Brash. Letters, memos and other file triv regarding the owner, the contractors and lawyers as the inevitable problems arise in the construction process. Funny, informative and many momments of I've been there.

[K. Morral · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps this was just too much 'reading about the day job, but this really annoyed me. The main character is idiotic and the narration between letters disruptive. Although the letter writing narrative style is open to lack of clarification, narration between is irritating. It shouldn't be needed to continue the plot.
It is supposed to be a comedy story, granted it was written about 100 years ago with different writing styles and perspectives, but I only raised a smile about twice.

[Zelly B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my Process & Practice class (basically architectural law).

This book contains some annoying characters, and some ridiculous events that happen while the main character - James Spinlove - tries to build a house for his client, Sir Leslie Brash.

[Shar*n]

Dryly humorous and resonant.