264 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



other employe, and designed for this use rather than as a piece of ar- 

 chitectural decoration of the entrance. 



When the country estate is run to some extent as a farm, the nec- 

 essary buildings will be grouped together, probably well away from the 

 house, and in relation to the farm land, for practical reasons. Still, 

 these buildings are after all usually not primarily business ventures, 

 but serve in a way an esthetic end, that is, they serve to add to the 

 completeness of the scheme in the owner's mind. On account of this 

 the form of these buildings may be largely modified for esthetic effect. 

 And since they are properly not so dominant as the house, their form 

 may to a greater degree be fixed by and subordinated to the landscape, 

 though their style would still normally be congruous with that of the 

 house. Many picturesque and interesting arrangements are possible. 

 The precedents of many of these are English, but recently a considerable 

 number of elaborate and decorative farm building groups, which are 

 valuable data for the designer, have been constructed in this country, 

 suited more directly to our local conditions.* 



The most common arrangement of the buildings is in a group sur- 

 rounding a court or a series of courts ; the largest and most dominant 

 mass of building often being that of the hay-barn, with the structures 

 that house the water-tank, and perhaps the silo, serving as towers to 

 strengthen the corners of the composition. 

 The Greenhouse The greenhouse serves two distinct purposes. It is used to start 

 plants for subsequent use in the garden, and to raise plants for display, 

 either in the greenhouse or in the house. It is, therefore, in both 

 uses, a sort of artificially tropical part of the grounds. Architectur- 

 ally, it is a particularly difficult object to treat. To best perform 

 its own functions it should be composed as nearly as possible all of 

 glass. If so made, it is not solid enough, not architectural enough, 

 not sufiiciently like any other units in the scheme, to compose well 

 with these other structures. Sometimes there is little that can be done 

 but to minimize and endure this incongruity. Often however the 

 potting shed, which is not a glass structure, may be made to bear its 

 part in the architectural composition, while the greenhouse, entered 

 through it and thus related to the decorative part of the scheme, is con- 

 * See Modern Farm Buildings, by Alfred Hopkins. (See References.) 



