26 



The Country Gcntlcmaiis Magazine 



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CHOICE OF A SITE FOR BUILDING. 



IN a great number of instances people 

 begin " to think about building," as the 

 phrase goes, prompted by a liking to some 

 particular site which their walking abroad 

 may have discovered, and which to their mind 

 comprises everything that is delightful and to 

 be desired as a place upon which to pitch 

 their tent. Whether this be the' experience 

 of as many as we suspect it is, certain it is 

 that the points connected with a choice of site 

 are of the utmost importance, and should be 

 well considered even before the planning of 

 the house which is to occupy it is gone into. 

 That some deem these points of little or no 

 importance, is evident enough if we examine 

 the sites of some houses, which could not 

 have been worse chosen had the object been 

 to take pains to get a bad in place of a good 

 site. In our experience we have met with 

 not a few houses which were placed in posi- 

 tions the worst possible, both as regards the 

 health of their occupants and the shutting 

 out of pleasant views. It will be well, there- 

 fore to glance briefly at the points involved 

 m the choice of a site, what it ought and 

 what it ought not to possess. A shrewd piece 

 of advice has been given on this subject 

 worthy of consideration, and it is to the effect 

 that one should examine the site in the worst, 

 not in the best, weather. There is a large 

 amount of suggestiveness in this, for under 

 the influence of a bright sun and cheerful skj- 

 the worst place will have an aspect of cheer- 

 fulness, and the converse holds equally true ; 

 and one may rest pretty well assured that 

 they have chosen a site which will be very 

 pleasant in fine weather, if in bad it presents 

 but one or two aspects of pleasantness. But 

 while the position of the site with reference 

 to the surrounding landscape is of import- 

 ance, its position with reference to the land 



immediately surrounding it is of no less im- 

 portance. Hence, the plot of ground on 

 which the house is actually to stand must 

 be considered : if a rising part presents itself, 

 choose that, and by all means carefully avoid, 

 what some seem to think highly of, building 

 in a hole. Some choose a depressed part 

 as very likely to be a sheltered spot, but this 

 is quite a mistake ; for, independently of the 

 difficulty there is in draining the house, the 

 chances are all on the side of winds beating 

 upon the house as angrily in its low situa- 

 tion as if it was placed upon rising ground 

 near it. Stronger winds oftener blow through 

 the lowest part of a valley than along its 

 sides, or even sometimes upon their summit. 

 The site of a house is often chosen on ac- 

 count of its proximity to a piece of water, 

 this last being considered as " such a pretty 

 object in the landscape." No doubt water 

 viewed from a house, especially if surrounded 

 with clumps of trees or waving willows near 

 its banks, is a pleasing object, but whether it 

 is good to have it near the house is another 

 question ; it is more probably true that dis- 

 tance rather than proximity will lend enchant- 

 ment to the view ; and it is almost certain 

 that actual proximity to water is not a healthy 

 thing. As a rule, it will be found that deli- 

 cately constituted people rarely are in good 

 health while living in houses in immediate 

 proximity to water. The bad features of the 

 case are intensified if, in addition to being 

 near the water, the house is placed on a level 

 with its margin ; and worse still, as is some- 

 times the case, a little below it. The site of 

 the house will in these cases always be more 

 or less damp, than which there is no greater 

 evil to be encountered in a house. Again, 

 do not build at the foot of a sharply-rising 

 ground or the face of a precipice. Some 



