THE ESTATE 255 



given to the living room, and as we have seen, it should be, if possible, 

 into the south and west. Service arrangements and service approaches 

 should not be visible from the main rooms. Unpleasant objects in or 

 beyond the property should be screened. A test of the perfection with 

 which these conditions have been met within an estate would be to 

 determine how small a sector of the whole property, viewed from the 

 house, is occupied by service approaches, service arrangements of any 

 kind, or objects unpleasant to look at ; and how large a sector is pre- 

 sented as an unspoiled view from the windows of the living portions of 

 the house. Evidently, this requirement suggests a service approach 

 running in a radial direction to the service yard, which, in turn, lies 

 radially outside the service portion of the house. From the point of 

 view of the appearance of the house from the grounds, there are a num- 

 ber of considerations which may prove important in their effect on the 

 location and orientation of the house. This may be affected by the 

 appearance of the house across the main lawn from the street, which 

 may require parallelism of the house to the street line where the house 

 is near the street. Perhaps it may be affected by the formal relations 

 of the house to the gardens, terraces, etc., which, in turn, may be fixed 

 in location by the topographic limitations. 



Where the house is surrounded by a number of units, like a house 

 terrace, a forecourt, and a garden, the problem of location is one of 

 locating, not the house alone, but the mass composed of the house with 

 its appurtenances. If they are formal, the mass is less flexible, and 

 the problem in this regard more difficult. In any case, the questions 

 of access, orientation, and view as they concern the house, and the 

 questions of organization of the whole estate are so bound up to- 

 gether that each aspect of the problem reacts on all other aspects, 

 and we have no solution until we have a solution which meets all 

 these exigencies at once, or makes the best possible compromise 

 among them. 



In the relation of the house and its appurtenances to the topography 

 there are naturally three general types of house location : hilltop, 

 hillside, and valley or plain. Each type of location has its effect on 

 the type of arrangement of the house and surroundings ; each has its 

 own merits and its own defects. 



