DESIGN FOR A VILLA WITH A CONSERVATORY ATTACHED. 



263 



Never plant a tree with small roots and 

 large top — when the roots have been made 

 small by the spade in digging — without 

 making the latter small also. There must 

 be some ballast in the hold to carry so much 

 sail on the mast, as an old salt would say ; 



and you will gain in the health and size of 

 the tree, three years hence, by shortening- 

 back the ends of the longest limbs till you 

 have struck a fair balance between the part 

 that collects food and the part that consumes 

 it. Yours, An Old Digger. 



DESIGN FOR A VILLA WITH A CONSERVATORY ATTACHED. 



There ai few more agreeable compositions 

 in domes ic architecture than many in the 

 rural Gothic style. As it is peculiarly well 

 suited to a northern climate, and to pictu- 

 resque sites, it has already been considera- 

 bly adopted in this country. 



Very essential modifications of this style, 

 as known abroad, must be made in intro- 

 ducing it into this country. One of the 

 most important of these, is the introduction 

 of the veranda, — a feature little known in 

 the architecture of northern Europe, but in- 

 dispensable in a large portion of the United 

 States. 



Verandas, as usually seen in rural Gothic 

 country houses, are too light and flimsy to 

 accord with the solid character of the rest of 

 the building. In the present example (see 

 frontispiece,) a very simple and solid 

 mode of constructing this feature is indi- 

 cated, which is in better keeping with the 

 style, when all is built of stone or other 

 solid materials. 



This design is very simple in form, and 

 may therefore be executed at a very mode- 

 rate cost, for a dwelling of this class. The 

 projecting roof shelters the walls thoroughly 

 from the effect of the weather, which ren- 

 ders it a very suitable plan for brick and 

 stucco construction. 



The plan of the principal floor shows a 

 very agreeable and convenient arrange- 

 ment ; one where comfort and good effect 



are combined in a very considerable degree. 

 The stairs being placed in a side entry, the 

 hall, 14 by 22 feet, is left free, and may be 

 considered one of the most available apart- 

 ments in the house, while opening, as it 

 does, by sliding doors into the library. 

 The whole can occasionally be thrown into 

 one apartment. The library is well shaped 

 for its purpose ; and the long extent of wall, 

 on either of its longest sides, will allow 

 much more space for books, and a much 

 better arrangement of the books them- 

 selves, than we usually see in rooms of this 

 size. 



From the parlor, a door opens into the 

 green-house, or conservatory. This is placed 

 so as to form a wing on one side of the 

 house, which is balanced by the kitchen 

 wing on the other side. We have intro- 

 duced this to show how a simple green- 

 house may be treated, so as to give it some 

 architectural character, — as we but too fre- 

 quently see mere nursery-like glazed sheds, 

 joined to houses otherwise in good taste, 

 the effect of which is never satisfactory. A 

 conservatory, properly so called, — which dif- 

 fers from a green-house in the plants being 

 chiefly planted in the ground, instead of 

 pots, — is the most satisfactory plan for such 

 a structure when it is attached to a dwell- 

 ing ; because, although the glazed roof is 

 partly taken out in summer, the plants re- 

 main, and the interior never has the de- 



